Estimation of cloud height using ground-based stereophotography: Methods, error analysis and validation

Retrieval errors of the atmospheric composition using optical methods (DOAS et al.) are under the determining influence of the cloudiness during the measurements. If there is information about the clouds, the optical model of the atmosphere used to interpret the measurements can be adjusted, and the retrieval errors are reduced. For the reconstruction of the parameters of clouds a method was developed based on taking pictures of the sky by a pair of digital photocameras and subsequent processing of the obtained sequence of stereo frames by a method of morphological analysis of images. Since the directions of the optical axes of the cameras are not exactly known, the calibration of the direction of sight of the cameras was conducted at the first stage using the photographs of the stars in the night sky. At the second stage, the relative shift of the image of the cloud fragment on the second frame of the pair was calculated. Stereo pairs obtained by simultaneous photography, allowed us to estimate the height of cloud. The report describes a mathematical model of measurement, pose and solve the problem of calibration of direction of sight of the cameras, describes methods of combining of image fragments by morphological method, the problem of estimating cloud height and speed of their movement is formulated and solved. The examples of evaluations in a real photo are analyzed and validated by the way of comparing with the results of measurement by laser rangefinder.