Terahertz Superconducting Radiometric Spectrometer in Tibet for Atmospheric Science

Terahertz superconducting radiometric spectrometer (TSRS), as one of seven instruments of the atmospheric profiling synthetic observation system (APSOS) project, was completed in the middle of 2017 after 5 years of development. It is a dual-band heterodyne receiver system based on high sensitive superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) mixers which cover the frequency range of 180 to 380 GHz. With fast Fourier transform spectrometer (FFTS) of each band, real-time observation of 2 GHz bandwidth of high spectral resolution atmospheric molecular emission lines has been demonstrated. TSRS has been deployed at Yangbajing site, which stands on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an altitude of 4300 m in southwestern China, since October 2017. It has been worked in a preliminary observation phase along with other active observation equipment of APSOS. Since then, ozone emission lines around 236 GHz and 358 GHz have been monitored simultaneously. Achieved data will be used to retrieve the in situ vertical distribution of ozone and its movement among different layers of the atmosphere.