Effects of atmosphere, temperature and emittance on reflected and emitted energy

Atmospheric effects were taken into account in a study of the variation of energy reflected and energy emitted from a natural target under several conditions of temperature and emittance. For the study, atmospheric transmittance was represented through use of an empirical midlatitude summer model. Results showed that the ratio of energy emitted to energy reflected from a target is much less than unity at 3.5 microns, equal to unity at 4 microns, and much greater than unity at 4.6 microns (for high temperatures and emittances). These theoretical findings agreed closely with spectroradiometric data on soils.