Millimeter-wave spectrometers for remote sensing of ozone and other minor gases of the atmosphere

Abstract

Ozone plays very important role in the atmosphere because it protects life at the Earth's surface against the harmful solar UV-B radiation [1]. In the stratosphere, ozone critically controls the energy budget because it absorbs both solar UV and terrestrial IR radiation [1]. Spatial distribution and variations of the ozone content determine quantity and variations of the absorbed energy. Existing satellite instruments such as [2] can't provide both high resolution in horizontal plane and sufficiently dense data sets on concentration of ozone and ozone-related species (in the first place, chlorine and nitrogen oxides) over selected regions. So reliable ground-based instruments for monitoring of ozone and other minor atmospheric gases are necessary in addition to the satellites.