| RefNo | EC/1972/19 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XIX, 56; A03589 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Houghton, Sir John Theodore: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Distinguished for his work on infrared (ir) physics, atmospheric radiative transfer and satellite measurements of thermal emission for the study of global atmospheric structure. Houghton's early observations of height-dependent solar and thermal ir fluxes led to important data on atmospheric heating into the stratosphere and on the vertical distribution of minor atmospheric constituents such as H-2-O, CH-4. His measurement of collisional relaxation times of C-O-2 was followed by a theoretical study of radiative transfer by C0-2 in the mesosphere where thermodynamical equilibrium does not obtain. For some years up to 1970 Houghton, in collaboration, has brought to fruition an ambitious experiment to measure on a polar-orbiting satellite (NIMBUS 4) the upward flux of CO-2 emission in several channels of its 15 mu band, using highly original spectroscopy. The observed radiances provide the vertical distribution of temperature up to about 45 km over the whole globe and in time, a technique due to be of tremendous importance in the study of the dynamical evolution of the global atmosphere. |
| AccessStatus | Open |
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Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA3541 | Houghton; Sir; John Theodore (1931 - 2020) | 1931 - 2020 |