Radiative Heat Transfer in the Air near the Ground

Abstract

A radiation chart for use in calculating the rates of heating or cooling by long wave radiation of air layers in the lowest 100 m. of the atmosphere, is presented. It takes account of the radiation due to carbon dioxide in a more satisfactory manner than does Elsasser's chart which applies to the relatively deep atmospheric layers dealt with in synoptic problems. As an example of the application of the chart, the rate of radiative cooling of the lowest 80 m. of the atmosphere, just before dawn, is evaluated from published data for clear June nights of little wind in southern England. It is shown that, under these conditions, radiative exchanges in the air play a large part in cooling the air in the surface inversion layers.