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Precise Measurement of Carbon Dioxide Column by Passive Ground Based SensorOver the past four years we have developed a family of differential radiometers based upon the Fabry-Perot interferometers that exhibit very great sensitivity to changes in the atmospheric column of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and water vapor. Our instruments employ a solid Fabry-Perot etalon that is tuned to the proper wavelength by changing its temperature. The thickness of the etalon has been selected so that its multiple pass bands align with regularly space absorption features of the molecule under investigation. Using multiple absorption features improves the optical throughput of the instrument and improves the stability of the instrument response with respect to environmental changes. We are presently working to extend this technique to the carbon 13 isotope of carbon dioxide and to methane. Our instruments are intrinsically rugged and can be fabricated in a small package at relatively low cost.. As such they hold promise for widespread use in ground based networks for calibration and validation of satellite instruments such as OCO and GOSAT. Results will be presented for long term ground based operations of these systems. The effects of atmospheric scattering, pointing errors, pressure broadening and temperature effects will be discussed with regard to achieving precision better than .5% required for validation of carbon dioxide column measured from space. Finally we will outline the approach for extension of this methodology to additional molecular species of interest.
Document ID
20080039149
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Heaps, William S.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Wilson, Emily L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Georgieva, Elena
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Baltimore, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
December 10, 2007
Subject Category
Chemistry And Materials (General)
Meeting Information
Meeting: 2007 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
Location: San Francisco, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: December 10, 2007
End Date: December 14, 2007
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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