Vol. 11, issue 10, article # 10

Abstract:

The accuracy of altitude assignment of the line of sight is estimated for the tangent sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere from space. The two methods of assignment are considered: by positions of the spectral brightness maxima of the atmosphere at the Earth’s limb (for the reflected and scattered solar radiation) and by the altitude dependence of radiation attenuation for different sources outside the Earth’s atmosphere (for radiation transmission). The calculations were performed for the UV spectral range, corresponding to the Hartley ozone absorption band, where the multiple scattering, cloudiness variability, and albedo of the underlying surface are negligible. It is shown that random “weather” variations of density, ozone concentration, and aerosol scattering in the upper atmosphere lead to relatively small error of the altitude assignment.