Observations of the infrared solar spectrum from space by the ATMOS experiment

Abstract

The final flight of the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy experiment as part of the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-3) Space Shuttle mission in 1994 provided a new opportunity to measure broadband (625-4800 cm(-1), 2.1-16 µm) infrared solar spectra at anunapodized resolution of 0.01 cm(-1) from space. The majority of the observations were obtained as exoatmospheric, near Sun center, absorption spectra, which were later ratioed to grazing atmospheric measurements to compute the atmospheric transmission of the Earth's atmosphere and analyzed for vertical profiles of minor and trace gases. Relative to the SPACELAB-3 mission that produced 4800 high Sun spectra (which were averaged into four grand average spectra), the ATLAS-3 mission produced some 40,000 high Sun spectra (which have been similarly averaged) with an improvement in signal-to-noise ratio of a factor of 3-4 in the spectral region between 1000 and 4800 cm(-1). A brief description of the spectral calibration and spectral quality is given as well as the location of electronic archives of these spectra.

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Affiliated Institutions

• Langley Research Center US
• University of Denver US
• University of Liège BE
• California Institute of Technology US
• Science Applications International Corporation (United States) US

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