The advent of manned satellites has made it possible for man to observe Earth from great distances. Many new phenomena have been discovered in the atmosphere. These are evidently caused by reflection, scattering or refraction of light on crystals and drops of water. It is possible to see small objects on the surface of Earth because of these anomalies

Bazarskiy, O.

Mazurov, G.

Zhukov, V.

English

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NASA TM-77226NASA TLC'HNICAL MEMORANDUM
THE ATMOSPHERE AS A LENS
G. Mazurov, 0. Bazarskiy, V. Zhukov
Translation of "Atmosfera-linza," Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika,
No. 1, JanuarY 1983, pm 43.
aEP1983
NAX1'"
ACCM CDT
 .
(NASA--TM-77226) THE ATMOSPHERE AS A LENS
	 N83-34759
(National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) 5 p HC A02/MF A01 CSCI 20F
uncla s
G3/74 36095
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20546	 MAY 1983
4
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1. Report me. 2. Govenwent Accession No. 2. Reeiplent's Catalog He.
NASA TM-77226
1. Title and subtitle	 THE ATMOSPHERE AS A LENS S. Rgait DateMay 1983
S. performing 0199ttisatian (1040
7. Author(@) G. Mazurov, cared. of phys.	 4 mat . 1- p. ►forsingorgenle.fletrRapettNe.
sci.r university reader; 0. Bazarskiy,
10• veth unit No.cand, of tech. sci., university reader;
Y.	 Zhukov -
9. Perlermring Drgeni sehen Nurse and Address 11. Contrast r GnM No.
'Leo•Kanner Associates NASw-3541
1s. Type Of Report end Period CowartRedwood City, CA.	 94063
Translation
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address'
National Aerocautics and Space Adminis- 10. sponsoring Agency Codetration, Washington, D.C.	 20546
15. supplementary Notes
Translation of "Atmosfera-linza fl, Aviatsiya i kosmonavtika,'
No.	 1,
	 1983 •,	 p `.	 43.
16. Abstract The advent of manned satellites has made it possible
for man 'to observe Earth from great distances. 	 Many, new
phenomena have been discovered .fin the atmosphere. 	 These are
evidently caused by-reflection, scattering or refraction of
light on Crystals and drops of water.	 It is possible to see
small objects on the.surface of Earth because of these
anomalies.
ORIG GAL PAGE C	 .
OF POOR QUALITY
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ORIGINAL PAGE 16
OF POOR QUAL17 Y
THE ATMOSPHERE AS A DENS
G. Mazurov, O. Bazarskiy, V. Zhukov
Candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, university reader;
Candidate of technical sciences, university reader.
It is well known that in t).re atmosphere many optical phei iii-
	
/43*
ena are observed some of which are the result of reflection, scat-
tering or refraction of beams on crystals and drops of water. Now
from orbit the cosmonauts have begun to report completely new phe-
nomena--observations of relatively small objects found on the surface
of Earth. For instance, on .Tune 22, 1975, on the 30th day of flight,
pilot and cosmonaut of the USSR, V. Sevast'yanov saw the house of
his parents in the city of Sochi.
{
	
	 This is how he descirbes its "...today I saw Sochi. I saw
that the weather was sunny and clear. Very clearly I saw the port,
saw our house—it is difficult to prove, right? But I actually saw
from space this tiny two-floor dwelling in Sochi in which I grew up
and in which my parents live today. How could I find this house?
{	 At first I looked at the Caucasus shore of Cape Adler. The Mzymta
river flowing in the Adler region to the sea colors the sea water
with its silt. This is a very precise reference point. For a
further reference point I found Adler and a little farther on I saw
the Sochi port. And directly on the axis of the main wharf and a
little higher at the base of the television tower I found my own
house. I saw it as a tiny point among the trees--our house is sur-
rounded by cypress trees."
Pilot and cosmonaut of the USSR, V. Kovalenok observed fine
details in the terrain. During a brief time period he several times
got the impression that he saw objects and formations on the sur-
face of Earth through a magnifying glass.
With an increase in the duration of space flights the inci-
dences of anomolously large resolution capability during observa-
tions through the atmosphere have been reported more and more
*Numbers in the margin indicate pagination in the foreign text.
1
ae 	 i
ORIGINAL ME iFJ
OF POOR QUALITY
frequently by the cosmonauts. For instance, one of them saw a truck
moving along a desert highway. They regularly report that in the
wake thrown up by ships on the surface of the sea they observe the 	 r
ships themselves.
We can ask whether this is actually psychological conjectures
o„1 the part of the cosmonauts. It is important to analyze this in-
asmuch as the optical studies from space are one of the most informa-
tive methods of studying natural resources of Earth and the physical
properties of the atmosphere.
According to experimental investigation, sharpness of human
vision comprises an angular minute. This figure is practically
unchanged in space; we are taking about observations by cosmonauts
of point light sources. For instance, from the Voskhod ship point
sources were visible 120 m apart whereas they merged when the dis-
tance was shortened to 60 m.
How do we explain the fact of superresolution during observa-
tions from space?
One of the causes could be the focusing properties of the at-
mosphere which create the effect of apparent magnification. It is
well known that with a certain distribution of temperature, the gas
medium becomes self-focusing, that is, it works as a lens. Soviet
scientists have made theoretical calculations and pointed out that
for conditions of a standard atmosphere magnification can amount
to 4 to 15% depending on the altitude of the flight of the space-
craft. But this is inadequate to explain the cases described.
Obviously one must assume that special aerosynoptic conditions or
baric formations exist in which the atmosphere is converted into a
self-focusing medium.
For evaluating their role, the indices of refraction of such
formations as high cold cyclones and warm anticyclones must be cal-
culated. Inasmuch as these baric formations occupy a broad area,
the change in index of refraction is small.	 One should look at
2
t
a
formations not on a synoptic scale but on a mezo-scale. This can
apply to clearly pronounced thermal conditions (stable and strongly
ascending convection currents) and leeward waves in mountain regions.
Calculation for thermal conditions has given the opposite result--a
decrease in reflection because the temperature inside them is higher
than outside. This study of leeward waves close to mountain ridges
showed that indices of refraction change sharply even at a distance
of 100 m. This makes it possible for the indicated mezo-scale for-
mations to be looked at as pieces of a self-focusing lens. Therefore,
it is completely possible that cosmonaut V. Sevast l yanov saw his
own house.
On the whole during observations from space, from the point of
view of optics, the atmosphere can be looked at as a self-focusing
magnifying gas lens with varying thickness (for the winter and sum-
mer hemispheres) with a large number of nonuniform particles. Most
of them such as clouds, fog, thick smoke and different aerosol ad-
mixtures worsen or completely exclude transparency of the lens-
atmosphere. A small part of the irregularity we pointed out as the
leeward waves sharply increases the image which the cosmonauts re-
port. If the atmosphere itself magnifies by a total of 10--15%,
then dissemination to a large degree of the change of index of
refraction, as in the leeward waves in mountain regions, can increase
it by several times. It is just this that makes it possible, in our
opinion, for the cosmonaut to see small objects, whose angular di-
mensions are much smaller than the limit of resolution of the human A
optical system.
3


The atmosphere as a lens

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