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Bing Lin

Publications and source records attributed to Bing Lin.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2026

Measure sea level air pressure from space to improve knowledge and forecasting of the atmospheric state

Modern numerical weather prediction (NWP) and analysis models require globally-observed meteorological data including sea-level pressure (SLP) for accurate operations. Up until now, SLP has only been measured by in situ instruments from ships, buoys, and ocean platforms. These measurements are sparse with large gaps, leaving models starved of this critical information to constrain the atmospheric state. Recent advancements in differential absorption radar (DAR) provide a path to close this critical observation gap through spaceborne observations in the coming decade, improving the analysis models relied upon for atmospheric research and the weather forecasts depended upon daily for public safety and commerce.

Matthew L Walker McLinden↗
NASA NTRS2024

Differential Absorption Lidar for Searching Water Sources on Mars

Water vapor has been detected in the Martian atmosphere by multiple orbiting instruments. The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) observed H2O mixing ratios reaching up to 50 ppmv at altitudes of 100-120 km during global dust storms, while levels remained low (<2 ppmv) during other seasons. The Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer (NGIMS) on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft revealed that water transported to the upper atmosphere is dissociated by ions, producing atomic hydrogen that escapes into space, contributing to Mars’ water loss. This transport is seasonal, peaking in southern summer and intensifying during dust storms. Additionally, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s (MRO) imaging spectrometer detected hydrated minerals on slopes, suggesting that liquid water may intermittently flow on present-day Mars. However, an observational gap exists between high-altitude water vapor and surface water due to limitations in spatial resolution and a lack of measurements in the lower atmosphere. To address this gap, we propose using an airborne differential absorption lidar (DIAL) to search for water sources. DIAL provides high-resolution measurements both day and night, bridging the observational gap between high-altitude water vapor and surface water, thus enhancing our understanding of water transport and loss on Mars. Absorption lines of water vapor in the 2.7 μm and 1.8 μm bands have been selected in this study. Simulations show that both lines are capable of detecting water vapor sources with reasonable system parameters.

lidar↗
NASA NTRS2024

Observing System Simulation Experiments Exploring Potential Spaceborne Deployment Options for a Differential Absorption Radar Measuring Marine Surface Pressures

A new technology for remote measurements of marine surface pressure has been proposed, employing a V-band differential absorption radar and a radiometric temperature sounder to calculate the total column atmospheric mass. Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) are performed to evaluate the potential impact of Spaceborne Marine Surface Pressure (SMSP) on Numerical Weather Prediction. These experiments build on prior efforts (Privé, McLinden, et al., 2023, https://doi.org/10.16993/tellusa.3254), but with an updated version of the OSSE framework and with more sophisticated simulation of the SMSP observations and a longer experiment period. Several different instrument configurations are compared, including both scanning and non-scanning orbits. SMSP impacts are calculated for analysis quality and forecast skill, and a forecast sensitivity observation impact tool is employed to place SMSP observations in context with the global observing network. The effects of rain contamination on observation quality are explored. Different magnitudes of simulated SMSP observation error are tested in the context of data assimilation to show the range of potential behaviors. Overall, SMSP observations are found to be most beneficial in the southern hemisphere extratropics, with statistically significant forecast improvements for the first 72 hr of the forecast. A constellation of four non-scanning SMSP satellites is found to outperform a single scanning instrument with a 250 km wide swath.

N C Prive↗
NASA NTRS2023

Impacts of Marine Surface Pressure Observations From A Spaceborne Differential Absorption Radar Investigated With an Observing System Simulation Experiment

A new instrument has been proposed for measuring surface air pressure over the marine surface with a combined active/passive scanning multi-channel differential absorption radar (DAR) to provide an estimate of the total atmospheric column oxygen content. A demonstrator instrument, the Microwave Barometric Radar and Sounder (MBARS), has been funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for airborne test missions. Here, a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the potential impact of spaceborne surface pressure data on numerical weather prediction is performed using the Goddard Modeling and Assimilation Office global observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) framework. This OSSE framework employs the Goddard Earth Observing System model and the hybrid 4D ensemble variational Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation data assimilation system. Multiple flight and scanning configurations of potential spaceborne orbits are examined. Swath width and observation spacing for the surface pressure data are varied to explore a range of sampling strategies. For wider swaths, the addition of surface pressures reduces the root mean square surface pressure analysis error by as much as 20% over some ocean regions. The forecast sensitivity observation impact tool estimates impacts on the Pacific Ocean basin boundary layer 24-hour forecast temperatures for spaceborne surface pressures on par with rawinsondes and aircraft, and greater impacts than the current network of ships and buoys. The largest forecast impacts are found in the southern hemisphere extratropics.

N.C. Privé↗
NASA NTRS2017

TPSAS-NF1676L-21094-DND

Advanced knowledge in atmospheric CO 2 distributions is critical in predicting the Earth's future climate. Large uncertainties in the prediction persist due to limited observations. This study focuses on the development and demonstration of the Intensity-Modulated Continuous-Wave (IM-CW) lidar for atmospheric CO 2 measurements. Simulations show that IM-CW lidar systems operating at 1.57 um will provide precise atmospheric column CO 2 measurements from space. Airborne systems have demonstrated the feasibility of the technology and instrumentation for space active atmospheric CO 2 missions. In this presentation, the atmospheric CO 2 column measurements from airborne flight campaigns and lidar system simulations for space missions will be discussed. Data analysis shows that airborne lidar CO 2 column measurements over desert and vegetated surfaces agree well with in-situ measurements. A measurement precision of 0.08% or ~0.3 ppmv for a 10-s average over these surfaces has also been achieved. Generally, airborne flight campaigns have demonstrated that the column CO 2 measurements of the current IM-CW lidar systems meet the accuracy and precision requirements of atmospheric CO 2 measurements. Furthermore, analyses of space CO 2 measurements shows that the current IM-CW lidar technology and approach will enable space missions to achieve their science goals.

Bing Lin↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-23459-DND

This talk covers the needs for carbon science, laser absorption lidar approach for atmospheric CO2 measurements, recent campaign findings, and future work on atmospheric CO2 observations.

Bing Lin↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ACES Instrument

During the Atmospheric Carbon and Transport–America (ACT–America) suborbital mission (ACT-America) Mission Spring 2018 campaign, ASCENDS CarbonHawk Experiment Simulator (ACES), an intensity modulated continuous wave (IMCW) lidar system funded by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, measured differential optical depths leading to partial-column CO2 lidar retrievals while flying aboard the C-130 aircraft across North America striving to advance technology critical to measuring column carbon dioxide mixing ratios (XCO2) remotely. ACES was developed by NASA Langley Research Center in the aims to have an active remote sensing system able to accurately measure XCO2 from space independent of the presence of sunlight, land surface type, and even through thin clouds. Differential absorption optical depth measurements made during the fourth campaign of ACT-America in Spring of 2018 were processed, analyzed and compared to on board in situ derived differential optical depth CO2 measurements.

XCO2↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Measuring Upwelling Longwave in the Presence of an Obstruction

One of the key measurements from the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite is Earth emitted or longwave (LW) radiation. The Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) aims to provide upwelling LW observations of the best possible quality across all their measurement sites. The disestablished CERES Ocean Validation Experiment (COVE), located at Chesapeake Light Station, approximately 25 kilometers east of Virginia Beach, Virginia (coordinates: 36.90N, 75.71W) was a validation site for CERES measurements and part of the BSRN network. One of the measurements at COVE was upwelling LW radiation made with an Eppley pyrgeometer. However, this measurement was complicated due to the Light Station tower being in its field of view. According to our estimates, the Light Station tower altered 15% of the upwelling LW radiation. To resolve this issue, we obtain a different upwelling longwave value using data from an infrared radiation thermometer (IRT), a pyrgeometer that measures downwelling longwave, and meteorological data. Using an IRT allows conversion from sea surface temperature to a water emission value, the downwelling pyrgeometer provides the reflected flux of the downward longwave radiation, and the meteorological data accounts for the air affects between the ocean surface and the upwelling LW measurement height. Comparing the upwelling LW pyrgeometer value with the newly derived value shows the unwanted consequence of the tower. The tower appears to enhance the upwelling LW signal during the summer, most obvious on a summer clear day, but depresses the upwelling signal, even more, during winter sky conditions (both clear and overcast). The tower affects the upwelling LW measurement in these scenarios up to 5% (20 W/m^2) when compared to the newly derived value. BSRN target uncertainty is 2%. Installing a pyrgeometer to measure upwelling LW without obstructions may not be possible at some measurement sties. This issue can be mitigated using other measurements to derive an upwelling LW value.

Bryan Fabbri↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Potential Use of Spaceborne Differential Absorption Radar Measurements of Marine Surface Pressure to Improve Weather and Tropical Cyclone Forecasting

Differential absorption radar (DAR) has been identified as a method to remotely sense surface air pressure, particularly over the marine surface. Such an instrument would provide an estimate of the total atmospheric column oxygen content from which the surface air pressure can be calculated. NASA recently funded the development of a demonstrator instrument, the airborne Microwave Barometric Radar and Sounder (MBARS) to test and evaluate this retrieval. The potential impact of surface pressure observations from a spaceborne sensor is evaluated using the updated NASA/GMAO global Observing System Simulation Experiment framework. Initial experiments showing the impact of different orbital configurations of DAR surface pressure measurements on overall NWP will be shown, including Forecast Sensitivity Observation Impact metrics. Case studies of satellite-based surface air pressure retrievals on tropical cyclones will also be discussed.

DAR↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Status of the Microwave Barometric Radar and Sounder (MBARS)

Atmospheric surface pressure and pressure profiles are essential variables in weather modeling and forecasting. Pressure gradients generate atmospheric motion and are essential to the air-sea heat exchange feedbacks within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) that lead to convective storms and heavy precipitation. Despite the importance of pressure and pressure gradients on meso-, synoptic-, and global-scale weather patterns, current technology relies almost entirely on buoy measurements over the majority of the ocean. These measurements are too sparse to capture pressure gradients of even many synoptic scale events, and leave models starved of information. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), NASA/Langley Research Center (LaRC), and Tomorrow.io have begun development of the Microwave Barometric Radar and Sounder (MBARS), an airborne sensor to retrieve surface air pressure and vertical pressure profiles, especially over oceans. MBARS is a new combined active/passive microwave instrument in the O2 absorption V-band (64-70 GHz) funded by the NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO) Instrument Incubator Program (IIP). This instrument consists of an innovative scanning multi-channel differential absorption radar (DAR) to provide an estimation of total atmospheric column oxygen content and thus the surface dry air pressure. MBARS also will provide hyperspectral radiometric temperature profiling to enables vertical pressure profiles using the hypsometric relationship between pressure and temperature. A co-located microwave radiometer will provide the integrated water vapor mass contribution to atmospheric pressure. This presentation will summarize the project, retrieval concept, and engineering status of the MBARS project.

Radar, Radiometer↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of 2.05 µm Fiber Lasers for CO2 DIAL Lidar Measuring Martian CO2 and Pressure

The Decadal Survey by the National Academy of Sciences in the United States and NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Science Plan both require global CO 2 observations for the Martian atmospheric pressure, dynamics and chemistry. However, there are significant observational gaps in polar regions and during nighttime for global air pressure and CO 2 on Mars. Therefore, recently we proposed a new concept of Martian differential absorption lidar (DIAL) operating in the 2.05 µm CO 2 absorption band for global, including poles, atmospheric CO 2 and pressure observations day and night [1]. Based on the concept, we are awarded to develop 2.05 µm fiber lasers by the NASA Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO) Program. The laser is designed to be an all-fiber master oscillator and power amplifier (MOPA) system with laser output of ~3 mJ at a repetition frequency of 2 kHz. The primary master oscillator (PMO) is locked to the center (2.0504280 µm) of the selected CO 2 absorption line. The frequency of a second MO (SMO) is locked to that of PMO. This SMO frequency is adjustable and switched between the online (2.05044156 µm) and offline (2.05050812 µm) wavelengths. The online wavelength is optimally selected so that the CO 2 absorption optical depth (AOD) is ~1.1 at 3 km and the measurement in the low Martian atmosphere has largest signal-to-noise ratio. The online wavelength can also be adjusted to a line slope location where AOD is larger to observe atmospheric pressure at higher altitudes. We will present more detail about this project and instrument development at the conference.

Zhaoyan Liu↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Progress of 2.05 μm Fiber Laser Development for CO2 DIAL Measurements of Martian CO2 and Pressure

The Decadal Survey by the US National Academy of Sciences in the United States and NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Science Plan both require global CO2 observations for the Martian atmospheric pressure, dynamics and CO2 variations. However, there are significant observational gaps in polar regions and during nighttime for global air pressure and CO2 on Mars. Therefore, recently we proposed a new concept of Martian differential absorption lidar (DIAL) operating in the 2.05 μm CO2 absorption band for global, including poles, atmospheric CO2 and pressure observations day and night. Based on the concept, we are awarded to develop 2.05 μm fiber lasers by the NASA Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations (PICASSO) Program. The laser is designed to be an all-fiber master oscillator and power amplifier (MOPA) system with laser out put of ~3 mJ at a repetition frequency of 2 kHz. The primary master oscillator (PMO) is locked to the center (2.0504280 μm) of the selected CO2 absorption line. The frequency of a second MO (SMO) is locked to that of PMO. This SMO frequency is adjustable and switched between the online (2.05044156 μm) and offline (2.05050812 μm) wavelengths. The online wavelength is optimally selected so that the CO2 absorption optical depth (AOD) is ~1.1 at 3 km and the measurement in the low Martian atmosphere has largest signal-to-noise ratio. The online wavelength can also be adjusted to a line slope location where AOD is larger to observe atmospheric pressure at higher altitudes. We will present more details about this project and instrument development.

CO2↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Synergy of Satellite Radiation, Precipitation, and Other Meteorological Variable Observations for Global Mean Sea Surface Turbulent Heat Flux Estimation

Sea surface turbulent heat flux is one of the key components in global freshwater and energy balances and plays an important role in atmospheric dynamics, thermodynamics and general circulation. This turbulent heat flux is dominantly decided by sea surface latent heat release with some contribution from sensible heat exchange. The flux and its anomaly could significantly affect ocean heat storage and ocean circulation. They are part of and have great impacts on climate variability. Though the turbulent heat flux is extremely important for the climate and weather systems, only very limited ship and buoy observations of the flux are available over open oceans. There are no global, operational, direct measurements of this crucial meteorological variable. Global estimates are, basically, indirectly calculated from bulk turbulent flux parameterization with a combination of satellite column water vapor, sea surface water temperature, and wind speed observations. Critical parameters such as sea surface air temperature and humidity are estimated from empirical relations of theses variables with the water vapor and sea surface water temperature, respectively. Lacking accurate knowledge on surface air temperature and humidity, uncertainties in the parameterization and potential changes in the non-linear turbulent processes with long-term climate variations could cause large errors in estimated long-term turbulent fluxes from the indirect method as shown in current global sea surface turbulent flux datasets. This study uses synergized data of satellite global radiation, precipitation, and other meteorological variable observations to estimate sea surface turbulent heat fluxes. The radiation observations are made by the satellite Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensors, while the global precipitation data is from NASA’s satellite Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP). Other data includes satellite sea surface water temperature and wind speed observations. These datasets are obtained from a wide range of space sensors from passive to active instruments and from visible and near infrared to thermal infrared and microwave spectral sounders. One significant feature of these datasets is that they have multi-decades long climate records. Top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation and its anomaly represents the net heat energy input to the climate system, and the oceanic precipitation and ocean-land moisture transport can be used to quantify sea surface latent heat release. Based on the synergized datasets and the principle of global water and energy balances, global mean turbulent heat fluxes are estimated. The turbulent heat anomalies for the first two decades of the 21st century are, then, obtained mainly from global CERES radiation and GPCP precipitation anomalies, along with CERES derived ocean-land heat transports. Analysis indicates that the uncertainties in the estimated turbulent flux anomalies may be reduced considerably. The results suggest a strong needs in synchronized and synergized observations of atmospheric radiation, precipitation, and oceanic meteorological variables for long-term climate studies.

Bing Lin↗