Emissivities of natural surfaces in the 8- to 14-micron spectral region

The emissivities of the ocean, stratus clouds, desert, and snow are determined from airborne radiometric (8–14 μ) temperature measurements. Corrections for the intervening atmosphere and for sunlight, skylight, and aircraft radiance reflected from the surface are discussed. The emissivities in this 8- to 14-μ region are found to be 0.99 for the ocean, 0.98 for stratus clouds, 0.90 for the desert, and 0.99 for melting snow.