EOS Validation Program

Institution: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
                    MS 183-301
                    4800 Oak Grove Dr.
                    Pasadena, CA 91109
Phone: (818) 354-2940
FAX: (818) 354-5148
E-mail: linda@regina.jpl.nasa.gov

Final Report, September 2000

The accuracies of SAGE III measurements of pressure and temperature are compromised by large (12%) uncertainties in the input for its forward model calculations. These atmospheric retrievals use the A-band of molecular oxygen near 0.76 micron (760 nm). A new oxygen catalog for this region will be achieved in this proposal by the careful merging of prior results in the literature with new calibrations to be done in the laboratory. An existing Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) located at the National Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak in Arizona will be used to record spectra of pure oxygen and oxygen broadened by air. From these the oxygen line intensities and line shape parameters will be calibrated with accuracies of 2.5% and 5% respectively. After the new database is produced, ground-based solar spectra of the 0.76 Êm region will then be recorded with the same FTS in conjunction with the McMath Solar telescope so that the list can be validated through comparison of synthetic and observed atmospheric spectra. These new oxygen parameters will be submitted in electronic form to the SAGE III science team (and later to the HITRAN database).