Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Spectrophotometer for the Determination of the Water Vapor in a Vertical Column of the Atmosphere

1945; Optica Publishing Group; Volume: 35; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1364/josa.35.000601

2375-1037

Norman B. Foster, Laurence W. Foskett,

Advanced Sensor Technologies Research

There is described a simple photoelectric spectrophotometer, developed to determine the precipitable water in a vertical column of the atmosphere. A transmission replica grating is used as the dispersing element and an infra-red-sensitive photo-tube as the energy receiver. The photo-tube current is amplified by a negative feed-back d.c. amplifier and is read either by means of a 500 microampere ammeter or recorded by a high speed potentiometer recorder. Measurements are obtained by comparing the radiant flux in the 0.94μ water vapor absorption band with that at 1.01μ where no absorption occurs. A single-mirror heliostat is utilized to keep the spectrophotometer focused on the sun. An approximate calibration was obtained by plotting the spectrophotometer ratios against the total precipitable water values in a vertical column of the atmosphere as calculated from radiosonde moisture data.