Spatial characteristic is an important indicator of remote sensor performance, and space-borne infrared hyperspectral sounder is the frontier of atmospheric vertical sounding technology. In this paper, the formation mechanism of the vertical spatial characteristics involved in the space-borne infrared hyperspectral sounding data are analyzed in detail, which shows that the vertical spatial characteristics of sounding data depends not only on the spectral channels and their waveband coverage, but also the specific atmospheric parameter and its specific variation interested. The indicators of vertical spatial characteristics are defined and their mathematical models are established based on the mechanism analyses. These models are applied to the vertical spatial characteristic evaluation of atmospheric temperature sounding for FY-4A GIIRS, which is the first space-borne infrared hyperspectral atmospheric sounder in geostationary orbit. It is concluded that FY-4A GIIRS can sound the vertical temperature distribution in whole troposphere and lower stratosphere with height < 35 km. This study can provide basic information to support the improvement of infrared hyperspectral sounder and the trace of vertical spatial characteristics of atmospheric inversion products.

空间特性是遥感器性能的重要指标，星载红外高光谱测深仪是大气垂直测深技术的前沿。本文详细分析了星载红外高光谱测深数据涉及的垂直空间特征的形成机理，表明测深数据的垂直空间特征不仅取决于光谱通道及其波带覆盖范围，而且取决于还要关注特定的大气参数及其特定变化。在机理分析的基础上，定义了垂直空间特征指标，并建立了数学模型。这些模型被用于FY-4A GIIRS大气温度探测的垂直空间特征评估，这是地球静止轨道上的第一个星载红外高光谱大气探测仪。结论：FY-4A GIIRS可以探测到高度<35 km的整个对流层和低空平流层的垂直温度分布。该研究可提供基础信息，以支持红外高光谱测深仪的改进和大气反转产物垂直空间特征的追踪。