Research on sky polarized light distribution

Many animals are able to use sky polarized light for navigation. They have a visual nervous system which is extremely sensitive to the sky polarized light, and there exists a perceptible polarization distribution in the sky. However, weather conditions, sun's position and detection wavelength will affect the polarization pattern in a certain extent. They will cause the instability of the sky polarization distribution. As a result, it will reduce the polarization navigation usability. In this paper, we focus on the relationship between these factors and the sky polarization distribution. Using full-sky polarization instrument, we measured sky in full-band, red, blue, purple bands under different weather conditions. The results show that the sky polarization distribution is closely related to the sun altitude, weather conditions and detection band. The distributions of sky polarized light are different under different weather conditions and detection bands. The blue band is more suitable for the polarization navigation. This study will provide not only the basic theory to improve the precision of the polarized light navigation, but also a reference for atmosphere polarization remote sensing detection.