Increased greenhouse gasses reduce the transmission of Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) to space along spectral absorption lines eventually causing the Earth’s temperature to rise in order to preserve energy equilibrium. This greenhouse forcing effect can be directly observed in the Outgoing Longwave Spectra (OLS) from space-borne infrared instruments with sufficiently high resolving power ^{3, 8}. In 2001, Harries et. al observed significant increases in greenhouse forcings by direct inter-comparison of the IRIS spectra 1970 and the IMG spectra 1997⁸. We have extended this effort by measuring the annual rate of change of AIRS all-sky Outgoing Longwave Spectra (OLS) with respect to greenhouse forcings. Our calculations make use of a 2°x2° degree monthly gridded Brightness Temperature (BT) product. Decadal trends for AIRS spectra from 2002-2012 indicate continued decrease of -0.06 K/yr in the trend of CO2 BT (700cm^-1 and 2250cm^-1), a decrease of -0.04 K/yr of O3 BT (1050 cm^-1), and a decrease of -0.03 K/yr of the CH4 BT (1300cm^-1). Observed decreases in BT trends are expected due to ten years of increased greenhouse gasses even though global surface temperatures have not risen substantially over the last decade.

Date Published: 18 May 2013
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 8743, Algorithms and Technologies for Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Imagery XIX, 874313 (18 May 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2017019

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8743:
Algorithms and Technologies for Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Imagery XIX
Sylvia S. Shen; Paul E. Lewis, Editor(s)