Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Stratospheric Observations from Nimbus 5

Abstract

EXPERIMENTS using both infrared and microwave radiometers have been developed for the Nimbus series of satellites1,2. Selective chopper radiometers (SCR) for Nimbus 4 and Nimbus 5 incorporate cells containing carbon dioxide gas to accomplish the narrow-band filtering, thereby achieving a very high effective spectral resolution—of the order of the width of the absorption lines themselves. By this means emission from levels in the atmosphere as high as 45 km can be selected. The first SCR on Nimbus 4, which was six channels in the 15 µm CO2 band3,4, has worked successfully for more than 3 yr; data from it have provided the first global maps of stratospheric temperature at these high levels5–7, and stratospheric warmings have been identified8,9.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wark, D., and Hilleary, D. T., Science, N. Y., 165, 1256 (1969).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hanel, R. A., and Conrath, B., Science, N.Y., 165, 1258 (1969).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Houghton, J. T., and Smith, S. D., Proc. R. Soc. Lond., A, 320, 23 (1970).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Abel, P. G., Ellis, P. J., Houghton, J. T., Peckham, G., Rodgers, C. D., Smith, S. D., and Williamson, E. J., Proc. R. Soc. Lond., A, 320, 35 (1970).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ellis, P. J., Peckham, G., Smith, S. D., Houghton, J. T., Morgan, C. G., Rodgers, C. D., and Williamson, E. J., Nature, 228, 139 (1970).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Barnett, J. J., Cross, M. J., Harwood, R. S., Houghton, J. T., Morgan, C. G., Peckham, G., Rodgers, C. D., Smith, S. D., and Williamson, E. J., Q. Jl R. met. Soc., 98, 17 (1972).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Global Stratospheric Analyses from the Oxford-Heriot-Watt SCR on Nimbus 4 (Atmospheric Physics Department, Oxford University, 1972).

  8. Barnett, J. J., Harwood, R. S., Houghton, J. T., Morgan, C. G., Rodgers, C. D., Williamson, E. J., Peckham, G., and Smith, S. D., Nature, 230, 47 (1971).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Labitzke, K., and Barnett, J. J., J. geophys. Res., 78, 483 (1973).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Ellis, P., Holah, G., Houghton, J. T., Jones, T. S., Peckham, G., Peskett, G. D., Pick, D. R., Rodgers, C. D., Roscoe, H. R., Sandwell, R., Smith, S. D., and Williamson, E. J., Proc. R. Soc. Lond. (in the press).

  11. Houghton, J. T., and Smith, S. D., Nimbus 5 Users' Guide (NASA, Washington DC, 1972).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Houghton, J. T., and Hunt, G. E., Q. Jl R. met. Soc., 97, 1 (1971).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

BARNETT, J., HOUGHTON, J., MORGAN, C. et al. Stratospheric Observations from Nimbus 5. Nature 245, 141–143 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/245141a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/245141a0

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing