Abstract

Spectrally resolved earth limb radiance profiles were inverted to recover concentration and temperature profiles in the non-LTE altitude regime. These simulations used synthetic spectra for the optically thin NO fundamental band near 5.3 μm. The purpose of the study was to test a nonlinear inversion algorithm used previously to invert real data obtained in the Spectral Infrared Rocket Experiment. Specifically, the tests consisted of attempts to retrieve singly and doubly peaked excited density vs altitude profiles and kinetic temperature vs altitude from the synthetic spectral data with and without added noise. A nonlinear inversion algorithm was used rather than the formal inverse of the Abel integral equation because it offers promise for species/bands that are not optically thin.

© 1983 Optical Society of America

Rapid inversion of limb radiance data using an emissivity growth approximation

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