Comparison of band model and integrated line-by-line synthetic spectra for methane in the 2.3 μm region

The 2.3 μm spectral region of methane can be used to retrieve cloud properties of planetary spectra, provided parameters for the methane spectrum are known. Two standard techniques for calculating absorption spectra in this region are compared here. A Voigt profile Mayer-Goody random band model is applied, using coefficients empirically fitted by Fink et al. to CH₄ spectra recorded with high absorping amounts at 10 cm^?1 resolution. Calculation of the absorption is also done with a line-by-line direct integration method for the same gas conditions using molecular parameters obtained by combining an older unpublished list of observed positions and estimated line strengths (derived from 0.04 cm^?1 resolution data) with quantum assignments from the literature. The molecular parameters have been evaluated for the 4180–4590 cm^?1 region by comparing new laboratory spectra with 0.01 cm^?1 resolution recorded at 296 and 153K with synthetic spectra calculated at the same conditions. The deficiencies of the molecular parameters and random band coefficients for this spectral region of CH₄ are then discussed qualitatively and demonstrated by comparing 10 cm^?1 resolution synthetic spectra calculated by both methods for the same gas conditions at 296, 153, and 55 K.Curves of growth of the total equivalent width are calculated at 296 and 55K for a pathlength of 50 cm and pressures up to 10 atm. Changing the mean line spacing in the band model gives better agreement between the spectra calculated by the two techniques at low gas temperatures. The required multiplier has been determined for the mean line spacing for pressures from 10^?6 to 10^?1 atm at 55, 100, and 150 K.