Abstract

Inherent object and background radiance, beam transmittance through the atmosphere, and sky radiance are all measurable from a ground station. It is shown how, in the visible sectrum, the sky radiance and beam transmittance may be used to compute the path radiance for orbital downward paths of sight. Thus, the components for calculating apparent radiance, apparent contrast, and the contrast transmittance from earth to space are measurable from a ground station. our in-flight experiments were conducted to obtain measurements of contrast transmittance for comparison with measurements made simultaneously at ground stations. The in-flight and ground-based measurements are in good agreement.

© 1973 Optical Society of America

Equilibrium radiance model applications and comparisons to atmospheric measurements and Rayleigh models

Jacqueline I. Gordon and Richard W. Johnson
Appl. Opt. 23(19) 3363-3372 (1984)

Model for a Clear Atmosphere*

Jacqueline I. Gordon
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 59(1) 14-18 (1969)

Atmospheric Properties and Reflectances of Ocean Water and Other Surfaces for a Low Sun

Almerian R. Boileau and Jacqueline I. Gordon
Appl. Opt. 5(5) 803-813 (1966)

The Reduction of Apparent Contrast by the Atmosphere

Seibert Q. Duntley
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 38(2) 179-191 (1948)

Equilibrium-reflectance model for clear or cloudy atmosphere

Jacqueline I. Gordon and Richard W. Johnson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 1(8) 860-868 (1984)