scholarly journals Long-term stability of TES satellite radiance measurements

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 1481-1490 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. C. Connor ◽  
M. W. Shephard ◽  
V. H. Payne ◽  
K. E. Cady-Pereira ◽  
S. S. Kulawik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Radiometric Calibration ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Brightness Temperatures ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Reference Measurements

Abstract. The utilization of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) Level 2 (L2) retrieval products for the purpose of assessing long term changes in atmospheric trace gas composition requires knowledge of the overall radiometric stability of the Level 1B (L1B) radiances. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the stability of the radiometric calibration of the TES instrument by analyzing the difference between measured and calculated brightness temperatures in selected window regions of the spectrum. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) profiles for temperature and water vapor and the Real-Time Global Sea Surface Temperature (RTGSST) are used as input to the Optimal Spectral Sampling (OSS) radiative transfer model to calculate the simulated spectra. The TES reference measurements selected cover a 4-year period of time from mid 2005 through mid 2009 with the selection criteria being; observation latitudes greater than −30° and less than 30°, over ocean, Global Survey mode (nadir view) and retrieved cloud optical depth of less than or equal to 0.01. The TES cloud optical depth retrievals are used only for screening purposes and no effects of clouds on the radiances are included in the forward model. This initial screening results in over 55 000 potential reference spectra spanning the four year period. Presented is a trend analysis of the time series of the residuals (observation minus calculations) in the TES 2B1, 1B2, 2A1, and 1A1 bands, with the standard deviation of the residuals being approximately equal to 0.6 K for bands 2B1, 1B2, 2A1, and 0.9 K for band 1A1. The analysis demonstrates that the trend in the residuals is not significantly different from zero over the 4-year period. This is one method used to demonstrate that the relative radiometric calibration is stable over time, which is very important for any longer term analysis of TES retrieved products (L2), particularly well-mixed species such as carbon dioxide and methane.

scholarly journals Long-term stability of TES satellite radiance measurements

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1723-1749
Author(s):  
T. C. Connor ◽  
M. W. Shephard ◽  
V. H. Payne ◽  
K. E. Cady-Pereira ◽  
S. S. Kulawik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Radiometric Calibration ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Brightness Temperatures ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Reference Measurements

Abstract. The utilization of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) Level 2 (L2) retrieval products for the purpose of assessing long term changes in atmospheric trace gas composition requires knowledge of the overall radiometric stability of the Level 1B (L1B) radiances. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the stability of the radiometric calibration of the TES instrument by analyzing the difference between measured and calculated brightness temperatures in selected window regions of the spectrum. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) profiles for temperature and water vapor and the Real-Time Global Sea Surface Temperature (RTGSST) are used as input to the Optimal Spectral Sampling (OSS) radiative transfer model to calculate the simulated spectra. The TES reference measurements selected cover a 4-year period of time from mid 2005 through mid 2009 with the selection criteria being; observation latitudes greater than −30° and less than 30°, over ocean, Global Survey mode (nadir view) and retrieved cloud optical depth of less than 0.01. The TES cloud optical depth retrievals are used only for screening purposes and no effects of clouds on the radiances are included in the forward model. This initial screening results in over 55 000 potential reference spectra spanning the four year period. Presented is a trend analysis of the time series of the residuals (observation minus calculations) in the TES 2B1, 1B2, 2A1, and 1A1 bands which demonstrates that the trend in the residuals is not significantly different from zero over the 4-year period. This is one method used to demonstrate that the relative radiometric calibration is stable over time, which is very important for any longer term analysis of TES retrieved products (L2) particularly well-mixed species such as carbon dioxide and methane.

Estimation of Mixed-Phase Cloud Optical Depth and Position Using In Situ Radiation and Cloud Microphysical Measurements Obtained from a Tethered-Balloon Platform

2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 317-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Sikand ◽  
J. Koskulics ◽  
K. Stamnes ◽  
B. Hamre ◽  
J. J. Stamnes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Rayleigh Scattering ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Liquid Droplets ◽  
Tethered Balloon ◽  
Cloud Particle ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth

Abstract Microphysical and radiative measurements in boundary layer mixed-phase clouds (MPCs), consisting of ice crystals and liquid droplets, have been analyzed. These cloud measurements were collected during a May–June 2008 tethered-balloon campaign in Ny-Ålesund, Norway, located at 78.9°N, 11.9°E in the High Arctic. The instruments deployed on the tethered-balloon platform included a radiometer, a cloud particle imager (CPI), and a meteorological package. To analyze the data, a radiative transfer model (RTM) was constructed with two cloud layers—consistent with the CPI data—embedded in a background Rayleigh scattering atmosphere. The mean intensities estimated from the radiometer measurements on the balloon were used in conjunction with the RTM to quantify the vertical structure of the MPC system, while the downward irradiances measured by an upward-looking ground-based radiometer were used to constrain the total cloud optical depth. The time series of radiometer and CPI data obtained while profiling the cloud system was used to estimate the time evolution of the liquid water and ice particle optical depths as well as the vertical location of the two cloud layers.

scholarly journals Optical instruments synergy in determination of optical depth of thin clouds

2018 ◽  
Vol 176 ◽  
pp. 08008
Author(s):  
Daniela Viviana Vlăduţescu ◽  
Stephen E. Schwartz ◽  
Dong Huang
Keyword(s):  
Optical Depth ◽  
Rayleigh Scattering ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Doppler Lidar ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Cloud Structure ◽  
Optical Instruments

Optically thin clouds have a strong radiative effect and need to be represented accurately in climate models. Cloud optical depth of thin clouds was retrieved using high resolution digital photography, lidar, and a radiative transfer model. The Doppler Lidar was operated at 1.5 μm, minimizing return from Rayleigh scattering, emphasizing return from aerosols and clouds. This approach examined cloud structure on scales 3 to 5 orders of magnitude finer than satellite products, opening new avenues for examination of cloud structure and evolution.

scholarly journals Analysis of Long-Term Solar Resource Variability Using NSRDB Version 3

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manajit Sengupta ◽  
Aron Habte
Keyword(s):  
Solar Radiation ◽  
Spatial Variability ◽  
Temporal Variability ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Resource Variability ◽  
Solar Resource

<p>Understanding long-term solar resource variability is essential for planning and deployment of solar energy systems. These variabilities occur due to deterministic effects such as sun cycle and nondeterministic such as complex weather patterns. The NREL’s National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) provides long term solar resource data covering 1998- 2019 containing more than 2 million pixels over the Americas and gets updated on an annual basis. This dataset is satellite-based and uses a two-step physical model for it’s development. In the first step we retrieve cloud properties such as cloud mask, cloud type, cloud optical depth and effective radius. The second step uses a fast radiative transfer model to compute solar radiation.  This dataset is ideal for studying solar resource variability. For this study, NSRDB version 3 which contains data from 1998-2017 on a half hourly and 4x4 km temporal and spatial resolution was used. The study analyzed the spatial and temporal trend of solar resource of global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI) using long-term 20-years NSRDB data. The coefficient of variation (COV) was used to analyze the spatio-temporal interannual and seasonal variabilities. The spatial variability was analyzed by comparing the center pixel to neighboring pixels. The spatial variability result showed higher COV as the number of neighboring pixels increased. Similarly, the temporal variability for the NSRDB domain ranges on average from ±10% for GHI and ±20% for DNI. Furthermore, the long-term variabilities were also analyzed using the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. This assisted in the interpretation of the result by reducing the originally large number of pixels into a smaller number of groups. This presentation will provided a unique look at long-term spatial and temporal variability of solar radiation using high-resolution satellite-based datasets.</p>

scholarly journals Coupling sky images with three-dimensional radiative transfer models: a new method to estimate cloud optical depth

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 11285-11321 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. Mejia ◽  
B. Kurtz ◽  
K. Murray ◽  
L. M. Hinkelman ◽  
M. Sengupta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Zenith Angle ◽  
Microwave Radiometer ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Cloud Detection ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Direct Normal Irradiance

Abstract. A method for retrieving cloud optical depth (τc) using a ground-based sky imager (USI) is presented. The Radiance Red-Blue Ratio (RRBR) method is motivated from the analysis of simulated images of various τc produced by a 3-D Radiative Transfer Model (3DRTM). From these images the basic parameters affecting the radiance and RBR of a pixel are identified as the solar zenith angle (θ0), τc, solar pixel angle/scattering angle (ϑs), and pixel zenith angle/view angle (ϑz). The effects of these parameters are described and the functions for radiance, Iλ(τc, θ0, ϑs, ϑz) and the red-blue ratio, RBR(τc, θ0, ϑs, ϑz) are retrieved from the 3DRTM results. RBR, which is commonly used for cloud detection in sky images, provides non-unique solutions for τc, where RBR increases with τc up to about τc = 1 (depending on other parameters) and then decreases. Therefore, the RRBR algorithm uses the measured Iλmeas(ϑs, ϑz), in addition to RBRmeas(ϑs, ϑz) to obtain a unique solution for τc. The RRBR method is applied to images taken by a USI at the Oklahoma Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program (ARM) site over the course of 220 days and validated against measurements from a microwave radiometer (MWR); output from the Min method for overcast skies, and τc retrieved by Beer's law from direct normal irradiance (DNI) measurements. A τc RMSE of 5.6 between the Min method and the USI are observed. The MWR and USI have an RMSE of 2.3 which is well within the uncertainty of the MWR. An RMSE of 0.95 between the USI and DNI retrieved τc is observed. The procedure developed here provides a foundation to test and develop other cloud detection algorithms.

scholarly journals Bias Correction of Chinese Fengyun-3C Microwave Humidity and Temperature Sounder Measurements in Retrieval of Atmospheric Parameters

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiurui He ◽  
Zhenzhan Wang ◽  
Jieying He
Keyword(s):  
Bias Correction ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Atmospheric Temperature ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Oxygen Absorption ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Brightness Temperatures ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Peak Weight

The Microwave Humidity and Temperature sounder (MWHTS) on board the Fengyun (FY)-3C satellite measure the outgoing radiance form the Earth surface and atmospheric constituents. MWHTS makes measurements in the isolated oxygen absorption line near 118 GHz and the vicinity of strong water vapor line around 183 GHz, can provide fine vertical distribution structure of both atmospheric humidity and temperature. However, in order to obtain the accurate soundings of humidity and temperature by the physical retrieval method, bias between the observed radiance and those simulated by radiative transfer model from the background or first guess profiles must be correct. In this study, two bias correction methods are developed through the correlation analysis between MWHTS measurements and air mass identified by the first guess profiles of the physical inversion, one is the linear regression correction (LRC) and the other is neural networks correction (NNC), representing the linear and nonlinear nature between MWHTS measurements and air mass, respectively. Both correction methods have been applied to MWHTS observed brightness temperatures over the geographic area (180° W-180° E, 60° S-60° N). The corrected results are evaluated by the probability density function of the difference between corrected observations and simulated values and the root mean square error (RMSE) with respect to simulated observations. The numerical results show that the NNC method perform better, especially in MWHTS channels 1 and 7-9 whose peak weight function heights are close to the surface. In order to assess the effects of bias correction methods proposed in this study on the retrieval accuracy, a one-dimensional variational system was built and applied to the MWHTS uncorrected and corrected brightness temperatures to estimated atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles, The retrieval results show that the NNC has better performance which is to be expected. An indication of the stability and robustness of NNC method is given which suggests that the NNC method has promising application perspectives in the physical retrieval.

scholarly journals OMI tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> air mass factors over South America: effects of biomass burning aerosols

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 3831-3849 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Castellanos ◽  
K. F. Boersma ◽  
O. Torres ◽  
J. F. de Haan
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Cloud Parameters ◽  
Tropospheric No2 ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Aerosol Parameters

Abstract. Biomass burning is an important and uncertain source of aerosols and NOx (NO + NO2) to the atmosphere. Satellite observations of tropospheric NO2 are essential for characterizing this emissions source, but inaccuracies in the retrieval of NO2 tropospheric columns due to the radiative effects of aerosols, especially light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols, are not well understood. It has been shown that the O2–O2 effective cloud fraction and pressure retrieval is sensitive to aerosol optical and physical properties, including aerosol optical depth (AOD). Aerosols implicitly influence the tropospheric air mass factor (AMF) calculations used in the NO2 retrieval through the effective cloud parameters used in the independent pixel approximation. In this work, we explicitly account for the effects of biomass burning aerosols in the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) tropospheric NO2 AMF calculation for cloud-free scenes. We do so by including collocated aerosol extinction vertical profile observations from the CALIOP instrument, and aerosol optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) retrieved by the OMI near-UV aerosol algorithm (OMAERUV) in the DISAMAR radiative transfer model. Tropospheric AMFs calculated with DISAMAR were benchmarked against AMFs reported in the Dutch OMI NO2 (DOMINO) retrieval; the mean and standard deviation of the difference was 0.6 ± 8 %. Averaged over three successive South American biomass burning seasons (2006–2008), the spatial correlation in the 500 nm AOD retrieved by OMI and the 532 nm AOD retrieved by CALIOP was 0.6, and 68 % of the daily OMAERUV AOD observations were within 30 % of the CALIOP observations. Overall, tropospheric AMFs calculated with observed aerosol parameters were on average 10 % higher than AMFs calculated with effective cloud parameters. For effective cloud radiance fractions less than 30 %, or effective cloud pressures greater than 800 hPa, the difference between tropospheric AMFs based on implicit and explicit aerosol parameters is on average 6 and 3 %, respectively, which was the case for the majority of the pixels considered in our study; 70 % had cloud radiance fraction below 30 %, and 50 % had effective cloud pressure greater than 800 hPa. Pixels with effective cloud radiance fraction greater than 30 % or effective cloud pressure less than 800 hPa corresponded with stronger shielding in the implicit aerosol correction approach because the assumption of an opaque effective cloud underestimates the altitude-resolved AMF; tropospheric AMFs were on average 30–50 % larger when aerosol parameters were included, and for individual pixels tropospheric AMFs can differ by more than a factor of 2. The observation-based approach to correcting tropospheric AMF calculations for aerosol effects presented in this paper depicts a promising strategy for a globally consistent aerosol correction scheme for clear-sky pixels.

scholarly journals Retrieval of tropospheric CO column from hyperspectral infrared sounders – application to four years of Aqua/AIRS and MetOp-A/IASI

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 3861-3908 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Thonat ◽  
C. Crevoisier ◽  
N. A. Scott ◽  
A. Chédin ◽  
T. Schuck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Surface Characteristics ◽  
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ◽  
Relative Difference ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Retrieval Method ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Brightness Temperatures ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. Four years of tropospheric integrated content of CO are retrieved from infrared hyperspectral observations of AIRS onboard Aqua and IASI onboard MetOp-A, for the period July 2007–June 2011. The retrieval method is based on a double differential approach that relies on the difference between brightness temperatures (BT) observed by the sounder and BT simulated by the 4A radiative transfer model on collocated ECMWF reanalyses, for several couples of channels located in the 4.7 μm CO band. AIRS and IASI give access to similar integrated contents of CO with a maximum sensitivity near 450 hPa and half a maximum between 200 and 750 hPa depending on the thermal contrast (i.e. the difference between the surface temperature and the temperature of the first pressure level). However, differences in their spectral and radiometric characteristics yield differences in the retrieval characteristics with AIRS selected couples of channels being more sensitive to surface characteristics. Moreover, IASI covers the whole CO absorption band, with a 3 times greater spectral resolution, giving access to channels presenting a 3 times higher signal to noise ratio. This results in a better precision and lower standard deviation of the IASI retrievals. Conservatively, comparisons with CARIBIC aircraft measurements yield a relative difference of 3.42% for IASI and 4.92% for AIRS. On average, AIRS and IASI retrievals are in very good agreement, showing the same seasonality, seasonal amplitudes, interannual variability and spatial distribution. The analysis of the monthly evolution of CO particularly highlights the strong influence of biomass burning on the evolution of CO in several tropical regions. In particular, a sharp increase in CO in 2010 in the southern tropics, especially over South America and South Africa, is observed, and is shown to be related to El Niño and to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.

scholarly journals Coupling sky images with radiative transfer models: a new method to estimate cloud optical depth

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 4151-4165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe A. Mejia ◽  
Ben Kurtz ◽  
Keenan Murray ◽  
Laura M. Hinkelman ◽  
Manajit Sengupta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Zenith Angle ◽  
Microwave Radiometer ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Cloud Detection ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Angle Scattering ◽  
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

Abstract. A method for retrieving cloud optical depth (τc) using a UCSD developed ground-based sky imager (USI) is presented. The radiance red–blue ratio (RRBR) method is motivated from the analysis of simulated images of various τc produced by a radiative transfer model (RTM). From these images the basic parameters affecting the radiance and red–blue ratio (RBR) of a pixel are identified as the solar zenith angle (θ0), τc, solar pixel angle/scattering angle (ϑs), and pixel zenith angle/view angle (ϑz). The effects of these parameters are described and the functions for radiance, Iλτc, θ0, ϑs, ϑz, and RBRτc, θ0, ϑs, ϑz are retrieved from the RTM results. RBR, which is commonly used for cloud detection in sky images, provides non-unique solutions for τc, where RBR increases with τc up to about τc = 1 (depending on other parameters) and then decreases. Therefore, the RRBR algorithm uses the measured Iλmeasϑs, ϑz, in addition to RBRmeasϑs, ϑz, to obtain a unique solution for τc. The RRBR method is applied to images of liquid water clouds taken by a USI at the Oklahoma Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program site over the course of 220 days and compared against measurements from a microwave radiometer (MWR) and output from the Min et al. (2003) method for overcast skies. τc values ranged from 0 to 80 with values over 80, being capped and registered as 80. A τc RMSE of 2.5 between the Min et al. (2003) method and the USI are observed. The MWR and USI  have an RMSE of 2.2, which is well within the uncertainty of the MWR. The procedure developed here provides a foundation to test and develop other cloud detection algorithms.

scholarly journals Retrieval of tropospheric CO column from hyperspectral infrared sounders – application to four years of Aqua/AIRS and MetOp-A/IASI

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 2413-2429 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Thonat ◽  
C. Crevoisier ◽  
N. A. Scott ◽  
A. Chédin ◽  
T. Schuck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Weighting Function ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Surface Characteristics ◽  
Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation ◽  
Relative Difference ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Brightness Temperatures ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. Four years of tropospheric integrated content of CO were retrieved from infrared hyperspectral observations of AIRS onboard Aqua and IASI onboard MetOp-A, for the period July 2007–June 2011. The retrieval method is based on a double differential approach that relies on the difference between brightness temperatures observed by the sounder and BT simulated by the Automatised Atmospheric Absorption Atlas (4A) radiative transfer model on colocated ECMWF reanalyses, for several couples of channels located in the 4.67 μm CO band. AIRS and IASI give access to similar integrated contents of CO with a maximum sensitivity near 450 hPa and a half-height width of the weighting function between 200 and 750 hPa depending on the thermal contrast (i.e., the difference between the surface temperature and the temperature of the first pressure level). However, differences in their spectral and radiometric characteristics yield differences in the retrieval characteristics with AIRS selected couples of channels being more sensitive to surface characteristics. Moreover, IASI covers the whole CO absorption band, with a 3 times better spectral resolution, giving access to channels presenting a 3 times higher signal to noise ratio. This results in a better precision and lower standard deviation of the IASI retrievals. Conservatively, comparisons with CARIBIC aircraft measurements yield an averaged relative difference of 3.4% for IASI and 4.9% for AIRS. On average, AIRS and IASI retrievals are in very good agreement, showing the same seasonality, seasonal amplitudes, interannual variability and spatial distribution. The analysis of the monthly evolution of CO particularly highlights the expected strong influence of biomass burning on the evolution of CO in several tropical regions. In particular, a sharp increase in CO in 2010 in the southern tropics, especially over South America and South Africa, is observed, and is shown to be related to El Niño and to the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.

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