Effects of multiple scattering and atmospheric aerosol on the polarization of the twilight sky

Ugolnikov, Oleg S.; Postylyakov, O. V.; Maslov, I. A.

doi:10.1016/j.jqsrt.2003.12.033

Cited by 35 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…(5). Sunlight scattering from the upper atmosphere (Ugolnikova et al 2004;Cronin et al 2006) occurs for solar zenith angles smaller than 108°a nd creates a large polarization by Rayleigh scattering. To visualize the periods with and without sunlight scattering, the solar zenith angle is plotted in the upper panel of each figure and a horizontal dashed line shows the 108°limit.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The thermospheric auroral red line polarization: confirmation of detection and first quantitative analysis

Lilensten

Barthélemy

Amblard

et al. 2013

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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The thermospheric atomic oxygen red line is among the brightest in the auroral spectrum. Previous observations in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, indicated that it may be intrinsically polarized, but a possible contamination by light pollution could not be ruled out. During the winter 2010/2011, the polarization of the red line was measured for the first time at the Polish Hornsund polar base without contamination. Two methods of data analysis are presented to compute the degree of linear polarization (DoLP) and angle of linear polarization (AoLP): one is based on averaging and the other one on filtering. Results are compared and are in qualitative agreement. For solar zenith angles (SZA) larger than 108°(with no contribution from Rayleigh scattering), the DoLP ranges between 2 and 7%. The AoLP is more or less aligned with the direction of the magnetic field line, in agreement with the theoretical predictions of Bommier et al. (2010). However, the AoLP values range between ±20°around this direction, depending on the auroral conditions. Correlations between the polarization parameters and the red line intensity I were considered. The DoLP decreases when I increases, confirming a trend observed during the observations in Longyearbyen. However, for small values of I, DoLP varies within a large range of values, while for large values of I, DoLP is always small. The AoLP also varies with the red line intensity, slightly rotating around the magnetic field line.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The thermospheric auroral red line polarization: confirmation of detection and first quantitative analysis

Lilensten

Barthélemy

Amblard

et al. 2013

J. Space Weather Space Clim.

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“…These values are in good agreement with the estimations of aerosol tangent transparency based on twilight sky photometry [10], providing the altitude values from 7 to 12 km for central Russia. Polarization measurements of scattered radiation during the twilight [11] detected the admixture of aerosol scattering at the twilight layer altitude about 15 km. But if we take into account the effective thickness of this layer (about the uniform atmosphere layer scale, 6-8 km), the results will be in good agreement again.…”

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confidence: 99%

Atmospheric aerosol limb scanning based on the lunar eclipses photometry

Ugolnikov

Maslov

2006

Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer

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Abstract. The work is devoted to the analysis of the surface photometric observations of two total lunar eclipses in 2004. The lunar surface relative brightness distribution inside the umbra was used to retrieve the vertical distribution of aerosol extinction of the solar radiation expanding by a tangent path and its dependence on the location at the limb of the Earth. The upper altitude of troposphere aerosol layer was estimated for different latitude zones. The correlation between additional aerosol extinction in the upper troposphere and cyclones was investigated.

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“…Formally, the time at which an astronomical site is considered to be "dark" is defined as when the Sun is greater than 18 below the horizon (or equivalently, the solar zenith distance (Z ) is greater than 108 ). The darkness of the twilight sky depends on the aerosol content of the atmosphere, 9 and, as Dome A has an exceptionally clear atmosphere with no dust or haze, we might expect to use a smaller limit for Z , and hence recover a substantial amount of dark time.…”

Section: Astronomical Darknessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical sky brightness at Dome A, Antarctica, from the Nigel experiment

et al. 2010

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Nigel is a fiber-fed UV/visible grating spectrograph with a thermoelectrically-cooled 256 1024 pixel CCD camera, designed to measure the twilight and night sky brightness from 300 nm to 850 nm. Nigel has three pairs of fibers, each with a field-of-view with an angular diameter of 25 degrees, pointing in three fixed positions towards the sky. The bare fibers are exposed to the sky with no additional optics. The instrument was deployed at Dome A, Antarctica in January 2009 as part of the PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) robotic observatory. During the 2009 winter, Nigel made approximately six months of continuous observations of the sky, with typically 103 deadtime between exposures. The resulting spectra provide quantitative information on the sky brightness, the auroral contribution, and the water vapour content of the atmosphere. We present details of the design, construction and calibration of the Nigel spectrometer, as well some sample spectra from a preliminary analysis.

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Effects of multiple scattering and atmospheric aerosol on the polarization of the twilight sky

Cited by 35 publications

References 5 publications

The thermospheric auroral red line polarization: confirmation of detection and first quantitative analysis

The thermospheric auroral red line polarization: confirmation of detection and first quantitative analysis

Atmospheric aerosol limb scanning based on the lunar eclipses photometry

Optical sky brightness at Dome A, Antarctica, from the Nigel experiment

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