2012: Uses the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) technique to measure stratospheric and tropospheric trace gases.
Multi-AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAXDOAS) is a type of instrument that uses the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) technique. Measurements of scattered sun light along different lines of sight are used to retrieve stratospheric and tropospheric trace gas total columns and profiles.
Delivery year: 2012 and following
MAXDOAS instrument on a roof top in Bejing, China
The BIRA-IASB MAXDOAS instrument consists of the following main parts: a thermo-regulated box (A) containing an UV (B) and Visible (C) spectrometer located inside, the optical head (D) mounted on a suntracker (E) located outside and the computers for data acquisition (F & G).
Small version of a MAXDOAS instrument mounted on the window of a car
The optical head design is such that the telescope (D.1) can be moved in different elevation and azimuth directions. The radiances are collected by an off-axis parabolic mirror (D.2). Finally, the optical head also includes a filter wheel (D.3). The output of each spectrometer is collected by a CCD (I & H). The system is thermally regulated by a cooling system (J).
This set-up enables not only scattered light, but also direct-sun measurements.
Schematic overview of a MAXDOAS system
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