Surface-based thermal infrared spectrometers

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) interferometers have been deployed on ships for over a quarter of a century. The main impetus for the development and deployment of these instruments was to provide skin sea-surface temperatures (SSTskin) to assess the accuracy of the SSTskin retrievals from infrared radiometers on satellites. The information in the hyperspectral measurements of the emission from the ocean surface and atmosphere support the derivation of many other geophysical variables and contribute to many studies of the ocean and atmosphere. We present the principles of FTIRs and the characteristics of the marine-atmospheric emitted radiance interferometers, along with an overview of deployments and applications.