Airborne Emission Spectrometer

Abstract

The Airborne Emission Spectrometer (AES) is a Fourier transform spectrometer designed for remote sounding of the troposphere from an aircraft platform. The instrument covers the 650 cm-1 to 4350 cm-1 spectral range with a resolution of better than 0.1 cm-1. The primary focus of AES investigations is to study the distribution of tropospheric ozone and the factors controlling the formation and distribution of tropospheric ozone. However, having access to a wide variety of atmospheric constituents, the instrument has proven to be useful in several remote sensing applications. The instrument has been deployed on NASA’s DC-8, P-3B and C-130Q aircraft, collecting infrared spectra over a wide range of targets and atmospheric conditions.