Abstract
Abstract. The Radiation Explorer in the Far Infrared – Prototype for Applications and Development (REFIR-PAD) is a Fourier transform spectroradiometer that has been designed to operate from both stratospheric balloon platforms and the ground. It has been successfully deployed in a stratospheric balloon flight and several ground-based campaigns from high-altitude sites, including the current installation at the Italian–French Concordia Antarctic station. The instrument is capable of operating autonomously with only a limited need of remote control and monitoring and provides a multiyear dataset of spectrally resolved atmospheric downwelling radiances, measured in the 100–1500 cm−1 spectral range with 0.4 cm−1 resolution and a radiometric uncertainty of better than 0.85 mW(m2srcm-1)-1.
Highlights
The Radiation Explorer in the Far Infrared – Prototype for Applications and Development (REFIR-PAD) is a Fourier transform spectroradiometer that has been designed to operate from both stratospheric balloon platforms and the ground
The measurement of the atmospheric downwelling longwave radiance (DLR) is a crucial task in climate and Earth radiation budget (ERB) studies since it provides the complementary quantity to the top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiance (OLR) measured from space
The REFIR-PAD Fourier transform spectroradiometer (FTS) is based on a Mach–Zehnder interferometer with a folded optical design that allows for a compact instrument while still retaining the moderate resolution and high throughput needed for atmospheric studies
Summary
The measurement of the atmospheric downwelling longwave radiance (DLR) is a crucial task in climate and Earth radiation budget (ERB) studies since it provides the complementary quantity to the top-of-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiance (OLR) measured from space. The use of room-temperature detectors and of highly reliable mechanical solutions derived from space-qualified projects (Rizzi et al, 2002) makes the REFIR-PAD instrument an ideal tool to perform ground-based monitoring missions on climatologically relevant timescales This capability was tested in 2007 with the ECOWAR (Earth COoling by WAter vapor Radiation) campaign (Bhawar et al, 2008) and in 2009 with the RHUBC-II campaign (Radiative Heating in the Underexplored Bands Campaign-II) (Turner et al, 2012). In this paper a review of the main characteristics of the REFIR-PAD spectroradiometer is shown, together with the description of some measurement results obtained in groundbased campaigns in clear sky conditions; considerations and challenges related to the study of clouds are considered out of the scope of this work
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