Abstract

There is described a simple photoelectric spectrophotometer, developed to determine the precipitable water in a vertical column of the atmosphere. A transmission replica grating is used as the dispersing element and an infra-red-sensitive photo-tube as the energy receiver. The photo-tube current is amplified by a negative feed-back d.c. amplifier and is read either by means of a 500 microampere ammeter or recorded by a high speed potentiometer recorder. Measurements are obtained by comparing the radiant flux in the 0.94μ water vapor absorption band with that at 1.01μ where no absorption occurs. A single-mirror heliostat is utilized to keep the spectrophotometer focused on the sun. An approximate calibration was obtained by plotting the spectrophotometer ratios against the total precipitable water values in a vertical column of the atmosphere as calculated from radiosonde moisture data.

© 1945 Optical Society of America

Lunar absorption spectrophotometer for measuring atmospheric water vapor

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A New Form of Photoelectric Ultraviolet Spectrophotometer*

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Optics of Distilled and Natural Water

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A Versatile Infra-Red Spectrograph

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