Abstract

A comparison has been made of visual and photoelectric measurements of the attenuation of brightness contrast by the atmosphere. The comparison is being made to attempt to gain an insight into the reasons for the apparently great scatter of atmospheric attenuation data obtained by early investigators in this field. In particular it is of interest to determine whether or not the lack of consistency of the early attenuation data may be attributed to unusual atmospheric conditions or to poor experimental design. The results of the comparison indicate excellent agreement between the atmospheric data obtained by the two methods mentioned. It is concluded that if proper experimental techniques are followed, there is no reason to expect visual photometry to lead to different atmospheric attenuation data than those obtained by photographic and by photoelectric processes.

© 1950 Optical Society of America

A Comparison of Photographic and Photoelectric Measurements of Atmospheric Attenuation of Brightness Contrast*

Howard S. Coleman and Harold E. Rosenberger
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 39(12) 990-993 (1949)

The Attenuation of Brightness Contrast Caused by Atmospheric Optical Haze*

Howard S. Coleman and Harold E. Rosenberger
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 40(8) 507-508 (1950)

A Photoelectric Method of Measuring the Atmospheric Attenuation of Brightness Contrast Along a Horizontal Path for the Visible Region of the Spectrum*

Howard S. Coleman, Fred J. Morris, Harold E. Rosenberger, and Marshall J. Walker
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 39(7) 515-521 (1949)

A Photometric Separator for Precision Visual Spectrophotometry

J. Terrien and F. Desvignes
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 40(12) 845-848 (1950)

Photoelectric Light-Scattering Photometer for Determining High Molecular Weights*

B. A. Brice, M. Halwer, and R. Speiser
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 40(11) 768-778 (1950)