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ATMOS/ATLAS 3 Infrared Profile Measurements of Clouds in the Tropical and Subtropical Upper TroposphereVertical profiles of infrared cirrus extinction have been derived from tropical and subtropical upper tropospheric solar occultation spectra. The measurements were recorded by the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) Fourier transform spectrometer during the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Sciences (ATLAS) 3 shuttle flight in November 1994. The presence of large numbers of small ice crystals is inferred from the appearance of broad extinction features in the 8-12 micron region. These features were observed near the tropopause and at lower altitudes. Vertical profiles of the ice extinction (/km) in microwindows at 831, 957, and 1204/cm have been retrieved from the spectra and analyzed with a model for randomly oriented spheroidal ice crystals. An area-equivalent spherical radius of 6 microns is estimated from the smallest ice crystals observed in the 8-12 gm region. Direct penetration of clouds into the lower stratosphere is inferred from observations of cloud extinction extending from the upper troposphere to 50 mbar (20 km altitude). Cloud extinction between 3 and 5 microns shows very little wavelength dependence, at least for the cases observed by the ATMOS instrument in the tropics and subtropics during ATLAS 3.
Document ID
19990053349
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Rinsland, C. P.
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Gunson, M. R.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA United States)
Wang, P.-H.
(Science and Technology Corp. Hampton, VA United States)
Arduini, R. F.
(Science Applications International Corp. Hampton, VA United States)
Baum, B. A.
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Minnis, P.
(NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA United States)
Goldman, A.
(Denver Univ. Denver, CO United States)
Abrams, M. C.
(ITT Defense and Electronics Fort Wayne, IN United States)
Zander, R.
(Liege Univ. Belgium)
Mahieu, E.
(Liege Univ. Belgium)
Salawitch, R. J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA United States)
Michelsen, H. A.
(Harvard Univ. Cambridge, MA United States)
Irion, F. W.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA United States)
Newchurch, M. J.
(Alabama Univ. Huntsville, AL United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1998
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer
Publisher: Pergamon
Volume: 60
Issue: 5
Subject Category
Geophysics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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