Evaluation of CO Releases to Determine Atmospheric N2 Vibrational Population
Abstract
The paper evaluates the use of gaseous CO releases at high altitudes to determine the atmospheric N2 vibrational temperature. Since vibrational energy transfer from N2 to CO leads to CO infrared emission in the 4.7-micron fundamental band and 2.4-micron overtone band, CO infrared intensity measurements might be used to obtain the vibrational temperature. One result of these predictions is that CO emission intensity in the 2.4-micron band will be low due to radiation cooling of the first CO vibration level. Excitation of the second level is predominantly by the weaker single-step process involving a two- vibration quantum transfer from N2 to CO. The slow rate for the two-quantum transfer process makes observation of the overtone radiation emission difficult. Emission in the 4.7-micron band is not affected by radiation cooling. However, for a ground-based platform, 4.7-micron radiation is severely attenuated by the atmosphere. This experiment would be severely limited by additional CO emission that is excited by other sources, particularly sun and earthshine.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1973
- Accession Number
- AD0762316
Entities
People
- Morton Camac
Organizations
- Utah State University