Revisiting the question “Why is the sky blue?”

Lange, Anna; Rozanov, Alexei; von Savigny, Christian

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14829-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14829-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14829-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 23

Research article

|

01 Dec 2023

Research article |

| 01 Dec 2023

Revisiting the question “Why is the sky blue?”

Anna Lange, Alexei Rozanov, and Christian von Savigny

Data sets

SORCE Solar Spectral Irradiance LASP (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics) http://lasp.colorado.edu/lisird/data/sorce_ssi_l3/

Short summary

We were able to demonstrate quantitatively that the blue colour of the sky cannot be solely attributed to Rayleigh scattering. The influence of ozone on the blue colour of the sky is calculated for different viewing geometries, total ozone columns and an enhanced stratospheric aerosol scenario. Furthermore, the effects of polarisation, surface albedo and observer height are investigated.