title: In-flight performance and calibration of SPICAV SOIR onboard Venus Express.
abstract: Solar occultation in the infrared, part of the Spectoscopy for Investigation of Characteristics of the Atmosphere of Venus (SPICAV) instrument onboard Venus Express, combines an echelle grating spectrometer with an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). It performs solar occultation measurements in the IR region at high spectral resolution. The wavelength range probed allows a detailed chemical inventory of Venus's atmosphere above the cloud layer, highlighting the vertical distribution of gases. A general description of the instrument and its in-flight performance is given. Different calibrations and data corrections are investigated, in particular the dark current and thermal background, the nonlinearity and pixel-to-pixel variability of the detector, the sensitivity of the instrument, the AOTF properties, and the spectral calibration and resolution.
authors.affiliation: Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, 3 avenue Circulaire, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium. arnaud.mahieux@aeronomie.be
authors.forename: Arnaud
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahieux
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berkenbosch
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clairquin
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fussen
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mateshvili
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Neefs
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nevejans
authors.forename: Bojan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ristic
authors.forename: Ann Carine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Vandaele
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wilquet
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Belyaev
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fedorova
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Korablev
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Villard
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Montmessin
authors.forename: Jean-Loup
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bertaux