Abstract

In this paper we describe a generalized treatment of the atmospheric visibility distances for a variety of atmospheric conditions. In the development of the formula for the visibility distance, it is shown how a series of assumptions made in the early work of Koschmieder [ Beitr. Phys. Atmos. 12, 33 ( 1924)] can be reduced to a single assumption covering more atmospheric conditions. Special attention is paid to the cases in which the extinction coefficient is wavelength-dependent. It is shown that neglecting such a dependence may produce errors as large as 20–100%, especially when long visibility distances are considered. The use of a dye-laser radar for the remote sensing of visibility distances is described and discussed.

© 1975 Optical Society of America

Atmospheric Vision 0.35 μm ≲ λ ≲ 14 μm

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