Feasibility of retrieving upper tropospheric water vapor from observations of far-infrared radiation

Christopher J. Mertens

doi:10.1117/12.454251

30 January 2002 Feasibility of retrieving upper tropospheric water vapor from observations of far-infrared radiation

Christopher J. Mertens

Proceedings Volume 4485, Optical Spectroscopic Techniques, Remote Sensing, and Instrumentation for Atmospheric and Space Research IV; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454251
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

Since the early 1970's, infrared remote sensing of water vapor has been based exclusively on observations of mid-infrared (mid-ir) emission from the strong 6.3 micrometers vibration-rotation band. However, the outgoing longwave radiation from Earth is dominated by emission in the far-infrared (far-ir) at wavelengths greater than 15 micrometers . The source of this far-ir radiation is upper tropospheric water vapor. Furthermore, there are a growing number of novel instrument concepts that propose measuring the thermal far-ir spectrum for the purpose of radiation budget sensing and climate fingerprinting. As a result, we investigate the feasibility of retrieving upper tropospheric water vapor from nadir-viewing observations of far-ir spectral emission. We find that it is possible to retrieve upper tropospheric water vapor from measurements of the far-ir spectral radiation, and that the vertical resolution can be significantly improved by combining measurements from the far-ir and mid-ir spectrum.

Citation Download Citation

Christopher J. Mertens "Feasibility of retrieving upper tropospheric water vapor from observations of far-infrared radiation", Proc. SPIE 4485, Optical Spectroscopic Techniques, Remote Sensing, and Instrumentation for Atmospheric and Space Research IV, (30 January 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454251

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