The calculation of infrared limb emission by ozone in the terrestrial middle atmosphere

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5565459

Mlynczak, M G

The calculation of infrared limb emission from the middle atmosphere to space by ozone in the 9{mu}m to 11 {mu}m spectral region discussed. The departure from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) in the vibration-rotation bands of ozone is investigated, considering the processes of collisional excitation, collisional quenching, chemical pumping, photochemical reaction loss, radiative emission and radiative absorption. As the database of kinetic and spectroscopic rates necessary to construct statistical equilibrium models is very sparse, three different models are developed and their results are compared. The source functions for the {nu}{sub 3} hot bands and combination bands are calculated from the surface to 110 km in altitude for noon and midnight conditions during mid-latitude winter. Source function enhancements relative to LTE are a result of the chemical pumping and radiative absorption processes. Diurnal variations in the source functions are a result of diurnally varying photochemical processes. The radiance emitted by ozone is calculated for six bands for two of the three statistical equilibrium models considered using a high-resolution, line-by-line infrared emission model. A maximum 32% difference in the spectrally integrated radiance between 925 cm{sup {minus}1} and 1,141 cm{sup {minus}1} exists between the two sets of model radiances for tangent paths in the upper mesosphere. The contribution to the total radiance due to emission from two combination bands of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) that emit in the 9{mu}m to 11{mu}m spectral region is also calculated.

• Research Organization: Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5565459
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
CALCULATION METHODS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DAILY VARIATIONS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EMISSION SPECTRA
EQUILIBRIUM
EVALUATION
INFRARED SPECTRA
LTE
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OZONE
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
REMOTE SENSING
SPECTRA
VARIATIONS