Abstract

The pressure-modulated CO₂ radiometer is a new kind of instrument capable of making temperature soundings in the 40–80-km region of the earth’s atmosphere. It is intended to be mounted on a polar-orbiting satellite, where it will give global coverage of the upper atmosphere in a region that is not well understood at present but that is, as rocket soundings show, clearly the seat of many interesting and vigorous phenomena. The new technique employs a cell containing carbon dioxide as a filter. The pressure and hence transmission of this cell is periodically modulated, resulting in the selection of thermal radiation from the strong lines in the spectrum of atmospheric CO₂. This radiation originates at levels in the atmosphere where the pressure is low. The energy grasp of the device is large enough to give high sensitivity. Tests with a laboratory prototype and a balloon-borne instrument show that the device, if mounted outside the atmosphere, could detect changes of around 1 K in the temperature at 65-km altitude.

© 1972 Optical Society of America

Radiometer for the measurement of water vapor in the upper atmosphere from space

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