Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Wilber, Anne C..
The earth radiation budget experiment (ERBE) has allowed the most accurate measurement of broadband, top-of-the-atmosphere albedos ever produced on a regional/global basis. These ERBE albedos, combined with the Koepke and Kriebel model and appropriate atmospheric parameters, are employed to estimate global surface albedos for several periods in 1985 and January 1986.
This study demonstrates a strong correlation between surface absorbed shortwave flux and top-of-the-atmosphere net shortwave flux. This technique permits determination of absorbed shortwave radiation at the surface without knowledge of the surface albedo.
Algorithms have been developed at the Langley Research Center to estimate fluxes for all of the surface radiation components utilizing the new International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISSCP) C1 data and grid system. These surface radiation budget data are the first all-component flux set encompassing the entire globe, based on satellite-derived C1 meteorological data. A description of the input data and the algorithms utilized, examples of the global flux results, discussion of how the current fluxes compare with ground-truth fluxes, and remarks on errors in the current flux estimates are presented.