Can I use an LAS Scintillometer over open water?
If a body of water takes up for a major portion of the measurement path, using a scintillometer is not recommended. A scintillometer is an instrument that can measure the ‘amount’ of scintillations by emitting a beam of light over a horizontal path. The scintillations ‘seen’ by the instrument can be expressed as the structure parameter of the refractive index of air (Cn2), which is a representation of the ‘turbulent strength’ of the atmosphere. The scintillations are mostly a result of temperature and water vapour fluxes from the earth surface. Scintillometers use an infra red light source and are designed to be primarily sensitive to scintillations from temperature fluxes. Over most surfaces over land, the temperature related scintillations are most dominant and the those from water vapour are less significant. This means that Scintillometer will yield reliable Cn2 values. In addition, if the so called Bowen ratio is known, additional correction can be applied to improve the measureme
