Validation of GOES-Based Surface Insolation Retrievals and Its Utility for Model Evaluation

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-571
Author(s):  
Peiyang Cheng ◽  
Arastoo Pour-Biazar ◽  
Richard T. McNider ◽  
John R. Mecikalski
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Model Evaluation ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Photochemical Reactions ◽  
Surface Radiation ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Retrieval Algorithm ◽  
Reference Network

AbstractIncident solar radiation at Earth’s surface, also called surface insolation, plays an important role in the Earth system as it affects surface energy balance, weather, climate, water supply, biochemical emissions, photochemical reactions, etc. The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center (SPoRT) have been generating and archiving several products, including insolation, from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Imager for over a decade. The NASA/UAH insolation product has been used in studies to improve air quality simulations, biogenic emission estimates, correcting surface energy balance, and for cloud assimilation, but has not been thoroughly evaluated. In this study, the NASA/UAH insolation product is compared to surface pyranometer measurements from the Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) and the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) for a 12-month period from March 2013 to February 2014. The insolation product has normalized bias values within 6% of the mean observation, a root-mean-square error between 6% and 16%, and correlation coefficients greater than 0.96 for hourly insolation estimates. It also shows better performance without the presence of clouds. However, erroneous estimates may be produced for persistent snow-covered surfaces. Further, this study attempts to demonstrate the use of such a satellite-based insolation product for model evaluation. The NASA/UAH insolation product is compared to the downward shortwave radiation from the Rapid Refresh, version 1 (RAPv1), and successfully captures the overestimation tendency in surface energy input as mentioned in previous studies. Finally, future plans for improving the retrieval algorithm and developing a GOES-16 insolation product are discussed.

scholarly journals Application of an improved surface energy balance model to two large valley glaciers in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Tim Hill ◽  
Christine F. Dow ◽  
Eleanor A. Bash ◽  
Luke Copland
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
Surface Melt

Abstract Glacier surficial melt rates are commonly modelled using surface energy balance (SEB) models, with outputs applied to extend point-based mass-balance measurements to regional scales, assess water resource availability, examine supraglacial hydrology and to investigate the relationship between surface melt and ice dynamics. We present an improved SEB model that addresses the primary limitations of existing models by: (1) deriving high-resolution (30 m) surface albedo from Landsat 8 imagery, (2) calculating shadows cast onto the glacier surface by high-relief topography to model incident shortwave radiation, (3) developing an algorithm to map debris sufficiently thick to insulate the glacier surface and (4) presenting a formulation of the SEB model coupled to a subsurface heat conduction model. We drive the model with 6 years of in situ meteorological data from Kaskawulsh Glacier and Nàłùdäy (Lowell) Glacier in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada, and validate outputs against in situ measurements. Modelled seasonal melt agrees with observations within 9% across a range of elevations on both glaciers in years with high-quality in situ observations. We recommend applying the model to investigate the impacts of surface melt for individual glaciers when sufficient input data are available.

scholarly journals Analysing surface energy balance closure and partitioning over a semi-arid savanna FLUXNET site in Skukuza, Kruger National Park, South Africa

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuhle P. Majozi ◽  
Chris M. Mannaerts ◽  
Abel Ramoelo ◽  
Renaud Mathieu ◽  
Alecia Nickless ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Surface Energy Budget ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Energy Balance Closure ◽  
Flux Tower ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Flux tower sites and data are in great demand to provide essential terrestrial climate, water and radiation budget information needed for environmental monitoring and evaluation of climate change impacts on ecosystems and society in general. They are also intended for calibration and validation of satellite-based earth observation and monitoring efforts, such as for example assessment of evapotranspiration from land and vegetation surfaces using surface energy balance approaches. Surface energy budget methods for ET estimation rely to a large extend on the basic assumption of a surface energy balance closure, assuming the full conversion of net solar radiation reaching the land surface into soil heat conduction and turbulent fluxes, i.e. the sensible (or convection) and latent heat components of the energy balance. Evapotranspiration is the conversion of the latent heat exchange fraction of the balance. In this paper, the Skukuza flux tower data were analysed in order to verify their use for validation of satellite–based evapotranspiration methods, under development in South Africa.Data series from 2000 until 2014 were used in the analysis. The energy balance ratio (EBR) concept, defined as the ratio between the sum of the turbulent convective and latent heat fluxes and radiation minus soil heat was used. At first typical diurnal patterns of EB partitioning were derived for four different seasons, well illustrating how this savannah-type biome responses to the weather conditions. Also the particular behaviour of the EB components during sunrise and sunset conditions, being important but usually neglected periods of energy transitions and inversions were noted and analysed. Annual estimates of the surface energy balance and its components were generated, including an evaluation of the balance closure. The seasonal variations were also investigated as well as the impact of nocturnal observations on the overall EB behaviour.

Disentangeling the shortwave surface energy balance in earth system models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kine Onsum Moseid
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Atmospheric Aerosols ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Earth System ◽  
System Models ◽  
Aerosol Forcing ◽  
Earth System Models

<p>The Earth’s surface energy balance is heavily affected by incoming solar radiation and how it propagates through our atmosphere. How the sunlight propagates towards the surface depends on the atmospheric presence of aerosols, gases, and clouds. </p><p>Surface temperature evolution according to earth system models (ESMs) in the historical experiment from the coupled model intercomparison project phase 6 (CMIP6) suggests that models may be overly sensitive to aerosol forcing. Other studies have found that ESMs do not recreate observed decadal patterns in surface shortwave radiation - suggesting the models inaccurately underestimate the shortwave impact of atmospheric aerosols. These contradictory results act as a basis for our study.<br>Our study decomposes what determines both all sky and clear sky downwelling shortwave radiation at the surface in ESMs, using different experiments of CMIP6. We try to determine the respective role of aerosols, clouds and gases in the shortwave energy balance at the surface, and assess the effect of seasonality and regional differences.</p>

scholarly journals Influência da Superfície no Balanço de Energia e na Intensidade da Precipitação Urbana (Influence of the Surface Energy Balance and Intensity Urban Rainfall)

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
Taciana Lima Araujo ◽  
Enio Pereira Souza
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Energy Budget ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Surface Processes ◽  
Regional Atmospheric Modeling System ◽  
Regional Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
The City

O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar, através da modelagem numérica da atmosfera, os processos de superfície que determinam o saldo de radiação e a precipitação na zona urbana da cidade do Recife-PE. O modelo utilizado é o Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System - BRAMS. Uma melhora na representação dos processos de superfície em áreas urbanas foi obtida através do acoplamento entre o modelo BRAMS e um esquema específico para a representação da dinâmica urbana, o esquema Town Energy Budget - TEB. Foram realizados dois experimentos para testar a sensibilidade do modelo à representação da cidade. A consideração da superfície urbana aumenta o saldo de radiação sobre a cidade porque diminui o albedo da superfície e diminui a radiação de onda longa emitida. A influência das regiões urbanas nesses processos altera os fluxos de energia em superfície e, causa aumento da precipitação.Palavras-chave: BRAMS, região urbana, saldo de radiação.  Influence of the Surface Energy Balance and Intensity Urban Rainfall ABSTRACTThe objective of this work is to study the surface processes that determine the radiation budget and the precipitation at the urban area of the city of Recife-PE. The model used is the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System - BRAMS. An improvement in the representation of the surface processes in urban areas was achieved through the coupling of the BRAMS model with a scheme suitable to representing the urban dynamics, the Town Energy Budget - TEB. Two experiments were run to test the model’s sensitivity to the city representation. The consideration of the urban surface increases the radiation budget over the city because it diminishes the surface albedo and the upcoming long wave radiation. The influence of the urban area alters the surface energy fluxes and increases the precipitation.Keywords: BRAMS, urban region, radiation budget

scholarly journals Permafrost and surface energy balance of a polygonal tundra site in Northern Siberia – Part 2: Winter

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1391-1431 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Langer ◽  
S. Westermann ◽  
S. Muster ◽  
K. Piel ◽  
J. Boike
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Latent Heat ◽  
Latent Heat Flux ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Sensible Heat ◽  
Northern Siberia ◽  
Ground Heat Flux

Abstract. Permafrost is largely determined by the surface energy balance. Its vulnerability to degradation due to climate warming depends on complex soil-atmosphere interactions. This article is the second part of a comprehensive surface energy balance study at a polygonal tundra site in Northern Siberia. It comprises two consecutive winter periods from October 2007 to May 2008 and from October 2008 to January 2009. The surface energy balance is obtained by independent measurements of the radiation budget, the sensible heat flux and the ground heat flux, whereas the latent heat flux is inferred from measurements of the atmospheric turbulence characteristics and a model approach. The measurements reveal that the long-wave radiation is the dominant factor in the surface energy balance. The radiative losses are balanced to about 60% by the ground heat flux and almost 40% by the sensible heat fluxes, whereas the contribution of the latent heat flux is found to be relatively small. The main controlling factors of the surface energy budget are the snow cover, the cloudiness and the soil temperature gradient. Significant spatial differences in the surface energy balance are observed between the tundra soils and a small pond. The heat flux released from the subsurface heat storage is by a factor of two increased at the freezing pond during the entire winter period, whereas differences in the radiation budget are only observed at the end of winter. Inter-annual differences in the surface energy balance are related to differences in snow depth, which substantially affect the temperature evolution at the investigated pond. The obtained results demonstrate the importance of the ground heat flux for the soil-atmosphere energy exchange and reveal high spatial and temporal variabilities in the subsurface heat budget during winter.

scholarly journals Surface Energy Balance Sensitivity to Meteorological Variability on Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ebrahimi ◽  
S. J. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Interannual Variations ◽  
Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽  
Glacier Surface

Abstract. Energy exchanges between the atmosphere and the glacier surface control the net energy available for snow and ice melt. Meteorological and glaciological observations are not always available to measure glacier energy and mass balance directly, so models of energy balance processes are often necessary to understand glacier response to meteorological variability and climate change. This paper explores the theoretical and empirical response of a mid-latitude glacier in the Canadian Rocky Mountains to the daily and interannual variations in the meteorological parameters that govern the surface energy balance. The model's reference conditions are based on 11 years of in situ observations from an automatic weather station at an elevation of 2660 m, in the upper ablation area of Haig Glacier. We use an energy balance model to run sensitivity tests to perturbations in temperature, specific humidity, wind speed, incoming shortwave radiation, and glacier surface albedo. The variables were perturbed one at a time for the duration of the glacier melt season, May to September, for the years 2002–2012. The experiments indicate that summer melt has the strongest sensitivity to interannual variations in incoming shortwave radiation, albedo, and temperature, in that order. To explore more realistic scenarios where meteorological variables and internal feedbacks such as the surface albedo co-evolve, we use the same perturbation approach using meteorological forcing from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) over the period 1979–2014. These experiments provide an estimate of historical variability in Haig Glacier surface energy balance an d melt for years prior to our observational study. The methods introduced in this paper provide a methodology that can be employed in distributed energy balance modelling at regional scales. They also provide the foundation for theoretical framework that can be adapted to compare the climatic sensitivity of glaciers in different climate regimes, e.g., polar, maritime, or tropical environments.

scholarly journals A Scheme to Estimate Diurnal Cycle of Evapotranspiration from Geostationary Meteorological Satellite Observations

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2369
Author(s):  
Jing Lu ◽  
Li Jia ◽  
Chaolei Zheng ◽  
Ronglin Tang ◽  
Yazhen Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Diurnal Cycle ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Energy Balance Equation ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions

The diurnal cycle of evapotranspiration (ET) is significant in studying the dynamics of land–atmosphere interactions. The diurnal ET cycle can be considered as an indicator of dry/wet surface conditions. However, the accuracy of current models in estimating the diurnal ET cycle is generally low. This study developed an improved scheme to estimate the diurnal cycle of ET by solving the surface energy balance equation combined with simplified parameterization, with daily ET as the constraint. Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) land surface temperature, and longwave and shortwave radiation products were the primary inputs. Daily ET was from the remote sensing-based ETMonitor model. The estimated instantaneous (30 min) ET from the improved scheme outperformed the official MSG instantaneous ET product when compared with in situ half-hourly measurements at 35 flux sites from the FLUXNET2015 dataset, and was also comparable with European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA5 ET data, with an R2 of 0.617 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 65.8 W/m2 for the improved scheme. Results were largely improved compared with those without daily ET as the constraint. The improved method was stable for the estimation of ET’s diurnal cycle at the similar atmospheric conditions and the accuracy was comparative at different land cover surfaces. Errors in the input variables and the simplification of surface heat flux parameterization affected surface energy balance closure, which can lead to instability of the solution of constants in the simplified parameterization and further to the uncertainty of ET’s diurnal cycle estimation. Measurement errors, different source areas in measured variables, and inconsistent spatial representativeness between remote sensing and site measurements also impacted the evaluation.

scholarly journals Components of near-surface energy balance derived from satellite soundings – Part 1: Net available energy

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 11825-11861 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Mallick ◽  
A. Jarvis ◽  
G. Wohlfahrt ◽  
G. Kiely ◽  
T. Hirano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Radiation ◽  
Net Radiation ◽  
Heat Accumulation ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Ground Truth Data ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Available Energy

Abstract. This paper introduces a relatively simple method for recovering global fields of near-surface net available energy (the sum of the sensible and latent heat flux or the difference between the net radiation and surface heat accumulation) using satellite visible and infra-red products derived from the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) and MODIS (MOderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) platforms. The method focuses on first specifying net surface radiation by considering its various shortwave and longwave components. This was then used in a surface energy balance equation in conjunction with satellite day–night surface temperature difference to derive 12 h discrete time estimates of surface, system heat capacity and heat accumulation, leading directly to retrieval for surface net available energy. Both net radiation and net available energy estimates were evaluated against ground truth data taken from 30 terrestrial tower sites affiliated to the FLUXNET network covering 7 different biome classes. This revealed a relatively good agreement between the satellite and tower data, with a pooled root mean square deviation of 98 and 72 W m−2 for net radiation and net available energy, respectively, although both quantities were underestimated by approximately 25 and 10%, respectively relative to the tower observations. Analysis of the individual shortwave and longwave components of the net radiation revealed the downwelling shortwave radiation to be the main source of this systematic underestimation.

scholarly journals Development of a 10 year (2001–2010) 0.1° dataset of land-surface energy balance for mainland China

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 14471-14518 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Chen ◽  
Z. Su ◽  
Y. Ma ◽  
S. Liu ◽  
Q. Yu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Surface Radiation ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Wave Radiation ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. In the absence of high resolution estimates of the components of surface energy balance for China, we developed an algorithm based on the surface energy balance system (SEBS) to generate a dataset of land-surface energy and water fluxes on a monthly time scale from 2001 to 2010 at a 0.1° × 0.1° spatial resolution by using multi-satellite and meteorological forcing data. A remote-sensing-based method was developed to estimate canopy height, which was used to calculate roughness length and flux dynamics. The land-surface flux dataset was validated against "ground-truth" observations from 11 flux tower stations in China. The estimated fluxes correlate well with the stations' measurements for different vegetation types and climatic conditions (average bias = 15.3 W m−2, RMSE = 26.4 W m−2). The quality of the data product was also assessed against the GLDAS dataset. The results show that our method is efficient for producing a high-resolution dataset of surface energy flux for the Chinese landmass from satellite data. The validation results demonstrate that more accurate downward long-wave radiation datasets are needed to be able to accurately estimate turbulent fluxes and evapotranspiration when using the surface energy balance model. Trend analysis of land-surface radiation and energy exchange fluxes revealed that the Tibetan Plateau has undergone relatively stronger climatic change than other parts of China during the last 10 years. The capability of the dataset to provide spatial and temporal information on water-cycle and land–atmosphere interactions for the Chinese landmass is examined. The product is free to download for studies of the water cycle and environmental change in China.

scholarly journals Components of near-surface energy balance derived from satellite soundings – Part 1: Net available energy

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 14387-14415
Author(s):  
A. Jarvis ◽  
K. Mallick ◽  
G. Wohlfahrt ◽  
C. Gough ◽  
T. Hirano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Energy ◽  
Surface Energy Balance ◽  
Surface Radiation ◽  
Energy Estimates ◽  
Net Radiation ◽  
Heat Accumulation ◽  
Ground Truth Data ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Available Energy

Abstract. This paper introduces a method for recovering global fields of near-surface net available energy (the sum of the sensible and latent heat flux or the difference between the net radiation and surface heat accumulation) using satellite visible and infra-red products derived from the AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) and MODIS (MOderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) platforms. The method focuses on first specifying net surface radiation by considering its various shortwave and longwave components. This was then used in a surface energy balance equation in conjunction with satellite day-night surface temperature difference to derive 12 h discrete time estimates of surface system heat capacity and heat accumulation, leading directly to a retrieval for surface net available energy. Both net radiation and net available energy estimates were evaluated against ground truth data taken from 30 terrestrial tower sites affiliated to the FLUXNET network covering 7 different biome classes. This revealed a relatively good agreement between the satellite and tower data, with a pooled root mean square deviation of 98 and 72 W m−2 for net radiation and net available energy, respectively, with little bias particularly for the net available energy.

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