Atmospheric hydroxyl radical (OH) abundances from ground-based ultraviolet solar spectra: an improved retrieval method

The Fourier Transform Ultraviolet Spectrometer (FTUVS) instrument has recorded a long-term data record of the atmospheric column abundance of the hydroxyl radical (OH) using the technique of high resolution solar absorption spectroscopy. We report new efforts in improving the precision of the OH measurements in order to better model the diurnal, seasonal, and interannual variability of odd hydrogen (HO(x)) chemistry in the stratosphere, which, in turn, will improve our understanding of ozone chemistry and its long-term changes. Until the present, the retrieval method has used a single strong OH absorption line P(1)(1) in the near-ultraviolet at 32,341 cm(-1). We describe a new method that uses an average based on spectral fits to multiple lines weighted by line strength and fitting precision. We have also made a number of improvements in the ability to fit a model to the spectral feature, which substantially reduces the scatter in the measurements of OH abundances.

Infrared balloon experiment: improved instrumental configuration and assessment of instrument performance

During the 2002 environmental satellite Envisat mid-latitude validation campaign, a new upgraded configuration of the Infrared Balloon Experiment (IBEX) Fourier transform spectrometer, which had its first flight in 1978, performed a stratospheric balloon flight across the Mediterranean Sea. Among the substantial upgrades made to the instrument, the use of photon-noise-limited detectors permitted us to reach the theoretical limits in terms of signal-to-noise ratio. Also, important modifications were made to the interferometric system and electronics, such as the installation of a solid-state laser reference source and an onboard data recording system. During the flight, measurement of volume-mixing-ratio vertical profiles of O3, HNO3, N2O, and ClO from an altitude of approximately 38 km were performed with a vertical resolution of approximately 1.5 km.

Absolute Line Intensities for the nu6 Band of H2O2

The purpose of this work was to obtain reliable absolute intensities for the nu6 band of H2O2. It was undertaken because strong discrepancies exist between the different nu6 band intensities which are presently available in the literature (A. Perrin, A. Valentin, J.-M. Flaud, C. Camy-Peyret, L. Schriver, A. Schriver, and P. Arcas, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 1995. 171, 358), (R. May, J. Quant. Radiat. Transfer 1991. 45, 267), and (R. L. Sams, personal communication). The method which was chosen in the present work was to measure simultaneously the far-infrared absorptions and the nu6 absorptions of H2O2. Consequently, Fourier transform spectra of H2O2 were recorded at Giessen in a spectral range (370-1270 cm-1) which covers both the R branch of the torsion-rotation band and the P branch of the nu6 band which appear at low and high wavenumbers, respectively. From the low wavenumber data, the partial pressure of H2O2 present in the cell during the recording of the spectra was determined by calibrating the observed absorptions in the torsion-rotation band with intensities computed using the permanent H2O2 dipole moment measured by Stark effect (A. Perrin, J.-M. Flaud, C. Camy-Peyret, R. Schermaul, M. Winnewisser, J.-Y. Mandin, V. Dana, M. Badaoui, and J. Koput, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 1996. 176, 287-296) and [E. A. Cohen and H. M. Pickett, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 1981. 87, 582-583). In the high frequency range, this value of the partial pressure of H2O2 was used to measure absolute line intensities in the nu6 band. Finally, the line intensities in the nu6 band were fitted using the theoretical methods described in detail in our previous works. Using these new results on line intensities together with the line position parameters that we obtained previously, a new synthetic spectra of the nu6 band was generated, leading to a total band intensity of 0.185 x 10(-16) cm-1/(molecule.cm-2) at 296 K. It has to be pointed out that the new line intensities agree to within the experimental uncertainties with the individual line intensity measurements performed previously by May and by Sams. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.