Influence of aerosols on off-axis laser detection capabilities

The radiation coming from a laser which operates in the coastal zone can be detected not only when a detector is placed in front of the laser beam but also when it is located outside the main beam direction. The reason is that in a real detection scheme the power collected by a detector not only comes from direct radiation but also from other...

The Ångström coefficient as an indicator of non-marine particles in ANAM (Advanced Navy Aerosol Model)

The Advanced Navy Aerosol model (ANAM), being a modified version of the Navy Aerosol Model (NAM), is a wellknown engineering tool providing a quick and reasonable estimate of the aerosol extinction in the marine near-surface environment on the basis of simple meteorological input data. The original NAM consists of 3 lognormal distributions,...

Laser applications in the littoral: Search lidar and ship identification

Infrared Background analysis of Bay environments

Present-day naval operations take place in coastal environments as well as narrow straits all over the world. Coastal environments around the world are exhibiting a number of threats to naval forces. In particular a large number of asymmetric threats can be present in environments with cluttered backgrounds as well as rapidly varying atmospheric...

The use of multi-band transmission data collected at Scripps pier in November 2006 for the investigation of aerosol characteristics

The knowledge of the atmospheric aerosol characteristics is of great importance for the range performance of Infrared and Electro-Optical sensor systems. The composition, the concentration and the size distribution of aerosols determine their scattering behavior as function of wavelength and thus their attenuation of light beams. When studies...

Finding the range to a distant object near the sea surface

Within the marine atmospheric surface layer it is possible for a single camera to deduce passively the range to a point target. Although this range determination would appear impossible at first glance, such a measurement exploits the common occurrence of sub-refractive propagation conditions in the marine environment. A calculation of the range...

Ångström coefficient as a tracer of the continental aerosols

The variation of the extinction coefficient with wavelength can be presented as a power law function with a constant (related to the power factor) known as the Ångström coefficient. When the particle size distribution is dominated by small particles, usually associated with pollution, the Ångström coefficients are high; in clear conditions they...

Sea spray aerosol and wave energy dissipation in the surf zone

Results from a quantitative model for the prediction of the sea-salt mass flux produced in the surf zone are presented in this paper. The model relates the surf zone sea salt mass flux to the amount of wave energy dissipated in the surf zone. In order to apply this aerosol emission model, a wave numerical model is required to obtain estimates...

Satellite retrieved aerosol properties for battlespace characterization and sensor performance

Sea basing operations in coastal environments require a rapid and accurate description of the physical conditions in the region. Battlespace characterization and sensor performance assist in optimizing the efficiency and safety of operations, of which the detection of targets at low level above the sea surface is all-important. The environmental...