Refractive turbulence profiling using an orbiting light source

Abstract

The possibility of obtaining vertical profiles of refractive turbulence C2 using an orbiting monochromatic light source is examined. The method employs spatial and temporal filtering of the observed scintillation pattern arising from density fluctuations in the atmosphere to measure C2/n. The impact of atmospheric motion on the method is discussed along with ways to mitigate its effect. Single and array receiver configurations are examined and the multiple response problem inherent in array configurations is corrected by tuning the individual array elements to the array response. The method is expected to be significantly better than the existing stellar scintillometer method.