Retrieval of Cloud Parameters by Multiple Observations in The Near- Infrared under Conditions of Varying Solar Illumination

1993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Kleespies
1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1512-1524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Kleespies

Abstract Radiometric observations in the 3.9-µm region have been used by a number of investigators for the determination of cloud parameters or sea surface temperature at night. Only a few attempts have been made to perform quantitative assessments of cloud and surface properties during the daytime because of the inability to distinguish between the thermal and solar components of the satellite-sensed radiances. This paper presents a new method of separating the thermal and solar components of upwelling 3.9-µm radiances. Two collocated satellite observations are made under conditions where the solar illumination angle changes but the thermal structure of the cloud and atmosphere, as well as the cloud microphysics change very little. These conditions can easily be met by observing the same cloud from geosynchoronous orbit over a short time interval during the morning hours. When the radiances are differenced under these constraints, the thermal components cancel, and the difference in the radiances is simply the difference in the solar component. With a few simplifying assumptions, a cloud microphysical property, specifically effective radius, can be inferred. This parameter is of particular importance to both climate modeling and global change studies. The methodology developed in this paper is applied to data from the Visible-Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer Atmospheric Sounder onboard the GOES-7 spacecraft for a period in August 1992.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 7215-7264
Author(s):  
A. Bozzo ◽  
T. Maestri ◽  
R. Rizzi

Abstract. Measurements taken during the 2003 Pacific THORPEX Observing System Test (P-TOST) by the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS), the Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS) and the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) are compared to simulations performed with a line-by-line and multiple scattering modeling methodology (LBLMS). Formerly used for infrared hyper-spectral data analysis, LBLMS has been extended to the visible and near infrared with the inclusion of surface bi-directional reflectance properties. A number of scenes are evaluated: two clear scenes, one with nadir geometry and one cross-track encompassing sun glint, and three cloudy scenes, all with nadir geometry. CPL data is used to estimate the particulate optical depth at 532 nm for the clear and cloudy scenes. Cloud optical depth is also retrieved from S-HIS infrared window radiances, and it agrees with CPL values, to within natural variability. MAS data are simulated convolving high resolution radiances. The paper discusses the results of the comparisons for the clear cases and for the three cloudy cases. LBLMS clear simulations agree with MAS data to within 20% in the shortwave (SW) and near infrared (NIR) spectrum and within 2 K in the infrared (IR) range. It is shown that cloudy sky simulations using cloud parameters retrieved from IR radiances systematically underestimate the measured radiance in the SW and NIR by nearly 50%, although the IR retrieved optical thickness agree with same measured by CPL. MODIS radiances measured from Terra are also compared to LBLMS simulations in cloudy conditions using retrieved cloud optical depth and effective radius from MODIS, to understand the origin for the observed discrepancies. It is shown that the simulations agree, to within natural variability, with measurements in selected MODIS SW bands. The paper dwells on a possible explanation of these contraddictory results, involving the phase function of ice particles in the shortwave.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 409-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego G. Loyola ◽  
Sebastián Gimeno García ◽  
Ronny Lutz ◽  
Athina Argyrouli ◽  
Fabian Romahn ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper presents the operational cloud retrieval algorithms for the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the European Space Agency Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) mission scheduled for launch in 2017. Two algorithms working in tandem are used for retrieving cloud properties: OCRA (Optical Cloud Recognition Algorithm) and ROCINN (Retrieval of Cloud Information using Neural Networks). OCRA retrieves the cloud fraction using TROPOMI measurements in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) spectral regions, and ROCINN retrieves the cloud top height (pressure) and optical thickness (albedo) using TROPOMI measurements in and around the oxygen A-band in the near infrared (NIR). Cloud parameters from TROPOMI/S5P will be used not only for enhancing the accuracy of trace gas retrievals but also for extending the satellite data record of cloud information derived from oxygen A-band measurements, a record initiated with the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) on board the second European Remote-Sensing Satellite (ERS-2) over 20 years ago. The OCRA and ROCINN algorithms are integrated in the S5P operational processor UPAS (Universal Processor for UV/VIS/NIR Atmospheric Spectrometers), and we present here UPAS cloud results using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and GOME-2 measurements. In addition, we examine anticipated challenges for the TROPOMI/S5P cloud retrieval algorithms, and we discuss the future validation needs for OCRA and ROCINN.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 7369-7387 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bozzo ◽  
T. Maestri ◽  
R. Rizzi

Abstract. Measurements taken during the 2003 Pacific THORPEX Observing System Test (P-TOST) by the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS), the Scanning High-resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS) and the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) are compared to simulations performed with a line-by-line and multiple scattering modeling methodology (LBLMS). Formerly used for infrared hyper-spectral data analysis, LBLMS has been extended to the visible and near infrared with the inclusion of surface bi-directional reflectance properties. A number of scenes are evaluated: two clear scenes, one with nadir geometry and one cross-track encompassing sun glint, and three cloudy scenes, all with nadir geometry. CPL data is used to estimate the particulate optical depth at 532 nm for the clear and cloudy scenes and cloud upper and lower boundaries. Cloud optical depth is retrieved from S-HIS infrared window radiances, and it agrees with CPL values, to within natural variability. MAS data are simulated convolving high resolution radiances. The paper discusses the results of the comparisons for the clear and cloudy cases. LBLMS clear simulations agree with MAS data to within 20% in the shortwave (SW) and near infrared (NIR) spectrum and within 2 K in the infrared (IR) range. It is shown that cloudy sky simulations using cloud parameters retrieved from IR radiances systematically underestimate the measured radiance in the SW and NIR by nearly 50%, although the IR retrieved optical thickness agree with same measured by CPL. MODIS radiances measured from Terra are also compared to LBLMS simulations in cloudy conditions, using retrieved cloud optical depth and effective radius from MODIS, to understand the origin for the observed discrepancies. It is shown that the simulations agree, to within natural variability, with measurements in selected MODIS SW bands. The impact of the assumed particles size distribution and vertical profile of ice content on results is evaluated. Sensitivity is much smaller than differences between measured and simulated radiances in the SW and NIR. The paper dwells on a possible explanation of these contradictory results, involving the phase function of ice particles in the shortwave.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Popp ◽  
P. Wang ◽  
D. Brunner ◽  
P. Stammes ◽  
Y. Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract. A new global albedo climatology for Oxygen A-band cloud retrievals is presented. The climatology is based on MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Albedomap data and its favourable impact on the derivation of cloud fraction is demonstrated for the FRESCO+ (Fast Retrieval Scheme for Clouds from the Oxygen A-band) algorithm. To date, a relatively coarse resolution (1° × 1°) surface reflectance dataset from GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) Lambert-equivalent reflectivity (LER) is used in FRESCO+. The GOME LER climatology does not account for the usually higher spatial resolution of UV/VIS instruments designed for trace gas remote sensing which introduces several artefacts, e.g. in regions with sharp spectral contrasts like coastlines or over bright surface targets. Therefore, MERIS black-sky albedo (BSA) data from the period October 2002 to October 2006 were aggregated to a grid of 0.25° × 0.25° for each month of the year and for different spectral channels. In contrary to other available surface reflectivity datasets, MERIS includes channels at 754 nm and 775 nm which are located close to the spectral windows required for O2 A-band cloud retrievals. The MERIS BSA in the near-infrared compares well to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived BSA with an average difference lower than 1% and a correlation coefficient of 0.98. However, when relating MERIS BSA to GOME LER a distinctly lower correlation (0.80) and enhanced scatter is found. Effective cloud fractions from two exemplary months (January and July 2006) of Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) data were subsequently derived with FRESCO+ and compared to those from the Heidelberg Iterative Cloud Retrieval Utilities (HICRU) algorithm. The MERIS climatology generally improves FRESCO+ effective cloud fractions. In particular small cloud fractions are in better agreement with HICRU. This is of importance for atmospheric trace gas retrieval which relies on accurate cloud information at small cloud fractions. In addition, overestimates along coastlines and underestimates in the Intertropical Convergence Zone introduced by the GOME LER were eliminated. While effective cloud fractions over the Saharan desert and the Arabian peninsula are successfully reduced in January, they are still too high in July relative to HICRU due to FRESCO+'s large sensitivity to albedo inaccuracies of highly reflecting targets and inappropriate aerosol information which hampers an accurate albedo retrieval. Finally, NO2 tropospheric vertical column densities and O3 total columns were derived with the FRESCO+ cloud parameters from the new dataset and it is found that the MERIS BSA climatology has a pronounced and beneficial effect on regional scale. Apart from FRESCO+, the new MERIS albedo dataset is applicable to any cloud retrieval algorithms using the O2 A-band or the O2-O2 absorption band around 477 nm. Moreover, the by-product of BSA at 442 nm can be used in NO2 remote sensing and the BSA at 620 nm, 665 nm, and 681 nm could be integrated in current H2O retrievals.


Nanoscale ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 7875-7887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Lan ◽  
Xiaohui Zhu ◽  
Ming Tang ◽  
Yihan Wu ◽  
Jing Zhang ◽  
...  

A near-infrared (NIR) activated theranostic nanoplatform based on upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) is developed in order to overcome the hypoxia-associated resistance in photodynamic therapy by photo-release of NO upon NIR illumination.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (43) ◽  
pp. 5819-5822
Author(s):  
Jing Zheng ◽  
Yongzhuo Liu ◽  
Fengling Song ◽  
Long Jiao ◽  
Yingnan Wu ◽  
...  

In this study, a near-infrared (NIR) theranostic photosensitizer was developed based on a heptamethine aminocyanine dye with a long-lived triplet state.


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