Séminaire spécial

Vendredi le 13 janvier, 11H00, Salle des vents

Conférencier : Dr Jacques Giroux, ABB, Québec

"Activities at ABB Bomem on the remote sensing of the atmosphere"

The monitoring of the atmosphere is the main field of applications for ABB Bomem's Remote Sensing division. The AERI systems produced by the University of Wisconsin and ABB Bomem have demonstrated very good accuracy for retrieving atmospheric profiles of water vapor and temperature. The validation of AERI via the ARMs program demonstrated the accuracy achievable from AERI to be similar to the accuracy of radiosondes with improved temporal resolution, but limiting the vertical resolution. The AERI instrument will be described and the plans for its development will be presented. ABB Bomem is also involved in several space programs dealing with the measurement of the atmosphere. Our company was the prime contractor of the FTS instrument in CSA's Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (ACE) SCISAT-1 mission. The mission goal is to measure and understand the chemical and dynamical processes that control the distribution of ozone in the upper troposphere and stratosphere. The Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) is a key instrument on NPOESS the next generation of US polar orbiting satellites for weather forecasting. CrIS will acquire down-looking radiance spectra of the atmosphere, used to derive vertical profiles of temperature, moisture and pressure. ITT Industries is the prime contractor of the CrIS Sensor and ABB is responsible for the design and manufacturing of the interferometer module, the core of the CrIS sensor. The first flight model of the CrIS interferometer has just been delivered to ITT. The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) is a Japanese satellite that will monitor the distribution of greenhouse gases (GHG), especially CO2 and CH4 in support of the Kyoto protocol. GOSAT is the result of a collaboration among the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, the National Institute for Environmental Studies and JAXA. Again, ABB is responsible for the design and development of the interferometer module, under a contract from NEC Toshiba Space Systems, the prime contractor of the GOSAT FTS instrument. We are currently proceeding in the Engineering Model design phase. A review of ABB's space projects will be provided.