Abstract
Signals transmitted through the atmosphere in the visible and infrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum can be seriously degraded by clouds between the source and the receiver. A previously published model was developed for estimating probabilities of cloud-free lines-of-sight through the atmosphere at any desired elevation angle and geographical location. This paper extends the published model to the problem of estimating probabilities of cloud-free lines-of-sight from n of m observing sites. A climatic record of sky-cover observations taken simultaneously from all m sites is required before the model can be applied.
