临边探测器垂直分辨率高，辐射信号的变化主要受大气参数影响，且辐射校准后几乎不受背景辐射影响，对痕量气体可探测性强，探测高度约为10-100 km，对臭氧层的大气遥感监测具有特殊意义。红外临边传感器经过40余年的发展过程，在通道数目、信噪比、可探测目标种类、冷冻技术、在轨寿命方面都有明显改进。本文以平流层O₃及其相关的痕量气体为中心，按照传感器搭载的卫星平台及卫星发射时间的先后顺序，比较了国际上已有的LRIR、LIMS、SAMS、ISAMS、CLAES、MIPAS、HIRDLS、TES共8个星载红外临边探测器的特性、探测目标、技术改进、性能提升等；介绍了红外临边探测大气成分的反演原理；总结了红外临边探测器在痕量气体，平流层云与气溶胶，重力波与极涡，非局部热力学平衡效应4个方面的应用成果。最后对红外临边探测的前景趋势提出了思考。

Infrared limb sounding technique can detect many species of trace gases; it is an important method forth remote observation of the middle and upper atmosphere of the Earth. The development process of infrared limb sounding and its applications are reviewed in this study to make people focus on limb observation technology and to promote the technology's development in China. This study focuses on eight infrared limb sounders, namely, LRIR, LIMS, SAMS, ISAMS, CLAES, MIPAS, HIRDLS, and TES, and introduces the characteristics of these instruments and their detectable species in chronological order. The inversion algorithms of infrared limb sounding are also described. Lastly, the applications of these limb sounders are summarized. Since 1975, after more than 40 years of development, the detection capability, refrigeration technology, forward model, and inversion algorithm mofinfrared limb sounders have significantly improved. Currently, these instruments can detect numerous species and have high inversion accuracy, long in-orbit life, and broad application scope. The applications of infrared limb sounding are divided into four parts, namely, detection of trace gas, cloud and aerosol, gravity wave, polar vortex, and the non-local thermodynamic equilibrium effect, especially its outstanding contributions to O3 and its related trace gas detection. The development of infrared limb sensors has provided a rich dataset of global coverage atmosphere profile. Infrared limb sensors play an irreplaceable role in studying the stratosphere ozone, polar ozone loss, and the ozone chemical reaction mechanism with stratospheric clouds and aerosols. However, being affected by clouds and aerosols, the limb detection range hardly reaches the lower troposphere. Infrared limb instruments also have a short on-orbit life. Data fusion technology should be investigated to form a long sequence of observed data for environment and climate change research.