Equations for solar tracking.

Direct sunlight absorption by trace gases can be used to quantify them and investigate atmospheric chemistry. In such experiments, the main optical apparatus is often a grating or a Fourier transform spectrometer. A solar tracker based on motorized rotating mirrors is commonly used to direct the light along the spectrometer axis, correcting for the apparent rotation of the Sun.

Retrieving radius, concentration, optical depth, and mass of different types of aerosols from high-resolution infrared nadir spectra.

We present a sophisticated radiative transfer code for modeling outgoing IR radiation from planetary atmospheres and, conversely, for retrieving atmospheric properties from high-resolution nadir-observed spectra. The forward model is built around a doubling-adding routine and calculates, in a spherical refractive geometry, the outgoing radiation emitted by the Earth and the atmosphere containing one layer of aerosol. The inverse model uses an optimal estimation approach and can simultaneously retrieve atmospheric trace gases, aerosol effective radius, and concentration.