Tomographic retrieval of the oxygen infrared atmospheric band with the OSIRIS infrared imager

Abstract

The infrared imager (IRI) component of the optical spectrograph and infrared imager system (OSIRIS) onboard the Odin spacecraft provides a set of line-of-sight brightness measurements of the oxygen infrared atmospheric (OIRA) band. This set of measurements is unique in the fact that they are ideal inputs to a two-dimensional retrieval scheme that accurately recovers the volume emission rate of the OIRA band. The retrieval is done simultaneously in two dimensions, the angle along the satellite track and the distance from the centre of the Earth. The latter is easily converted to altitude above the surface of the Earth. In this work, we present the measurement set, the retrieval technique, and some preliminary results. We clearly demonstrate that the OSIRIS infrared imager provides maps of the OIRA band volume emission rate with unprecedented spatial resolution. PACS Nos.: 07.05.Pj, 07.60.Dq, 94.10.Fa, 94.10.Gb, 94.10.Rk