| Remote sounding provides a powerful technique for probing properties of the Earth's atmosphere as well as the atmospheres of other planets in our solar system. The Atmospheric Remote Sounding Group at U of T is engaged in a wide variety of projects to investigate the composition of the atmosphere and its change over time due to natural and artificial causes. We develop and use instrumentation to detect ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation, we analyse the resulting spectra to determine trace gas concentrations, and we interpret these measurements in terms of chemical and dynamical processes occurring in the atmosphere. The emphasis of our work is on stratospheric ozone and related gases, and on tropospheric "greenhouse" gases and pollutants.
Major projects include the MANTRA balloon campaigns to measure stratospheric composition at mid-latitudes, and the SCISAT-1 mission to study Arctic ozone science. Of particular note is MOPITT, a satellite instrument developed here in the Physics Department for the measurement of carbon monoxide and methane, and launched on NASA's Terra satellite in 1999. Our group is involved in numerous ground-based and airborne measurements, including field campaigns to the Arctic, Argentina, California, Saskatchewan, and South Africa. We have recently established the Toronto Atmospheric Observatory, which houses a high-resolution infrared spectrometer for studying the mid-latitude stratosphere and urban pollution. Our group is also participating in a number of projects to study the atmosphere of Mars.
In addition to these projects, we have several facilities that support and complement our atmospheric measurements. The Space Instrument Characterisation Facility was developed for the calibration and characterisation of MOPITT, and has also been used to test a number of other space instruments, including MAESTRO, and ACE-FTS. We also have several laboratories dedicated to molecular spectroscopy experiments that are closely coupled to our atmospheric studies.
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