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Global Warming: Evidence from Satellite ObservationsObservations made in Channel 2 (53.74 GHz) of the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) radiometer, flown onboard sequential, sun-synchronous, polar-orbiting NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) operational satellites, indicate that the mean temperature of the atmosphere over the globe increased during the period 1980 to 1999. In this study, we have minimized systematic errors in the time series introduced by satellite orbital drift in an objective manner. This is done with the help of the onboard warm-blackbody temperature, which is used in the calibration of the MSU radiometer. The corrected MSU Channel 2 observations of the NOAA satellite series reveal that the vertically-weighted global-mean temperature of the atmosphere, with a peak weight near the mid troposphere, warmed at the rate of 0.13 +/- 0.05 K/decade during 1980 to 1999. The global warming deduced from conventional meteorological data that have been corrected for urbanization effects agrees reasonably with this satellite-deduced result.
Document ID
20000116342
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Preprint (Draft being sent to journal)
Authors
Prabhakara, C.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Iacovazzi, R.
(Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services Lanham, MD United States)
Yoo, J.-M.
(Ewha Woman's Univ. Seoul, Korea, Republic of)
Dalu, G.
(Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Cagliari, Italy)
Einaudi, Franco
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2000
Subject Category
Environment Pollution
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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