The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment: Science and implementation

This paper gives an overview of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment. The experiment consists of scanning and nonscanning radiometer packages on three spacecraft. One is a satellite with a 57° inclination orbit which processes around the earth once every 2 months. Packages are also flown on the sun-synchronous NOAA-F and NOAA-G operational meteorological satellites. The scanning radiometer includes three channels: shortwave, long-wave, and total. The nonscanner package encompasses a pair of wide-field-of-view radiometers and a pair of medium-field-of-view radiometers. Each pair consists of a total and a shortwave radiometer. The scientific importance and objectives of the mission are described, including the need for the three spacecraft and the utility of the complementary types of radiometers.

[1]  Herbert Jacobowitz,et al.  The Earth Radiation Budget derived from the NIMBUS 7 ERB Experiment , 1984 .

[2]  Robert S. Kandel,et al.  A history of presatellite investigations of the Earth's Radiation Budget , 1986 .

[3]  R. Saunders,et al.  METEOSAT observations of diurnal variation of radiation budget parameters , 1980, Nature.

[4]  William L. Smith,et al.  The First 18 Months of Planetary Radiation Budget Measurements from the Nimbus 6 ERB Experiment , 1979 .

[5]  J. E. Cooper,et al.  The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment Nonscanner Instrument , 1986 .

[6]  P. Minnis,et al.  Simulation of the earth's monthly average regional radiation balance derived from satellite measurements , 1984 .

[7]  R. Willson,et al.  Active cavity radiometer type IV. , 1979, Applied optics.

[8]  T. I. Gray,et al.  Earth-atmosphere radiation budget analyses derived from NOAA satellite data June 1974 - February 1978, volume 2 , 1979 .

[9]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Development of algorithms for understanding the temporal and spatial variability of the Earth's Radiation Balance , 1986 .

[10]  Leonard P. Kopia,et al.  Earth Radiation Budget Experiment Scanner Instrument , 1986 .

[11]  B. Barkstrom,et al.  Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE): An Overview , 1982 .

[12]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Diurnal variability of regional cloud and clear-sky radiative parameters derived from GOES data. Part II : November 1978 cloud distributions. , 1984 .

[13]  H. Lee Kyle,et al.  The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) experiment - An overview , 1984 .

[14]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Diurnal Variability of Regional Cloud and Clear-Sky Radiative Parameters Derived from GOES Data. Part I: Analysis Method , 1984 .

[15]  K. Lau,et al.  Short-Term Climate Variability and Atmospheric Teleconnections from Satellite-Observed Outgoing Longwave Radiation. Part I: Simultaneous Relationships , 1983 .

[16]  Garry E. Hunt,et al.  History of satellite missions and measurements of the Earth Radiation Budget (1957–1984) , 1986 .

[17]  A. Drummond,et al.  Nimbus-6 earth radiation budget experiment. , 1977, Applied optics.

[18]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Diurnal Variability of Regional Cloud and Clear-Sky Radiative Parameters Derived from GOES Data. Part III: November 1978 Radiative Parameters , 1984 .

[19]  K. Lau,et al.  Short-Term Climate Variability and Atmospheric Teleconnections from Satellite-Observed Outgoing Longwave Radiation. Part II: Lagged Correlations , 1983 .

[20]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Orbital and cloud cover sampling analyses for multisatellite earth radiation budget experiments , 1983 .

[21]  M. McCormick,et al.  Satellite studies of the stratospheric aerosol , 1979 .

[22]  P. Minnis,et al.  Comparison of longwave diurnal models applied to simulations of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment , 1984 .

[23]  Thomas H. Vonder Haar,et al.  The annual radiation balance of the earth-atmosphere system during 1969-70 from Nimbus 3 measurements. , 1973 .

[24]  Bruce A. Wielicki,et al.  Inversion methods for satellite studies of the Earth's Radiation Budget: Development of algorithms for the ERBE Mission , 1986 .

[25]  Bruce R. Barkstrom,et al.  The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). , 1984 .

[26]  A. F. Krueger,et al.  Annual and Interannual Variations in Outgoing Longwave Radiation over the Tropics , 1981 .

[27]  L. E. Mauldin,et al.  Stratospheric Aerosol And Gas Experiment II Instrument: A Functional Description , 1985 .

[28]  E. Raschke,et al.  The Radiation Balance of the Planet Earth from Radiation Measurements of the Satellite Nimbus II. , 1970 .

[29]  Dennis L. Hartmann,et al.  Earth Radiation Budget data and climate research , 1986 .