Meteorological optics

(optics) A branch of atmospheric physics or physical meteorology in which optical phenomena occurring in the atmosphere are described and explained. Also known as atmospheric optics.

The study of optical phenomena occurring in the atmosphere. Many light effects can be seen by looking skyward, and all of them, resulting from the interaction of light with the atmosphere, lie in the province of atmospheric optics or meteorological optics. The subject also includes the effect of light waves too long or too short to be detected by the human eye—light-type radiation in the infrared or ultraviolet regions of the spectrum. Light interacts with the different components of the atmosphere by a variety of physical processes, the most important being scattering, reflection, refraction, diffraction, absorption, and emission. See also Absorption of electromagnetic radiation; Atmosphere; Optics; Reflection of electromagnetic radiation; Scattering of electromagnetic radiation.