Determination of the Earth's Surface Temperature from Remote Spectral Radiance Observations near 2600 cm−1

Abstract

Methods of determining the spectral brightness temperature, the spectral directional emissivity, and the actual temperature of the earth's surface, and of clouds, from observations of the earth's spectral radiance between 2500 and 2655 cm?2 are described. These methods have been used to obtain nighttime and daytime surface temperatures and daytime cloud top temperatures from earth radiances measured by a balloonborne multi-detector grating spectrometer. The computed temperatures have been verified by comparison with other data.