Airborne laser infrared absorption spectrometer (ALIAS-II) for in situ atmospheric measurements of N2O, CH4, CO, HCl, and NO2 from balloon or remotely piloted aircraft platforms

The Airborne Laser Infrared Absorption Spectrometer II (ALIAS-II) is a lightweight, high-resolution (0.0003-cm(-1)), scanning, mid-infrared absorption spectrometer based on cooled (80 K) lead-salt tunable diode laser sources. It is designed to make in situ measurements in the lower and middle stratosphere on either a balloon platform or high-altitude remotely piloted aircraft. Chemical species that can be measured precisely include long-lived tracers N(2)O and CH(4), the shorter-lived tracer CO, and chemically active species HCl and NO(2). Advances in electronic instrumentation developed for ALIAS-I, with the experience of more than 250 flights on board NASA's ER-2 aircraft, have been implemented in ALIAS-II. The two-channel spectrometer features an open cradle, multipass absorption cell to ensure minimal contamination from inlet and surfaces. Time resolution of the instrument is <or=3 s, allowing rapid in situ measurements with excellent spatial resolution. ALIAS-II has completed successful balloon flights from New Mexico, Alaska, and Brazil providing CH(4) and N(2)O vertical profiles in the tropics, mid-latitudes, and high northern latitudes up to altitudes of 32 km.

Stratospheric N(2)O mixing ratio profile from high-resolution balloon-borne solar absorption spectra and laboratory spectra near 1880 cm(-1)

A nonlinear least-squares fitting procedure has been used to derive the stratospheric N(2)O mixing ratio profile from balloon-borne solar absorption spectra and laboratory spectra near 1880 cm(-1). The atmospheric spectra were recorded during sunset from a float altitude of 33 km with the University of Denver 0.02-cm(-1) resolution interferometer near Alamogordo, N.M. (33 degrees N), on 10 Oct. 1979. The laboratory data were used to determine the N(2)O line intensities. The measurements indicate an N(2)O mixing ratio of 264 ppbv near 15 km decreasing to 155 ppbv near 28 km.