Measurement of Submillimeter-Wave Stratospheric Emission Spectra

Abstract

The submillimeter-wave properties of the atmosphere are determined largely by the spectrum of water vapour. Although oxygen and ozone, for example, have significant features, it is the pure rotation spectrum of monomeric water vapour that dominates all else. As a consequence, solar radiation is detectable at sea level only beyond about 1000 μm and at 3000 m altitude it is detectable above 280 μm with the bulk of the detected power lying in two windows centred at 357 and 454 μm (Gebbie, 1957).