Lacking any spectral resolution, such data do not allow the spectral bands causing the disagreements to be pinpointed. The atmospheric profiles of physical conditions and composition were unknown. Calibration of broad-band flux instruments is notoriously difficult, and notoriously bad. Broad-band flux measurements are averages of spectral radiance over all angles and wavelengths. When the same averaging is performed on the model results, it becomes almost impossible to trace the reason for the inevitable model-measurement disagreements.
Theoreticians believe their models have outdistanced current field data.
They recognize that such data have bearing on other disciplines but consider them useless for doing research on radiation. Satellite observations may be considered as a means of constraining the various models. Atmospheric profiles are rarely taken at the locations of the satellite measurements. ERBE measurements are probably the most accurate and precise to date but, lacking spectral resolution, they are of little assistance in correcting the factors leading to intermodel disagreements. Also, satellite observations do not address the problem of surface energy budget and atmospheric heating and cooling rates.