Assessment of a technique for estimation of outgoing longwave radiation from the atmospheric infrared sounder radiance observations

Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) at the top of atmosphere (TOA) derived from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiance observations is compared with the Earth´s Radiant Energy System (CERES) OLR in monthly and daily time scales. The global monthly mean OLR differences between AIRS and CERES and the spatial standard deviations of the OLR differences are about 1 Wm^{- 2} and 6 W^-2, respectively. The regional daily mean differences between AIRS and CERES OLR from 60°N to 60°S are within 1 Wm^-2. These results suggest that AIRS and the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) could be used to monitor the performance of CERES and used as a backup in case of CERES failure.