Estimation of the refractive index structure parameter from single-level daytime routine weather data.

Area of Science:

• Atmospheric physics
• Electromagnetic wave propagation
• Remote sensing

Background:

• Atmospheric scintillations disrupt electromagnetic radiation propagation.
• Scintillations stem from temperature and humidity fluctuations linked to surface heat fluxes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a versatile method for quantifying atmospheric scintillations (C(n(2))) using routine weather data.
• To enable efficient performance evaluation of optical and laser systems affected by atmospheric turbulence.

Main Methods:

• Estimating the refractive index structure parameter (C(n(2))) from surface heat fluxes derived from single-level weather data.
• Developing lookup tables for various land surface types, environmental conditions, wavelengths, and measurement heights.
• Validating the approach with eddy covariance measurements over grass and wheat fields.

Main Results:

• The new method accurately estimates C(n(2)) across diverse land surfaces and conditions, unlike previous biased methods.
• Daytime C(n(2)) estimates showed good agreement with eddy covariance measurements.
• Minor adjustments were needed for specific sites due to additional boundary-layer processes.

Conclusions:

• The developed approach provides a robust and broadly applicable tool for assessing atmospheric turbulence effects.
• This method enhances the performance evaluation of critical systems like infrared imaging and ground-to-satellite communication.
• The findings contribute to improving the reliability of electromagnetic wave propagation in various atmospheric conditions.