Spectroscopic thermometry for long-distance surveying

Electronic distance meters are routinely used to accurately determine the distance between two points. To reach relative measurement uncertainties of 10-7, the average temperature along the beam has to be known within 100 mK since it is a key component in determining the refractive index of air. Temperature measurements at this level are extremely challenging over long distances and especially in an outdoor environment. This paper presents a thermometer for accurate temperature measurements over distances up to a few km. The thermometer is based on direct laser absorption spectroscopy of oxygen near 770 nm. The thermometer yields a spatially continuous measurement of air temperature, and it can provide spatially and temporally well-matching data with an actual distance-measuring laser beam. A field measurement campaign at the 864-m Nummela standard baseline demonstrates applicability of the developed thermometer for improving the refractive index compensation of current high-performance electronic distance meters.