New Line Parameters for Near-IR Methane and the Oxygen A-Band

Recent and ongoing studies by various groups will be described for near-IR methane and the oxygen A-band in the context of changes for the HITRAN 2008 database. For methane, a new global analysis of the bands of the main isotope 1 will permit a total replacement of the calculated positions and intensities up to 4800 cm_1 . A few improvements are also available near 6000 cm_1 . Probable revisions in methane broadening parameters throughout the infrared will also be detailed. For the oxygen A-band at 13122 cm_1 , new studies will provide better accuracies for line positions and intensities of the three most abundant isotopologues. Recent studies demonstrate that non-Voigt molecular line shapes are required to characterize the oxygen A-band in atmospheric spectra, and the choice of broadening parameters will depend on which line shape model is used. Recommendations for future studies of these two molecules will be included. Part of the research described in this paper was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contracts and cooperative agreements with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.