Impact of new water vapor continuum coefficients in the far infrared on atmospheric fluxes and cooling rates

The paper illustrates the impact of new water vapor continuum coefficients in the far infrared on spectral cooling rates and integrated atmospheric fluxes. The analysis has been based on data and results obtained within the ECOWAR project (Earth Cooling by Water vapor Radiation). A novel methodology has been developed, implemented and used to retrieve foreign-broadened water vapor continuum absorption coefficients from atmospheric emitted spectral radiance observations in the spectral range 240 to 590 cm−1 . The impact of these new coefficients on spectral cooling rates has been assessed. The new coefficients show that the lower troposphere tends to cool down at a rate larger than that predicted by the state-of-art Mlawer, Tobin-Clough, Kneizys, Davies (MT_CKD) continuum.