Genspect

Making it happen

Water Vapour (H20)

Water vapour is the gaseous state of liquid water, also known as the universal solvent, which expands to form a gas at temperatures at or exceeding 100oC. Each water vapour molecule consists of one oxygen atom covalently bonded to two hydrogen atoms; the atoms form nonlinear, mostly monomeric (single) molecules with the chemical formula H2O.

Water Vapour and Climate Change

Water vapour in the lower stratosphere is a primary greenhouse gas, responsible for approximately 30oC of 'natural' surface warming. Oxidation of methane (CH4) is a known anthropogenic source of water vapour, causing increases of 3 ppm in the troposphere to 6 ppm in the upper stratosphere. Emissions from high altitude aircraft may cause H2O increases in the lower stratosphere (IPCC, 2001).  Stratospheric levels of H2O are related to changing temperatures of the tropical tropopause, and H2O chemistry and modeling are extremely complex.

Detection

Our databases include more than 135 spectral absorption bands of H2O between 0 to  22,657 cm-1. The following figure shows a linear radiative transfer through a laboratory cell containing  H2O at room temperature and pressure for the spectral region 300 to 320 cm-1.

Simulations powered by Genspect. Try our complementary Freetool to generate simulations of water vapor absorption, transmission or thermal emission! Subscribe to our premium Genspect service to customize simulations for your applications today!
 

© genspect.com 2007