A marine atmospheric spectrum for laser propagation

Most refractive index power spectral models currently used in atmospheric optical propagation studies were developed for terrestrial or high altitude environments. The current paper presents a new atmospheric spectral model for the marine environment. An analytical marine atmospheric spectrum is formulated to fit a numerical spectrum with the help of the downhill simplex algorithm. Theoretical irradiance fluctuation expressions are derived from the new spectrum for plane and spherical waves in weak optical turbulence. Comparisons are made between the existing scintillation theory and the new expressions developed for the marine environment, and the comparative advantage of the model is discussed. The results suggest that the current models are adequate for modeling the marine atmosphere in weak optical turbulence for small values of the inner scale of turbulence.