Improvements to air mass calculations for ground-based infrared measurements

High-resolution ground-based infrared solar spectra are routinely recorded at the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC) stations. These data sets play a key role in providing a long-term record of atmospheric composition and their links to climate change. The analysis of observed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of quantitative spectroscopy & radiative transfer 2004, Vol.83 (1), p.109-113
Main Authors: Meier, Arndt, Goldman, Aaron, Manning, Paul S., Stephen, Thomas M., Rinsland, Curtis P., Jones, Nicholas B., Wood, Stephen W.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:High-resolution ground-based infrared solar spectra are routinely recorded at the Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change (NDSC) stations. These data sets play a key role in providing a long-term record of atmospheric composition and their links to climate change. The analysis of observed infrared spectra involves comparison to a computer-modeled atmosphere where knowledge of the air mass distribution is an essential component. This note summarises improvements made to an existing and widely used computer code (FSCATM) to perform refractive ray-tracing and calculation of the air mass distribution. Changes were made towards higher vertical resolution in the troposphere and increased numerical precision. The revised FSCATM improves the analysis of infrared spectra mostly through the more accurate representation of the temperature profile. Air mass differences with respect to earlier versions are documented and are typically
ISSN:0022-4073
1879-1352
DOI:10.1016/S0022-4073(02)00018-3