STUDY OF THE POLARIZATION CHARACTERISTICS OF SKYLIGHT OVER BEIJING

One of the significant characteristics of the sky is the polarization of light,which is formedthrough the multi-scattering process of atmospheric molecules,aerosols and earth’s surface,andthus contains information on these three factors.It has recently been paid more attentions toretrieve the characteristic parameters of the aerosol and surface of the earth from the skylightpolarization information.Observation of the skylight polarization over Beijing has been conductedwith a multi-wavelength polarimeter developed by LAGEO(Laboratory for Middle Atmosphereand Global Environment Observation),IAP(Institute of Atmospheric Physics)since November1995.With these observation data,both the seasonal variations of the maximum degree ofpolarization of the skylight and the effect of the surface situation are studied in this paper.AMonte Carlo code for the vector radiative transfer calculation is used to simulate and compare withobservation.