Temporal variations in the apparent emissivity of various materials

Spectral emissivity measurements gathered in the longwave infrared region of the spectrum during a recent airborne hyperspectral data collection experiment indicated that the spectral emissivity of certain organic polymers changed by as much as 10% throughout the day. Inorganic and many other organic materials that were measured at the same time during this experiment showed no change. As this was an unexpected event, a subsequent experiment was designed to make emissivity measurements of several organic and inorganic materials over a 24-hour period/diurnal cycle. The results from this experiment confirmed that certain materials showed a significant spectral emissivity variation over this period. This paper will discuss some possible explanations for this variation and emphasize the significance and implications of this fact on the integrity of spectral emissivity measurements and spectral libraries being constructed in this wavelength region.