Remote sensing of the atmosphere for environmental security: [proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere for Environmental Security, Rabat, Morocco, 16-19 November 2005]

Recent ecological disasters make human beings aware of changes in the Earth’s climate. At the present time anthropogenic activities lead to the emission of greenhouse gases, pollutants, aerosols and ozone depleting substances and the scientific community in general feels responsible for understanding how changes in atmospheric chemistry can affect the Earth’s climate. The first part of these proceedings describes the current capabilities of various satellite experiments which are performing measurements of the Earth’s atmosphere, as for example some of the results obtained recently by three experiments onboard the Environment Satellite (ENVISAT), namely, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), the SCanning Imaging Absorption for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) and the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). For the analysis of spectra recorded by these instruments it is necessary to make good use of efficient radiative transfer codes. These computer codes need as input, a dataset of high quality spectroscopic parameters which can be generated only through a careful analysis of high quality laboratory measurements. In addition some of the future satellite missions which are under preparation at the European Space Agency (ESA) are briefly described. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Spectroscopic Measurements of Tropospheric Composition from Satellite Measurements in the Ultraviolet and Visible: Steps Toward Continuous Pollution Monitoring from Space....Pages 1-25 ESA Spectroscopy Studies in Support of Spaceborne Atmospheric Composition Sounding....Pages 27-39 The MIPAS Experiment Aboard ENVISAT: Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Composition....Pages 41-55 Performances of the Operational Retrieval Code for MIPAS on Envisat and Possible Improvements of Retrieval Techniques for Environment and Climate....Pages 57-70 New Measurements of Trace Species in the Upper Troposphere from Infra-Red Spectra of the Atmosphere....Pages 71-85 Remote Sensing of the Non-LTE Atmosphere....Pages 87-106 Quantitative Spectroscopy and Atmospheric Measurements....Pages 107-121 Quantitative Laboratory Spectroscopy of Atmospheric Trace Gases....Pages 123-137 Global Modeling of High-Resolution Spectra of Linear Molecules CO 2 , N 2 O and C 2 H 2 ....Pages 139-159 CDSD-296, The High-Precision Carbon Dioxide Spectroscopic Databank: Version for Atmospheric Applications....Pages 161-169 Theoretical Quantitative Spectroscopy: Computer Simulation of Molecular Spectra....Pages 171-183 Recent Results on Infrared Molecular Line Broadening and Shift Parameters....Pages 185-201 Half-Widths and Line Shifts of Water Vapor for Atmospheric Applications: Measurement and Theory....Pages 203-220 Quantitative Rotational Spectroscopy for Atmospheric Research....Pages 221-235 Pressure-Broadening of the 22.2 GHz Line of Water: Basic Results for Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere....Pages 237-255 Rotational Spectroscopy at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory....Pages 257-269 Correlation Between Precipitable Water and Rainfall Using Global Positioning System (GPS) Technique....Pages 271-284 Extreme Variability of Aerosol Optical Properties: The Cairo Aerosol Characterization Experiment Case Study....Pages 285-299 Urban Air Pollution and Its Photochemistry Studied by Laser Spectroscopic Methods....Pages 301-316 The Atmospheric Chemistry Ether Group: Expertise and Database....Pages 317-327 An Integrated Approach to Study the Chemistry-Climate Interactions in the Atmosphere....Pages 329-343 Back Matter....Pages 345-353

Recent ecological disasters make human beings aware of changes in the Earth’s climate. At the present time anthropogenic activities lead to the emission of greenhouse gases, pollutants, aerosols and ozone depleting substances and the scientific community in general feels responsible for understanding how changes in atmospheric chemistry can affect the Earth’s climate. A NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was organized at Rabat (Morocco) on the 17-19th of November 2005 on the Remote sensing of the Atmosphere for Environmental Security.

The first part of the proceedings describes the current capabilities of various satellite experiments which are performing measurements of the Earth’s atmosphere, as for example some of the results obtained recently by three experiments onboard the ENVISAT Environment Satellite (ENVISAT), namely, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), the SCanning Imaging Absorption for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) and the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). For the analysis of spectra recorded by these instruments it is necessary to make good use of efficient radiative transfer codes. These computer codes need as input, a dataset of high quality spectroscopic parameters which can be generated only through a careful analysis of high quality laboratory measurements. In addition some of the future satellite missions which are under preparation at the European Space Agency (ESA) are briefly described.

The characterisation of pollution in urban areas and the growing lack of water in many countries of the Mediterranean area are of universal concern. The extreme variability of the properties of aerosols in arid and semi arid areas is presented in the context of an experiment performed at Cairo (in Egypt). Finally, the understanding of climate chemistry couplings requires that ground-based and satellite information be confronted with the results of chemical transport and atmospheric models collected and discussed in the frame of international agencies.

Recent ecological disasters make human beings aware of changes in the Earthʼs climate. At the present time anthropogenic activities lead to the emission of greenhouse gases, pollutants, aerosols and ozone depleting substances and the scientific community in general feels responsible for understanding how changes in atmospheric chemistry can affect the Earthʼs climate. A NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was organized at Rabat (Morocco) on the 17-19th of November 2005 on the "Remote sensing of the Atmosphere for Environmental Security". The first part of the proceedings describes the current capabilities of various satellite experiments which are performing measurements of the Earthʼs atmosphere, as for example some of the results obtained recently by three experiments onboard the ENVISAT Environment Satellite (ENVISAT), namely, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), the SCanning Imaging Absorption for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) and the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS). For the analysis of spectra recorded by these instruments it is necessary to make good use of efficient radiative transfer codes. These computer codes need as input, a dataset of high quality spectroscopic parameters which can be generated only through a careful analysis of high quality laboratory measurements. In addition some of the future satellite missions which are under preparation at the European Space Agency (ESA) are briefly described. The characterisation of pollution in urban areas and the growing lack of water in many countries of the Mediterranean area are of universal concern. The extreme variability of the properties of aerosols in arid and semi arid areas is presented in the context of an experiment performed at Cairo (in Egypt). Finally, the understanding of climate chemistry couplings requires that ground-based and satellite information be confronted with the results of chemical transport and atmospheric models collected and discussed in the frame of international agencies Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere for Environmental Security, Rabat, Morocco, 16-19 November 2005.