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Theoretical atmospheric absorption spectra between 2385 and 2425 kayser are shown to give excellent agreement with high resolution observations. Most of the atmospheric absorption in this region arises from continuum features due to absorption of N2 and the wings of distant CO2 lines. The treatment of each of these factors is discussed.
A parametric analysis of the Shuttle-borne differential absorption lidar concept for the measurement of atmospheric trace constituent profiles in the nadir viewing mode is presented. The criterion of an optimum constituent optical depth is developed and applied to generate estimates of range resolved measurement errors. These errors emphasize the fundamental limitations for establishing the feasibility of range-resolved differential absorption lidar measurements from Shuttle. With current lidar system technology, atmospheric backscatter density profiles may be adequately determined up to about 60-km altitude at the doubled-ruby wavelength, 3472 A, for a 1-J/pulse laser and a 1-sq m receiver. Potential range-resolved measurements of stratospheric and mesospheric trace constituents by differential absorption from Shuttle altitudes are limited to H2O, CH4, N2O, O3, and CO, species which can be more easily measured by passive limb viewing techniques. Range-resolved water vapor data for the lower troposphere may be obtained with accuracies which would be competitive with those from passive sensors.
A review of the key discoveries concerning absorption lines in QSOs is given. A number of recent studies bearing on the nature and origin of the absorption are discussed. It is concluded that it is most likely that the bulk of the absorption is intrinsic to the QSOs.
The effect of temperature on the total absorption of O2 induced by collisions with N2 has been measured at various temperatures in the Herzberg continuum using a one-meter normal-incidence grating monochromator. It is observed that absorption increases as the temperature decreases, which is ascribed to changes in the rate of formation of the dimers O2-O2 and O2-N2. The interaction constants for these dimers are determined as functions of temperature and then utilized to calculate the heats of dissociation of O2-O2 and O2-N2. Their respective values are found to be 0.0146 + or - 0.001 and 0.425 + or - 0.002 eV. Also, the interaction constants for these dimers measured at 200 + or - 1 K are utilized to investigate their effect on the absorption of solar radiation in the stratosphere.
Organic contamination of ultraviolet optical systems is discussed. Degradation of signal by reflection, scattering, interference, and absorption is shown. The first three processes depend on the physical state of the contaminant while absorption depends on its chemical structure. The latter phenomenon is isolated from the others by dissolving contaminants in cyclohexane and determining absorption spectra from 2100A to 3600A. A variety of materials representing the types of contaminants responsible for most spaceflight hardware problems is scanned and the spectra is presented. The effect of thickness is demonstrated for the most common contaminant, di(2 ethyl hexyl)phthalate, by scanning successive dilutions.
Quantitative interpretation of radiometric measurements for temperature profiling requires the ability to accurately calculate the average transmittance across the sounding channel. Therefore, an accurate calculation of atmospheric absorption due to broad banded or continuum absorption features is as significant as one of features due to individual lines. The important broad banded features affecting atmospheric absorption in the 4.3 micrometer region are due to the pressure induced N2 fundamental (called the N2 continuum) and to wings of relatively nearby very saturated CO2 lines. Attention is given to the N2 continuum, the CO2 line shape, and calculated and observed line spectra.
Results are presented of measurements of the optical absorption spectra (300-8000 nm) of olivine as a function of temperature (300-1700 K) under conditions of controlled and known oxygen fugacity within the stability field of the samples. The absorption spectra are used to calculate the temperature-dependent radiative transfer coefficient of olivine and to numerically study the accuracy of the method. The present absorption measurements in olivine under oxidizing conditions known to be within the olivine stability field indicate that the effective radiative conductivity K(R) is lower than that obtained in previous studies under different experimental conditions. The lower value of K(R) makes it more likely that some of the earth's internal heat is removed by convection and less likely that thermal models involving conduction and radiation alone will satisfactorily explain thermal conditions in the earth's mantle.
Intensities and N2 collision-broadening coefficients are measured for 62 water vapor absorption lines between 715 and 732 nm potentially applicable to laser remote sensing of atmospheric water vapor. Absolute line strengths and widths were determined from spectra corrected for instrument resolution, air-path absorption and Lorentz and Doppler broadening for pure water vapor and water vapor-nitrogen mixtures in a multipass absorption cell with a base path length of 25 m (White cell). Line strengths are observed to range from 4 x 10 to the -25th to 4 x 10 to the -23rd kayser/molecule per sq cm, and collision broadening coefficients are found to be approximately equal to 0.1 kayser/atm.
Band-averaged absorption coefficients for the wavelength channels of the backscatter ultraviolet (BUV) experiment computed with the laboratory ozone absorption measurements are presented. The coefficients ranged from plus or minus 11 to plus or minus 4% about the range midpoint for the major ozone-determining channels on the BUV; these percentage uncertainties in the band absorption coefficients lead to similar uncertainties in the absolute values of derived total ozone because of their reciprocal relationship. Derived total-ozone ratios of the BUV A:B pairs, the Dobson (1963) AD:CD double pairs; and the BUV B:Dobson AD are estimated for the different sets of coefficients based on the ratios experimentally observed in the BUV and Dobson data. It is shown that the Inn and Tanaka (1959) measurements produce the most consistent results, and band-averaged coefficients for the BUV-profiling wavelengths are computed.
A solar radiation canopy absorption model, including multiple scattering effects, was developed and tested for a lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) canopy. Reflectance above the canopy, spectral transmittance to the ground layer, and geometric and spectral measurements of canopy elements were made. Relatively large differentials occurred in spectral absorption by canopy layers, especially in the photosynthetically active region, as a function of solar zenith angle. In addition, the proportion of total global irradiance absorbed by individual layers varied greatly as a function of solar zenith angle. However, absorption by the entire canopy system remained relatively constant.
The method is based upon molecular line parameters and makes use of a far wing scaling approximation and k distribution approach previously applied to the computation of the infrared cooling rate due to water vapor. Taking into account the wave number dependence of the incident solar flux, the solar heating rate is computed for the entire water vapor spectrum and for individual absorption bands. The accuracy of the method is tested against line by line calculations. The method introduces a maximum error of 0.06 C/day. The method has the additional advantage over previous methods in that it can be applied to any portion of the spectral region containing the water vapor bands. The integrated absorptances and line intensities computed from the molecular line parameters were compared with laboratory measurements. The comparison reveals that, among the three different sources, absorptance is the largest for the laboratory measurements.
High-resolution (0.2 A) IUE spectra for the long wavelength range (1800-3000 A) have been studied. It is shown that narrow interstellar Mg II lines are seen in the center of the k2 and h2 emissions from nearby stars with large rotational velocities. For all observed stars, the radial velocity of the central k3 absorption component in the rest system of the star is strongly correlated with the mirror image of the radial velocity of the stars; this shows that a major fraction if not all of the k3 absorption is due to interstellar absorption in the solar neighborhood. The violet to red asymmetry of the k2 emission also correlates with the radial velocities of the star; this shows that the shift of k3 is due to the velocity shift of the local interstellar cloud with respect to the star.
Absorption spectroscopy of carbon and hydrocarbon species has been performed in a shock tube at an incident shock condition for a wavelength range of 135-220 nm, in order to obtain information needed for calculating radiation blockage ahead of a planetary probe. Instrumentation consisted of high frequency response pressure transducers, thin-film heat transfer gages, or photomultipliers coupled by light pipes. Two test-gas mixtures, one with acetylene and the other with methane, both diluted with argon, were used to provide a reliable variation of C3 and C2H concentration ratio. Comparison of tests results of the two mixtures, in the temperature range of 3750 + or - 100 K, showed the main absorbing species to be C3. The wavelength for maximum absorption agrees well with the theoretical values of 7.68 eV and 8.03 eV for the vertical excitation energy, and a value of 0.90 for the electronic oscillator strength, obtained from the measured absorption band, is also in good agreement with the predicted value of 0.92.
Most of the methods which have been developed for the measurement of the minority carrier diffusion length of silicon wafers require that the material have either a Schottky or an ohmic contact. The surface photovoltage (SPV) technique is an exception. The SPV technique could, therefore, become a valuable diagnostic tool in connection with current efforts to develop low-cost processes for the production of solar cells. The technique depends on a knowledge of the optical absorption coefficient. The considered investigation is concerned with a reevaluation of the absorption coefficient as a function of silicon processing. A comparison of absorption coefficient values showed these values to be relatively consistent from sample to sample, and independent of the sample growth method.
The ultraviolet absorption spectrum of carbonyl sulfide is investigated in order to assess the importance of the photolytic sink for OCS in the troposphere. Absorption cross sections were measured at wavelengths between 185 and 300 nm in a double-beam spectrometer at temperatures of 295 and 225 K. The results are found to be in good agreement with previous reports in the short wavelength region, but significantly lower than the value of 2 x 10 to the 22nd sq cm/molecule proposed by Rudolf and Inn (1981) between 280 and 300 nm, which may be attributed to trace contaminants or dimerization. A marked temperature effect is noted at wavelengths greater than 240 nm and below 190 nm. As no evidence of absorption at wavelengths greater than 270 nm was found, estimates of the solar photodissociation rate of tropospheric OCS based on the present cross sections yield a value of about 2 x 10 to the -9th/sec, corresponding to a tropospheric lifetime of about 20 years. It is therefore concluded that solar photolysis represents a negligible sink for OCS.
The rectenna's microwave power beam absorption limit was theoretically confirmed by two mathematical models descriptive of the microwave absorption process; first one model was based on the current sheet equivalency of a large planar array above a reflector and the second model, which was based on the properties of a waveguide with special imaging characteristics, quantified the electromagnetic modes (field configurations) in the immediate vicinity of a Rectenna element spacing which permit total power beam absorption by preventing unwanted modes from propagating (scattering) were derived using these models. Several factors causing unwanted scattering are discussed.
A spectrometer flown on the first Solar Absorption Balloon Experiment (SABE-1) observed the attenuated solar irradiance between 184 and 202 nm from an altitude near 40 km. These measurements provide a check on the absorption cross sections of molecular oxygen in the spectral region of the Schumann-Runge bands. Comparison of the measurements with calculations based on cross sections derived from laboratory data shows a general agreement although the irradiance measurements have large error bars near the centers of the absorption bands. The results imply that the 184-200 nm solar irradiance that penetrates to the stratosphere can be computed to an accuracy of + or - 30% or better by using presently available cross sections.
A continuum source with three different interference filters and two different monochromatic sources were used to photolyze OCS in the region from 200 nm to 300 nm. The total quantum yield for the production of CO was measured, and the results indicate a primary quantum yield of 0.72 + or - 0.08. Absorption cross sections for OCS measured at 0.5-nm intervals are reported as well as the percent change in absorption upon cooling to 195 K. The structured features in the absorption are reinvestigated and discussed.