Geostationary imaging Fabry-Perot spectrometer (GIFS):measurement of clouds and trace gases

摘要

Long-term measurements of the global distributions of clouds, trace gases, and surface reflectance are needed for the study and monitoring of global change and air quality. The Geostationary Imaging Fabry—Perot Spectrom-eter (GIFS) instrument is an example of a next-generation satellite remote sensing concept. GIFS is designed to be deployed on a geostationary satellite, where it can make continuous hemispheric imaging observations of cloud properties (including cloud top pressure, optical depth, and fraction), trace gas concentrations, such as tro-pospheric and boundary layer CO, and surface reflectance and pressure. These measurements can be made with spatial resolution, accuracy, and revisit time suitable for monitoring applications. It uses an innovative tunable imaging triple-etalon Fabry—Perot interferometer to obtain very high—resolution line-resolved spectral images of backscattered solar radiation, which contains cloud and trace gas information. An airborne GIFS prototype and the measurement technique have been successfully demonstrated in a recent field campaign onboard the NASA P3B based at Wallops Island, Virginia. In this paper, we present the preliminary GIFS instrument design and use GIFS prototype measurements to demonstrate the instrument functionality and measurement capabilities.