Humidity's influence on visible region refractive index structure parameter C(n)(2)

In the near-infrared and visible bandpasses optical propagation theory conventionally assumes that humidity does not contribute to the effects of atmospheric turbulence on optical beams. While this assumption may be reasonable for dry locations, we demonstrate that there is an unequivocal effect owi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied optics (2004) 2007-05, Vol.46 (13), p.2453-2459
Main Authors: Chang, Mark P J L, Font, Carlos O, Gilbreath, G Charmaine, Oh, Eun
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In the near-infrared and visible bandpasses optical propagation theory conventionally assumes that humidity does not contribute to the effects of atmospheric turbulence on optical beams. While this assumption may be reasonable for dry locations, we demonstrate that there is an unequivocal effect owing to the presence of humidity upon the strength of turbulence parameter, C(n)(2), from data collected in the Chesapeake Bay area over 100 m length horizontal propagation paths. We describe and apply a novel technique, Hilbert phase analysis, to the relative humidity, temperature, and C(n)(2) data to show the contribution of the relevant climate variable to C(n)(2) as a function of time.
ISSN:1559-128X