Digital all-sky polarization imaging of the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 in Rexburg, Idaho, USA

Laura M. Eshelman; Martin Jan Tauc; Taiga Hashimoto; Kendra Gillis; William Weiss; Bryan Stanley; Preston Hooser; Glenn E. Shaw; Joseph A. Shaw

doi:10.1364/AO.391736

Applied Optics
Vol. 59,
Issue 21,
pp. F41-F52
(2020)
•https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.391736

Digital all-sky polarization imaging of the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 in Rexburg, Idaho, USA

Laura M. Eshelman, Martin Jan Tauc, Taiga Hashimoto, Kendra Gillis, William Weiss, Bryan Stanley, Preston Hooser, Glenn E. Shaw, and Joseph A. Shaw

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Laura M. Eshelman, Martin Jan Tauc, Taiga Hashimoto, Kendra Gillis, William Weiss, Bryan Stanley, Preston Hooser, Glenn E. Shaw, and Joseph A. Shaw, "Digital all-sky polarization imaging of the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 in Rexburg, Idaho, USA," Appl. Opt. 59, F41-F52 (2020)

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- Atmospheric and Oceanic Optics
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About this Article
History
- Original Manuscript: February 28, 2020
- Revised Manuscript: April 27, 2020
- Manuscript Accepted: May 3, 2020
- Published: June 10, 2020

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Abstract

All-sky polarization images were measured from sunrise to sunset and during a cloud-free totality on 21 August 2017 in Rexburg, Idaho using two digital three-camera all-sky polarimeters and a time-sequential liquid-crystal-based all-sky polarimeter. Twenty-five polarimetric images were recorded during totality, revealing a highly dynamic evolution of the distribution of skylight polarization, with the degree of linear polarization becoming nearly zenith-symmetric by the end of totality. The surrounding environment was characterized with an infrared cloud imager that confirmed the complete absence of clouds during totality, an AERONET solar radiometer that measured aerosol properties, a portable weather station, and a hand-held spectrometer with satellite images that measured surface reflectance at and near the observation site. These observations confirm that previously observed totality patterns are general and not unique to those specific eclipses. The high temporal image resolution revealed a transition of a neutral point from the zenith in totality to the normal Babinet point just above the Sun after third contact, providing the first indication that the transition between totality and normal daytime polarization patterns occurs over of a time period of approximately 13 s.

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Supplementary Material (4)

Name	Description
Visualization 1	All-sky imagery of daytime DoLP on 21 Aug. 2017.
Visualization 2	All-sky imagery of DoLP during totality on 21 Aug. 2017.
Visualization 3	All-sky imagery of DoLP in totality (normalized to max value) on 21 Aug. 2017.
Visualization 4	All-sky imagery of Angle of Polarization during totality on 21 Aug. 2017.

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Moon/Sun size ratio	1.029
Eclipse obscuration	100.0%
Duration of totality	2 m 17 s
Solar elevation angle at mid-totality	49.4°
Solar azimuth angle at mid-totality	133.0°
Velocity of the umbra	0.839 km/s
Path width	106 km
Major axis of the elliptical umbra	$\sim 130 k m$
Minor axis of the elliptical umbra	$\sim 90 k m$
Start of partial eclipse (first contact)	16:15:35 (UTC)
Start of total eclipse (second contact)	17:33:06 (UTC)
Maximum eclipse (mid-totality)	17:34:14 (UTC)
End of total eclipse (third contact)	17:35:23 (UTC)
End of partial eclipse (fourth contact)	18:58:11 (UTC)
Latitude of observation site	43°49 $^{'}$ 46.13 $^{''}$ N
Longitude of observation site	111°53 $^{'}$ 6.14 $^{''}$ W
Distance from center line of totality	8.8 km

Observer	Year	Solar Zenith Angle [°]	Obs. Point Zenith Angle [°]	Measurement Type	Wavelength	DoLP [%]
de Bary et al. [47]	1961	78	12	point sensor (ground-based)	Green	0
Moore et al. [48]	1965	49	41	point sensor (airborne)	475 nm	0.5
Moore et al. [48]	1965	49	41	point sensor (airborne)	601 nm	4.5
Miller et al. [17]	1965	25	65	point sensor (airborne)	558 nm	31
					578 nm	35
					610 nm	28
					630 nm	26
Rao et al. [45]	1966	20	70	point sensor (airborne)	475 nm	19
Rao et al. [45]	1966	20	70	point sensor (airborne)	601 nm	21
Dandekar and Turtle [44]	1970	44	46	point sensor (ground-based)	475 nm	4
Dandekar and Turtle [44]	1970	44	46	point sensor (ground-based)	600 nm	$< 0.5$
Gerharz [46]	1970		38–53	imager (ground-based)	535 nm	$< 2.5$
Shaw [12]	1973	53	37	scanning (ground-based)	400	4
Pomozi et al. [13], Horvath et al. [23]	1999	32	full sky	all-sky imager (ground-based)	450 nm	$\sim 2 - 12$
					550 nm	$\sim 9 - 22$
					650 nm	$\sim 10 - 30$
Sipöcz et al. [20]	2006	46	full sky	all-sky imager (ground-based)	450 nm	$\sim 1 - 8$
					550 nm	$\sim 2 - 16$
					650 nm	$\sim 3 - 20$
Eshelman et al. (this work)	2017	51	full sky	all-sky imager (ground-based)	455 nm	$\sim 8 - 43$
					525 nm	$\sim 8 - 38$
					595 nm	$\sim 13 - 38$

Moon/Sun size ratio	1.029
Eclipse obscuration	100.0%
Duration of totality	2 m 17 s
Solar elevation angle at mid-totality	49.4°
Solar azimuth angle at mid-totality	133.0°
Velocity of the umbra	0.839 km/s
Path width	106 km
Major axis of the elliptical umbra	$\sim 130 k m$
Minor axis of the elliptical umbra	$\sim 90 k m$
Start of partial eclipse (first contact)	16:15:35 (UTC)
Start of total eclipse (second contact)	17:33:06 (UTC)
Maximum eclipse (mid-totality)	17:34:14 (UTC)
End of total eclipse (third contact)	17:35:23 (UTC)
End of partial eclipse (fourth contact)	18:58:11 (UTC)
Latitude of observation site	43°49 $^{'}$ 46.13 $^{''}$ N
Longitude of observation site	111°53 $^{'}$ 6.14 $^{''}$ W
Distance from center line of totality	8.8 km

Observer	Year	Solar Zenith Angle [°]	Obs. Point Zenith Angle [°]	Measurement Type	Wavelength	DoLP [%]
de Bary et al. [47]	1961	78	12	point sensor (ground-based)	Green	0
Moore et al. [48]	1965	49	41	point sensor (airborne)	475 nm	0.5
Moore et al. [48]	1965	49	41	point sensor (airborne)	601 nm	4.5
Miller et al. [17]	1965	25	65	point sensor (airborne)	558 nm	31
					578 nm	35
					610 nm	28
					630 nm	26
Rao et al. [45]	1966	20	70	point sensor (airborne)	475 nm	19
Rao et al. [45]	1966	20	70	point sensor (airborne)	601 nm	21
Dandekar and Turtle [44]	1970	44	46	point sensor (ground-based)	475 nm	4
Dandekar and Turtle [44]	1970	44	46	point sensor (ground-based)	600 nm	$< 0.5$
Gerharz [46]	1970		38–53	imager (ground-based)	535 nm	$< 2.5$
Shaw [12]	1973	53	37	scanning (ground-based)	400	4
Pomozi et al. [13], Horvath et al. [23]	1999	32	full sky	all-sky imager (ground-based)	450 nm	$\sim 2 - 12$
					550 nm	$\sim 9 - 22$
					650 nm	$\sim 10 - 30$
Sipöcz et al. [20]	2006	46	full sky	all-sky imager (ground-based)	450 nm	$\sim 1 - 8$
					550 nm	$\sim 2 - 16$
					650 nm	$\sim 3 - 20$
Eshelman et al. (this work)	2017	51	full sky	all-sky imager (ground-based)	455 nm	$\sim 8 - 43$
					525 nm	$\sim 8 - 38$
					595 nm	$\sim 13 - 38$

Abstract

Supplementary Material (4)

Cited By

Figures (13)

Tables (2)

Applied Optics