Polarization of the Sky

• Main Authors: Horváth, Gábor, Barta, András, Hegedüs, Ramón
• Other Authors: Environmental Optics Laboratory Budapest, Department of Biological Physics, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE)-Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Estrato Research and Development Ltd, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik (MPII), Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Laboratoire Photonique, Numérique et Nanosciences (LP2N), Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux 1 (UB)-Institut d'Optique Graduate School (IOGS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Melting the frontiers between Light, Shape and Matter (MANAO), Laboratoire Bordelais de Recherche en Informatique (LaBRI), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, Informatique et Radiocommunications de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Bordeaux (UB)-École Nationale Supérieure d'Électronique, Informatique et Radiocommunications de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Inria Bordeaux - Sud-Ouest, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (Inria)-Laboratoire Photonique, Numérique et Nanosciences (LP2N), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Institut d'Optique Graduate School (IOGS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut d'Optique Graduate School (IOGS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), DFG Emmy-Noether grant ``Plenoptic Acquisition and Projection - Theoretical Developments and Applications'', Gábor Horváth
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: Animal Physiology; Biophysics and Biological Physics; Atmospheric Sciences; Behavioural Sciences; Neurobiology; [SPI.OPTI]Engineering Sciences [physics]/Optics / Photonic; [SDV.BA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology; Arctic
• Online Access: https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01091833; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54718-8_18

International audience Based on full-sky imaging polarimetric measurements, in this chapter we demonstrate that the celestial distribution of the angle of polarization (or E-vector direction) of skylight is a very robust pattern being qualitatively always the same under all possible sky conditions. Practically the only qualitative difference among clear, partly cloudy, overcast, foggy, smoky and tree-canopied skies occurs in the degree of linear polarization d: The higher the optical thickness of the non-clear atmosphere, the lower the d of skylight. We review here how well the Rayleigh model describes the E-vector pattern of clear and cloudy skies. We deal with the polarization patterns of foggy, partly cloudy, overcast, twilight, smoky and total-solar-eclipsed skies. We describe the possible influences of the changed polarization pattern of smoky and eclipsed skies on insect orientation. We consider the polarization of ‘water-skies’ above Arctic open waters and the polarization characteristics of fogbows. Finally, we deal with the change of skylight polarization due to the transmission through Snell’s window of the flat water surface.