Water Vapor: Its Structure and Electromagnetic Absorption.
Abstract
Research has shown that traditional theories of the structure of vapors are imprecise when applied to strongly hydrogen-bonded substances like water. Presented here are the main points of a new theory, with major emphasis on physical descriptions of the populations, sizes, and size distributions of neutral molecular cluster species in water vapor and moist air that interact with electromagnetic radiation in the atmosphere. From this theory, models are developed that describe the infrared continium absorption of atmospheric water vapor almost precisely, and extend this modeling to a wide range of temperatures and humidities. Because the new equations are based in fundamental physics, modeling in wavelength regions other than the infrared, e.g., the millimeter- and microwave-regions should be possible if investigators can compute and experimentally verify absorption attributable to modes of the neutral clusters that are effective in the absorption at these wavelengths. It is suggested that the new equations be incorporated into existing atmospheric transmission models. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA113647
Entities
People
- Hugh R. Carlon
Organizations
- United States Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center