ALBERT

Description: The HALogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) was launched on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) by the Space Shuttle Discovery at 7:11:04 EDT on September 12, 1991. After allowing for a period of outgassing, HALOE began taking routine science observations on October 11. HALOE uses the experiment approach of solar occultation and the gas filter and broad band radiometer instruments techniques to measure vertical profiles of HCl, HF, CH4, NO, NO2, H2O, O3, aerosol, and temperature versus pressure. The measurements cover a broad altitude range from the upper troposphere in some cases to the lower thermosphere in the case of nitric oxide. Latitude coverage provided by the occultation geometry ranges from 80 deg S to 80 deg N over the course of one year. The experiment has operated essentially without flaw for more than three years. Instrument stability over this time, as judged by the maximum signal change when viewing the sun exoatmospherically is less than or equal to 2 to 3%.

Description: The SAFIRE experiment was conceived to satisfy a long-standing need for simultaneous middle atmosphere observations of ozone and important O(y), HO(y), NO(y), ClO(y), and BrO(y) gases, coupled with dynamics data. This will be accomplished using interferometry and broadband radiometry to sound the Earth limb in the far IR and mid IR, respectively. The experiment will employ the latest developments in detector and cryogenic cooling technology in order to achieve the measurement objectives. Detailed instrument and simulated atmospheric retrieval studies show that important gases such as OH, HO2, H2O2, HDO, N2O5, and HOCl can be observed with good accuracy.

Description: The HALOE experiment will fly on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) in the last quarter of 1991. The experiment uses the solar occultation limb sounding approach, in combination with gas filter and broadband radiometry to provide measurements of temperature profiles and key gases in the ClO(y), NO(y), and HO(y) chemical families of the middle atmosphere. The instrument has been characterized in great detail to determine gains, spectral response, noise, crosstalk, field-of-view, and thermal drift characteristics. A final end-to-end test using a gas cell to simulate the atmosphere demonstrated measurement repeatability to about 1 percent and agreement between measured and calculated signals to within about 1 percent to 3 percent. This latter agreement provides confidence in knowledge of both the hardware as well as the software.

Description: HALOE observations of O3, CH4, HF, H2O, NO, NO2, and HCl collected during the October 1991 Antarctic spring period are reported. The data show a constant CH4 mixing ratio of about 0.25 ppmv for the altitude range from 65 km down to about 25 km at the position of minimum wind speed in the vortex: i.e., the vortex center, and depressions in pressure versus longitude contours of NO, NO2, HF, and HCl in this same region. Water vapor, HF, and HCl enhancement are also observed in the vortex center region above about 25 km. Between 10 and 20 km, the expected mixing ratio signatures exist within the vortex, i.e., low ozone and dehydration. The water vapor increased by 50 percent, and the ozone level doubled inside the vortex between October 11 and 24 in the 15-20 km layer. These changes imply a time constant for recovery from ozone hole conditions of 19 and 30 days for O3 and H2O, respectively. The data further show the presence of air inside the vortex between 3 and 30 mb which has mixing ratios characteristic of midlatitudes.

Description: The HALOE experiment measures vertical profiles of aerosol extinction at five infrared wavelengths. Four of these observations are obtained using a combination of gas filter and broadband radiometer measurements in bands of HF, HCl, CH4, and NO centered at wavelengths of 2.45, 3.40, 3.45, and 5.26 microns, respectively. The fifth is obtained using broadband radiometer measurements of CO2 transmission at 2.79 microns. Error analysis shows that the random extinction uncertainties are generally less than 10 percent in the aerosol layer, increasing to over 20 percent at the profile tops. HALOE spectral extinction measurements are shown to be consistent with predicted spectral extinction for stratospheric sulfate aerosol. Profile comparisons between HALOE and independent sources result in generally good agreement in the shape and magnitude of peak extinction and the altitude where the peak extinction occurs. In addition, global aerosol distributions obtained from the data are consistent with expected aerosol morphology. Although the validation is preliminary, the HALOE aerosol data appear to be of excellent quality and to accurately represent optical characteristics and distribution of the aerosols.

Description: HALOE observations of water vapor and methane during the period 21 September - 15 October 1992 are used to examine the role of Antarctic drying in the lower stratosphere. Zonal mean cross-sections of 2 CH4 + H2O show the probability of transport of Antarctic type dryness to latitudes as distant as 20 deg N, with major water vapor deficits evident between 10 and 100 mb to 10 deg S. Examination of monthly mean tropical 100 mb temperatures and of Antarctic temperatures suggests that the observations are consistent with stratospheric dryness being achieved by the combined effects of tropopause freeze-drying over the Micronesia region during northern winter and drying through the influence of the very low temperatures over Antarctica during southern winter. This paper presents these intriguing new results, and offers a possible explanation.

Description: The Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) uses solar occultation to measure vertical profiles of O3, HCl, HF, CH4, H2O, NO, NO2, aerosol extinction, and temperature versus pressure with an instantaneous vertical field of view of 1.6 km at the earth limb. Latitudinal coverage is from 80 deg S to 80 deg N over the course of 1 year and includes extensive observations of the Antarctic region during spring. The altitude range of the measurements extends from about 15 km to about 60-130 km, depending on channel. Experiment operations have been essentially flawless, and all performance criteria either meet or exceed specifications. Internal data consistency checks, comparisons with correlative measurements, and qualitative comparisons with 1985 atmospheric trace molecule spectroscopy (ATMOS) results are in good agreement. Examples of pressure versus latitude cross sections and a global orthographic projection for the September 21 to October 15, 1992, period show the utility of CH4, HF, and H2O as tracers, the occurrence of dehydration in the Antarctic lower stratosphere, the presence of the water vapor hygropause in the tropics, evidence of Antarctic air in the tropics, the influence of Hadley tropical upwelling, and the first global distribution of HCl, HF, and NO throughout the stratosphere. Nitric oxide measurements extend through the lower thermosphere.

Description: The Sounding of the Atmosphere Using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) experiment has been selected for flight on the Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) mission expected to fly in the latter part of this decade. The primary science goal of SABER is to achieve fundamental and important advances in understanding of the energetics, chemistry, and dynamics, in the atmospheric region extending from 60 km to 180 km altitude, which has not been comprehensively observed on a global basis. This will be accomplished using the space flight proven experiment approach of broad spectral band limb emission radiometry. SABER will scan the horizon in 12 selected bands ranging from 1.27 microns to 17 microns wavelength. The observed vertical horizon emission profiles will be mathematically inverted in ground data processing to provide vertical profiles with 2 km vertical resolution, of temperature, O3, H2O, NO, NO2, CO, and CO2. SABER will also observe key emissions needed for energetics studies at 1.27 microns (O2((sup 1)delta)), 2 microns (OH(v = 7,8,9)) 1.6 microns (OH(v = 3,4,5)), 4.3 microns (CO2(v(sub 3))) 5.3 microns (NO) 9.6 microns (O3), and 15 microns (CO2(v(sub 2))). These measurements will be used to infer atomic hydrogen and atomic oxygen, the latter inferred three different ways using only SABER observations. Measurements will be made both night and day over the latitude range from the southern to northern polar regions.

Description: The eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in June 1991 increased stratospheric aerosol loading by a factor of 30, affecting chemistry, radiative transfer, and remote measurements of the stratosphere. The Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) instrument on board Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) makes measurements globally for inferring profiles of NO2, H2O, O3, HF, HCl, CH4, NO, and temperature in addition to aerosol extinction at five wavelengths. Understanding and removing the aerosol extinction is essential for obtaining accurate retrievals from the radiometer channels of NO2, H2O and O3 in the lower stratosphere since these measurements are severely affected by contaminant aerosol absorption. If ignored, aerosol absorption in the radiometer measurements is interpreted as additional absorption by the target gas, resulting in anomalously large mixing ratios. To correct the radiometer measurements for aerosol effects, a retrieved aerosol extinction profile is extrapolated to the radiometer wavelengths and then included as continuum attenuation. The sensitivity of the extrapolation to size distribution and composition is small for certain wavelength combinations, reducing the correction uncertainty. The aerosol corrections extend the usable range of profiles retrieved from the radiometer channels to the tropopause with results that agree well with correlative measurements. In situations of heavy aerosol loading, errors due to aerosol in the retrieved mixing ratios are reduced to values of about 15, 25, and 60% in H2O, O3, and NO2, respectively, levels that are much less than the correction magnitude.