Radiative transfer code for the thermal and near-infrared regions with multiple scattering

Abstract

FIRE-ARMS software was supplemented with the vector radiative transfer model VLIDORT. The new version of the software allows simulating outgoing thermal infrared radiation (TIR) from the Earth and solar shortwave infrared radiation (SWIR) reflected from the surface taking into account multiple scattering for the same atmospheric model and sensing geometry. We performed simulations of the spectra of outgoing TIR and SWIR radiation with multiple scattering in a cloudless atmosphere and compared them with the spectra measured by GOSAT satellite spectrometers in the cloudless atmosphere over Western Siberia. Analysis of calculated weighting functions shows that simultaneous use of the TIR and SWIR spectral regions will improve the height resolution in vertical profiling of methane concentrations in the atmosphere.