Airborne observations of far-infrared upwelling radiance in the Arctic

Abstract. The first airborne measurements of the Far-InfraRed Radiometer (FIRR) were performed in April 2015 during the panarctic NETCARE campaign. Vertical profiles of spectral upwelling radiance in the range 8–50 μm were measured in clear and cloudy conditions from the surface up to 6 km. The clear-sky profiles highlight the strong dependence of radiative fluxes to the temperature inversion typical of the Arctic. Measurements acquired for total column water vapor from 1.5 to 10.5 mm also underline the sensitivity of the far-infrared greenhouse effect to specific humidity. The cloudy cases show that optically thin ice clouds increase the cooling rate of the atmosphere by a factor up to thr…