Aeolus Rayleigh-channel winds in cloudy conditions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gert-Jan Marseille
Keyword(s):  
Rayleigh Scattering ◽  
Scattered Light ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Ultra Violet ◽  
Mie Scattering ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Atmospheric Flow ◽  
Rayleigh Channel ◽  
Wind Profiles ◽  
Height Assignment

<p>Aeolus was launched in August 2018 and is expected to be operational until 2022. Aeolus is the first Doppler wind lidar in space to measure wind profiles through Rayleigh scattering of an ultra-violet laser beam and the determination of the Doppler shift of the scattered light by molecules along the Line-Of-Sight (LOS). In addition, Mie scattering provides winds on aerosol and cloud particles. The atmosphere return signal is a small bandwidth peak (from Mie scattering) on top of a broadband spectrum (from Rayleigh scattering). The tails and central part of the spectrum are being processed separately to yield so-called Rayleigh channel and Mie channel winds respectively.</p><p>Signals in both channels are being accumulated onboard the satellite to segments of 2.85 km length along the satellite track, denoted measurements. Rayleigh winds are obtained by on-ground processing through accumulating typically 30 measurements to yield a single Rayleigh wind observation of sufficient quality for use in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP). The vertical resolution of the horizontally projected LOS wind profiles is typically 500 m in the boundary layer, 1 km in the free-troposphere and 1.5-2 km in the stratosphere, but this can and has been changed in a flexible way during the mission.</p><p>In case of clouds and/or aerosols presence within the sensing atmospheric volume, signal from Mie scattering leaks into the Rayleigh channel signal. Since the Rayleigh-channel signal processing assumes a pure molecular signal this so-called Mie contamination causes biases in retrieved winds. This is solved through classifying measurements as either ‘clear’ or ‘cloudy’ before accumulation to observation level. Clear measurements (out of a total of 30) are accumulated to yield a Rayleigh-clear wind. This procedure has proven successful and Aeolus Rayleigh-clear winds are used operationally today by a number of meteorological centers around the world.</p><p>A similar procedure for cloudy measurements is less trivial and requires correction for Mie contamination. So far, implemented corrections were not successful in producing Rayleigh-cloudy winds of sufficient quality for use in NWP. A new correction scheme has been introduced and tested recently and proved successful to produce bias-free winds and a random error slightly larger as compared to Rayleigh-clear winds. The latter is explained by increased heterogeneous atmospheric conditions in which Rayleigh-cloudy winds are obtained. Interestingly, Rayleigh-cloudy and Mie-cloudy winds are obtained for identical atmospheric conditions and as such provide independent information on the atmospheric flow, which allows to characterize the error sources of the different types of wind observations, including instrumental/calibration errors, but also errors due to incorrect height assignment and representativity.</p><p>This paper describes the new scheme to correct Rayleigh winds for Mie contamination and its application to Aeolus data. The results show that resulting Rayleigh-cloudy winds are of good quality to be considered for operational use in NWP.</p>

scholarly journals The performance of Aeolus in heterogeneous atmospheric conditions using high-resolution radiosonde data

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1393-1455
Author(s):  
X. J. Sun ◽  
R. W. Zhang ◽  
G. J. Marseille ◽  
A. Stoffelen ◽  
D. Donovan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Error Variance ◽  
Radiosonde Data ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Wind Profiles ◽  
Height Assignment ◽  
Aerosol Backscatter

Abstract. The ESA Aeolus mission aims to measure wind profiles from space. In preparation for launch we aim to assess the expected bias in retrieved winds from the Mie and Rayleigh channel signals induced by atmospheric heterogeneity. Observation biases are known to be detrimental when gone undetected in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP). Aeolus processing equipment should therefore be prepared to detect heterogeneous atmospheric scenes and take measures, e.g., reject or reduce the weight of observations when used in NWP. Radiosondes provide the wind vector at about 10 m resolution. We present a method to simulate co-located cloud and aerosol optical properties from radiosonde observations. We show that cloud layers can be detected along the radiosonde path from radiosonde measured relative humidity and temperature. A parameterization for aerosol backscatter and extinction along the radiosonde path is presented based on a climatological aerosol backscatter profile and radiosonde relative humidity. The resulting high-resolution database of atmospheric wind and optical properties serves as input for Aeolus wind simulations. It is shown that Aeolus wind error variance grows quadratically with bin size and the wind-shear over the bin. Strong scattering aerosol or cloud layers may cause biases exceeding 1ms−1 for typical tropospheric conditions and 1 km Mie channel bin size, i.e., substantially larger than the mission bias requirement of 0.4 ms−1. Advanced level-2 processing of Aeolus winds including estimation of atmosphere optical properties is needed to detect regions with large heterogeneity, potentially yielding biased winds. Besides applicable for Aeolus the radiosonde database of co-located high-resolution wind and cloud information can be used for the validation of atmospheric motion wind vectors (AMV) or to correct their height assignment errors.

scholarly journals The performance of Aeolus in heterogeneous atmospheric conditions using high-resolution radiosonde data

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 2695-2717 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. J. Sun ◽  
R. W. Zhang ◽  
G. J. Marseille ◽  
A. Stoffelen ◽  
D. Donovan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Properties ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
European Space Agency ◽  
Radiosonde Data ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
High Resolution Data ◽  
Rayleigh Channel ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Height Assignment

Abstract. The European Space Agency Aeolus mission aims to measure wind profiles from space. A major challenge is to retrieve high quality winds in heterogeneous atmospheric conditions, i.e. where both the atmospheric dynamics and optical properties vary strongly within the sampling volume. In preparation for launch we aim to quantify the expected error of retrieved winds from atmospheric heterogeneity, particularly in the vertical, and develop algorithms for wind error correction, as part of the level-2B processor (L2Bp). We demonstrate that high-resolution data from radiosondes provide valuable input to establish a database of collocated wind and atmospheric optics at 10 m vertical resolution to simulate atmospheric conditions along Aeolus' lines of sight. The database is used to simulate errors of Aeolus winds retrieved from the Mie and Rayleigh channel signals. The non-uniform distribution of molecules in the measurement bin introduces height assignment errors in Rayleigh channel winds up to 2.5% of the measurement bin size in the stratosphere which translates to 0.5 m s−1 bias for typical atmospheric conditions, if not corrected. The presence of cloud or aerosol layers in the measurement bin yields biases in Mie channel winds which cannot be easily corrected and mostly exceed the mission requirement of 0.4 m s−1. The collocated Rayleigh channel wind solution is generally preferred because of smaller biases, in particular for transparent cloud and aerosol layers with one-way transmission above 0.8. The results show that Aeolus L2Bp, under development, can be improved by the estimation of atmosphere optical properties to correct for height assignment errors and to identify wind solutions potentially detrimental when used in Numerical Weather Prediction.

Atmospheric Scattering

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Chance ◽  
Randall V. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Function Approximation ◽  
Legendre Polynomials ◽  
Rayleigh Scattering ◽  
Scattered Light ◽  
Incident Light ◽  
Mie Scattering ◽  
Spherical Particles ◽  
Atmospheric Scattering ◽  
Phase Functions ◽  
Scatterer Size

This chapter describes elastic scattering events, where the wavelength of the scattered light is unchanged from that of the incident light and conservative scattering, scattering without absorption, sometimes closely approximated in clouds. The scattering regime, scattering versus wavelengths and scatterer size are introduced. Polarization in scattering is described by the Stokes vector and the polarization ellipse. Molecular (Rayleigh) scattering is presented and its atmospherically-important inelastic component, Raman scattering (the Ring effect) quantified. Mie scattering for spherical particles is described as is the commonly-used Henyey-Greenstein Mie phase function approximation. Non-spherical scatterers are introduced. The Ångstrom exponent and the expansion of phase functions in Legendre polynomials are described.

scholarly journals Light Amplification By Biofilm And Its Polarization Dependence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanhita Ray ◽  
Anjan Kr Dasgupta
Keyword(s):  
Rayleigh Scattering ◽  
Scattered Light ◽  
Monochromatic Light ◽  
Pore Wall ◽  
Mie Scattering ◽  
Photonic Devices ◽  
Light Amplification ◽  
Enhancement Factors ◽  
Pore Wall Thickness

AbstractWe report amplified, transmitted light intensity, compared to input, when photosynthetic biofilms were placed in the path of Rayleigh scattered, monochromatic light. Enhancement spectrum shows peak at around 505 nm, which corresponds to the pore wall thickness in biofilm ultra-structure, suggesting role of resonant Mie scattering. Enhancement factors differed when biofilms from different stages of growth were used. Enhancement factors were found to depend on the nature of Rayleigh scattering liquid. Polarizing Rayleigh scattered light by the use of polarizers affected the percentage of enhancement. Amplified output is achievable with constructive interference arising out of coherent forward light scattering, a theoretically predicted outcome of Anderson localization of photons. Possible uses of photosynthetic biofilms in organic material based photonic devices have been discussed.

scholarly journals Ultra-Violet Mie Lidar Observations of Particulates Vertical Profiles in Macao during a Record High Pollution Episode

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Qiaojun Liu ◽  
Andrew Yuksun Cheng ◽  
Jianhua Zhu ◽  
Sauwa Chang ◽  
Kinseng Tam
Keyword(s):  
Ultra Violet ◽  
Northern China ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Mie Scattering ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Pearl River Delta Region ◽  
Dust Event ◽  
Back Trajectory Analysis

Vertical profiles of particulates were measured in Macao by using a 355 nm Mie scattering lidar during a dust event. A high energy pulse laser was employed as the light source to detect the extinction coefficient in the atmosphere. The extinction profiles showed layers of high aerosol concentrations in good agreement with both back trajectory analysis and ground-based pollution measurements in Macao, which indicate that this lidar is very useful for monitoring extinction profiles during extreme high aerosol loading and low visibility atmospheric conditions when most low energy lidar system is inefficient. The results evidenced that correlations between PM2.5 and TSP varied with the intensity of dust storm and the PM2.5/PM10 ratio was small during dust episode, which indicated that aerosols were dominated by large particles. Furthermore, results of the dust event showed high aerosol concentrations at altitudes where the wind carried the dusty aerosols from northern China, covering Shanghai and the Taiwan Channel, to the Pearl River Delta Region. This research improved the understanding of the dust properties in Macao.

scholarly journals Detection of Fire Smoke Plumes Based on Aerosol Scattering Using VIIRS Data over Global Fire-Prone Regions

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
Xiaoman Lu ◽  
Xiaoyang Zhang ◽  
Fangjun Li ◽  
Mark A. Cochrane ◽  
Pubu Ciren
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Scattered Light ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Mie Scattering ◽  
Spectral Contrast ◽  
Aerosol Scattering ◽  
Smoke Plumes ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Weather And Human Health ◽  
Aerosol Index

Smoke from fires significantly influences climate, weather, and human health. Fire smoke is traditionally detected using an aerosol index calculated from spectral contrast changes. However, such methods usually miss thin smoke plumes. It also remains challenging to accurately separate smoke plumes from dust, clouds, and bright surfaces. To improve smoke plume detections, this paper presents a new scattering-based smoke detection algorithm (SSDA) depending mainly on visible and infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) blue and green bands. The SSDA is established based on the theory of Mie scattering that occurs when the diameter of an atmospheric particulate is similar to the wavelength of the scattered light. Thus, smoke commonly causes Mie scattering in VIIRS blue and green bands because of the close correspondence between smoke particulate diameters and the blue/green band wavelengths. For developing the SSDA, training samples were selected from global fire-prone regions in North America, South America, Africa, Indonesia, Siberia, and Australia. The SSDA performance was evaluated against the VIIRS aerosol detection product and smoke detections from the ultraviolet aerosol index using manually labeled fire smoke plumes as a benchmark. Results show that the SSDA smoke detections are superior to existing products due chiefly to the improved ability of the algorithm to detect thin smoke and separate fire smoke from other surface types. Moreover, the SSDA smoke distribution pattern exhibits a high spatial correlation with the global fire density map, suggesting that SSDA is capable of detecting smoke plumes of fires in near real-time across the globe.

scholarly journals A Simulation Study of Helicopter Ship Landing Procedures Incorporating Measured Flow-Field Data

2005 ◽  
Vol 219 (5) ◽  
pp. 411-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
D G Thomson ◽  
F Coton ◽  
R Galbraith
Keyword(s):  
Wind Tunnel ◽  
Wind Loading ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Wind Tunnel Tests ◽  
Inverse Simulation ◽  
Ship Model ◽  
Measured Flow ◽  
Wind Profiles ◽  
The University ◽  
Flight Deck

The aim of this article is to investigate the use of inverse simulation to help identify those regions of a ship's flight deck which provide the safest locations for landing a rotorcraft in various atmospheric conditions. This requires appropriate information on the wind loading conditions around a ship deck and superstructure, and for the current work, these data were obtained from wind tunnel tests of a ship model representative of a typical helicopter carrier/assault ship. A series of wind tunnel tests were carried out on the model in the University of Glasgow's 2.65 × 2.04 m wind tunnel and three-axis measurements of wind speed were made at various locations on the ship deck. Measurements were made at four locations on the flight deck at three different heights. The choice of these locations was made on the basis of preliminary flow visualization tests which highlighted the areas where the most severe wind effects were most likely to occur. In addition, for the case where the wind was from 30° to starboard, measurements were made at three further locations to assess the extent of the wake of the superstructure. The generated wind profiles can then be imposed on the inverse simulation, allowing study of the vehicle and pilot response during a typical landing manoeuvre in these conditions. The power of the inverse simulation for this application is demonstrated by a series of simulations performed using configurational data representing two aircraft types, a Westland Lynx and a transport helicopter flying an approach and landing manoeuvre with the worst atmospheric conditions applied. It is shown from the results that attempting to land in the area aft of the superstructure in a 30° crosswind might lead to problems for the transport configuration due to upgusts in this area. Attempting to perform the landing manoeuvre in an aggressive manner is also shown to lead to diminished control margin in higher winds.

scholarly journals A Method for Calculating the Height of Overshooting Convective Cloud Tops Using Satellite-Based IR Imager and CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar Observations

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Griffin ◽  
Kristopher M. Bedka ◽  
Christopher S. Velden
Keyword(s):  
Brightness Temperature ◽  
Characteristic Temperature ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Convective Cloud ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Temperature Lapse Rate ◽  
Cloud Tops ◽  
Height Assignment ◽  
Vertical Level

AbstractAssigning accurate heights to convective cloud tops that penetrate into the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS) region using infrared (IR) satellite imagery has been an unresolved issue for the satellite research community. The height assignment for the tops of optically thick clouds is typically accomplished by matching the observed IR brightness temperature (BT) with a collocated rawinsonde or numerical weather prediction (NWP) profile. However, “overshooting tops” (OTs) are typically colder (in BT) than any vertical level in the associated profile, leaving the height of these tops undetermined using this standard approach. A new method is described here for calculating the heights of convectively driven OTs using the characteristic temperature lapse rate of the cloud top as it ascends into the UTLS region. Using 108 MODIS-identified OT events that are directly observed by the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), the MODIS-derived brightness temperature difference (BTD) between the OT and anvil regions can be defined. This BTD is combined with the CPR- and NWP-derived height difference between these two regions to determine the mean lapse rate, −7.34 K km−1, for the 108 events. The anvil height is typically well known, and an automated OT detection algorithm is used to derive BTD, so the lapse rate allows a height to be calculated for any detected OT. An empirical fit between MODIS and geostationary imager IR BT for OTs and anvil regions was performed to enable application of this method to coarser-spatial-resolution geostationary data. Validation indicates that ~75% (65%) of MODIS (geostationary) OT heights are within ±500 m of the coincident CPR-estimated heights.

scholarly journals Wind plants can impact long-term local atmospheric conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Bodini ◽  
Julie K. Lundquist ◽  
Patrick Moriarty
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Weather And Climate ◽  
Central United States

AbstractLong-term weather and climate observatories can be affected by the changing environments in their vicinity, such as the growth of urban areas or changing vegetation. Wind plants can also impact local atmospheric conditions through their wakes, characterized by reduced wind speed and increased turbulence. We explore the extent to which the wind plants near an atmospheric measurement site in the central United States have affected their long-term measurements. Both direct observations and mesoscale numerical weather prediction simulations demonstrate how the wind plants induce a wind deficit aloft, especially in stable conditions, and a wind speed acceleration near the surface, which extend $$\sim 30$$ ∼ 30  km downwind of the wind plant. Turbulence kinetic energy is significantly enhanced within the wind plant wake in stable conditions, with near-surface observations seeing an increase of more than 30% a few kilometers downwind of the plants.

scholarly journals RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIMAWARI-8-DERIVED OVERSHOOTING TOPS AND EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B7 ◽  
pp. 325-327
Author(s):  
H. M. Park ◽  
M. A. Kim ◽  
J. Im
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Rain Rate ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Strong Wind ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Machine Learning Methods ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Strong Convection

Severe weathers such as heavy rainfall, floods, strong wind, and lightning are closely related with the strong convection activities of atmosphere. Overshooting tops sometimes occur by deep convection above tropopause, penetrating into the lower stratosphere. Due to its high potential energy, the detection of OT is crucial to understand the climatic phenomena. Satellite images are useful to detect the dynamics of atmospheric conditions using cloud observation. This study used machine learning methods for extracting OTs. The reference cases were built using CloudSat, CALIPSO, and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data with Himawari-8 imagery. As reference cases, 11 OT events were detected. The aim of this study is the investigation of relationship between OTs cases and the occurrences of heavy rainfall. For investigation of OT effects, TRMM daily rain rate data (mm/hr) were collected and averaged at 25 km intervals until 250km from the center of OT cases. As the result, precipitation rate clearly coincides with the distance from the center of OT occurrence.

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