Abstract

It is well known that water vapor is the principal absorber of outgoing surface radiation in the 10 to 13 micron spectral region commonly used for infrared remote sensing of SST. This attenuation of the radiation is almost entirely due to the effects of the water vapor continuum (ie, the observed absorption which is in excess of that due to individual spectral transitions that occur within the atmospheric 'window'). During the past twenty years, laboratory and some field studies have resulted in empirical descriptions of the continuum extinction (Roberts et al, 1976; Clough et al., 1989). These studies have shown that the continuum absorption is approximately proportional to the square of the water vapor density, and that the absorption obeys a negative temperature dependence.

© 1991 Optical Society of America