High-Altitude Balloon Test of Satellite Solar Occultation Instrument for Monitoring Stratospheric O3, H2O and HNOHNO

Abstract

In June 1982 a multi-detector infrared grating spectrometer was carried by a balloon to an altitude of 39 km at Palestine, Texas, where it measured intensities of solar radiation transmitted by the stratosphere before and during sunset. The instrument detected radiation continuously in eight spectral intervals in the infrared, including two in the 9.6 ?m absorption band of ozone, two near 6.6 ?m in the water vapor absorption band, and one in the 11.3 ?m band of nitric acid. These data permitted retrievals of concentrations of ozone, water vapor and nitric acid at 1 km intervals between the altitudes of 25 and 39 km. The ozone retrieval was compared with in-situ measurements made by ECC-sondes, which were available below 32 km. The measurements by the two systems were in good agreement. No in-situ data were available to be compared with the retrieved ozone profile above 32 km or with the water vapor and nitric acid retrievals. However, these retrievals agreed qualitatively with other measurements made in past years.