Abstract

Although it is usually assumed that solar radiation falls on the earth's atmosphere in the form of plane waves, the finite angular size of the solar disk contradicts this assumption. For most purposes, this finite sun effect on computed or measured radiation quantities is negligible. However, in the region of the solar aureole, which is dominated by aerosol diffraction scattering, measurable effects may be obtained. In this paper, we show that the finite sun effect is related to derivatives of the scattering phase function and that a 1% effect may be obtained close to the sun if enough large particles are present in the atmosphere.

© 1981 Optical Society of America

Interpretation of the Sun’s Aureole Based on Atmospheric Aerosol Models

A. E. S. Green, A. Deepak, and B. J. Lipofsky
Appl. Opt. 10(6) 1263-1279 (1971)

Photographic aureole measurements and the validity of aerosol single scattering

R. D. McPeters and A. E. S. Green
Appl. Opt. 15(10) 2457-2463 (1976)

Dual-aureole and sun spectrometer system for airborne measurements of aerosol optical properties

Paul Zieger, Thomas Ruhtz, Rene Preusker, and Jürgen Fischer
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Photography and photographic-photometry of the solar aureole

Adarsh Deepak and Richard R. Adams
Appl. Opt. 22(11) 1646-1654 (1983)

Experimental validation of the solar aureole technique for determining aerosol size distributions

A. Deepak, G. P. Box, and M. A. Box
Appl. Opt. 21(12) 2236-2243 (1982)