This work is aimed at understanding the phenomena which affect the sharpness and stability of optical images transmitted through the atmosphere. A brief description is given of the results obtained to date from an experimental field-study directed at establishing a connection between optics and meteorology. Most of the work has, so far, been conducted in daytime because our main application is to solar astronomy; other fields such as surveying, aerial reconnaissance and so on can also benefit from basic research in atmospheric optics.

A horizontal line of sight over uniform, level terrain presents the simplest case for study. The optical transfer function (OTF) of the system comprising an air-path and telescope objective has been measured with an image analyser which is a modified form of stellar seeing-monitor. The outputs of this analyser are proportional to the modulus and argument of the OTF. The modulus, or modulation transfer function (MTF), is a measure of image contrast; the fluctuations of the argument measure image movement, or “dancing”. The OTF is a function of spatial frequency f (cycles per unit distance) which may be altered by radial movement of the scanning graticule of the image-analvser.