Determination of Integrated Optical Thickness of Clouds from Lunar Irradiance Measurements.
Abstract
A procedure is suggested to obtain the effective optical thickness, tau of clouds by measuring the atmospheric transmission of moonlight both with and without cloud cover. The optical thickness is calculated from the transmission using a theory of R E Danielson, D R Moore and H C van de Hulst (The Transfer of Visible Radiation Through Clouds, J. Atmosph. Sci., 26, 1078 (1969)), later modified by E A Bucher, (Computer Simulation of Light Pulse Propagation for Communications Through Thick Clouds, Applied Optics, 12, No. 10, p 2391-2400 (1973)). By using a wide field of view receiver to measure the irradiance, one obtains a spatial averaged value of tau, rather than a point measurement. Therefore, this method of cloud optical thickness determination may be more reliable than some previously used methods. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 15, 1979
- Accession Number
- ADA100700
Entities
People
- M. G. Ceruti