Scattered and reflected light intensities above the atmosphere

A calculational method is described that was developed for use in predicting the angular distribution of the upwelling flux of sunlight scattered by the atmosphere and reflected by the ground. Monte Carlo calculations of the radiation escaping the top of a plane-parallel model atmosphere were used as input in a computer procedure that integrates the reflected intensities over the sunlit portion of the top of the earth's atmosphere, which is visible by a receiver located on a spacecraft. Calculations were performed for a model maritime atmosphere, with and without low-altitude cloud layer, and a model continental atmosphere, which includes treatment of the effects of aerosol, Rayleigh scattering, and ozone absorption. The ground surface was assumed to be a Lambert reflector. The results of the Monte Carlo calculation for five wavelengths between 370 nm and 780 nm were compared with measured data from the Ames Research Center earth albedo experiment on the OSO-3 satellite. Agreement between calculated and measured values was sufficiently good to warrant the conclusion that reasonable estimates of the angular distribution of the radiation reaching a near-earth spacecraft from different atmospheric conditions could be calculated.