CIVL1180

Monitoring Changing Climate From Space

Prof. Hui Su
Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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20 September, 2023
 Brief Review of Last Class
• Interaction between electromagnetic waves and matter
- Reflection, refraction and diffraction
- Doppler effect
• Flux density, absorptivity and reflectivity
• Graybody approximation

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 The Blackbody Radiation Law

• Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a

German theoretical physicist
• Born on April 23, 1858
• Died on October 4, 1947
• Award: Nobel Prize in Physics in
1918 for his work on quantum theory.
E=hf=hC/l

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 Planck’s Function
èThe amount of radiation emitted by a blackbody is uniquely determined by its temperature.
è The Planck’s law states that the monochromatic intensity (radiance) of radiation emitted
by a blackbody at temperature T is expressed by
Bl(T)=2hc2 / [l5 (ehc/klT - 1)] (1)
=C1/ [l5 (eC2/lT - 1)] , W m-2 µm-1 sr-1
Where k is Boltzmann’s constant (=1.381x10-23 J K-1),
h is Planck’s constant (=6.626x10-34 J sec),
c is the velocity of light (=2.998x108 m s-1),
T is the absolute temp (K).

C1= 2hc2=1.19 x 10-16 Wm2

C2= hc/k=1.44 x 10-2 m K

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 Interpretation of the Planck’s Function
(1) All bodies, at T>0 K (or -273.16 oC), emit radiation at all time
over a range of frequencies.
(2) Emission is related to its T, i.e., hotter bodies radiate more
energy, and radiate more at shorter wavelength or higher
frequency
(3) All bodies do not emit uniformly; the frequency of peak
emission depends on bodies temperature.
(4) Total intensity of emitted radiation contributed by the
wavelength interval [l, l+𝑑𝜆] 𝑖𝑠 𝐵! 𝑇 𝑑𝜆. The total radiant
energy emitted by any object is proportional to the area under
its emission spectrum. If 𝑑𝜆 =0, the emitted radiation goes to
zero. 5
 Blackbody Emission

• The hotter the object, the shorter

wavelength of the maximum
intensity

• At any given wavelength, emission

increases monotonically with
increasing temperature.

• The total radiant energy emitted by

any object is proportional to the area
under its emission spectrum.

Figure by Claudia Kuenzer, DOI:10.1007/978-94-007-6639-6_1 6

Solar Radiation and Terrestrial Radiation

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 Solar and Terrestrial Radiation
• Over 99% of the energy radiated by the sun and incident on
the top of atmosphere is accounted for by three bands from
0.1 to 4 µm: the ultraviolet band, the visible band and the
near-infrared band. We refer to these bands as solar or
shortwave radiation.

• Over 99% of the radiative energy emitted by the earth and the
atmosphere is found in the thermal infrared band from 4 to
100 µm. We refer to radiation in this band as terrestrial or
longwave radiation.
The disparate temperatures of the sources are the key:
the sun 6000 K, the earth and atmosphere 250-300 K
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 Blackbody Emission at Terrestrial Temperatures

Planck’s function drops off

sharply at the short wavelength
end of the spectrum while trailing
off much more slowly toward long
wavelengths.

Fig. 6.3: The Planch (blackbody) function Bl at

temperatures typical of those found in the atmosphere.

9/20/23 9
 Wien’s Displacement Law
Wien’s displacement law states that the
wavelength of the max intensity of
blackbody is inversely proportional to the
temperature.
lmax = 2897 / T (2)
Units: lm in µm, and T in K

Question 1: Where does ∂Bl(T) /∂l >0

and < 0

Question 2: What are lm at T=6000,

300, 200 K?

Figure by Claudia Kuenzer, DOI:10.1007/978-94-007-6639-6_1 10

 Stefan-Boltzmann Law
èThe total radiant intensity of a blackbody can be derived by
integrating the Planck function over the entire wavelength domain
from 0 to ∞
F = p B(T) =sT4 , in Wm-2 (3)
Where s is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant
𝜎 ≈ 5.67x10-8 W m-2 K-4.
Eq (3) is the fundamental law to analyze the broadband radiative
transfer. The Stefan-Boltzmann Law states that a blackbody
irradiance is proportional to the fourth power of the blackbody’s
absolute temp.

9/20/23 11
 Emissivity
• Planck’s function Bl(T) describes thermal emission from a blackbody,
which corresponds to the theoretical maximum possible emission from any
real object.

• Actual emission deviates from the ideal of a blackbody.

• Emissivity is defined as the ratio of actual emission by a given surface to

what would be emitted if it were a blackbody.

The emissivity of a given wavelength, el, is defined as the ratio of the

emitting intensity to the Planck function, and al is the ratio of the absorbed
intensity to the Planck function

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 Kirchhoff’s Law
èBlackbodies do not exist. Real bodies (gray body) are characterized by
(spectral) emissivities and absorptivities ≤1.
èThe emissivity of a given wavelength, el, is defined as the ratio of the emitting
intensity to the Planck function, and al is the ratio of the absorbed intensity to
the Planck function
èThe spectral emissivity is equal to the spectral absorptivity,
i.e., el(𝜃, 𝜙) = al (𝜃, 𝜙)
èFor blackbody, el =al=1
èFor gray body, el =al<1

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Typical Infrared Emissivities of Various Surfaces

Most terrestrial objects, such as sand, sea, forest, soil, even snow,
are nearly blackbodies. 14
 Infrared Imaging from Space
• IR imagery from satellites is most often depicted using white or light gray for the
coldest Tb and black or dark gray for the warmest Tb.
• Hot land surfaces (T≈310 K or more) during the summer (daytime) appear black,
and cold land surfaces during the winter (T< 250 K) appear medium gray.
• The coldest scenes of all are often associated with high cirrus clouds and deep
thunderstorms (T < 200 K).
• Strong contrast in Tb between deep thunderstorms and surrounding shallower,
and therefore warmer cloud tops makes IR imagery particularly useful for
operational detection of developing severe weather and even for estimating
probable rainfall amounts.
• IR imagery is complementary to VIS imagery, which depicts all clouds are
relatively bright feature, regardless of cloud top height.
• IR imagers yield high quality images of cloud systems both day and night.
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Himawari-9 Channels

Visible

Near
IR

Thermal
IR

Image: JMA

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 Himawari-9 Images

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https://www.data.jma.go.jp/mscweb/data/himawari/sat_img.php?area=fd_
 Himawari-9 Images

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https://www.data.jma.go.jp/mscweb/data/himawari/sat_img.php?area=fd_