Abstract

The atmospheric trace molecule spectroscopy (ATMOS) instrument is a Fourier transform spectrometer developed for use in space in studying the physics and chemistry of the earth’s upper atmosphere by absorption spectroscopy. The instrument, which is capable of scanning the 2.5–16-µm spectral region with a resolution of 0.01 cm^‒1 in 2 s, was flown on Spacelab 3 (29 Apr.–6 May 1985). The spectra obtained from this flight yielded the vertical abundances of many trace molecular species between the altitudes of 10 and 130 km. Several of these gases, which are important to studies of the stratospheric ozone balance, had not been observed previously.

© 1988 Optical Society of America