Professor Nicholas Jones from University of Wollongong in Australia visited Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM) to conduct a one-week academic exchange during the period from October 8 to October 14, under the invitation of the Key Laboratory of Environmental Optics and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Professor Nicholas Jones gave an academic report entitled "Remote sensing of the atmosphere from the ground using FTIR spectroscopy" at the Environmental Optics Center On October 11.

The report details the spectral retrieval techniques and methods for observing the vertical profiles of trace gases in the atmosphere by ground-based high-resolution FTIR spectroscopy, as well as the spatial-temporal distributions and long-term trends of the key components in the troposphere and stratosphere.

During his visit, professor Nicholas Jones also carried out cooperative research and exchange with the researchers in AIOFM, involving the spectra retrieval method based on the ground-based infrared spectroscopy to detect the key components of the atmosphere, the data analysis method and the error calculation method of the Network for the Detection of Composition Change (NDACC) data collected by FTIR spectroscopy technology.

Dr Nicholas Jones has been actively envolved in the field of atmospheric remote sensing for over 30 years. He obtained a PhD in atmospheric physics at the University of Denver. He has worked closely with a number of colleagues in the development and application of optimal estimation techniques to the analysis of infra gases in the atmosphere from ground based FTIR. In particular Dr Jones has authored/co-authored over a 100 papers on a wide variety of topics in atmospheric composition studies, including tropospheric gases (CO, CH₄, C₂H₆,HCN, etc), stratospheric gases (including HCl, ClONO₂, HNO₃, HF), and in the mesosphere (CO and NO). Dr Jones was the principle investigator for the Network for the Detection of Composition Change (NDACC) at Lauder, New Zealand, and for the last 16 years has held similar responsibilities for the NDACC site at Wollongong. He is currently participating in validation activities for a number of satellite projects, notably the European mission S5P, as well as development of new low resolution spectrometers for Greenhouse gas measurements.