Engineering topics

Schluessel, Peter

Publications and source records attributed to Schluessel, Peter.

13 records

NASA NTRS2009

Surface Emissivity Retrieved with Satellite Ultraspectral IR Measurements for Monitoring Global Change

Surface and atmospheric thermodynamic parameters retrieved with advanced ultraspectral remote sensors aboard Earth observing satellites are critical to general atmospheric and Earth science research, climate monitoring, and weather prediction. Ultraspectral resolution infrared radiance obtained from nadir observations provide atmospheric, surface, and cloud information. Presented here is the global surface IR emissivity retrieved from Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements under "clear-sky" conditions. Fast radiative transfer models, applied to the cloud-free (or clouded) atmosphere, are used for atmospheric profile and surface parameter (or cloud parameter) retrieval. The inversion scheme, dealing with cloudy as well as cloud-free radiances observed with ultraspectral infrared sounders, has been developed to simultaneously retrieve atmospheric thermodynamic and surface (or cloud microphysical) parameters. Rapidly produced surface emissivity is initially evaluated through quality control checks on the retrievals of other impacted atmospheric and surface parameters. Surface emissivity and surface skin temperature from the current and future operational satellites can and will reveal critical information on the Earth s ecosystem and land surface type properties, which can be utilized as part of long-term monitoring for the Earth s environment and global climate change.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Cloud and Thermodynamic Parameters Retrieved from Satellite Ultraspectral Infrared Measurements

Atmospheric-thermodynamic parameters and surface properties are basic meteorological parameters for weather forecasting. A physical geophysical parameter retrieval scheme dealing with cloudy and cloud-free radiance observed with satellite ultraspectral infrared sounders has been developed and applied to the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS). The retrieved parameters presented herein are from radiance data gathered during the Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment (JAIVEx). JAIVEx provided intensive aircraft observations obtained from airborne Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) systems, in-situ measurements, and dedicated dropsonde and radiosonde measurements for the validation of the IASI products. Here, IASI atmospheric profile retrievals are compared with those obtained from dedicated dropsondes, radiosondes, and the airborne FTS system. The IASI examples presented here demonstrate the ability to retrieve fine-scale horizontal features with high vertical resolution from satellite ultraspectral sounder radiance spectra.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Radiative Transfer and Retrievals in EOF Domain

The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) is a hyperspectral sensor with 8461 spectral channels and a nominal spectral resolution of 0.25 cm(sup -1). It is computationally intensive to perform radiative transfer calculations and inversions using all these channels. We will present a Principal Component-based Radiative Transfer Model (PCRTM) and a retrieval algorithm which perform all the necessary calculations in EOF domain. Since the EOFs are orthogonal to each other, only about 100 principal components are needed to represent the information content of the 8461 channels. The PCRTM provides the EOF coefficients and associated derivatives with respect to atmospheric and surface parameters needed by the inversion algorithm. The inversion algorithm is based on a non-linear Levenberg-Marquardt method with climatology covariance and a priori information as constraints. The retrieved parameters include atmospheric temperature, moisture and ozone profiles, cloud parameters, surface skin temperature, and surface emissivities. To make the retrieval system even more compact and stable. The atmospheric vertical profiles are compressed into the EOF space as well. The surface emissivities are also compressed into EOF space.

Liu, Xu↗

NASA NTRS2008

Inter-comparison between AIRS and IASI through Retrieved Parameters

A State-of-the-art retrieval algorithm dealing with all-weather conditions has been applied to satellite/aircraft instruments retrieving cloud/surface and atmospheric conditions. High quality retrievals have been achieved from IASI data. Surface, cloud, and atmospheric structure and variation are well captured by IASI measurements and/or retrievals. The same retrieval algorithm is also applied to AIRS for retrieval inter-comparison. Both AIRS and IASI have a similar FOV size but AIRS has a higher horizontal resolution. AIRS data can be interpolated to IASI horizontal resolution for inter-comparison at the same geophysical locations, however a temporal variation between AIRS and IASI observations need to be considered. JAIVEx has employed aircraft to obtain the atmospheric variation filling the temporal gap between two satellites. First results show that both AIRS and IASI have a very similar vertical resolving power, atmospheric conditions are well captured by both instruments, and radiances are well calibrated. AIRS data shown in retrievals (e.g., surface emissivity and moisture) have a relatively higher noise level. Since the this type of retrieval is very sensitive to its radiance quality, retrieval products inter-comparison is an effective way to identify/compare their radiance quality, in terms of a combination of spectral resolution and noise level, and to assess instrument performance. Additional validation analyses are needed to provide more-definitive conclusions.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS2008

1D-VAR Retrieval Using Superchannels

Since modern ultra-spectral remote sensors have thousands of channels, it is difficult to include all of them in a 1D-var retrieval system. We will describe a physical inversion algorithm, which includes all available channels for the atmospheric temperature, moisture, cloud, and surface parameter retrievals. Both the forward model and the inversion algorithm compress the channel radiances into super channels. These super channels are obtained by projecting the radiance spectra onto a set of pre-calculated eigenvectors. The forward model provides both super channel properties and jacobian in EOF space directly. For ultra-spectral sensors such as Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) and the NPOESS Airborne Sounder Testbed Interferometer (NAST), a compression ratio of more than 80 can be achieved, leading to a significant reduction in computations involved in an inversion process. Results will be shown applying the algorithm to real IASI and NAST data.

Liu, Xu↗

NASA NTRS2008

Retrieval with Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer and Validation during JAIVEx

A state-of-the-art IR-only retrieval algorithm has been developed with an all-season-global EOF Physical Regression and followed by 1-D Var. Physical Iterative Retrieval for IASI, AIRS, and NAST-I. The benefits of this retrieval are to produce atmospheric structure with a single FOV horizontal resolution (approx. 15 km for IASI and AIRS), accurate profiles above the cloud (at least) or down to the surface, surface parameters, and/or cloud microphysical parameters. Initial case study and validation indicates that surface, cloud, and atmospheric structure (include TBL) are well captured by IASI and AIRS measurements. Coincident dropsondes during the IASI and AIRS overpasses are used to validate atmospheric conditions, and accurate retrievals are obtained with an expected vertical resolution. JAIVEx has provided the data needed to validate the retrieval algorithm and its products which allows us to assess the instrument ability and/or performance. Retrievals with global coverage are under investigation for detailed retrieval assessment. It is greatly desired that these products be used for testing the impact on Atmospheric Data Assimilation and/or Numerical Weather Prediction.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS2008

High Vertically Resolved Atmospheric and Surface/Cloud Parameters Retrieved with Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)

The Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment (JAIVEx) was conducted during April 2007 mainly for validation of the IASI on the MetOp satellite. IASI possesses an ultra-spectral resolution of 0.25/cm and a spectral coverage from 645 to 2760/cm. Ultra-spectral resolution infrared spectral radiance obtained from near nadir observations provide atmospheric, surface, and cloud property information. An advanced retrieval algorithm with a fast radiative transfer model, including cloud effects, is used for atmospheric profile and cloud parameter retrieval. This physical inversion scheme has been developed, dealing with cloudy as well as cloud-free radiance observed with ultraspectral infrared sounders, to simultaneously retrieve surface, atmospheric thermodynamic, and cloud microphysical parameters. A fast radiative transfer model, which applies to the cloud-free and/or clouded atmosphere, is used for atmospheric profile and cloud parameter retrieval. A one-dimensional (1-d) variational multi-variable inversion solution is used to improve an iterative background state defined by an eigenvector-regression-retrieval. The solution is iterated in order to account for non-linearity in the 1-d variational solution. It is shown that relatively accurate temperature and moisture retrievals are achieved below optically thin clouds. For optically thick clouds, accurate temperature and moisture profiles down to cloud top level are obtained. For both optically thin and thick cloud situations, the cloud top height can be retrieved with relatively high accuracy (i.e., error < 1 km). Preliminary retrievals of atmospheric soundings, surface properties, and cloud optical/microphysical properties with the IASI observations are obtained and presented. These retrievals will be further inter-compared with those obtained from airborne FTS system, such as the NPOESS Airborne Sounder Testbed - Interferometer (NAST-I), dedicated dropsondes, radiosondes, and ground based Raman Lidar. The capabilities of satellite ultra-spectral sounder such as the IASI are investigated indicating a high vertical structure of atmosphere is retrieved.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Atmospheric, Cloud, and Surface Parameters Retrieved from Satellite Ultra-spectral Infrared Sounder Measurements

An advanced retrieval algorithm with a fast radiative transfer model, including cloud effects, is used for atmospheric profile and cloud parameter retrieval. This physical inversion scheme has been developed, dealing with cloudy as well as cloud-free radiance observed with ultraspectral infrared sounders, to simultaneously retrieve surface, atmospheric thermodynamic, and cloud microphysical parameters. A fast radiative transfer model, which applies to the clouded atmosphere, is used for atmospheric profile and cloud parameter retrieval. A one-dimensional (1-d) variational multivariable inversion solution is used to improve an iterative background state defined by an eigenvector-regression-retrieval. The solution is iterated in order to account for non-linearity in the 1-d variational solution. This retrieval algorithm is applied to the MetOp satellite Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) launched on October 19, 2006. IASI possesses an ultra-spectral resolution of 0.25 cm(exp -1) and a spectral coverage from 645 to 2760 cm(exp -1). Preliminary retrievals of atmospheric soundings, surface properties, and cloud optical/microphysical properties with the IASI measurements are obtained and presented.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Initial Retrieval Validation from the Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment (JAIVEx)

The Joint Airborne IASI Validation Experiment (JAIVEx) was conducted during April 2007 mainly for validation of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on the MetOp satellite, but also included a strong component focusing on validation of the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) aboard the AQUA satellite. The cross validation of IASI and AIRS is important for the joint use of their data in the global Numerical Weather Prediction process. Initial inter-comparisons of geophysical products have been conducted from different aspects, such as using different measurements from airborne ultraspectral Fourier transform spectrometers (specifically, the NPOESS Airborne Sounder Testbed Interferometer (NAST-I) and the Scanning-High resolution Interferometer Sounder (S-HIS) aboard the NASA WB-57 aircraft), UK Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe146-301 aircraft insitu instruments, dedicated dropsondes, radiosondes, and ground based Raman Lidar. An overview of the JAIVEx retrieval validation plan and some initial results of this field campaign are presented.

Zhou, Daniel K.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Correcting infrared satellite estimates of sea surface temperature for atmospheric water vapor attenuation

A new satellite sea surface temperature (SST) algorithm is developed that uses nearly coincident measurements from the microwave special sensor microwave imager (SSM/I) to correct for atmospheric moisture attenuation of the infrared signal from the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR). This new SST algorithm is applied to AVHRR imagery from the South Pacific and Norwegian seas, which are then compared with simultaneous in situ (ship based) measurements of both skin and bulk SST. In addition, an SST algorithm using a quadratic product of the difference between the two AVHRR thermal infrared channels is compared with the in situ measurements. While the quadratic formulation provides a considerable improvement over the older cross product (CPSST) and multichannel (MCSST) algorithms, the SSM/I corrected SST (called the water vapor or WVSST) shows overall smaller errors when compared to both the skin and bulk in situ SST observations. Applied to individual AVHRR images, the WVSST reveals an SST difference pattern (CPSST-WVSST) similar in shape to the water vapor structure while the CPSST-quadratic SST difference appears unrelated in pattern to the nearly coincident water vapor pattern. An application of the WVSST to week-long composites of global area coverage (GAC) AVHRR data demonstrates again the manner in which the WVSST corrects the AVHRR for atmospheric moisture attenuation. By comparison the quadratic SST method underestimates the SST corrections in the lower latitudes and overestimates the SST in th e higher latitudes. Correlations between the AVHRR thermal channel differences and the SSM/I water vapor demonstrate the inability of the channel difference to represent water vapor in the midlatitude and high latitudes during summer. Compared against drifting buoy data the WVSST and the quadratic SST both exhibit the same general behavior with the relatively small differences with the buoy temperatures.

Emery, William J.↗

NASA NTRS1992

A comprehensive comparison between satellite-measured skin and multichannel sea surface temperature

Three algorithms for computing sea-surface temperature (SST) from AVHRR channel-4 and -5 brightness temperatures were compared using 1-week blocks of global-area-coverage (GAC) data archived at NCAR. These are the multichannel SST (MCSST), the cross-product SST (CPSST), and the AVHRR-only satellite-measured ocean-surface skin temperature (SMSST). Maps of each SST product were produced and were compared for various time periods. The difference between the algorithms range from +1.6 to -1.2 K, resulting from the different forms of both the algorithms and the ground truth from which the algorithms were derived. It is concluded that, for the study of relative SST patterns, any of the algorithms can be used. However, for applications requiring accurate absolute temperature measurements, the differences are significant and the derivation of the algorithm must be considered when an algorithm is selected.

Wick, Gary A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

A comprehensive comparison between skin and multi-channel sea surface temperatures as derived from AVHRR

Global maps of Satellite Measured Surface Skin Temperature (SMSST), MultiChannel Sea Surface Temperature (MCSST) and Cross Product Sea Surface Temperature (CPSSR) are computed from imagery of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) for five fortnights in 1984/85. They demonstrate systematic latitudinal variations and regional extremes of the differences with greatest root mean square values of 0.7K between MCSST and SMSST found at low latitudes. Mean differences range from 0.1K between CPSST and SMSST to 0.45K between MCSST and SMSST. A part of the differences might be attributed to the skin cooling at the sea surface. A parameterization of the bulk skin temperature difference is derived from in situ field measurements. This can be used to find a relation between satellite measured bulk and skin temperatures.

Schluessel, Peter↗

NASA NTRS1990

Atmospheric water vapour over oceans from SSM/I measurements

A statistical retrieval technique is developed to derive the atmospheric water vapor column content from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) measurements. The radiometer signals are simulated by means of radiative-transfer calculations for a large set of atmospheric/oceanic situations. These simulated responses are subsequently summarized by multivariate analyses, giving water-vapor coefficients and error estimates. Radiative-transfer calculations show that the SSM/I microwave imager can detect atmospheric water vapor structures with an accuracy from 0.145 to 0.17 g/sq cm. The accuracy of the method is confirmed by globally distributed match-ups with radiosonde measurements.

Schluessel, Peter↗