Remote Sensing Observations of the Total Solar Eclipse and Incident Solar Radiation

The results from ground-based remote sensing investigations of changes of the environmental conditions (dramatic brightness reduction, local cloudiness, behaviour of the incident solar radiation) during the total solar eclipse on 29 March 2006 are presented. Series of digital images of the solar disk and corona as well as of a near-sun sky area were obtained during the all eclipse phases using a photometric CCD camera. Synchronous data for the dramatic changes and spectral behaviour of the incident solar radiation were collected by means of a portable fiber-optic spectrometer in the spectral range 350–1100 nm. The images were used to trace back the atmospheric conditions during the spectrometric measurements and to match the spectral data to the eclipse phases. The appeared fluctuations in the spectral behaviour of the solar radiation within several time intervals after the eclipse totality were caused by appearance of fine cloudy structures in front of the solar disk. We have found also changes in the spectral distribution of the solar radiation before and after the eclipse totality expressed in decrease of the solar radiation at the lower wavelengths and an increase in the spectral range after the spectra maximum due to the limb darkening effect.