Continuous measurement of atmospheric ozone by an automatic photoelectric method

Ralph Stair, Thomas C. Bagg, Russell G. Johnston
1954 Journal of research of the National Bureau of Standards  
An au tomatic photoelectric instrument and method for t he continuous meas urement of t he ozone in the earth's atmosphere at low altitudes are described. The method is physical rather t han chemical in character and is based upon t he optical absorption characteristics of ozone in the Hartley and Huggins ul t raviolet bands. Th e ins trument makes use of a lowpressure mercury are, which is situated at a di stance of 1,450 feet from the reco rding s tation t hat emp loys a 1P28 photo mult
more » ... as a d etector . The lig ht beam is modulated, at 510 cycles per se cond, so that the output of t he photomultiplier is fed into a t uned alternatingcurrent ampllfier and amphfied to the recorder level. By means of a Geneva m ec han is m which changes t he glass filters, the radiant energy from t he lamp is separated into band~ primarily at wavelengths 253 .7, 365.5, a nd 405 .0 millimi cro ns. From the ratios of the de-1kctions for t he different spectral regions it is possible to d etermine ozone concentration in t he range from a few te nths of 1 part to many p ar ts per 100 million.
doi:10.6028/jres.052.018 fatcat:e7wihwizsbfd3gnukqetwx7dgy