Determining Atmospheric Aerosol Content With An Infra-red Radiometer

2014/02/19 by M. K. Daniel, Daniel, M. K., Y. T. Eunice Lo +3
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Atmospheric Ozone and Climate #Atmospheric aerosols and clouds #Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1402.4739

Abstract

The atmospheric attenuation of Cherenkov photons is dominated by two processes: Rayleigh scattering from the molecular component and Mie scattering from the aerosol component. Aerosols are expected to contribute up to 30 Wm^-2 to the emission profile of the atmosphere, equivalent to a difference of ~20C to the clear sky brightness temperature under normal conditions. Here we investigate the aerosol contribution of the measured sky brightness temperature at the H.E.S.S. site; compare it to effective changes in the telescope trigger rates; and discuss how it can be used to provide an assessment of sky clarity that is unambiguously free of telescope systematics.

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