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Title:
Terrestrial glint seen from deep space: Oriented ice crystals detected from the Lagrangian point
Authors:
Marshak, Alexander; Várnai, Tamás.; Kostinski, Alexander
Affiliation:
AA(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland USA), AB(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland USA; Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland USA), AC(Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan USA)
Publication:
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 44, Issue 10, pp. 5197-5202 (GeoRL Homepage)
Publication Date:
05/2017
Origin:
WILEY
Keywords:
deep space observations, bright flashes of light, specular reflection, oriented ice crystals, search for habitable exoplanets
Abstract Copyright:
©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
DOI:
10.1002/2017GL073248
Bibliographic Code:
2017GeoRL..44.5197M

Abstract

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft resides at the first Lagrangian point about one million miles from Earth. A polychromatic imaging camera onboard delivers nearly hourly observations of the entire sunlit face of the Earth. Many images contain unexpected bright flashes of light over both ocean and land. We construct a yearlong time series of flash latitudes, scattering angles, and oxygen absorption to demonstrate conclusively that the flashes over land are specular reflections off tiny ice platelets floating in the air nearly horizontally. Such deep space detection of tropospheric ice can be used to constrain the likelihood of oriented crystals and their contribution to Earth albedo. These glint observations also support proposals for detecting starlight glints off faint companions in our search for habitable exoplanets.
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