UCLA

We explore the feasibility of deriving atmospheric infrared cooling rates by direct inversion of radiances observed by satellites from space. In order to convert radiances to fluxes and achieve vertical profiling at the same time, we show that it is necessary to combine radiances from narrow channels with radiances averaged over spectral bands. We demonstrate that the vertical integral of the cooling rate in the spectral band, convolved with a kernel function associated with the narrow channel, can be related to a weighted sum of the channel and band radiances. The band radiance must be evaluated at a specific zenith angle, which is a result of use of the mean value theorem. With known kernel functions, the combined radiances may be inverted to obtain the cooling rate profile. These results are derived from use of a random model for the transmittance in its strong-and weak-line limits. The results are similar in the two limits leading us to conclude that there are expressions that are approximately valid over the entire range of transmittance. We show by numerical methods that this conclusion is correct and apply the retrieval technique successfully to get the cooling rate profile in the rotational band of water vapor. © 1988 Springer-Verlag.