From the Latin "Occultatio", meaning hiding, or concealing.
From the Greek "Occultos", meaning to look through.
From the Latin "Occultatio", meaning atmosphere, or gas.
From Old French "Occultation", meaning to gaze upon something.
Question 2
Question
\[ \it{Limb}\] \[ \it{sounding} \] is the name given to what kind of measurement of the atmosphere?
Answer
Nadir viewing measurements of emitted radiation.
Limb viewing measurements of emitted radiation.
Nadir viewing measurements of absorbed radiation.
Limb viewing measurements of absorbed radiation.
Question 3
Question
There are three viewing configurations typically used for atmospheric remote sensing - what are they (click the three you think are correct):
Answer
Nadir sounding (detecting emitted radiation from directly below the satellite)
Limb sounding (detecting emitted radiation from the atmospheric limb)
Occultation (detecting transmitted radiation through the atmospheric limb)
Nadir sounding (detecting transmitted radiation from directly below the satellite)
Limb sounding (detecting transmitted radiation through the atmospheric limb)
Question 4
Question
Absorption lines of a particular gas are centred on discrete wavelengths because...
Answer
... quantum physics determines that all the molecular energy transitions will occur in discrete jumps (quanta).
... the energy levels are in regular, equal intervals.
... Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle dictates that the absorption must be at specific wavelengths.
... the Doppler effect determines the specific frequencies (wavelengths) of the lines.
Question 5
Question
In terms of the monitoring capacity of different atmospheric sounders, nadir sounders have [blank_start]better[blank_end] horizontal resolution but [blank_start]poorer[blank_end] vertical resolution compared to limb sounders.
Answer
better
poorer
Question 6
Question
The key advantages of limb sounding over nadir sounding for measuring very small gas concentrations are (choose all the ones you think are true):
Answer
The background signal is darks space (i.e. a very low and consistent signal).
The background is the Earth's surface and so very bright.
The path length over which the measurement is made is very long.
The signal is not sensitive to the atmosphere below the tangent layer.