Structure in Middle and Upper Atmospheric Infrared Radiance
Abstract
An extensive database on spatial structure in the infrared radiance of the middle and upper atmosphere has been collected by the Mid- Course Space Experiment (MSX). The observed radiance contains spatial structure down to the scale of hundreds of meters. This spatial structure results from local fluctuations in the temperature and densities of the radiating states of the emitting molecular species as well as fluctuations in radiation transport from the emitting regions to the observer. A portion of this database has been analyzed to obtain statistical parameters characterizing stochastic spatial structure in the observed radiance. Using simple models, the observed statistics have been shown to agree with prior observations and theoretical models of stochastic spatial structure generated by gravity waves for special viewing geometries. The SHARC model has been extended to predict the statistics of stochastic fluctuations in infrared radiance from the statistics characterizing temperature fluctuations in the middle and upper atmosphere for arbitrary viewing geometries. SHARC model predictions have been compared with MSX data and shown to be in generally good agreement. Additional work is in progress to account for the statistics characterizing small spatial scale fluctuations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA444042
Entities
People
- Edmond M. Dewan
- James H. Brown
- John H. Gruninger
- Neil A. Grossbard
- Richard H. Picard
- Robert R. O'neil
- William A. Blumberg
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory