Results for “Radiant system” — Page 10

NASA NTRS1994

Numerical and experimental analyses of the radiant heat flux produced by quartz heating systems

A method is developed for predicting the radiant heat flux distribution produced by tungsten filament, tubular fused-quartz envelope heating systems with reflectors. The method is an application of Monte Carlo simulation, which takes the form of a random walk or ray tracing scheme. The method is applied to four systems of increasing complexity, including a single lamp without a reflector, a single lamp with a Hat reflector, a single lamp with a parabolic reflector, and up to six lamps in a six-lamp contoured-reflector heating unit. The application of the Monte Carlo method to the simulation of the thermal radiation generated by these systems is discussed. The procedures for numerical implementation are also presented. Experiments were conducted to study these quartz heating systems and to acquire measurements of the corresponding empirical heat flux distributions for correlation with analysis. The experiments were conducted such that several complicating factors could be isolated and studied sequentially. Comparisons of the experimental results with analysis are presented and discussed. Good agreement between the experimental and simulated results was obtained in all cases. This study shows that this method can be used to analyze very complicated quartz heating systems and can account for factors such as spectral properties, specular reflection from curved surfaces, source enhancement due to reflectors and/or adjacent sources, and interaction with a participating medium in a straightforward manner.

Turner, Travis L.↗

NASA NTRS2000

EOSDIS Terra Data Sampler #1: Western US Wildfires 2000

This CD-ROM contains sample data in HDF-EOS format from the instruments on board the Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra satellite: (1) Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER); (2) Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES); (3) Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR); and (4) Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Data from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument were not available for distribution (as of October 17, 2000). The remotely sensed, coincident data for the Western US wildfires were acquired August 30, 2000. This CD-ROM provides information about the Terra mission, instruments, data, and viewing tools. It also provides the Collage tool for viewing data, and links to Web sites containing other digital data processing software. Full granules of the data on this CD-ROM and other EOS Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data products are available from the NASA Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs).

Perkins, Dorothy C.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Differences Between ERBE and CERES Tropical Means Fluxes: ENSO, Climate Change of Calibration?

Verner E. Soumi was the father of radiation budget measurements from space. He directed the team at the University of Wisconsin that developed the first radiation budget measurements on the Iota (Explorer VII) coverage) spacecraft in 1959. The first data published was from hand calculations of night-time long-wave fluxes, with absolute accuracy estimated as better than 10 percent, and the data shown as hand drawn maps with lines of equal "long-wave radiation loss, in Langleys per minute X 10(exp -3) (isolangleys)". The first comparisons of the new radiation data with nephanalyses showed that clouds dominated the radiation patterns. Soumi immediately proposed using the radiation fields to help understand the atmospheric heat sources necessary to drive the atmospheric circulation. This early work already pointed to the relationship between the outgoing longwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere and the vertical flux divergence of infrared radiation within the atmosphere. In the next 30 years, global satellite observations of the radiation balance of the planet have advanced both in accuracy, stability, and in their ability to address cause and effect in the climate system. The purpose of the present paper is to examine early results of the new Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data on Tropical Rainfall Measuring System (TRMM) which started data collection in January, 1998. CERES is a direct descendant of the legacy of Soumi's foresight on understanding the global energetics using satellite observations of broadband radiation.

Wielicki, Bruce A.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Test Capabilities and Recent Experiences in the NASA Langley 8-Foot High Temperature Tunnel

The NASA Langley 8-Foot High Temperature Tunnel is a combustion-heated hypersonic blowdown-to-atmosphere wind tunnel that provides flight enthalpy simulation for Mach numbers of 4, 5, and 7 through an altitude range from 50,000 to 120,000 feet. The open-.jet test section is 8-ft. in diameter and 12-ft. long. The test section will accommodate large air-breathing hypersonic propulsion systems as well as structural and thermal protection system components. Stable wind tunnel test conditions can be provided for 60 seconds. Additional test capabilities are provided by a radiant heater system used to simulate ascent or entry heating profiles. The test medium is the combustion products of air and methane that are burned in a pressurized combustion chamber. Oxygen is added to the test medium for air-breathing propulsion tests so that the test gas contains 21 percent molar oxygen. The facility was modified extensively in the late 1980's to provide airbreathing propulsion testing capability. In this paper, a brief history and general description of the facility are presented along with a discussion of the types of supported testing. Recently completed tests are discussed to explain the capabilities this facility provides and to demonstrate the experience of the staff.

Hodge, Jeffrey S.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Differences between ERBE and CERES Tropical Mean Fluxes: ENSO, Climate Change or Calibration?

Verner E. Soumi was the father of radiation budget measurements from space. He directed the team at the University of Wisconsin that developed the first radiation budget measurements on the Iota (Explorer VII) coverage) spacecraft in 1959. The first data published was from hand calculations of night-time long-wave fluxes, with absolute accuracy estimated as better than 10 percent, and the data shown as hand drawn maps with lines of equal "long-wave radiation loss, in Langleys per minute X 10(exp -3) (isolangleys)". The first comparisons of the new radiation data with nephanalyses showed that clouds dominated the radiation patterns. Soumi immediately proposed using the radiation fields to help understand the atmospheric heat sources necessary to drive the atmospheric circulation. This early work already pointed to the relationship between the outgoing longwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere and the vertical flux divergence of infrared radiation within the atmosphere. In the next 30 years, global satellite observations of the radiation balance of the planet have advanced both in accuracy, stability, and in their ability to address cause and effect in the climate system. The purpose of the present paper is to examine early results of the new Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data on Tropical Rainfall Measuring System (TRMM) which started data collection in January, 1998. CERES is a direct descendant of the legacy of Soumi's foresight on understanding the global energetics using satellite observations of broadband radiation.

Wielicki, Bruce A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

A radiant heating test facility for space shuttle orbiter thermal protection system certification

A large scale radiant heating test facility was constructed so that thermal certification tests can be performed on the new generation of thermal protection systems developed for the space shuttle orbiter. This facility simulates surface thermal gradients, onorbit cold-soak temperatures down to 200 K, entry heating temperatures to 1710 K in an oxidizing environment, and the dynamic entry pressure environment. The capabilities of the facility and the development of new test equipment are presented.

Sherborne, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS2010

TPSAS-NF1676L-10863-DND

One important aspect of successful climate monitoring is satellite calibration. There is at least a 25-year of operational geostationary (GEO) record available for climate studies, if properly calibrated. The Global Space-based Inter-Calibration System (GSICS) project is another effort to provide the climate community consistent calibration across multiple platforms. Also, the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) project, provides consistent GEO retrieved cloud properties and derived broadband fluxes across multiple platforms. This year GSICS is focusing on geostationary visible channel calibration. The GSICS strategy is to use multiple approaches, such as cross-calibrating the GEO radiances against MODIS as a reference, deep convective clouds as bright stable targets, deserts, sun-glint, stars, moon and other model based calibration methods. Each of these methods is independent of each other and can assess the stability of the GEO visible instrument with differing uncertainties. This study focuses on the inter-calibration of the GEO radiances against MODIS as a reference by using collocated, and coincident ray-matched radiances. The advantage of the ray-matching technique is that it provides a full dynamic range of radiances to check the linearity of the GEO visible instrument. This presentation will focus on the technique, some error analysis, comparisons with other methods, and an approach to inter-calibrate historical GEOs before MODIS.

D R Doelling↗

DOE OSTI2023

Assessing the cloud radiative bias at Macquarie Island in the ACCESS-AM2 model

Abstract. As a long-standing problem in climate models, large positive shortwave radiation biases exist at the surface over the Southern Ocean, impacting the accurate simulation of sea surface temperature, atmospheric circulation, and precipitation. Underestimations of low-level cloud fraction and liquid water content are suggested to predominantly contribute to these radiation biases. Most model evaluations for radiation focus on summer and rely on satellite products, which have their own limitations. In this work, we use surface-based observations at Macquarie Island to provide the first long-term, seasonal evaluation of both downwelling surface shortwave and longwave radiation in the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator Atmosphere-only Model version 2 (ACCESS-AM2) over the Southern Ocean. The capacity of the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) product to simulate radiation is also investigated. We utilize the novel lidar simulator, the Automatic Lidar and Ceilometer Framework (ALCF), and all-sky cloud camera observations of cloud fraction to investigate how radiation biases are influenced by cloud properties. Overall, we find an overestimation of +9.5±33.5 W m−2 for downwelling surface shortwave radiation fluxes and an underestimation of -2.3±13.5 W m−2 for downwelling surface longwave radiation in ACCESS-AM2 in all-sky conditions, with more pronounced shortwave biases of +25.0±48.0 W m−2 occurring in summer. CERES presents an overestimation of +8.0±18.0 W m−2 for the shortwave and an underestimation of -12.1±12.2 W m−2 for the longwave in all-sky conditions. For the cloud radiative effect (CRE) biases, there is an overestimation of +4.8±28.0 W m−2 in ACCESS-AM2 and an underestimation of -7.9±20.9 W m−2 in CERES. An overestimation of downwelling surface shortwave radiation is associated with an underestimated cloud fraction and low-level cloud occurrence. We suggest that modeled cloud phase is also having an impact on the radiation biases. Our results show that the ACCESS-AM2 model and CERES product require further development to reduce these radiation biases not just in shortwave and in all-sky conditions, but also in longwave and in clear-sky conditions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-23246-DND

The Arctic Radiation-IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE) was conducted from Fairbanks, Alaska during the September transition in the Beaufort-Chukchi Seas. Fifteen missions were flown with a NASA C-130 to characterize clouds, sea-ice, and associated radiative properties over a wide range of conditions. The advanced instrumentation payload included broadband and spectral radiometers, in-situ cloud probes, a laser altimeter and digital camera system. The flight profiles were tightly coordinated with multiple intersecting satellite overpasses allowing for a thorough evaluation of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite climate data products. Thus, a rich dataset was acquired to help better understand cloud radiative effects as sea-ice conditions are changing due to arctic warming. The mission also acquired measurements to supplement the ongoing Operation Icebridge campaign. An overview of the mission operations, preliminary results, and a description of the datasets now available to the scientific community, will be presented.

William L Smith, Jr↗

NASA NTRS2005

The Effect of Environmental Conditions on Tropical Deep Convective Systems Observed from the TRMM Satellite

This study uses measurements of radiation and cloud properties taken between January and August 1998 by three Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) instruments, the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) scanner, the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI), and the Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS), to evaluate the variations of tropical deep convective systems (DCS) with sea surface temperature (SST) and precipitation. This study finds that DCS precipitation efficiency increases with SST at a rate of approx. 2%/K. Despite increasing rainfall efficiency, the cloud areal coverage rises with SST at a rate of about 7%/K in the warm tropical seas. There, the boundary layer moisture supply for deep convection and the moisture transported to the upper troposphere for cirrus-anvil cloud formation increase by approx. 6.3%/K and approx. 4.0%/K, respectively. The changes in cloud formation efficiency, along with the increased transport of moisture available for cloud formation, likely contribute to the large rate of increasing DCS areal coverage. Although no direct observations are available, the increase of cloud formation efficiency with rising SST is deduced indirectly from measurements of changes in the ratio of DCS ice water path and boundary layer water vapor amount with SST. Besides the cloud areal coverage, DCS cluster effective sizes also increase with precipitation. Furthermore, other cloud properties, such as cloud total water and ice water paths, increase with SST. These changes in DCS properties will produce a negative radiative feedback for the earth's climate system due to strong reflection of shortwave radiation by the DCS. These results significantly differ from some previous hypothesized dehydration scenarios for warmer climates, and have great potential in testing current cloud-system resolving models and convective parameterizations of general circulation models.

Lin, Bing↗

NASA NTRS1993

The Earth Observing System AM Spacecraft - Thermal Control Subsystem

Mission requirements for the EOS-AM Spacecraft intended to monitor global changes of the entire earth system are considered. The spacecraft is based on an instrument set containing the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection radiometer (ASTER), Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multiangle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR), Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), and Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT). Emphasis is placed on the design, analysis, development, and verification plans for the unique EOS-AM Thermal Control Subsystem (TCS) aimed at providing the required environments for all the onboard equipment in a densely packed layout. The TCS design maximizes the use of proven thermal design techniques and materials, in conjunction with a capillary pumped two-phase heat transport system for instrument thermal control.

Chalmers, D.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Radiometric Assessment of the First Three Years of the NOAA-20 VIIRS Reflective Solar Bands Calibration

NASA’s Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) SYN1deg Ed4.1 product utilizes geostationary (GEO) satellite measured radiances and retrieved cloud properties to account for the regional diurnal fluctuations in the Earth’s radiant broadband fluxes for times between the CERES measurements gathered from the Aqua (1:30 PM) and Terra (10:30 AM) sun-synchronous satellites. In CERES Edition 4 products, a global uniformity in the cloud properties and computed surface fluxes across the GEO satellite domains is maintained by scaling the radiance observations from more than twenty GEO visible imagers in the CERES record to a common radiometric reference scale, i.e., Aqua-MODIS. With the new-generation GEO (Himawari-8/9 and GOES-16/17) imagers having multiple reflective solar bands (RSB) that are spectrally similar to those of VIIRS, the CERES Imager and Geostationary Calibration Group (IGCG) is preparing to use NOAA-20 VIIRS as the reference imager for maintaining the radiometric uniformity across the GEO imager constellation. Given the recent Aqua satellite anomaly, this transition may happen sooner than the projected date of Aqua’s de-orbit. This paper presents an independent performance evaluation of the first three years of the NOAA-20 VIIRS RSB calibration in the NASA VIIRS Land Science Investigator-led Processing System (Land SIPS) L1b Collection 2 dataset. The temporal radiometric stability is assessed using multiple invariant Earth targets, including tropical deep convective clouds and the Saharan desert. The invariant target anisotropic reflectance at the top of atmosphere was modeled using five years of stable satellite observations acquired from the previous VIIRS instrument onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite. The anisotropic corrections are essential for detecting temporal trends with a high statistical confidence. In addition, the radiometric consistency between the RSB of the two VIIRS instruments will be evaluated.

Rajendra Bhatt↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Radiometric Assessment of the First Three Years of the NOAA-20 VIIRS Reflective Solar Bands Calibration

NASA’s Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) SYN1deg Ed4.1 product utilizes geostationary (GEO) satellite measured radiances and retrieved cloud properties to account for the regional diurnal fluctuations in the Earth’s radiant broadband fluxes for times between the CERES measurements gathered from the Aqua (1:30 PM) and Terra (10:30 AM) sun-synchronous satellites. In CERES Edition 4 products, a global uniformity in the cloud properties and computed surface fluxes across the GEO satellite domains is maintained by scaling the radiance observations from more than twenty GEO visible imagers in the CERES record to a common radiometric reference scale, i.e., Aqua-MODIS. With the new-generation GEO (Himawari-8/9 and GOES-16/17) imagers having multiple reflective solar bands (RSB) that are spectrally similar to those of VIIRS, the CERES Imager and Geostationary Calibration Group (IGCG) is preparing to use NOAA-20 VIIRS as the reference imager for maintaining the radiometric uniformity across the GEO imager constellation. Given the recent Aqua satellite anomaly, this transition may happen sooner than the projected date of Aqua’s de-orbit. This paper presents an independent performance evaluation of the first three years of the NOAA-20 VIIRS RSB calibration in the NASA VIIRS Land Science Investigator-led Processing System (Land SIPS) L1b Collection 2 dataset. The temporal radiometric stability is assessed using multiple invariant Earth targets, including tropical deep convective clouds and the Saharan desert. The invariant target anisotropic reflectance at the top of the atmosphere was modeled using five years of stable satellite observations acquired from the previous VIIRS instrument onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite. The anisotropic corrections are essential for detecting temporal trends with high statistical confidence. In addition, the radiometric consistency between the RSB of the two VIIRS instruments will be evaluated.

Rajendra Bhatt↗

NASA NTRS1997

Bidirectional Reflectance Functions for Application to Earth Radiation Budget Studies

Reflected solar radiative fluxes emerging for the Earth's top of the atmosphere are inferred from satellite broadband radiance measurements by applying bidirectional reflectance functions (BDRFs) to account for the anisotropy of the radiation field. BDRF's are dependent upon the viewing geometry (i.e. solar zenith angle, view zenith angle, and relative azimuth angle), the amount and type of cloud cover, the condition of the intervening atmosphere, and the reflectance characteristics of the underlying surface. A set of operational Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) BDRFs is available which was developed from the Nimbus 7 ERB (Earth Radiation Budget) scanner data for a three-angle grid system, An improved set of bidirectional reflectance is required for mission planning and data analysis of future earth radiation budget instruments, such as the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), and for the enhancement of existing radiation budget data products. This study presents an analytic expression for BDRFs formulated by applying a fit to the ERBE operational model tabulations. A set of model coefficients applicable to any viewing condition is computed for an overcast and a clear sky scene over four geographical surface types: ocean, land, snow, and desert, and partly cloudy scenes over ocean and land. The models are smooth in terms of the directional angles and adhere to the principle of reciprocity, i.e., they are invariant with respect to the interchange of the incoming and outgoing directional angles. The analytic BDRFs and the radiance standard deviations are compared with the operational ERBE models and validated with ERBE data. The clear ocean model is validated with Dlhopolsky's clear ocean model. Dlhopolsky developed a BDRF of higher angular resolution for clear sky ocean from ERBE radiances. Additionally, the effectiveness of the models accounting for anisotropy for various viewing directions is tested with the ERBE along tract data. An area viewed from nadir and from the side give two different radiance measurements but should yield the same flux when converted by the BDRF. The analytic BDRFs are in very good qualitative agreement with the ERBE models. The overcast scenes exhibit constant retrieved albedo over viewing zenith angles for solar zenith angles less than 60 degrees. The clear ocean model does not produce constant retrieved albedo over viewing zenith angles but gives an improvement over the ERBE operational clear sky ocean BDRF.

Manalo-Smith, N.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Cloud Climate Data Records from Geostationary Satellites to Support CERES: Challenges and Recent Progress

Cloud properties are critical for understanding the Earth’s radiation budget and cloud feedbacks. At NASA Langley Research Center, the Satellite ClOud and Radiative Property retrieval System (SatCORPS) provides real-time and historical analyses of clouds derived from Geostationary satellite (GEOsat) data for weather and climate applications. For the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) program, the global constellation of GEOsats has been analyzed since 2000 to help characterize and account for the diurnal cycle of clouds and their radiative impacts in the CERES climate data record. Obtaining consistent cloud properties over the GEOsat data record at all times of day during the CERES era is a major objective but a significant challenge considering the diversity of imaging capabilities deployed during that time. A brief overview of the current CERES/GEO cloud property data record constructed from three generations of GEOsat imagers for CERES Edition-4 is presented. In this version, different algorithms were applied to different satellites to take advantage of as much spectral information as possible for each satellite. Under this approach, the derived cloud properties were found to become accurate (and more similar to MODIS) for the GEOsat imagers with more spectral information. However, this approach also led to some discontinuities in cloud properties across platforms. Significant differences were also found between daytime and nighttime cloud properties. This paper will highlight the major issues in the Edition-4 record and discuss new strategies and early results from the next version of the SatCORPS GEOsat cloud property time series in development for CERES Edition-5 with the goal of improving day-night and cross-platform consistency during the CERES record.

clouds↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Consistent GEOsat Cloud Property Dataset for the CERES Climate Data Record

Cloud properties are critical for understanding the Earth’s radiation budget and cloud feedbacks. At NASA Langley Research Center, the Satellite ClOud and Radiative Property retrieval System (SatCORPS) provides real-time and historical analyses of clouds derived from Geostationary satellite (GEOsat) data for weather and climate applications. For the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) program, the global constellation of GEOsats has been analyzed since 2000 to help characterize and account for the diurnal cycle of clouds and their radiative impacts in the CERES climate data record. Obtaining consistent cloud properties over the GEOsat data record during the CERES era is a major objective but a significant challenge considering the diversity of imaging capabilities deployed during that time. The GEOsat data analysis approach for the current CERES Edition-4 (Ed4) data products was focused on accuracy and consistency with MODIS by employing as much spectral information as possible from each satellite. However, the inconsistent use of spectral information across GEOsats led to marked discontinuities in the spatial and temporal record of cloud properties that had to be accounted for post facto in downstream CERES processing. This paper reports progress in developing a new GEOsat analysis system for the next CERES edition (Ed5) that has potential to improve cross-platform consistency and continuity. In this approach, the spectral channel complement is limited to just 3-channels during daytime, ~0.65 µm (VIS), ~3.9 µm (NIR), and ~10.8 µm (IR), common to nearly all of the satellites in the record. At night, a 2-channel approach is taken with the NIR and IR, and ~6.7 µm bands that includes a machine learning approach for optically thick cloud properties. A tradeoff is the potential for reduced accuracy particularly using data from the more advanced satellites that have more spectral channels (e.g. SEVIRI, AHI and ABI) that are known to help improve thin cirrus detection, cloud-aerosol discrimination and estimates in other difficult conditions that challenge cloud remote sensing. The new continuity approach is applied to one month of global GEOSat data for each year of the CERES record since 2000 and compared with the Ed4 GEO and MODIS cloud property time series in order to evaluate the level of improved consistency in the GEOsat record and to assess the accuracy impacts. Cloud fraction will also be assessed with CALIPSO data. Outstanding issues and challenges will be discussed. The results are expected to guide future work needed to develop a more robust GEOsat cloud data record for CERES.

CERES CDR↗

NASA NTRS2022

Preface, special issue of “20th Anniversary of Terra Science”

The Terra satellite, launched in December 1999 as the flagship mission of the Earth Observing System, is an international mission carrying instruments developed by the United States, Japan, and Canada. These instruments, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT), provide valuable observations to investigate the interconnections between Earth's land, atmosphere, ocean, snow and ice, and energy balance, and have yielded the first global and seasonal measurements of the Earth system for long-term monitoring of climate and environmental change. Over the past 20 years and with more than 100,000 orbits, Terra’s observations have greatly enhanced our understanding of the Earth's climate and the effects of human activity and natural disasters on communities and ecosystems.

Lahouari Bounoua↗

NASA NTRS2004

Airborne Spectral Measurements of Ocean Directional Reflectance

During summer of 2001 NASA's Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) obtained measurement of ocean angular distribution of reflected radiation or BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) aboard the University of Washington Convair CV-580 research aircraft under cloud-free conditions. The measurements took place aver the Atlantic Ocean off the eastern seaboard of the U.S. in the vicinity of the Chesapeake Light Tower and at nearby National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Buoy Stations. The measurements were in support of CLAMS, Chesapeake Lighthouse and Aircraft Measurements for Satellites, field campaign that was primarily designed to validate and improve NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite data products being derived from three sensors: MODIS (MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectro-Radiometer), MISR (Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer) and CERES (Clouds and Earth s Radiant Energy System). Because of the high resolution of the CAR measurements and its high sensitivity to detect weak ocean signals against a noisy background, results of radiance field above the ocean are seen in unprecedented detail. The study also attempts to validate the widely used Cox-Munk model for predicting reflectance from a rough ocean surface.

Gatebe, Charles K.↗