Water vapour continuum absorption: Short prehistory and current status
I.V. Ptashnik
V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 1, Academician Zuev square, Tomsk, 634021, Russia
piv@iao.ru
Keywords: H2O continuum, water dimers, bimolecular absorption, MT_CKD continuum model
Abstract
The weakly selective (continuum) absorption of electromagnetic radiation by water vapour is an important factor affecting the radiative balance of the Earth’s atmosphere, and is the main component of absorption in the IR atmospheric windows. The possible physical origin of this phenomenon is being discussed for more than 50 years. This paper gives a retrospective analysis and description of the current status in the problem of the water vapour continuum absorption. A brief description of the existing water vapour continuum models is presented including their advantages and shortcomings. The most interesting experimental and theoretical results of the recent years are discussed.
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