Methodology ยท Atmospheric spectroscopy
Atmospheric limb/nadir sounding
Retrieves vertical profiles of atmospheric composition (O3, H2O, NO2) from solar occultation or nadir radiance; good for air quality monitoring and stratospheric science.
How it works
Profile retrieval via optimal estimation or radiative transfer inversion against solar Fraunhofer lines. Limb geometry gives vertical resolution; nadir trades that for coverage. [Wikipedia: Atmospheric sounding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_sounding)
Topics this serves
- Stratospheric ozone well suited
- Air quality adequate
Existing implementations
No implementations recorded yet.
Related methodologies
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Maps tropospheric NO2 and SO2 column density from UV-VIS backscatter; good for urban air quality, shipping emissions, and volcanic SO2 tracking.
Sources
- [wikipedia]Wikipedia: Atmospheric soundingcommunityaccessed 2026-05-22
Methodology
Edited from public sources. Last reviewed date pending by SpectraWorks editorial. See the data dictionary for field definitions.