The pattern of radiative heating and cooling in the troposphere and lower stratosphere

1956

For any meteorological effects of radiation, only those constituents of the air which have a very strong absorption in the infra-red are involved; these are water vapour and carbon dioxide. Several methods have been developed (Mügge & Möller 1932 a, b ; Elsasser 1942; Yamamoto 1952) for computing the radiation flux, and numerous calculations of these fluxes and of the cooling rates have been performed in the last 25 years (Ludwig 1935; Kortiim 1939; Thompson & Neiburger 1955). The results are summarized in figure 1, which shows the distribution of the tem­perature and of the cooling rate by water vapour in some characteristic atmospheres. The lower levels of the tropical atmosphere…