Remote radio determination of the altitude gradient ot the temperature in the near-surface layer of the atmosphere

A procedure is proposed for the determination of the value of the near-surface temperature gradient of the atmosphere a averaged over the near-surface layer of the atmosphere (several hundred meters thick) from the brightness temperatures at two viewing angles. It is shown that the optimal absorption line for making the measurements is the λ ≈ 5 mm (v ≅59–62 GHz) oxygen multiplet. It is noted that the accuracy of the determination of the quantity α by the proposed procedure is several times higher than by the usual procedure of recovering the temperature distributions of the atmosphere at frequencies α = 53–55 GHz.