Evaluation of a New Visiometer for Automated Visibility Observation

The traditional Instrumental observation (or traditional optical instrument) is difficult to obtain correct visibility information in a complicated atmospheric (e.g. rainy and foggy) environment. We developed a new visibility instrument, digital photography visiometer system (DPVS), equipped with advanced digital photographic technology. We compared the results of the new DPVS with those from a forward-scattering visibility instrument (FD12) and manual visibility observations in various (rainy, non-rainy, foggy) weather conditions. The comparative results show that the new DPVS, FD12, and manual observation have the same trend of change, but the observation from the new DPVS is closer to that from the manual observations in rainy days or complicated weather conditions. Our study demonstrates that the new DVPS is superior to the optical visibility instrument and can be used for automated visibility observations under all weather conditions.