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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
06:27
Measurement of Aerosols Optical Thickness of the Atmosphere using the GLOBE Handheld Sun Photometer
Published on: May 29, 2019
Unique temperature profiles for the atmosphere below an observer from sunset images
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962-3044, USA.
Applied Optics
|February 9, 2008
Summary
Atmospheric refraction equations were transformed into an Abel integral equation. This allows accurate temperature profile extraction below an observer using simple edge-finding software on solar images.
Area of Science:
- Atmospheric physics
- Geophysics
- Optical remote sensing
Background:
- Traditional atmospheric refraction equations pose challenges for direct temperature profile retrieval.
- Accurate atmospheric temperature data is crucial for meteorological and climate studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel method for extracting atmospheric temperature profiles.
- To utilize solar images and an Abel integral equation for enhanced atmospheric analysis.
Main Methods:
- Transformed standard refraction equations into a unique Abel integral equation.
- Applied edge-finding software to solar images captured at sunset.
- Inverted the Abel integral equation to derive temperature profiles.
Main Results:
- Successfully extracted accurate temperature profiles below an observer.
- Demonstrated the method's efficiency over the marine boundary layer.
- Validated the technique with multiple practical examples.
Conclusions:
- The developed method provides an efficient and accurate way to determine atmospheric temperature profiles.
- This approach simplifies the analysis of solar images for atmospheric research.
- The unique inverse of the Abel integral equation is key to the method's success.
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