Transmission of 10-μm radiation over coastal waters: comparison of point-source image intensities with aerosol extinction and MODTRAN calculations

Abstract

During the MAPTIP experiments in the Dutch coastal waters, 11 October - 5 November 1993, transmission curves were determined from the intensities of the image of a point source suspended from a helicopter at ranges between 0.5 and 6 NMi. The images were recorded with a 10 micrometer USFA 9092 camera from the MeetPost Noordwijk, a research tower in the North Sea at 9 km from the Dutch coast. The transmission determined from the point source intensities at several ranges is compared with calculated values. The transmission is determined by extinction due to aerosols and molecular species in the propagation path. Both contributions can be determined using code using measured size distributions. Also effects of path radiance and background on the image intensity are considered. In this coastal area, and the off- shore winds that were usually encountered during MAPTIP, the aerosol size distributions are known to be a complicated mixture of continental and marine aerosols. Hence the common aerosol models, that usually work well over the open ocean, are often not so reliable in a coastal environment. An attempt is made to assess the influence of marine and anthropogenic contributions to the aerosol on the detection range of point targets in a coastal atmosphere.