Equilibrium or Path Reflectance Method of Measuring Atmospheric Transparency in the Visible and Near Infrared from Ground Stations: Theory, Instrumentation, Data and Applications

摘要

Two concerns of atmospheric transparency determination are the loss of image forming light and veiling effect scattered light. Path reflectance takes both into consideration. The veiling light which masks the signal received by sensors on satellites can be and has been measured from the ground. An instrument was designed and has been in use for some 20 years providing ground truth for remote sensing from space. A reasonably broad sample from this data base, including data from passbands with mean wavelengths between 459nm and 882 nm is presented and discussed. Reprints. (JHD)