Papers on carbon dioxide absorption properties in atmosphere

This list of papers contains observations of carbon dioxide absorption properties measured from Earth’s atmosphere. Some of the papers discuss CO₂ concentration measurements, but they are about CO₂ retrievals from infrared spectrum, so they are also about CO₂ absorption properties in that sense. The list is not complete, and will most likely be updated in the future in order to make it more thorough and more representative.

Satellite remote sounding of mid-tropospheric CO₂ – Chahine et al. (2008) “Mid-tropospheric CO2 retrieved by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder shows a substantial spatiotemporal variability that is supported by in situ aircraft measurements.” [Link to PDF]

Development of remote sensing techniques for detecting variations of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations from high-resolution infrared sounders – Uspensky et al. (2007) Conference paper. “The paper describes the approach developed for the retrieval of CO₂ columns from clear-sky or cloud-cleared AIRS measurements in the dedicated channels subset (LW band), based on the physical inversion algorithm. The results of validation exercise, that has been carried out with actual AIRS data for two areas in Western Siberia and 10 months of year 2003, demonstrate the ability of retrievals to capture seasonal cycle of CO₂ columns, derived from collocated air-borne observations.” [Link to PDF]

Direct retrieval of stratospheric CO₂ infrared cooling rate profiles from AIRS data – Feldman et al. (2006) No need to guess if CO₂ cools stratosphere when we can just measure it. “Specifically, we infer lower- and mid-stratospheric cooling rates from the CO₂ ν₂ band on the basis of selected spectral channels and available data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). In order to establish the validity of our results, we compare our retrievals to those calculated from a forward radiative transfer program using retrieved temperature data from spectra taken by the Scanning High-Resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS) on two aircraft campaigns: the Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment (MPACE) and the Aura Validation Experiment (AVE) both in Fall, 2004. Reasonable and consistent comparisons are illustrated, revealing that spectral radiance data taken by high-resolution infrared sounders can be used to determine the vertical distribution of radiative cooling due to CO₂.” [Link to PDF]

On the determination of atmospheric minor gases by the method of vanishing partial derivatives with application to CO₂ – Chahine et al. (2005) “We present a general method for the determination of minor gases in the troposphere from high spectral resolution observations. In this method, we make use of a general property of the total differential of multi-variable functions to separate the contributions of each individual minor gas. We have applied this method to derive the mixing ratio of carbon dioxide in the mid-troposphere using data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) currently flying on the NASA Aqua Mission. We compare our results to the aircraft flask CO₂ measurements obtained by H. Matsueda et al. over the western Pacific and demonstrate skill in tracking the measured 5 ppmv seasonal variation with an accuracy of 0.43 ± 1.20 ppmv.” [Link to PDF] [Presentation material]

Estimating atmospheric CO₂ from advanced infrared satellite radiances within an operational four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) data assimilation system: Results and validation – Engelen et al. (2005) “More than a year of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiance observations have been assimilated in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) data assimilation system to estimate tropospheric CO₂. … Comparisons with independent flight data from Japanese Airlines and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory are favorable.” [Link to PDF]

Spectra calculations in central and wing regions of CO₂ IR bands between 10 and 20 μm. III: atmospheric emission spectra – Niro et al. (2005) Compare figures 1 and 3 for a simple demonstration of CO₂ effect in the atmosphere (CO₂ frequency is 667 cm^-1). “The present work completes these studies by now considering atmospheric emission in the 10–20 μm range. Comparisons are made between computed atmospheric radiances and measurements obtained using four different Fourier transform experiments collecting spectra for nadir, up-looking, as well as limb (from balloon and satellite) geometries. Our results confirm that using a Voigt model can lead to very large errors that affect the spectrum more than 300 cm⁻¹ away from the center of the CO₂ ν₂ band. They also demonstrate the capability of our model to represent accurately the radiances in the entire region for a variety of atmospheric paths.” [Link to PDF]

Spectra calculations in central and wing regions of CO₂ IR bands between 10 and 20 μm. II. Atmospheric solar occultation spectra – Niro et al. (2004) “Comparisons are made between forward calculations of atmospheric transmission spectra and values measured using two different solar occultation experiments based on high resolution Fourier transform instruments. The results demonstrate that neglecting line-mixing and using a Voigt model can lead to a very large overestimation of absorption that may extend over more than 300 cm⁻¹ in the wing of the CO₂ ν₂ band. They also demonstrate the capability of our model to represent accurately the absorption in the entire region for a variety of atmospheric paths.”

Estimating atmospheric CO₂ from advanced infrared satellite radiances within an operational 4D-Var data assimilation system: Methodology and first results – Engelen et al. (2004) “Atmospheric CO₂ concentrations have been obtained from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiance data within the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts data assimilation system. … First results for February and August 2003 show considerable geographical variability compared to the background with values ranging between 371 and 380 ppmv.” [Link to PDF]

The feasibility of monitoring CO₂ from high-resolution infrared sounders – Chédin et al. (2003) “Satellite instruments specifically designed to monitor atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have not been flown to date but, high-resolution infrared sounders, being launched in the next few years, may offer the possibility of at least a basic carbon dioxide monitoring capability. … We also show results of an information content study for the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder, AIRS, data, which suggests 50 channels are adequate for inferring the tropospheric carbon dioxide amounts but that they are not sensitive to CO₂ changes in the boundary layer.” [Link to PDF]

Closely related

Papers on atmospheric measurements of GHGs
Papers on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration measurements
Papers on changes in OLR due to GHG’s
Papers on changes in DLR
Papers on laboratory measurements of CO2 absorption properties