THE THEORY OF ATMOSPHERIC SEEING

Abstract

This analysis expresses in quantitative terms formulae for describing the various phenomena associated with what astronomers conventionally term atmospheric seeing. This leads to a study of the effect of various convective and in homogeneous layers on the path of a ray of light. The quantitative results are discussed as ap plied to three distinct regions of the atmos phere. First is the internal or instrumental heating, particularly hazardous for solar ob servation. The second critical zone refers to seeing immediately above but in the vicinity of the instrument. The use of temperature inversions as a stabilizing influence may be important, because it will cut down the number of individual convective zones. The third zone is the higher atmosphere, associated with local weather and local geography. The study involves use of the theory of random flights to describe the total average deflection caused by the passage of the ray through discontinuities of temperature and density.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1963
Accession Number
AD0403102

Entities

People

  • Donald H. Menzel

Organizations

  • Harvard College Observatory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Atmospheres
  • Convection
  • Deflection
  • Equations
  • Geography
  • Geometry
  • Lapse Rate
  • Massachusetts
  • Observatories
  • Random Walk
  • Refractive Index
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Temperature Inversion
  • United States
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Theoretical Analysis.
  • Wave Propagation and Nonlinear Chaotic Dynamics.