From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MOPITT 2000 global carbon monoxide.

MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) is a payload scientific instrument launched into Earth orbit by NASA on board the Terra satellite in 1999. It is designed to monitor changes in pollution patterns and its effect in the lower atmosphere of the Earth. The instrument was funded by the Space Science Division of the Canadian Space Agency.

Instrument

MOPITT is a nadir sounding (vertically downward pointing) instrument which measures upwelling infrared radiation at 4.7 μm and 2.2-2.4 μm. It uses correlation spectroscopy to calculate total column observations and profiles of carbon monoxide in the lower atmosphere. Although observations of methane were also planned, to date no data have been released.

References

• Drummond JR, Mand GS (1996). "The measurements of pollution in the troposphere (MOPITT) instrument: Overall performance and calibration requirements". Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 13: 314–320. doi:10.1175/1520-0426(1996)013<0314:TMOPIT>2.0.CO;2.  
• Bowman KP (2006). "Transport of carbon monoxide from the tropics to the extratropics". Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmosphere 111: D02107. doi:10.1029/2005JD006137.  

External links

• Official NASA site
• MOPITT data available online from Atmospheric Sciences Data Centre
• MOPITT page at NCAR
• MOPITT page at University of Toronto