DETERMINATION OF LONG-WAVE ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION

Abstract

The total long-wave radiation flux measurements for eighteen nights are compared with the values obtained by using two types of radiation charts. It is found that the Suomi total radiometer yields values of the downward long-wave flux approximately six per cent higher than the Beckman and Whitley total radiometer and one per cent higher than the values calculated from the Elsasser radiation chart. The principal finding is that all of the approaches taken together suggest that existing radiometric data can be regarded as no more precise than about five to ten per cent.