Measurements of the infrared radiative emission of gases under clouds

Wayne F. J. Evans; Chris J. Ferguson; Eldon Puckrin

doi:10.1117/12.570473

14 December 2004 Measurements of the infrared radiative emission of gases under clouds

Wayne F. J. Evans, Chris J. Ferguson, Eldon Puckrin

Proceedings Volume 5584, Chemical and Biological Standoff Detection II; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.570473
Event: Optics East, 2004, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Abstract

There has been little experimental verification of the radiative forcing from air pollutants under cloudy conditions. This paper reports on the progress which has been made towards validating the predictions of the climate forcing associated with air pollutants. Measurements have been taken over the last three years with a new technique which was developed to measure the greenhouse radiative fluxes from greenhouse gases beneath clouds. These measurements are valuable since there are large spatial and temporal variations in some gases which make it difficult to quantify their climate forcing. As a result of the poor state of knowledge of the radiative forcing associated with prime constituents of smog such as nitric acid or PAN are omitted in the Kyoto protocol for the reduction of greenhouse gases. In our technique, measurements of the surface radiative forcing from the gases below the cloud are taken against the cold black body background of the cloudy sky. Radiative fluxes from ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, nitric acid and aerosols have been measured. This technique may have applications to battlefield remote sensing of gases. Our measurements have been made at 44N over all four seasons. In order to further decrease the uncertainty of the tropospheric forcing, many more measurements need to be made at different latitudes and climates.

Citation Download Citation

Wayne F. J. Evans, Chris J. Ferguson, and Eldon Puckrin "Measurements of the infrared radiative emission of gases under clouds", Proc. SPIE 5584, Chemical and Biological Standoff Detection II, (14 December 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.570473

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