High Resolution Observations of the Submillimetre Stratospheric Emission Spectrum

THIS letter reports the preliminary results of some recent measurements of the thermal emission spectrum of the stratosphere in the submillimetre region. This follows analysis of previous measurements from aircraft 1–3 using Fourier spectroscopic techniques which snowed how, using a Michelson interferometer with a Golay cell detector, spectra may be obtained to a maximum resolution of about 0.2 cm −1 . From such results, the mixing ratios of H 2 O and O 3 may be determined relative to O 2 . Several emission lines due to H 2 O, O 2 and O 3 were also observed for the first time in the atmosphere, which raised the possibility that other much weaker lines due to minor atmospheric gases might be observed.