Abstract
Fields of outgoing long‐wave radiation (OLR) have been computed using geophysical parameters retrieved from analysis of HIRS2/MSU sounding data as input to a modified version of the Wu‐Kaplan radiation code used in the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres fourth‐order general circulation model. Monthly mean results for 1979 agree with monthly mean OLR fields measured by the Nimbus 7 Earth radiation budget (ERB) broadband narrow field of view instrument within standard deviations of 6.3 W m−2 but with a global mean bias of 8.0 W m−2. Results are shown for July 1979. The areas of disagreement between high‐resolution infrared radiation sounder OLR and ERB OLR are small but spatially coherent with patterns which may be related to sampling differences. The difference patterns are much less extensive than those between OLR derived from advanced very high resolution radiometer 11‐μm observations and ERB OLR. The ability to compute OLR from geophysical parameters is complementary to direct measurement of OLR because it enables one to attribute changes in OLR in space and time to changes in other geophysical parameters. In addition, it allows one to compute fields not directly measurable from satellite, such as the difference of the upward long‐wave flux between the surface and the top of the atmosphere and the long‐wave cloud radiative forcing.
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