Improvement of the O-2 A band spectroscopic database for satellite-based cloud detection

Detection of cloud parameters from space-based spectrometers can employ the vibrational bands of O-2 in the b(1) Sigma(g)(+) <-- X-3 Sigma(g)(-), spin-forbidden electronic transition manifold, particularly the Delta upsilon = 0 A band. The European Space Agency's Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), on board the European Remote Sensing 2 satellite, uses the A band in the Initial Cloud Fitting Algorithm (ICFA). The work reported here consists of making substantial improvements in the line-by-line spectral database for the A band, testing whether an additional correction to the line shape function is necessary in order to model correctly the atmospheric transmission in this band, and calculating prototype cloud and ground template spectra for comparison with satellite measurements. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.