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

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.

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1231-1272
Author(s):  
M. Hieronymi ◽  
A. Macke

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.


F1000Research ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew H Baird ◽  
Sally A. Keith ◽  
Erika Woolsey ◽  
Ryuta Yoshida ◽  
Tohru Naruse

Coral bleaching can be induced by many different stressors, however, the most common cause of mass bleaching in the field is higher than average sea surface temperatures (SST). Here, we describe an unusual bleaching event that followed very calm sea conditions combined with higher than average SST. Patterns of mortality differed from typical bleaching in four ways: 1) mortality was very rapid; 2) a different suite of species were most affected; 3) tissue mortality in Acropora spp. was often restricted to the center of the colony; 4) the event occurred early in summer. The two weeks prior to the event included 8 days where the average wind speed was less than 3 ms-1. In addition, SSTs in the weeks preceding and during the event were 1.0-1.5°C higher than the mean for the last 30 years. We hypothesize that this unusual bleaching event was caused by anoxia resulting from a lack of water movement induced by low wind speeds combined with high SST.


Author(s):  
H. Lin ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
X. Wu ◽  
D. Guo

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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Jäkel ◽  
M. Wendisch ◽  
B. Mayer

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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 2113-2128 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Andrieu ◽  
Frédéric Schmidt ◽  
Bernard Schmitt ◽  
Sylvain Douté ◽  
Olivier Brissaud

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.


Author(s):  
Mohd Moonis Zaheer ◽  
Nazrul Islam

Articulated tower motions have been characterized by rigid body mode of vibrations falling in the wind excitation frequency range due to its compliant nature. Dynamic response analysis of a multi hinged articulated tower platform to random wind and wave forces are presented in this paper. The wave forces on the submerged elements of the tower are calculated by using Morison’s Equation. The fluctuating wind is modeled with Ochi and Shin wind gust spectrum. The effect of wave age (young, intermediate and fully developed waves) on the wind gust spectrum is incorporated by adopting the wave age dependent Volkov, and wave age independent Charnock sea surface roughness models. The response of the tower is determined by a time domain iterative method. An example of results demonstrates the clear effect of wave age on the nonlinear dynamic response on the system. The mean wind modifies the mean position of the surge response to the positive side, causing an offset. Moreover, for high mean wind speeds the total wind response is much smaller than the wave response, but for low wind speeds the wind appears to be more important.


2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 7457-7487
Author(s):  
E. Jäkel ◽  
M. Wendisch ◽  
B. Mayer

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.


2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 1131-1149 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Tournadre

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.


2013 ◽  
Vol 742 ◽  
pp. 414-419
Author(s):  
Wu Jun Xi ◽  
Ping He ◽  
Wang Zhou Yang

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.


F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew H Baird ◽  
Sally A. Keith ◽  
Erika Woolsey ◽  
Ryuta Yoshida ◽  
Tohru Naruse

Coral bleaching can be induced by many different stressors, however, the most common cause of mass bleaching in the field is high sea temperatures (SST). Here, we describe an unusual bleaching event that followed very calm sea conditions combined with higher than average sea surface temperatures (SST). Patterns of mortality differed from typical thermal bleaching in four ways: 1) mortality was very rapid; 2) the suite of species most affected was different; 3) tissue mortality in Acropora spp. was often restricted to the center of the colony; 4) the event occurred early in the summer. The two weeks prior to the event included 8 days where the average wind speed was less than 3 ms-1. In addition, SSTs in the weeks preceding this event were 1.0-1.5°C higher than the mean for the last 30 years. We hypothesize that the lack of water movement induced by low wind speeds combined with high SST to cause colonies anoxic stress resulting in this unusual bleaching event.


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