scholarly journals Improved Level-3 Oceanic Rainfall Retrieval from Dual-Frequency Spaceborne Radar Altimeter Systems

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1131-1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tournadre
Keyword(s):  
Rain Rate ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Measured Signal ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Dual Frequency ◽  
Radar Altimeter ◽  
Freezing Level ◽  
Surface Rain Rate ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Rain Events

Abstract Since the launch of the Ocean Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon in 1992, several studies have demonstrated that dual-frequency altimeter measurements cannot only accurately detect rain events but can also be used to infer quantitative values. The main problems with these techniques are the limited time and space sampling of nadir-looking instruments and the uncertainty in the height of the freezing level necessary to infer the surface rain rate from the measured signal attenuation. In addition to radar altimeters, altimetric satellites carry microwave radiometers designed to correct for atmospheric water effects. Using a radiative transfer model and simplified rainy atmospheres, a method of inversion of the microwave brightness temperatures in terms of freezing level is presented. The surface rain rate is then computed from the altimeter attenuation and the radiometer freezing level. The rain climatology is computed for the three altimeters currently in operation using a mixed lognormal distribution. Comparison with the Global Precipitation Climatology Project and Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) climatologies shows that the use of freezing level greatly improves the altimeter climatology, which is of the same quality as that of the SSM/I for annual mean. The merging of the three altimeters is investigated. The resulting monthly mean rain rates are comparable to those derived from SSM/I. The high along-track resolution of altimeters also allows the determination of the length of rain events. The mean length is close to the SSM/I footprint size in the Tropics, but at higher latitude 80% of the rain has length scales smaller than 10 km, which might explain the relative underestimation of the mean rain rate by SSM/I.

scholarly journals Radar altimeter waveform simulations in Antarctica with the Snow Microwave Radiative Transfer Model (SMRT)

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 ◽  
pp. 112534
Author(s):  
Fanny Larue ◽  
Ghislain Picard ◽  
Jérémie Aublanc ◽  
Laurent Arnaud ◽  
Alvaro Robledano-Perez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Radar Altimeter

scholarly journals MINERAL ABUNDANCE AND PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION DERIVED FROM IN-SITU SPECTRA MEASUREMENTS OF YUTU ROVER OF CHANG’E-3

2017 ◽  
Vol XLII-3/W1 ◽  
pp. 85-89
Author(s):  
H. Lin ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
X. Wu ◽  
D. Guo
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Particle Size Distribution ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Landing Site ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Particle Sizes ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Yutu Rover

From geologic perspective, understanding the types, abundance, and size distributions of minerals allows us to address what geologic processes have been active on the lunar and planetary surface. The imaging spectrometer which was carried by the Yutu Rover of Chinese Chang’E-3 mission collected the reflectance at four different sites at the height of ~ 1 m, providing a new insight to understand the lunar surface. The mineral composition and Particle Size Distribution (PSD) of these four sites were derived in this study using a Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) and Sparse Unmixing (SU) algorithm. The endmembers used were clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, olivine, plagioclase and agglutinate collected from the lunar sample spectral dataset in RELAB. The results show that the agglutinate, clinopyroxene and olivine are the dominant minerals around the landing site. In location Node E, the abundance of agglutinate can reach up to 70 %, and the abundances of clinopyroxene and olivine are around 10 %. The mean particle sizes and the deviations of these endmembers were retrieved. PSDs of all these endmembers are close to normal distribution, and differences exist in the mean particle sizes, indicating the difference of space weathering rate of these endmembers.

scholarly journals Influence of spatial heterogeneity of local surface albedo on the area-averaged surface albedo retrieved from airborne irradiance measurements

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Jäkel ◽  
M. Wendisch ◽  
B. Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mean Deviation ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Horizontal Distance ◽  
Local Surface ◽  
Atmospheric Scattering ◽  
The Mean

Abstract. Spectral airborne upward and downward irradiance measurements are used to derive the area-averaged surface albedo. Real surfaces are not homogeneous in their reflectivity. Therefore, this work studies the effects of the heterogeneity of surface reflectivity on the area-averaged surface albedo to quantify how well aircraft measurements can resolve the small-scale variability of the local surface albedo. For that purpose spatially heterogeneous surface albedo maps were input into a 3-dimensional (3-D) Monte Carlo radiative transfer model to simulate 3-D irradiance fields. The calculated up- and downward irradiances in altitudes between 0.1 and 5 km are used to derive the area-averaged surface albedo using an iterative retrieval method that removes the effects due to atmospheric scattering and absorption within the layer beneath the considered level. For the case of adjacent land and sea surfaces, parametrizations are presented which quantify the horizontal distance from the coastline that is required to reduce surface heterogeneity effects on the area-averaged surface albedo to a given limit. The parametrization which is a function of altitude, aerosol optical depth, single scattering albedo, and the ratio of local land and sea albedo was applied for airborne spectral measurements. In addition, the deviation between area-averaged and local surface albedo is determined for more complex surface albedo maps. For moderate aerosol conditions (optical depth less than 0.4) and a wavelength range between 400 and 1000 nm, the altitude and the heterogeneity of the surface albedo are the dominant factors determining the mean deviation between local and area-averaged surface albedo. A parametrization of the mean deviation is applied to an albedo map that was derived from a Landsat image of an area in East Anglia (UK). Parametrization and direct comparison of local and area-averaged surface albedo show similar mean deviations (20% vs. 25%) over land.

scholarly journals Retrieving the characteristics of slab ice covering snow by remote sensing

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 2113-2128 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Andrieu ◽  
Frédéric Schmidt ◽  
Bernard Schmitt ◽  
Sylvain Douté ◽  
Olivier Brissaud
Keyword(s):  
Thick Layer ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Inversion Method ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Retrieval Method ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
Air Interface ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Experimental Validations ◽  
Grain Diameter

Abstract. We present an effort to validate a previously developed radiative transfer model, and an innovative Bayesian inversion method designed to retrieve the properties of slab-ice-covered surfaces. This retrieval method is adapted to satellite data, and is able to provide uncertainties on the results of the inversions. We focused on surfaces composed of a pure slab of water ice covering an optically thick layer of snow in this study. We sought to retrieve the roughness of the ice–air interface, the thickness of the slab layer and the mean grain diameter of the underlying snow. Numerical validations have been conducted on the method, and showed that if the thickness of the slab layer is above 5 mm and the noise on the signal is above 3 %, then it is not possible to invert the grain diameter of the snow. In contrast, the roughness and the thickness of the slab can be determined, even with high levels of noise up to 20 %. Experimental validations have been conducted on spectra collected from laboratory samples of water ice on snow using a spectro-radiogoniometer. The results are in agreement with the numerical validations, and show that a grain diameter can be correctly retrieved for low slab thicknesses, but not for bigger ones, and that the roughness and thickness are correctly inverted in every case.

scholarly journals Influence of spatial heterogeneity of local surface albedo on the area-averaged surface albedo retrieved from airborne irradiance measurements

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 7457-7487
Author(s):  
E. Jäkel ◽  
M. Wendisch ◽  
B. Mayer
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Mean Deviation ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Horizontal Distance ◽  
Local Surface ◽  
Atmospheric Scattering ◽  
The Mean

Abstract. Spectral airborne upward and downward irradiance measurements are used to derive the area-averaged surface albedo. Real surfaces are not homogeneous in their reflectivity. Therefore, this work studies the effects of the heterogeneity of surface reflectivity on the area-averaged surface albedo to quantify how well aircraft measurements can resolve the small-scale variability of the local surface albedo. For that purpose spatially heterogeneous surface albedo maps were input into a 3-dimensional (3-D) Monte Carlo radiative transfer model to simulate 3-D irradiance fields. The calculated up- and downward irradiances in altitudes between 0.1 km and 5 km are used to derive the area-averaged surface albedo using an iterative retrieval method that removes the effects due to atmospheric scattering and absorption within the layer beneath the considered level. For the case of adjacent land and sea surfaces a parametrization is presented which quantifies the horizontal distance to the coastline that is required to reduce surface heterogeneity effects on the area-averaged surface albedo to a given limit. The parametrization which is a function of altitude, aerosol optical depth, and the ratio of local land and sea albedo was applied for airborne spectral measurements. In addition, the deviation between area-averaged and local surface albedo is determined for more complex surface albedo maps. For moderate aerosol conditions (optical depth less than 0.4) and the visible wavelength range, the altitude and the heterogeneity of the surface albedo are the dominant factors determining the mean deviation between local and area-averaged surface albedo. A parametrization of the mean deviation is applied to an albedo map that was derived from a Landsat image of an area in East Anglia (UK). Parametrization and direct comparison of local and area-averaged surface albedo show similar mean deviations (20% vs. 25%) over land.

scholarly journals On the influence of wind and waves on the underwater light field

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1231-1272
Author(s):  
M. Hieronymi ◽  
A. Macke
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Light Field ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Ocean Mixed Layer ◽  
Underwater Light Field ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Low Wind Speeds

Abstract. We present a detailed study of the influence of various wind and wave conditions on the distribution of downwelling irradiance within the upper ocean mixed layer down to 100 m water depth. The work is based on a two-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer model with high spatial resolution. We treat conditions that are favorable for the development of extreme light fluctuations, e.g. light at 490 nm and very clear oceanic water. Local wind determines the steepness of capillary-gravity waves which in turn dominate the irradiance variability near the surface. Maximum irradiance peaks that exceed the mean irradiance by a factor of more than 10 can be observed at low wind speeds up to 5 m s−1. Sea states influence the light field much deeper; gravity waves can cause considerable irradiance variability even at 100 m depth. The simulation results show that under realistic conditions 50 % radiative enhancements compared to the mean can still occur at 30 m depth.

Tropical Upper-Tropospheric Extended Clouds: Inferences from Winter MONEX

1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 1521-1541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Webster ◽  
Graeme L. Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Diabatic Heating ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Winter Monsoon ◽  
Radiative Heating ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Cloud Systems ◽  
Freezing Level ◽  
Source Regions

Abstract The most common cloud species observed during the Winter Monsoon Experiment (WMONEX) wasthick (optically black) middle and upper tropospheric extended cloud. Data from the GeostationaryMeteorological Satellite (GMS) showed the extended cloud to occupy half the near-equatorial SouthChina Sea and Indonesia on some days with tops in the vicinity of the 200 mb level. Detailed observations from the WMONEX composite observing array indicated that the clouds extended up to 750 kmfrom the convective source regions, possessed bases in the vicinity of the freezing level and lay above agenerally suppressed and subsident lower troposphere. The observation of widespread precipitation fromthe extended cloud and the encountering of ice particles during the cloud penetrations suggest that theextended clouds are active in a diabatic heating sense.Calculations using a radiative transfer model and cloud and atmospheric states derived from WMONEXdata indicate substantial net heating at the base of the cloud (-20 K day1) and cooling at the top(-5 to -15 K day1), resulting in a heating rate differential between the base and top of the cloud of upto 35 K day". Net heating or cooling occurs depending upon the diurnal cycle. It is conjectured thatthe effect of the radiative heating is to destabilize the cloud layer. As the magnitude of the radiativeheating at the base of the cloud is at least within a factor of 2 of estimates of the cooling at the cloudbase due to melting for moderate disturbances and relatively greater for weak disturbances or in locationswell removed from the convective source in any disturbance, it is argued that radiative effects cannotbe ignored in the calculation of the total diabatic heating fields in tropical cloud systems.

Study on Aerosol Optics Thickness Retrieval over Chuxiong Prefecture from MODIS Image

2013 ◽  
Vol 742 ◽  
pp. 414-419
Author(s):  
Wu Jun Xi ◽  
Ping He ◽  
Wang Zhou Yang
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
The North ◽  
Modis Image ◽  
Thickness Standard ◽  
The Mean

The paper used 6S radiative transfer model to study aerosol optics thickness retrieval in Chuxiong prefecture with MODIS image on January 12th, 2008, the results showed that: the mean, the minimum, the maximum and standard deviation aerosol optics thickness were 0.115644, 0.075, 0.337 and 0.099680 in Chuxiong prefecture. Aerosol optics thickness of the east and south was higher, that of the north and central are low, especially west. Lufeng county, Shuangbai county and Wuding county were in the top three of the maximum aerosol optics thickness. Lufeng county, Shuangbai county and Yongren county were in the top three of mean aerosol optics thickness, Lufeng county, Shuangbai county and Yuanmou county were in the top three of aerosol optics thickness standard deviation.

scholarly journals On the influence of wind and waves on underwater irradiance fluctuations

Ocean Science ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Hieronymi ◽  
A. Macke
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Waves ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Sea State ◽  
Wind Speeds ◽  
Light Fluctuations ◽  
Underwater Irradiance ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Simulation Results ◽  
Low Wind Speeds

Abstract. The influence of various wind and wave conditions on the variability of downwelling irradiance Ed (490 nm) in water is subject of this study. The work is based on a two-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer model with high spatial resolution. The model assumes conditions that are ideal for wave focusing, thus simulation results reveal the upper limit for light fluctuations. Local wind primarily determines the steepness of capillary-gravity waves which in turn dominate the irradiance variability near the surface. Down to 3 m depth, maximum irradiance peaks that exceed the mean irradiance Ed by a factor of more than 7 can be observed at low wind speeds up to 5 m s−1. The strength of irradiance fluctuations can be even amplified under the influence of higher ultra-gravity waves; thereby peaks can exceed 11 Ed. Sea states influence the light field much deeper; gravity waves can cause considerable irradiance variability even at 100 m depth. The simulation results show that under realistic conditions 50% radiative enhancements compared to the mean can still occur at 30 m depth. At greater depths, the underwater light variability depends on the wave steepness of the characteristic wave of a sea state; steeper waves cause stronger light fluctuations.

Typical Patterns of Microwave Signatures and Vertical Profiles of Precipitation in the Midlatitudes from TRMM Data

2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 1236-1254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munehisa K. Yamamoto ◽  
Kenji Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Rain Rate ◽  
Solid Particles ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Component Score ◽  
Freezing Level ◽  
Bright Band ◽  
Surface Rain Rate

AbstractRepresentative patterns from multichannel microwave brightness temperature Tb in the midlatitude oceanic region, observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), are studied during precipitation events detected by the TRMM precipitation radar (PR) for three summer and winter seasons using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The first three patterns are interpreted as rain liquid water, solid particles, and rain type based on the frequency distributions of vertical profiles of the radar reflectivity factor and the heights of the storm top, cloud top, and freezing level. The first EOF (EOF1) correlates with the near-surface rain rate. While the eigenvector for the 85.5-GHz channel is less significant for EOF1 variability in summer, those in all channels contribute equally to the variability in winter. This difference suggests that summer precipitation is caused by additional solid particles formed in developing precipitation systems. The second EOF (EOF2) represents the number of solid particles and also corresponds to the near-surface rain rate. This result suggests an increase of solid particles with the development of precipitation systems. EOF2 varies largely by echo-top height in summer and by echo-top height and freezing height in winter. The positive component score has double Tb peaks. Dividing the score into two patterns according to these peaks reveals highly developed precipitation systems, such as convective rainbands and frontal systems, and weak precipitation with shallow systems caused by cold outbreaks in the winter case. The negative component score also shows shallow and weak precipitation systems with warm rain. The third EOF (EOF3) is related to rain type. Vertical profiles show a significant bright band with a small height difference between the echo top and freezing level for negative EOF3, while positive EOF3 has no bright band with a high echo top relative to the freezing height. The results indicate that stratiform and convective precipitation systems can be characterized by EOF3.

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