A method is presented for determining in real time the infrared atmospheric transmittance along the line of sight of a tracking radiometer from measurements of background sky radiance. The case at hand involves observations from a high-altitude site in the tropics at wavelength bands from 8 to 21 µm. Hawaiian radiosonde atmospheric profiles were analyzed using the LOWTRAN 5 spectroscopic code. Model atmospheres were found unsuitable for characterizing the variable meteorological conditions. The infrared transmittance and sky radiance are shown to have a very close correlation that allows determination of transmittance within a few percent from radiance data in spite of very large fluctuations in tropospheric humidity and variations in effective atmospheric temperature.

© 1984 Optical Society of America

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