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Measurements of spectral radiance of the horizon sky
1The Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20390, USA.
Abstract:
Typical spectral radiance data are presented for a rectangular portion of the horizon sky under various weather conditions and at different solar positions. Representative curves were selected from a total of seventy-nine spectral radiance measurements which covered meteorological ranges (at 665 mmu) from 10 km to 106 km and solar altitudes from -6 degrees to 74 degrees . The north horizon at noon with a 30-km or greater meteorological range typically produced a peak spectral radiance of 5 microW cm(-2)sr(-1)mmu(-1). The maximum spectral radiance value obtained in the study was 38 microW cm(-2)sr(-1)mmu (-1) for the south horizon in winter. The reciprocal dispersion varied from 1.8 mmu/mm at 400 mmu to approximately 8 mmu/mm at 1000 mmu. A mixture of fog and haze produced a spectral radiance curve with two maxima.
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