UV Background Calculations: Rayleigh Scattered and Dayglow Backgrounds from 1200 to 3000 A
Abstract
Dayglow and Rayleigh scattered sunlight for any satellite altitude and look direction. Spectra may be generated from EUV to near IR wavelengths. Integrations may be formed over wavelength and look angle (for field-of-view averaging) for direct comparison with observations. Limb profiles are presented in 100 A bands from 1400 to 3000 A in units of mega Rayleighs/ A and micro Watts/ sq cm/sr. These profiles combine dayglow and Rayleigh scattered sunlight and show how the brightness varies over the tangent altitude range 300 to 0 km. Dayglow results are presented for high and low solar activity. There can be more than an order of magnitude variation in dayglow brightness at tangent altitudes above 200 km from low to high activity. We also present limb profiles of Rayleigh scattered sunlight showing the effect of changing the sun's azimuth. For a chosen solar zenith angle of 60, variations of more than 50% occur as the sun's azimuth changes from 0 to 90 deg. Keywords: Ultraviolet; Background; Dayglow; Rayleigh scattering; Limb.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 24, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA201118
Entities
People
- D. E. Anderson Jr.
- D. J. Strickland
- R. P. Barnes