Attitude Determination from a Balloon-Borne Radiometer Using Two-Sided Limb Scanning

Abstract

The determination of the horizontal attitude of a balloon-borne, infrared, limb-scanning radiometer is discussed. In particular, the relationship between scan-angle, as measured by the instrument, and the tangent height of the ray path through the atmosphere is considered. The instrument is unusual in that it scans in two opposite directions. This property is used to derive the scan angle from the same radiance profiles, which are used to determine the constituent profiles, subject only to the assumptions that the attitude is steady, the stratosphere is locally horizontally homogeneous, and the instrumental optical alignment is correct. The results of this determination for the first flight of the Toronto Balloon Radiometer are compared to previous methods of determining the instrumental scan angle and are found to agree to the accuracy with which the comparisons are made. Techniques by which the accuracy and resolution of the two-sided attitude determination could be improved are discussed.