LASER BEAM REFRACTION IN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER AT STRONG TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS

The deflection of a laser beam from a receiver owing to regular refraction under conditions of strong temperature inversions was estimated. The calculations were based on the experimental air temperature profiles in the atmospheric boundary layer as measured in the Basic Experimental Observatory of the Institute of Atmospheric Optics SB RAS (suburbs of Tomsk, Russia) for the period of 2023–2024. The estimates were obtained for the radiation source installed on the underlying surface and the receiver set at different heights and different distances from the source. It was found that under strong surface temperature inversions, the deflection of the laser beam from the target can achieve several meters even with relatively short path lengths.