Naturally occurring or windblown dust causes periods of low visibility, particularly in arid regions, and can be a source of obscuration of electro-optical devices operating in the visible or infrared spectral regions. Occurrence of windblown dust and factors influencing the injection of soil into the atmosphere by the wind are described. Characteristics of the dust affecting atmospheric optical properties discussed include particle number density, particle size distributions, and complex index of refraction. The ways that variations of these characteristics affect the transmission of visible and infrared energy are described.

Date Published: 30 December 1981
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 0305, Atmospheric Effects on Electro-Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave Systems Performance, (30 December 1981); doi: 10.1117/12.932697

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0305:
Atmospheric Effects on Electro-Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave Systems Performance
Richard Gomez, Editor(s)