Infrared balloon experiment: improved instrumental configuration and assessment of instrument performance.
During the 2002 environmental satellite Envisat mid-latitude validation campaign, a new upgraded configuration of the Infrared Balloon Experiment (IBEX) Fourier transform spectrometer, which had its first flight in 1978, performed a stratospheric balloon flight across the Mediterranean Sea. Among the substantial upgrades made to the instrument, the use of photon-noise-limited detectors permitted us to reach the theoretical limits in terms of signal-to-noise ratio. Also, important modifications were made to the interferometric system and electronics, such as the installation of a solid-state laser reference source and an onboard data recording system. During the flight, measurement of volume-mixing-ratio vertical profiles of O3, HNO3, N2O, and ClO from an altitude of approximately 38 km were performed with a vertical resolution of approximately 1.5 km.
Bianchini
G
G
Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Florence, Italy.
Boscaleri
A
A
Carli
B
B
Mencaraglia
F
F
Palchetti
L
L
Pascale
E
E