Abstract

The importance of monitoring the trace gases active in the thermal infrared region of the spectrum is becoming more and more critical in light of the recent results regarding climate change and the greenhouse effect. Sources and sinks of anthropogenic gases such as CO, CH₄, and CFC’s are important parameters in determining the climatic impact of man’s use of the Earth’s resources. The Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS)¹ is a moderately high spectral resolution (ν/Δν = 1200) infrared sounder selected as facility instrument on the Earth Observing System (Eos). The primary purpose of AIRS is the extraction of atmospheric and surface temperature useful for weather prediction. However, AIRS complete infrared coverage from 17 to 3.3 microns will also allow the retrieval of many other useful weather and climate parameters such as the ability to monitor certain IR active trace gases. The moderate spectral resolution of AIRS does not permit the sensing of individual molecular lines so that interfering species must be accounted for and retrieved simultaneously. The results of sensitivity simulations in this study indicate that a number of useful measurements of column abundances of trace gases can be made.

© 1990 Optical Society of America