Infrared and visible wavelength absorption by water vapour

水蒸气是大气中最重要的物种，既可以吸收进来的阳光，也可以吸收离开地球表面的热量(所谓的温室效应)。因此，彻底和可靠地了解水如何吸收所有波长的辐射，对于理解、建模和预测大气过程绝对至关重要。例如，可靠的吸水率预测对于气候变化模型、利用卫星研究大气中痕量物种的浓度以及通过大气进行通信建模都是至关重要的。不幸的是，水吸收光线的方式(独一无二？)尽管做出了巨大的科学努力，但对于许多大气目的来说，仍然没有足够好的确定。提出者小组开发了基于量子力学严格应用的理论程序，这使得对水吸收的理解和解释有了很大的进步。这些程序还不够准确，不能用计算机给出问题的完整解决方案。然而，当与现代实验室实验相结合时，应该有可能建立一个明确的吸水率数据库。目前的建议是确保可靠地提供各种波长的水蒸气吸收光的数据，特别是集中在太阳辐射最大的波长。这将通过伦敦大学学院开展的理论工作和协调世界领先的实验室来实现，这些实验室使用实验室测量进行吸水工作。将对照实验室和大气测量对产生的数据进行广泛测试，以确保数据是可靠的。

Water vapour is the most important species in our atmosphere for both absorbing incoming sunlight and for absorbing heat leaving the earth's surface (the so-called greenhouse effect). Thus a thorough and reliable understanding of how water absorbs radiation at all wavelengths is absolutely crucial to understanding, modelling and making predictions about atmospheric processes. For example reliable predictions of water absorptions are essential for models of climate change, for studies of the concentration of trace species in the atmosphere using satellites and for modelling communications through the atmosphere. Unfortunately the way water absorbs light is (uniquely?) complicated and, despite huge scientific effort, remains insufficiently well determined for many atmospheric purposes. The proposers group have developed theoretical procedure based on the rigorous application of quantum mechanics which have allowed a significant advance in the understanding and interpretation of water absorptions. These procedures are not yet accurate enough to give a complete solution of the problem using computers. However when combined with modern laboratory experiments it should be possible to create a definitive database of water absorptions. The present proposal is ensure the reliable provision of data on the absorption of light by water vapour over a wide range of wavelengths, concentrating especially on the wavelengths where solar radiation is the largest. This will be achieved by theoretical work performed at UCL and by coordinating the leading laboratories worldwide who work on water absorptions using laboratory measurements. Extensive testing of the resulting data against laboratory and atmospheric measurements will be performed to ensure that the data is reliable.