Abstract

The utility of the solar occultation remote sensing technique for providing accurate, high vertical resolution, global distributions of aerosols and atmospheric gases is now well established following a number of space flight experiments; SAM II (McCormick et al., 1979), SAGE (McCormick et al., 1979), and SAGE II (McMaster, 1986). The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE III) will continue these measurements through the Eos era. SAGE III has been chosen for definition phase study(phase B) for both the NASA Polar Orbiting Platform (NPOP) and the Space Station Freedom Attached Payload (SSF/AP) of Eos. Like SAGE II, SAGE III will measure aerosols, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and water vapor. Enhanced measurement capabilities include coverage of the oxygen-A band from which pressure and temperature profiles will be inferred (Chu et al., 1990), additional aerosol channels, and an additional channel for mesospheric ozone. Spectral coverage of the water vapor band will be expanded to most of the band at higher resolution. Twenty radiometric channels, each with 2 nm spectral resolution, provide contiguous coverage from 920 nm to 960 nm. This paper examines how the multiple channel measurements may be best used to minimize uncertainties in the retrieved water vapor and to optimize vertical coverage.

© 1990 Optical Society of America