title: Infrared limb sounding of Titan with the Cassini Composite InfraRed Spectrometer: effects of the mid-IR detector spatial responses.
abstract: The composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument on board the Cassini Saturn orbiter employs two 1x10 HgCdTe detector arrays for mid-infrared remote sensing of Titan's and Saturn's atmospheres. In this paper we show that the real detector spatial response functions, as measured in ground testing before launch, differ significantly from idealized "boxcar" responses. We further show that neglecting this true spatial response function when modeling CIRS spectra can have a significant effect on interpretation of the data, especially in limb-sounding mode, which is frequently used for Titan science. This result has implications not just for CIRS data analysis but for other similar instrumental applications.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, Department of Astronomy, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA. conor.a.nixon@nasa.gov
authors.forename: Conor A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Nixon
authors.forename: Nicholas A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Teanby
authors.forename: Simon B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Calcutt
authors.forename: Shahid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aslam
authors.forename: Donald E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.forename: Virgil G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Kunde
authors.forename: F Michael
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Flasar
authors.forename: Patrick G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Irwin
authors.forename: Fredric W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Glenar
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Smith