Snow-sky and water-sky luminance at an Arctic station
Luminance measurements of water-sky and snow-sky were carried out at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. The luminance of a well-developed water-sky is found to be about 40% of that of the adjacent snow-sky. Once the‘luminance level’of a comparatively pure snow-sky is reached, there is only a very slight further...
| Published in: | Polar Research |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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Norwegian Polar Institute
1982
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| Online Access: | https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2576 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v1982i2.7002 |
| Summary: | Luminance measurements of water-sky and snow-sky were carried out at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. The luminance of a well-developed water-sky is found to be about 40% of that of the adjacent snow-sky. Once the‘luminance level’of a comparatively pure snow-sky is reached, there is only a very slight further luminance increase towards zenith. This is in good agreement with FRITZ’theory as well as with the light conditions experienced during‘white-out’situations. By measuring the angular elevation of the border between water-sky and snow-sky and the height of the cloud base, good estimates are obtained of the distance to the corresponding border on the ground between snow surface and open water. |
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