scholarly journals An overview of meso-scale aerosol processes, comparison and validation studies from DRAGON networks

Author(s):  
Brent N. Holben ◽  
Jhoon Kim ◽  
Itaru Sano ◽  
Sony Mukai ◽  
Thomas F. Eck ◽  
...  

Abstract. The AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) program over the past 24 years has provided highly accurate remote sensing characterization of aerosol optical and physical properties for an increasingly extensive geographic distribution that includes all continents and many island sites. The measurements and retrievals from the AERONET global network have addressed satellite and model validation needs very well, but there have been challenges in making comparisons to similar parameters from in situ surface and airborne measurements. Additionally, with improved spatial and temporal satellite remote sensing of aerosols, there is a need for higher spatial resolution ground-based remote sensing networks. An effort to address this need resulted in a number of field campaign networks called Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGONs) that were designed to provide a database for in situ and remote sensing comparison and analysis of local to meso-scale variability of aerosol properties. This paper describes the networks that that have contributed and will continue to contribute to that body of research. The research presented in this special issue illustrates the diversity of topics that has resulted from the application of data from these networks.

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 655-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent N. Holben ◽  
Jhoon Kim ◽  
Itaru Sano ◽  
Sonoyo Mukai ◽  
Thomas F. Eck ◽  
...  

Abstract. Over the past 24 years, the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) program has provided highly accurate remote-sensing characterization of aerosol optical and physical properties for an increasingly extensive geographic distribution including all continents and many oceanic island and coastal sites. The measurements and retrievals from the AERONET global network have addressed satellite and model validation needs very well, but there have been challenges in making comparisons to similar parameters from in situ surface and airborne measurements. Additionally, with improved spatial and temporal satellite remote sensing of aerosols, there is a need for higher spatial-resolution ground-based remote-sensing networks. An effort to address these needs resulted in a number of field campaign networks called Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGONs) that were designed to provide a database for in situ and remote-sensing comparison and analysis of local to mesoscale variability in aerosol properties. This paper describes the DRAGON deployments that will continue to contribute to the growing body of research related to meso- and microscale aerosol features and processes. The research presented in this special issue illustrates the diversity of topics that has resulted from the application of data from these networks.


Author(s):  
R. E. Herfert

Studies of the nature of a surface, either metallic or nonmetallic, in the past, have been limited to the instrumentation available for these measurements. In the past, optical microscopy, replica transmission electron microscopy, electron or X-ray diffraction and optical or X-ray spectroscopy have provided the means of surface characterization. Actually, some of these techniques are not purely surface; the depth of penetration may be a few thousands of an inch. Within the last five years, instrumentation has been made available which now makes it practical for use to study the outer few 100A of layers and characterize it completely from a chemical, physical, and crystallographic standpoint. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) provides a means of viewing the surface of a material in situ to magnifications as high as 250,000X.


Author(s):  
Richard H. Bennett ◽  
Huon Li ◽  
Michael D. Richardson ◽  
Peter Fleischer ◽  
Douglas N. Lambert ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (16) ◽  
pp. 8599-8622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shengbiao Wu ◽  
Jianguang Wen ◽  
Dongqin You ◽  
Dalei Hao ◽  
Xingwen Lin ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1267-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Baracchini ◽  
Philip Y. Chu ◽  
Jonas Šukys ◽  
Gian Lieberherr ◽  
Stefan Wunderle ◽  
...  

Abstract. The understanding of physical dynamics is crucial to provide scientifically credible information on lake ecosystem management. We show how the combination of in situ observations, remote sensing data, and three-dimensional hydrodynamic (3D) numerical simulations is capable of resolving various spatiotemporal scales involved in lake dynamics. This combination is achieved through data assimilation (DA) and uncertainty quantification. In this study, we develop a flexible framework by incorporating DA into 3D hydrodynamic lake models. Using an ensemble Kalman filter, our approach accounts for model and observational uncertainties. We demonstrate the framework by assimilating in situ and satellite remote sensing temperature data into a 3D hydrodynamic model of Lake Geneva. Results show that DA effectively improves model performance over a broad range of spatiotemporal scales and physical processes. Overall, temperature errors have been reduced by 54 %. With a localization scheme, an ensemble size of 20 members is found to be sufficient to derive covariance matrices leading to satisfactory results. The entire framework has been developed with the goal of near-real-time operational systems (e.g., integration into meteolakes.ch).


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (22) ◽  
pp. 3690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Lausch ◽  
Michael E. Schaepman ◽  
Andrew K. Skidmore ◽  
Sina C. Truckenbrodt ◽  
Jörg M. Hacker ◽  
...  

The status, changes, and disturbances in geomorphological regimes can be regarded as controlling and regulating factors for biodiversity. Therefore, monitoring geomorphology at local, regional, and global scales is not only necessary to conserve geodiversity, but also to preserve biodiversity, as well as to improve biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Numerous remote sensing (RS) approaches and platforms have been used in the past to enable a cost-effective, increasingly freely available, comprehensive, repetitive, standardized, and objective monitoring of geomorphological characteristics and their traits. This contribution provides a state-of-the-art review for the RS-based monitoring of these characteristics and traits, by presenting examples of aeolian, fluvial, and coastal landforms. Different examples for monitoring geomorphology as a crucial discipline of geodiversity using RS are provided, discussing the implementation of RS technologies such as LiDAR, RADAR, as well as multi-spectral and hyperspectral sensor technologies. Furthermore, data products and RS technologies that could be used in the future for monitoring geomorphology are introduced. The use of spectral traits (ST) and spectral trait variation (STV) approaches with RS enable the status, changes, and disturbances of geomorphic diversity to be monitored. We focus on the requirements for future geomorphology monitoring specifically aimed at overcoming some key limitations of ecological modeling, namely: the implementation and linking of in-situ, close-range, air- and spaceborne RS technologies, geomorphic traits, and data science approaches as crucial components for a better understanding of the geomorphic impacts on complex ecosystems. This paper aims to impart multidimensional geomorphic information obtained by RS for improved utilization in biodiversity monitoring.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 3203-3216 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Iwema ◽  
R. Rosolem ◽  
R. Baatz ◽  
T. Wagener ◽  
H. R. Bogena

Abstract. The Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensor (CRNS) can provide soil moisture information at scales relevant to hydrometeorological modelling applications. Site-specific calibration is needed to translate CRNS neutron intensities into sensor footprint average soil moisture contents. We investigated temporal sampling strategies for calibration of three CRNS parameterisations (modified N0, HMF, and COSMIC) by assessing the effects of the number of sampling days and soil wetness conditions on the performance of the calibration results while investigating actual neutron intensity measurements, for three sites with distinct climate and land use: a semi-arid site, a temperate grassland, and a temperate forest. When calibrated with 1 year of data, both COSMIC and the modified N0 method performed better than HMF. The performance of COSMIC was remarkably good at the semi-arid site in the USA, while the N0mod performed best at the two temperate sites in Germany. The successful performance of COSMIC at all three sites can be attributed to the benefits of explicitly resolving individual soil layers (which is not accounted for in the other two parameterisations). To better calibrate these parameterisations, we recommend in situ soil sampled to be collected on more than a single day. However, little improvement is observed for sampling on more than 6 days. At the semi-arid site, the N0mod method was calibrated better under site-specific average wetness conditions, whereas HMF and COSMIC were calibrated better under drier conditions. Average soil wetness condition gave better calibration results at the two humid sites. The calibration results for the HMF method were better when calibrated with combinations of days with similar soil wetness conditions, opposed to N0mod and COSMIC, which profited from using days with distinct wetness conditions. Errors in actual neutron intensities were translated to average errors specifically to each site. At the semi-arid site, these errors were below the typical measurement uncertainties from in situ point-scale sensors and satellite remote sensing products. Nevertheless, at the two humid sites, reduction in uncertainty with increasing sampling days only reached typical errors associated with satellite remote sensing products. The outcomes of this study can be used by researchers as a CRNS calibration strategy guideline.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuukka Petäjä ◽  
Ella-Maria Duplissy ◽  
Ksenia Tabakova ◽  
Julia Schmale ◽  
Barbara Altstädter ◽  
...  

Abstract. The role of polar regions increases in terms of megatrends such as globalization, new transport routes, demography and use of natural resources consequent effects of regional and transported pollutant concentrations. We set up the ERA-PLANET Strand 4 project iCUPE – integrative and Comprehensive Understanding on Polar Environments to provide novel insights and observational data on global grand challenges with an Arctic focus. We utilize an integrated approach combining in situ observations, satellite remote sensing Earth Observations (EO) and multi-scale modeling to synthesize data from comprehensive long-term measurements, intensive campaigns and satellites to deliver data products, metrics and indicators to the stakeholders concerning the environmental status, availability and extraction of natural resources in the polar areas. The iCUPE work consists of thematic state-of-the-art research and provision of novel data in atmospheric pollution, local sources and transboundary transport, characterization of arctic surfaces and their changes, assessment of concentrations and impacts of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants and their cycling, quantification of emissions from natural resource extraction and validation and optimization of satellite Earth Observation (EO) data streams. In this paper we introduce the iCUPE project and summarize initial results arising out of integration of comprehensive in situ observations, satellite remote sensing and multiscale modeling in the Arctic context.


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