JGR-Atmospheres includes physics and chemistry of the atmosphere, as well as the atmospheric-biospheric, lithospheric, and hydrospheric interface.
AGU's Vision is a worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfish cooperation in research, an understanding of Earth and space that is used for the benefit of humanity.
Despite the potentially important role that water dimers may play in the Earth’s energy balance, there is still a lack of firm evidence for absorption of radiation by dimers in near-atmospheric conditions. We present results of the first high-resolution laboratory measurements of the water vapor continuum absorption within the 3100– 4400 cm spectral region at a range of near-room temperatures. The analysis indicates a large contribution of dimer absorption to the water vapor continuum, significantly in excess of that predicted by other modern representations of the continuum. The temperature dependence agrees well with that expected for dimers.
