The Tropospheric Airborne Fourier Transform Spectrometer measured near surface upwelling and downwelling radiances within the far infrared (FIR) over Greenland during two flights in March 2015. Here we exploit observations from one of these flights to provide in situ estimates of FIR surface emissivity, encompassing the range 80–535 cm−1. The flight campaign and instrumental setup are described as well as the retrieval method, including the quality control performed on the observations. The combination of measurement and atmospheric profile uncertainties means that the retrieved surface emissivity has the smallest estimated error over the range 360–535 cm−1 (18.7–27.8 μm), lying between 0.89 and 1 with an associated error that is of the order ±0.06. Between 80 and 360 cm−1, the increasing opacity of the atmosphere, coupled with the uncertainty in the atmospheric state, means that the associated errors are larger and the emissivity values cannot be said to be distinct from 1. These FIR surface emissivity values are, to the best of our knowledge, the first ever from aircraft‐based measurements. We have compared them to a recently developed theoretical database designed to predict the infrared surface emissivity of frozen surfaces. When considering the FIR alone, we are able to match the retrievals within uncertainties. However, when we include contemporaneous retrievals from the mid‐infrared (MIR), no single theoretical representation is able to capture the FIR and MIR behaviors simultaneously. Our results point toward the need for model improvement and further testing, ideally including in situ characterization of the underlying surface conditions.

Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) was an instrument dedicated to the study of atmospheric chemistry based on the principle of stellar occultation. The signals delivered by the IR spectrometer coupled with two CCD detectors, initially used for absorption measurements, were analyzed in order to observe the night airglow resulting from O2 and OH emissions at 761.9 and 930 nm, respectively. The method to retrieve those emissions is described as well as the error analysis. The results of this first attempt are presented and discussed with respect to instrument characteristics, earth coverage, altitude resolution, and the ability of GOMOS data to contribute to night airglow investigations. Mean limb intensities are equal to 28.9 and 7.7 MR for O2 at 760 nm and OH at 930 nm, respectively. Individual O2 emissions are retrieved with an accuracy better than 15%, while the OH emission, which provides smaller intensities, is retrieved with an accuracy of 10% for the monthly average.

A mesospheric model of the airglow emission is developed to recover the night variations observed at ground level. The model is based on a 1D vertical photochemical model, including the photodissociation and heating processes. The spectral radiation is calculated at high altitude and propagated through the atmosphere to the ground. We also include short scale vertical dynamic such as turbulences and the molecular diffusion. Simulations reveal realistic emissions when compared with space observations. In addition, we estimate the impact of changes associated with parameterized atmospheric tides. The comparison with observations is performed over high altitude and ground level. We confront the model outputs at high altitude with satellite observations (SABER and GOMOS) and the simulations propagated at ground level are compared to local measurements campaigns performed in France and India. Biases between observed and simulated radiances and volume emission rates are suspected to be due to the impact of gravity waves or the large scale dynamic.