A simple method of UV stray light correction for field spectrometers in Ground Validation Sites

Field spectrometers are widely applied in ground validation sites for remote sensing. However, the control of stray light is one of the most important factors to ensure accurate measurements, since the spectral distribution of target source differs significantly from the laboratory calibration source. Here, a simple UV stray light correction method for continuously distributed wide-spectrum light sources was established by using a set of bandpass filters. This analysis enabled a simple, low-cost method for correcting for the observed straylight.

Using Passive Samplers to Track per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Emissions From the Paper Industry: Laboratory Calibration and Field Verification

Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are becoming more stringently regulated and as such, a more diverse suite of environmental monitoring methods is needed. In this work a polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS) with a nylon membrane and a combination of Oasis WAX and Fluoroflash® sorbents was calibrated in the laboratory and deployed in the field. A static renewal system was used to determine sampling rates for 12 PFAS which ranged between 0.69 ± 0.27 to 5.68 ± 1.80 L/day. POCIS devices were deployed for 10 days in lake Tyrifjorden, Norway which is known to be contaminated by a closed down factory producing paper products, in order to track the evolution of the PFAS contamination in a river system draining into the lake. Th sampling campaign enabled the stretch of the river which was responsible for the emissions of PFAS to lake Tyrifjorden to be identified. Freely dissolved concentrations determined with the POCIS were lowest at the site considered to reflect a diffuse PFAS contamination and highest at the site located downstream the factory. Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) and perfluorooctane sulfonamidoacetic acid (EtFOSAA) dominated the concentration profile at this site. Emissions of PFAS to lake Tyrifjorden were estimated to be 3.96 g/day for the sum of the 12 investigated PFAS.

Can Oryzias Celebensis Embryo be Transported Dry?

Embryos of the genus Oryzias have long been used as sentinel organisms in ecotoxicological research. Compared with animal models from mammals, Oryzias embryo offers several advantages such as being cost-effective, more sensitive, rapid and produce very little waste. In ecotoxicological studies, it is necessary to have inter-laboratory calibration on used techniques between one laboratory and another, so that the used techniques are reliable. Inter-laboratory calibration between laboratories requires transferring embryos from one laboratory to another. For this purpose, research has been carried out to compare the survival of embryos reared in water and non-water (dry) media until they hatch. The results showed that the embryos reared with dry media hatched one day faster than those raised in water media. The dry-incubated embryo also had an average total length longer than those incubated with embryo rearing media (ERM). In this study, it was concluded that fish embryos of Oryzias celebensis could be transported dry for up to five days.

Intercomparison of photoacoustic and cavity attenuated phase shift instruments: laboratory calibration and field measurements

The study of aerosol optical properties is essential to understand its impact on the global climate. In our recent field measurement carried out in the Gehu area of southwest Changzhou City, a photoacoustic extinctiometer (PAX) and a cavity attenuated phase shift albedo monitor (CAPS-ALB) were used for online aerosol optical properties measurement. Laboratory calibration with gas and particle samples were carried out to correct disagreements of field measurements. During particle calibration, we adopted ammonium sulfate (AS) samples for scattering calibration of nephelometer parts of both the instruments, then combined these with number-size distribution measurements in the MIE model for calculating the value of the total scattering (extinction) coefficient. During gas calibration, we employed high concentrations of NO2 for absorption calibration of the PAX resonator and then further intercompared the extinction coefficient of CAPS-ALB with a cavity-enhanced spectrometer. The correction coefficient obtained from the laboratory calibration experiments was employed on the optical properties observed in the field measurements correspondingly and showed good results in comparison with reconstructed extinction from the IMPROVE model. The intercomparison of the calibrated optical properties of PAX and CAPS-ALB in field measurements was in good agreement with slopes of 1.052, 1.024 and 1.046 for extinction, scattering and absorption respectively, which shows the reliability of measurement results and verifies the correlation between the photoacoustic and the cavity attenuated phase shift instruments.

Quantification and mitigation of the airborne limb imaging FTIR GLORIA instrument effects and uncertainties

The Gimballed Limb Observer for Radiance Imaging of the Atmosphere (GLORIA) is an infrared imaging FTS spectrometer with a 2-D infrared detector operated on two high flying research aircrafts. It has flown on eight campaigns and measured along more than 300 000 km of flight track. This paper details our instrument calibration and characterization efforts, which in particular leverage almost exclusively in-flight data. First, we present the framework of our new calibration scheme, which uses information from all three available calibration measurements (two blackbodies and upward pointing deep space measurements). Part of this scheme is a new correction algorithm correcting the erratically changing non-linearity of a subset of detector pixels and the identification of remaining bad pixels. Using this new calibration, we derive a 1-σ bound of 1 % on the instrumental gain error and a bound of 30 nW cm−2 sr−1 cm on the instrumental offset error. We show how we can examine the noise and spectral accuracy for all measured atmospheric spectra and derive a spectral accuracy of 5 ppm, on average. All these errors are compliant with the initial instrument requirements. We also discuss, for the first time, the pointing system of the GLORIA instrument. Combining laboratory calibration efforts with the measurement of astronomical bodies during the flight, we can derive a pointing accuracy of 0.032°, which corresponds to one detector pixel. The paper concludes with a brief study on how these newly characterised instrumental parameters affect temperature and ozone retrievals. We find that, first, the pointing uncertainty and, second, the instrumental gain uncertainty introduce the largest error in the result.

UAV-Borne Hyperspectral Imaging Remote Sensing System Based on Acousto-Optic Tunable Filter for Water Quality Monitoring

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) hyperspectral remote sensing technologies have unique advantages in high-precision quantitative analysis of non-contact water surface source concentration. Improving the accuracy of non-point source detection is a difficult engineering problem. To facilitate water surface remote sensing, imaging, and spectral analysis activities, a UAV-based hyperspectral imaging remote sensing system was designed. Its prototype was built, and laboratory calibration and a joint air–ground water quality monitoring activity were performed. The hyperspectral imaging remote sensing system of UAV comprised a light and small UAV platform, spectral scanning hyperspectral imager, and data acquisition and control unit. The spectral principle of the hyperspectral imager is based on the new high-performance acousto-optic tunable (AOTF) technology. During laboratory calibration, the spectral calibration of the imaging spectrometer and image preprocessing in data acquisition were completed. In the UAV air–ground joint experiment, combined with the typical water bodies of the Yangtze River mainstream, the Three Gorges demonstration area, and the Poyang Lake demonstration area, the hyperspectral data cubes of the corresponding water areas were obtained, and geometric registration was completed. Thus, a large field-of-view mosaic and water radiation calibration were realized. A chlorophyl-a (Chl-a) sensor was used to test the actual water control points, and 11 traditional Chl-a sensitive spectrum selection algorithms were analyzed and compared. A random forest algorithm was used to establish a prediction model of water surface spectral reflectance and water quality parameter concentration. Compared with the back propagation neural network, partial least squares, and PSO-LSSVM algorithms, the accuracy of the RF algorithm in predicting Chl-a was significantly improved. The determination coefficient of the training samples was 0.84; root mean square error, 3.19 μg/L; and mean absolute percentage error, 5.46%. The established Chl-a inversion model was applied to UAV hyperspectral remote sensing images. The predicted Chl-a distribution agreed with the field observation results, indicating that the UAV-borne hyperspectral remote sensing water quality monitoring system based on AOTF is a promising remote sensing imaging spectral analysis tool for water.

Development of Optic-Electric Hybrid Sensors for the Real-Time Intelligent Monitoring of Subway Tunnels

The settlement and deformation monitoring of subway tunnels had difficult in long-distance and real time measurement. This study proposed an optic-electric hybrid sensor based on infrared laser ranging technology and cable-sensing technology. The working principle, hardware layer, design details, laboratory calibration and field validation were presented and discussed. The optic-electric hybrid sensor implemented the real-time intelligent analysis modulus for the whole system which could analysis the measurement errors and improve the accuracy. The laboratory calibration tests were carried out and the results shown that the hybrid sensors had measurement resolution of 1 mm with the maximum measurement range of 100 m. A remote real-time intelligent monitoring system is established based on the hybrid sensors. The system contains an edge computing module, real-time communication module and warning light signal with three colors. The stability of data acquisition and transmission of the intelligent control monitoring system under long-term conditions was examined. Test results shown that the system was quite stable for the long-term measurement. The whole system was verified in a constructing subway tunnel of Wuhan Metro Line 8, China. According to the field monitoring results, the deformations and the state of health safety of the tunnel was evaluated. The results of this study could provide useful guidance for tunnel deformation monitoring and has great practical value in civil engineering.

Wind Influences Corrected Auto-calibrated Soil Evapo-Respiration Chamber (ASERC), Evaporation Measures

The importance of the soil evaporation concerns our main life supports source for agriculture or for climate changes predictions science. A simple to operate instrument, based on non-steady state (NSS) technique, made for soil evaporation measurement appears then suitable. However, because the NSS chamber technique is highly invasive, special care should be provided to correct the wind influence on the evaporation process. As the wind influence on the evaporation is depending on numerous and not real-time monitorable variables, in order to make the measurements easily corrigible on a bare soil with a unique variable – wind speed (Ws), whatever is the soil nature, soil texture, and others soil or air meteorological variables – a self-calibrating chamber with corresponding protocol called Auto-calibrated Soil Evapo-Respiration Chamber (ASERC) was developed. A simple protocol followed by this chamber allows to determine the soil evaporation wind susceptibility (Z) and to correct the measurements achieving 0.95 accuracy confidence. Some interesting finding on sandy and clayey soils evaporation measured during a laboratory calibration will also be reported.