Selection of Optimized Microwindows for Atmospheric Spectroscopy

Abstract

Fourier transform instruments, such as the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS), provide spectra covering wide frequency ranges. In atmospheric spectroscopy the measured spectrum is usually not analyzed simultaneously as a whole, but microwindows which are dedicated to certain target species are used for the inversion process. An optimum microwindow contains prominent transitions of the target species, leading to high sensitivities of the measured spectral signal to the target parameters, while the signal of transitions of non-target species shall be low. In the early days of atmospheric spectroscopy microwindows were defined and selected by experienced spectroscopists. Nowadays there is a growing need to define and select optimized microwindows in an objective and reproduceable manner.