Errors in the Simultaneous Determination
of a Series of Atmospheric Minor Gases
from Ground-Based Measurements of Thermal IR Radiation

Ya. A. Virolainen, A. V. Polyakov, and Yu. M. Timofeev

Research Institute of Physics, St. Petersburg State University, Ul’yanovskaya ul. 1, Petrodvorets, 198904 Russia
Nansen International Center on Environment and Remote Sensing, ul. Korpusnaya 18, St. Petersburg, 197110 Russia

Received February 3, 1998; in final form, June 10, 1998

Abstract—A method is studied for simultaneously determining the vertical profiles of a series of atmospheric
minor gases (H₂O, O₃, N₂O, CH₄, CFC-11, CFC-12, and CO) on the basis of ground-based measurements of
downward thermal radiation in the range from 3 to 17 m with a spectral resolution of 0.4 cm¹. It is shown that
the measurements performed under clear-sky conditions make it possible to determine the total contents of
minor gases with errors from 1–2% (for H₂O) to 11.5% (for CO). Spectral measurements of downward radia-
tion can also be used to determine gas contents within several atmospheric layers. The corresponding errors in
gas content determination are as follows: 1.5–2.5 and 8.5–14.5% for water content in the lower and middle tro-
posphere, respectively; 5–7 and 3–5% for ozone in the troposphere and stratosphere, respectively; and 4–9%
for methane in the boundary layer and free atmosphere. For the atmosphere of a low water content, a spectral-
angular measurement scheme makes it possible to reduce the errors in the total content of chlorofluorocarbons
to 3.7 and 4.4% for CFC-11 and CFC-12, respectively.

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