BackForwardInstrument:  LIMS 

Instrument details
Acronym LIMS
Full name Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere
Purpose Chemistry of the upper atmosphere. Tracked species: H2O, HNO3, NO2 and O3
Short description

6-channel radiometer: five narrow-bandwidth with center wavelengths 6.25, 6.75, 9.65, 11.35, 15.25 µm, and one broad channel 13.3-17.2 µm. Spectral resolution about 5 cm-1
Background

Follow-on of LRIR flown on Nimbus-6. Operations terminated after 9 months (limited by the cryogenic cooler)
Scanning Technique

Limb sounding, mechanically driven in the altitude range 10-70 km
Resolution Vertical: 2-4 km; horizontal: 300 km along-view
Coverage / Cycle Global in 3 days for cells of 300 km side
Mass 68.4 kg Power 27 W Data Rate 4 kbps

 

Providing Agency NASA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 1979 to 1994
Last update: 2026-06-01
Detailed characteristics
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Limb sounders
  • Limb sounder
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR/MW limb sounders
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR occultation limb sounder
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • H2O
  • HNO3
  • NO2
  • O3 mole fraction
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.