WATER VAPOR CONTINUUM IN THE $1300-2200 cm^{-1}$ REGION

Abstract

Author Institution: University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD 21228; Molecular Physics Division, Gaithersburg, MD 20899Water vapor transmission spectra in the $1300-2200 cm^{-1}$ region were recorded using a BOMEM fourier transform spectrometer at resolutions of 0.01, 0.04, and $2.00 cm^{-1}$. Self-, nitrogen-, and oxygen-broadened spectra were collected over a range of pressures and temperatures at path lengths of 12, 44, and 84 meters using a White-type cell. The near-line local absorption was calculated using the recently measured line parameters of Toth in order to determine the continuum from these data. Simulations of the difficult retrieval of the water continuum from these spectra within the band help guide our analysis and highlight the sensitivity of our retrieved continuum to uncertainties in the spectra and in the line parameters. Comparisons to existing continuum data and models will be presented