title: Infrared balloon experiment: improved instrumental configuration and assessment of instrument performance.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bianchini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boscaleri
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mencaraglia
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palchetti
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pascale