Anisotropic nonconservative scattering and the clouds of Venus.
Anisotropic nonconservative scattering in modified Schuster-Schwarzschild approximation and Venus cloud layer
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Anisotropic nonconservative scattering in modified Schuster-Schwarzschild approximation and Venus cloud layer
Characteristics of carbon dioxide laser radiation scattering in atmosphere and application as remote sensing probe
The first Einstein Observatory Imaging Proportional Counter (IPC) observations of solar flares are presented. These flares were detected in scattered X-ray light when the X-ray telescope was pointed at the sunlit earth. The propagation and scattering of solar X-rays in the earth's atmosphere are discussed in order to be able to deduce the solar X-ray flux incident on top of the atmosphere from scattered X-ray intensity measurements. After this correction, the scattered X-ray data are interpreted as full-disk observations of the sun obtained with the same instrumentation used for observations of flares on other stars. Employing the same data analysis and interpretation techniques, extremely good agreement is found between the physical flare parameters deduced from IPC observations and 'known' properties of compact loop flares. This agreement demonstrates that flare observations with the IPC can reveal physical parameters such as temperature and density quite accurately in the solar case and therefore suggests that the interpretations of stellar X-ray flare observations are on a physically sound basis.
Computed effects of specular reflection on scattering of light by Rayleigh planetary atmosphere
In this paper we treat the multiple scattering theory of radiative transfer in plane-parallel inhomogeneous atmospheres. The treatment presented here may be adopted to model atmospheres characterized by an optical depth dependent coherent scattering phase function. For the purpose of illustration we consider the semi-infinite medium in which the absorption property of the atmosphere is characterized by an exponential function. The methodology employed here is the extension of the case treated previously by the author for homogeneous atmospheres.
An empirical expression is derived to account for the molecular multiple scattering contribution to the almucantar radiance field. Formulas for the correction factors which incorporate the effects of multiple scattering and nonzero ground albedo are also given. The use and accuracy of the multiple-scattering approximation in direct problems of radiative transfer associated with almucantar radiance are discussed and illustrated by examples. It is shown that in almost all instances, inclusion of the molecular multiple-scattering contribution reduces the errors obtained with the single-scattering approximation by a factor of at least 2.
The sodium exosphere of the Moon was observed using a solar coronagraph to occult the illuminated surface of the Moon. Exceptionally dust-free atmospheric conditions were required to allow the faint emission from sunlight scattered by lunar sodium atoms to be distinguished from moonlight scattered from atmospheric dust. At 0300 UT on April 22, 1994, ideal conditions prevailed for a few hours, and one excellent image of the sodium exosphere was measured, with the Moon at a phase angle of 51 deg, 81 % illuminated. Analysis of the image data showed that the weighted mean temperature of the exosphere was 1280 K and that the sodium column density varied approximately as cosine-cubed of the latitude. A cosine-cubed variation is an unexpected result, since the flux per unit area of solar photons and solar particles varies as the cosine of latitude. It is suggested that this can be explained by a temperature dependence for the sputtering of sodium atoms from the surface. This is a characteristic feature of chemical sputtering, which has been previously proposed to explain the sodium exosphere of Mercury. A possible interaction between chemical sputtering and solar photons is suggested.
Analysis of high resolution imaging spectrometer data requires a thorough compensation for atmospheric absorption and scattering. A method for retrieving surface reflectances from spectral data collected by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) is being developed. In this method, the integrated water vapor amount on a pixel by pixel basis is derived from the 0.94- and 1.14-micrometer water vapor features. The water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), oxygen (O2) and methane (CH4) transmission spectrum in the 0.4-2.5 micrometer region is calculated. The derived water vapor value and the solar and observational geometry are used in the spectral calculation. The AVIRIS spectrum is ratioed against the transmission spectrum to obtain the surface reflectance spectrum. Major mineral absorption features near 2.2 micrometer in retrieved reflectance spectra can be identified. Different vegetation absorption characteristics are observed. At present, the method is most useful for deriving surface reflectances from AVIRIS data measured on clear days with high visibilities. Atmospheric scattering effects will be included in our spectral calculations in the near future.
Spectroscopy is used in the laboratory to measure the molecular components and concentrations of plant constituents to answer questions about the plant type, status, and health. Imaging spectrometers measure the upwelling spectral radiance above the Earth's surface as images. Ideally, imaging spectrometer data sets should be used to understand plant type, plant status, and health of plants in an agricultural setting. An Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data set was acquired over agricultural fields near Wallula, Washington on July 23rd, 1997. AVIRIS measures upwelling radiance spectra through 224 spectral channels with contiguous 10-nm sampling from 400 to 2500 run in the solar-reflected spectrum. The spectra are measured as images of 11 by up to 800 km with 20-m spatial resolution. The spectral images measured by AVIRIS represent the integrated signal resulting from: the solar irradiance; two way transmittance and scattering of the atmosphere; the absorptions and scattering of surface materials; as well as the spectral, radiometric and spatial response functions of AVIRIS. This paper presents initial research to derive properties of the agricultural fields near Wallula from the calibrated spectral images measured by AVIRIS near the top of the atmosphere.
Spectroscopy is used in the laboratory to measure the molecular components and concentrations of plant constituents to answer questions about the plant type, status, and health. Imaging spectrometers measure the upwelling spectral radiance above the Earth's surface as images. Ideally, imaging spectrometer data sets should be used to understand plant type, plant status, and health of plants in an agricultural setting. An Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data set was acquired over agricultural fields near Wallula, Washington on July 23rd, 1997. AVIRIS measures upwelling radiance spectra through 224 spectral channels with contiguous 10-nm sampling from 400 to 2500 nm in the solar-reflected spectrum. The spectra are measured as images of 11 by up to 800 km with 20-m spatial resolution. The spectral images measured by AVIRIS represent the integrated signal resulting from: the solar irradiance; two way transmittance and scattering of the atmosphere; the absorptions and scattering of surface materials; as well as the spectral, radiometric and spatial response functions of AVIRIS. This paper presents initial research to derive properties of the agricultural fields near Wallula from the calibrated spectral images measured by AVIRIS near the top of the atmosphere.
The author has identified the following significant results. Algorithms were developed to permit correction of scattering coefficient and brightness temperature for the Skylab S193 Radscat for the effects of cloud attenuation. These algorithms depend upon a measurement of the vertically polarized excess brightness temperature at 50 deg incidence angle. This excess temperature is converted to an equivalent 50 deg attenuation, which may then be used to estimate the horizontally polarized excess brightness temperature and reduced scattering coefficient at 50 deg. For angles other than 50 deg, the correction also requires use of the variation of emissivity with salinity and water temperature.
The wake environment of the space shuttle is analyzed to determine whether it is feasible to perform ultrahigh vacuum experiments in or near the payload bay with the shuttle oriented such that the payload bay faces the antivelocity direction. Several mechanisms were considered by which molecules could approach the payload bay from this direction and their relative contributions to the wake environment are estimated. These mechanisms include ambient atmospheric molecules that have velocities in excess of the orbital velocity which can overtake the shuttle, ambient atmospheric molecules that are backscattered by collisions with the shuttle induced atmosphere, and self scattering from the induced atmosphere. These estimates are compared with the measurements made with the collimated mass spectrometer which was part of the Induced Environment Contamination Monitor flown on several of the early shuttle flights. Although the collimated mass spectrometer was not designed for this purpose and the instrument background for the species for which the collimator is effective is above the expected levels, upper limits can be established for these species in the wake environment which are consistent with the analysis. There was considerably more helium and argon observed in the wake direction than was predicted, however. Possible origins of these gases are discussed.
Each of the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 has completed a reconnaissance of the Jovian and Saturnian systems. In connection with occultation experiments, strong scintillations were observed. Further theoretical work is required before these scintillations can be interpreted. The present study is, therefore, concerned with the derivation of a theory for strong scattering during atmospheric occultation experiments, taking into account as fundamental quantity of interest the spatial spectrum (or spectral density) of intensity fluctuations. Attention is given to a theory for intensity spectra, and numerical calculations. The new formula derived for Phi-i accounts for strong scattering of electromagnetic waves during atmospheric occultations.
Rotating interferometer measuring spread and coherence ratio of scattered radio wave
The polarization of the sunlight scattered by atmospheric aerosols or cloud droplets and reflected from ground surfaces or plant canopies may convey much information when used for remote sensing purposes. The typical polarization features of aerosols, cloud droplets, and plant canopies, as observed by ground based and airborne sensors, are investigated, looking especially for those invariant properties amenable to description by simple models when possible. The question of polarization measurements from space is addressed. The interest of such measurements for remote sensing purposes is investigated, and their feasibility is tested by using results obtained during field campaigns of the airborne POLDER instrument, a radiometer designed to measure the directionality and polarization of the sunlight scattered by the ground atmosphere system.
Abstract Universal to black hole X-ray binaries, the high-frequency soft lag gets longer during the hard-to-intermediate state transition, evolving from ≲1 to ∼10 ms. The soft lag production mechanism is thermal disk reprocessing of nonthermal coronal irradiation. X-ray reverberation models account for the light-travel time delay external to the disk, but assume instantaneous reprocessing of the irradiation inside the electron-scattering-dominated disk atmosphere. We model this neglected scattering time delay as a random walk within an α -disk atmosphere, with approximate opacities. To explain soft lag trends, we consider a limiting case of the scattering time delay that we dub the thermalization time delay, t th ; this is the time for irradiation to scatter its way down to the effective photosphere, where it gets thermalized, and then scatter its way back out. We demonstrate that t th plausibly evolves from being inconsequential for low mass accretion rates m ̇ characteristic of the hard state, to rivaling or exceeding the light-travel time delay for m ̇ characteristic of the intermediate state. However, our crude model confines t th to a narrow annulus near peak accretion power dissipation, so cannot yet explain in detail the anomalously long-duration soft lags associated with larger disk radii. We call for time-dependent models with accurate opacities to assess the potential relevance of a scattering delay.
The problem of multiple radiation scattering in an atmosphere characterized by various amounts of aerosol absorption and different particle size distributions was investigated. The visible part of the spectrum was emphasized, including the effect of ozone absorption. An atmosphere bounded by a nonhomogenous, Lambertian surface was also studied, along with the effect of background radiation on target in terms of various atmopheric and geometric conditions. Results of the investigation indicate that comtaminated atmospheres can change the radiation field by a considerable amount, and that the effect of non-uniform surface significantly alters the intrinsic radiation from a target element. The implications of these results for the recognition processing of multispectral remote sensing data is discussed.
The papers in this volume deal with recent research into acoustic-wave propagation through the atmosphere and progress in aeroacoustic instrumentation, facilities, and test techniques. Topics include the propagation of aircraft noise over long distances in the lower atmosphere, measured effects of turbulence on the rise time of a weak shock, sound scattering from atmospheric turbulence, saturation effects associated with sound propagation in a turbulent medium, and a computer model of the lightning-thunder process. Other papers discuss the development of a computer system for aircraft noise prediction; aircraft flyover noise measurements; and theories and methods for the prediction of ground effects on aircraft noise propagation, for the prediction of airframe aerodynamic noise, for turbine noise prediction, and for combustion noise prediction. Attention is also given to the use of Hartmann generators as sources of high-intensity sound in a large absorption flow-duct facility, an outdoor jet noise facility, factors in the design and performance of free-jet acoustic wind tunnels, and the use of a laser shadowgraph for jet noise diagnosis.