Polarization Imagery Obtained from the Space Shuttle

Abstract

We have obtained Space Shuttle based imagery of an area of the Pacific that includes the island of Hawaii and adjacent sea and cloud areas. The imagery was obtained using two Hasselblad cameras with polarization sensing filters oriented to sense radiation polarized in mutually perpendicular directions. For the imagery obtained, the viewing plane is referenced to the principal plane defined by the solar incident and viewing directions. The range of camera acceptance angles was 40°. The phase angle to the center of the image was 142.9°, and imagery was obtained using type 2404 plus X aerographic and type 5036 Ektachrome films which were subsequently digitized at the LPL (Lunar Planetary Laboratory, NASA, Houston). Color separation in the digitized color imagery was achieved using Wratten filters for the blue, green and red. Relative photometry, and photometric differences for the mutually perpendicular polarizations are obtained permitting the absolute percent polarization to be determined.