Atmospheric optics

Atmospheric optics is "the study of the optical characteristics of the atmosphere or products of atmospheric processes .... [including] temporal and spatial resolutions beyond those discernible with the naked eye". Meteorological optics is "that part of atmospheric optics concerned with the study of patterns observable with the naked eye". Nevertheless, the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Meteorological optical phenomena, as described in this article, are concerned with how the optical properties of Earth's atmosphere cause a wide range of optical phenomena and visual perception phenomena. Examples of meteorological phenomena include: The blue color of the sky. This is from Rayleigh scattering, which sends more higher frequency/shorter wavelength (blue) sunlight into the eye of an observer than other frequencies/wavelength. The reddish color of the Sun when it is observed through a thick atmosphere, as during a sunrise or sunset. This is because long-wavelength (red) light is scattered less than blue light. The red light reaches the observer's eye, whereas the blue light is scattered out of the line of sight. Other colours in the sky, such as glowing skies at dusk and dawn. These are from additional particulate matter in the sky that scatter different colors at different angles. Halos, afterglows, coronas, polar stratospheric clouds, and sun dogs. These are from scattering, or refraction, by ice crystals and from other particles in the atmosphere. They depend on different particle sizes and geometries. Mirages. These are optical phenomena in which light rays are bent due to thermal variations in the refractive index of air, producing displaced or heavily distorted images of distant objects. Other optical phenomena associated with this include the Novaya Zemlya effect, in which the Sun has a distorted shape and rises earlier or sets later than predicted. A spectacular form of refraction, called the Fata Morgana, occurs with a temperature inversion, in which objects on the horizon or even beyond the horizon (e.

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Airglow

Airglow (also called nightglow) is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight and diffused sunlight from the far side are removed. This phenomenon originates with self-illuminated gases and has no relationship with Earth's magnetism or sunspot activity. The airglow phenomenon was first identified in 1868 by Swedish physicist Anders Ångström.

Tropopause

The tropopause is the atmospheric boundary that demarcates the troposphere from the stratosphere, which are the lowest two of the five layers of the atmosphere of Earth. The tropopause is a thermodynamic gradient-stratification layer, that marks the end of the troposphere, and is approximately above the equatorial regions, and approximately above the polar regions. Rising from the planetary surface of the Earth, the tropopause is the atmospheric level where the air ceases to become cool with increased altitude and becomes dry, devoid of water vapor.

Sunrise

Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Although the Sun appears to "rise" from the horizon, it is actually the Earth's motion that causes the Sun to appear. The illusion of a moving Sun results from Earth observers being in a rotating reference frame; this apparent motion caused many cultures to have mythologies and religions built around the geocentric model, which prevailed until astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus formulated his heliocentric model in the 16th century.

SwissCube: The First Entirely-Built Swiss Student Satellite with an Earth Observation Payload

Maurice Borgeaud, Noémy Scheidegger, Ted Choueiri, Fabien Jordan, Nicolas Steiner

In 2006, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in cooperation with other Swiss academic and industrial partners started the Swiss Cube project based on the Cube Sat program. The primary objective of the Swiss Cube project is to provide a dynamic ...

Springer-Verlag New York, Ms Ingrid Cunningham, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, Ny 10010 Usa2010

Measurement and analysis of aerosols, cirrus-contrails, water vapor and temperature in the upper troposphere with the Jungfraujoch LIDAR system

Ioan Balin

The impact of human activities on the global climate may lead to large disruptions of the economic, social and political status quo in the middle and long term. Understanding the dynamics of the Earth's climate is thus of paramount importance and one of th ...

EPFL2004

Ground-based water vapour soundings by microwave radiometry and Raman lidar on Jungfraujoch (Swiss Alps)

Hubert van den Bergh, Bertrand Calpini, Valentin Simeonov, Ioan Balin

Water vapour has been measured from the International Scientific Station Jungfraujoch (ISSJ, 47° N, 7° E, 3580 in above sea level) during the winters of 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 by microwave radiometry and Raman lidar. The abundance of atmospheric water vap ...

Copernicus Publications2004

Meteorology

Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not begin until the 18th century. The 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions. Prior attempts at prediction of weather depended on historical data.

Atmosphere

An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere is the outer region of a star, which includes the layers above the opaque photosphere; stars of low temperature might have outer atmospheres containing compound molecules. The atmosphere of Earth is composed of nitrogen (78 %), oxygen (21 %), argon (0.

Space-plasma physics

Space physics, also known as solar-terrestrial physics or space-plasma physics, is the study of plasmas as they occur naturally in the Earth's upper atmosphere (aeronomy) and within the Solar System. As such, it encompasses a far-ranging number of topics, such as heliophysics which includes the solar physics of the Sun, the solar wind, planetary magnetospheres and ionospheres, auroras, cosmic rays, and synchrotron radiation.

The High Atmosphere and Transition to Space MOOC: Space Mission Design and Operations

Covers the variation in pressure and temperature with altitude in the high atmosphere and transition to space.

Earth's Climate System: Components and Interactions ENV-410: Science of climate change

Covers the Earth's climate system components, interactions, and energy balance, including the impact of anthropogenic forcings and the role of the biosphere.