History of satellite missions and measurements of the Earth Radiation Budget (1957–1984)

We review here the history of satellite missions and their measurements of the earth radiation budget from the beginning of the space age until the present time. The survey emphasizes the early struggle to develop instrument systems to monitor reflected shortwave and emitted long‐wave exitances from the earth and the problems associated with the interpretation of these observations from space. In some instances, valuable data sets were developed from satellite measurements whose instruments were not specifically designed for earth radiation budget observations. The effort of understanding the earth radiation budget has been the work of many people from different countries of the world, an effort of proud accomplishment.