[1] Atmospheric water vapor is a key parameter for the analysis of climatic systems (greenhouse gas effect), in particular over high latitudes where water vapor displays an important seasonal variability. The sparse spatial and temporal sampling of atmospheric water vapor observations across Canada needs to be improved. A series of instruments and methods including a 940-nm solar absorption band radiometer (R) and radiosonde (S) analysis from a numerical weather prediction model and a ground-based bi-frequency Global Positioning System (GPS) were used to evaluate the integrated atmospheric water vapor (IWV) at various sites in Canada and Alaska from a multiyear database. The IWV-R measurements were collected within the framework of the North American Sun Radiometry network (AERONET/AEROCAN). Intercomparisons between [IWV-GPS and IWV-S], [IWV-R and IWV-GPS], and [IWV-R and IWV-S]show root mean square (RMS) differences of 1.8, 1.9, and 2.2 kg m À2 , respectively. GPS meteorology appears to be the easiest approach to calibrate the solar radiometer water vapor band owing to its flexibility, and it allows us to overcome the Sun radiometry limitation in high-latitude areas like the Arctic. The sensitivity of the GPS retrieval to various parameters like GPS satellite constellation and meteorological data are discussed. The classical linear relationship between the surface temperature and the integrated weighted mean temperature profile needed for IWV-GPS retrieval may be significantly different for Arctic air masses compared with midlatitude air masses in the case of tropospheric temperature profile inversion. An ever-expanding multiyear (1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001) North American summer water vapor climatology, derived from AERONET/Canadian Sun Radiometer Network, is presented and analyzed, showing a mean value of 19.8 ± 6.1 kg m À2 and variations from 17 kg m À2 in Alaska to 23 kg m À2 in southeastern Canada. The results in Bonanza Creek, Alaska, show significant interannual variations with a peak in 1997, which may be linked to an El Niño event that occurred in the same year. Such a database may also be useful for climate model validation as shown for the Canadian Global Environmental Model (RMS difference of 3.4 kg m À2 ). In the end we show that, even if data are selected only for cloud-free atmospheres, there are no significant differences as compared with radiosonde climatology at Canadian Northwestern sites ( 3% relatively to Bonanza Creek summer mean value).

Results are presented on the passive standoff detection and identification of chemical warfare (CW) liquid agents on surfaces by the Fourier-transform IR radiometry. This study was performed during surface contamination trials at Defence Research and Development Canada-Suffield in September 2002. The goal was to verify that passive long-wave IR spectrometric sensors can potentially remotely detect surfaces contaminated with CW agents. The passive sensor, the Compact Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer, was used in the trial to obtain laboratory and field measurements of CW liquid agents, HD and VX. The agents were applied to high-reflectivity surfaces of aluminum, low-reflectivity surfaces of Mylar, and several other materials including an armored personnel carrier. The field measurements were obtained at a standoff distance of 60 m from the target surfaces. Results indicate that liquid contaminant agents deposited on high-reflectivity surfaces can be detected, identified, and possibly quantified with passive sensors. For low-reflectivity surfaces the presence of the contaminants can usually be detected; however, their identification based on simple correlations with the absorption spectrum of the pure contaminant is not possible.

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A modeling study aimed at characterizing the radiometric properties of a double-beam Fourier-transform infrared interferometer is presented. Measurements showed that the two responsivities associated with each interferometer channel are different in certain spectral regions. This anomaly was attributed to a dissymmetry between the optical transmissions of the two plates that form the beam splitter. This dissymmetry is primarily responsible for the instrument residual emission. A secondary cause of residual emission is attributed to the relative alignment of the two input optics. Both effects were taken into account in a model that gives the instrument residual emission in terms of the beam splitter temperature. Actual results indicate that in the 7-14-microm window the instrument residual emission can be modeled with an absolute radiometric error smaller than 0.5 K (blackbody at 290 K). The model was used to develop an automatic calibration procedure that yields radiance errors smaller than 0.05 microW/cm(2) sr cm(-1) in the 7-14-microm band. The radiometric stability of the interferometer was analyzed.

An analysis is presented on the passive standoff detection and identification of Bacillus subtilis (BG) clouds with the Compact ATmospheric Sounding Interferometer (CATSI) sensor. This research is based on recent spectral measurements obtained during the Technology Readiness Evaluation trial held July 2002 at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Results obtained from three trial BG cloud episodes are used to explain and demonstrate the detection capability of the CATSI sensor. The BG clouds were measured at a distance of 3 km from the sensor in a near-horizontal path scenario. It was found that the low thermal contrast of approximately 0.2 K between the BG cloud and the background yielded weak but observable spectral signatures. The processing of the spectral signatures with the GASeous Emission Monitoring (GASEM) algorithm has provided a rough estimate of BG cloud column densities. The results of a series of simulations with the FASCOD3 transmission model have shown that the detection sensitivity for BG can be greatly improved for both slant path uplooking and downlooking scenarios.