Earth Explorer 11 candidate mission Cairt

Cairt – short for changing-atmosphere infrared tomography – is an Earth Explorer 11 candidate mission. It would provide the measurements needed to make a necessary step change in understanding the links between climate change, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics in the altitude range of about 5 to 115 km. It would focus on the processes that couple atmospheric circulation, composition and regional climate change, providing critical observations not available from existing or planned satellite missions. Cairt would be the first limb-sounder with imaging Fourier-transform infrared technology in space.