Publication Date:
2011-08-18
Description:
Measurements of continuous absorption near 2400 per cm by N2 and CO2 over long path lengths in the lower stratosphere are presented. The continua were measured in a stratospheric solar spectrum obtained during sunset with a balloon-borne Michelson interferometer in the 2380-2500 per cm region, and transmittances were calculated by ratioing the amplitudes to those of a high-sun spectrum in order to eliminate the wavelength dependence of the measured flux. Comparison of the measured transmittances with those calculated for a multilayered atmospheric model using laboratory absorption measurements results in a fair agreement, and reveals the primary component of the absorption throughout most of the range to be N2, with the CO2 contribution equal to that of N2 only at the CO2 band head. In this region, the shape of the continuum is very sensitive to the sub-Lorentzian line shape assumed in the calculations, and so, if the shape of the N2 continuum at low temperatures can be determined through laboratory measurements, may be used to infer air-broadened far-wing CO2 line shape.
Keywords:
GEOPHYSICS
Type:
Applied Optics; 20; Dec. 15
Format:
text
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