Nearly all near-infrared spectra, except perhaps certain regions at very high resolution, contain sky emission lines which can be used for wavelength calibration.  However, at low and moderate resolution these lines are often blends and may not be easily identified.  For wavelengths < 2.5 um, measurement of arc lines for wavelength calibration is recommended.

Arc lamp line plots and lists

• NIRI plots

• GNIRS plots

• Interactive tools for displaying high-res arc lines (from Keck/NIRSPEC)

• UKIRT arc line plots

• IRAF Argon line list, including vacuum wavelengths of the infrared emission lines of argon
  from "Wavelength Standards in the Infrared", K.N. Rao et al., 1966
  [ADS] [DATA]

• Wavelength Calibration of Near-Infrared Spectra, Hinkle, et al, 2001, PASP, 113, 548
  [ADS]

Atmospheric Transmission/Emission spectra

• ATRAN high resolution 0.9-5.6 and 7-26 microns atmospheric transmission spectra
  (data files available near bottom of linked page) for Mauna Kea and Cerro Pachon


• Labelled plot of L band sky emission lines, taken with GNIRS using the 0.15"/pixel camera, 32 l/mm grating and 0.3" slit (R~2000). M band plot also available.

Sky line lists

• Night-sky spectral atlas of OH emission lines in the near-infrared,
  Rousselot, P., Lidman, C., Cuby, J.-G., Moreels, G. & Monnet, G., 2000, A&A 354, 1134,
  [ADS] [DATA]
• The OH airglow spectrum: a calibration source for infrared spectrometers,
  Oliva, E. and Origlia, L., 1992, A&A, 254, 466
  [ADS] [DATA]
• Observations of the OH airglow emission,
  Maihara, et al, 1993, PASP, 105, 940
  [ADS]
• Non-thermal emission in the atmosphere above Mauna Kea,
  Ramsay, S.K., Mountain, C.M. & Geballe, T. R.,
  [ADS]

• High-resolution Fourier transform spectroscopy of the Meinel system of OH,
  Abrams, et al, 1994, ApJS, 93, 351
  [ADS]
• IRAF OH line list, including Vacuum wavelengths from the calculations of Chamberlain (< 1.20 microns)
  and laboratory observations of Hubbard and Brault using the Solar FTS (> 1.2 microns).
  [DATA]

Additional References

• UKIRT line lists
• Hydrogen IR line list