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NASA NTRS1986

Atmospheric, climatic and environmental research

Research conducted during the past year in the climate and atmospheric modeling programs was focused on the development of appropriate atmospheric and upper ocean models, and preliminary applications of these models. Prinicpal models are a one-dimensional radiative-convection model, a three-dimensional global climate model, and an upper ocean model. Principal application is the study of the impact of CO2, aerosols and the solar constant on climate. Also the performance of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project cloud detection algorithm was evaluated, concentrating initially on its application to geosynchronous data, with an eventual switch of the developed methodologies to data from polar orbiting satellites. In the process, a number of improvements were made, in particular: an improved technique for tracking small scale day to day variability in clear sky continental temperatures; a number of techniques for the statistical assessment of cloud detection uncertainties due to cloud types which are spatially and temporally invariant; and a method used to detect those cloudy regions which have long term spatial and temporal stability.

Broecker, W. S.↗

NASA NTRS1996

The MISR Calibration Program

The Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) is currently under development for NASA's Earth Observing System. The instrument consists of nine pushbroom cameras, each with four spectral bands in the visible and near-infrared. The cameras point in different view directions to provide measurements from nadir to highly oblique view angles in the along-track plane. Multiple view-angle observations provide a unique resource for studies of clouds, aerosols, and the surface. MISR is built to challenging radiometric and geometric performance specifications. Radiometric accuracy, for example, must be within +/- 3%/ 1 sigma, and polarization insensitivity must be better than +/- 1 %. An onboard calibrator (OBC) provides monthly updates to the instrument gain coefficients. Spectralon diffuse panels are used within the OBC to provide a uniform target for the cameras to view. The absolute radiometric scale is established both preflight and in orbit through the use of detector standards. During the mission, ground data processing to accomplish radiometric calibration, geometric rectification and registration of the nine view-angle imagery, and geophysical retrievals will proceed in an automated fashion. A global dataset is produced every 9 days. This paper details the preflight characterization of the MISR instrument, the design of the OBC, and the radiance product processing.

Bruegge, Carol J.↗

NASA NTRS2006

On the Rates of Coronal Mass Ejections: Remote Solar and In Situ Observations

We compare the rates of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as inferred from remote solar observations and interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs) as inferred from in situ observations at both 1 AU and Ulyssses from 1996 through 2004. We also distinguish between those ICMEs that contain a magnetic cloud (MC) and those that do not. While the rates of CMEs and ICMEs track each other well at solar minimum, they diverge significantly in early 1998, during the ascending phase of the solar cycle, with the remote solar observations yielding approximately 20 times more events than are seen at 1 AU. This divergence persists through 2004. A similar divergence occurs between MCs and non-MC ICMEs. We argue that these divergences are due to the birth of midlatitude active regions, which are the sites of a distinct population of CMEs, only partially intercepted by Earth, and we present a simple geometric argument showing that the CME and ICME rates are consistent with one another. We also acknowledge contributions from (1) an increased rate of high-latitude CMEs and (2) focusing effects from the global solar field. While our analysis, coupled with numerical modeling results, generally supports the interpretation that whether one observes a MC within an ICME is sensitive to the trajectory of the spacecraft through the ICME (i.e., an observational selection effect), one result directly contradicts it. Specifically, we find no systematic offset between the latitudinal origin of ICMEs that contain MCs at 1 AU in the ecliptic plane and that of those that do not.

Riley, Pete↗

NASA NTRS2006

NASA Tech Briefs, May 2006

T-Shaped Emitter Metal Structures for HBTs Rigorous Estimation of SNR of a PSK Communication Link Advanced Ka-Band Transceiver With Monopulse Tracking EMI Filters for Low-Temperature Applications Lightweight Electronic Camera for Research on Clouds Pilot Weather Advisor System Waveguide Power-Amplifier Module for 80 to 150 GHz Better Back Contacts for Solar Cells on Flexible Substrates Topics covered include:Tunable, Highly Stable Lasers for Coherent Lidar; Improved Photon-Emission-Microscope System; Program Synthesizes UML Sequence Diagrams; Aspect-Oriented Subprogram Synthesizes UML Sequence Diagrams; Updated Computational Model of Cosmic Rays Near Earth; Software for Alignment of Segments of a Telescope Mirror; Simulation of Dropping of Cargo With Parachutes; DAVE-ML Utility Program; Robust Control for the Mercury Laser Altimeter; Thermally Stable Piezoelectric and Pyroelectric Polymers; Combustion Synthesis of Ca3(PO4)2 Net-Shape Surgical Implants; Stochastic Representation of Chaos Using Terminal Attractors; Two High-Temperature Foil Journal Bearings; Using Plates To Represent Fillets in Finite-Element Modeling; Repairing Chipped Silicide Coatings on Refractory Metal Substrates; Simplified Fabrication of Helical Copper Antennas; Graded-Index "Whispering-Gallery" Optical Microresonators; Optical Profilometers Using Adaptive Signal Processing; Manufacture of Sparse-Spectrum Optical Microresonators; Exact Tuning of High-Q Optical Microresonators by Use of UV; Automation for "Direct-to" Clearances in Air-Traffic Control; Improved Traps for Removing Gases From Coolant Liquids; and Lunar Constellation of Frozen Elliptical Inclined Orbits.

Source record↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Tracking the Large-scale Tropical Convective Systems and MJO Modulation

Science questions that motivate us − How well do Cloud-Precipitation Hybrid Regimes identify tropical convective systems? − Can we examine the life cycle of convective systems using the hybrid regimes? − What are the effects of MJO on the evolution of convective systems?

tropical convective systems↗

NASA NTRS2017

Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (4STAR) Instrument Improvements

The Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (4STAR) combines airborne sun tracking and sky scanning with grating spectroscopy to improve knowledge of atmospheric constituents and their links to air-pollution and climate. Hyper-spectral measurements of direct-beam solar irradiance provide retrievals of gas constituents, aerosol optical depth, and aerosol and thin cloud optical properties. Sky radiance measurements in the principal and almucantar planes enhance retrievals of aerosol absorption, aerosol type, and size mode distribution. Zenith radiance measurements are used to retrieve cloud properties and phase, which in turn are used to quantify the radiative transfer below cloud layers. These airborne measurements tighten the closure between satellite and ground-based measurements. In contrast to the Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-14) predecessor instrument, new technologies for each subsystem have been incorporated into 4STAR. In particular, 4STAR utilizes a modular sun-trackingsky-scanning optical head with fiber optic signal transmission to rack mounted spectrometers, permitting miniaturization of the external optical head, and spectrometerdetector configurations that may be tailored for specific scientific objectives. This paper discusses technical challenges relating to compact optical collector design, radiometric dynamic range and stability, and broad spectral coverage at high resolution. Test results benchmarking the performance of the instrument against the AATS-14 standard and emerging science requirements are presented.

Atmopheric Research (4STAR)↗

NASA NTRS2022

Updraft Dynamics and Microphysics: On the Added Value of The Cumulus Thermal Reference Frame in Simulations of Aerosol–Deep Convection Interactions

One fundamental question about atmospheric moist convection processes that remains debated is whether, or under which conditions, a relevant variability in background aerosol concentrations may have a significant dynamical impact on convective clouds and their associated precipitation. Furthermore, current climate models must parameterize both the microphysical and the cumulus convection processes, but this is usually implemented separately, whereas in nature there is a strong coupling between them. As a first step to improve our understanding of these two problems, we investigate how aerosol concentrations modify key properties of updrafts in eight large-eddy-permitting regional simulations of a case study of scattered convection over Houston, Texas, in which convection is explicitly simulated and microphysical processes are parameterized. Dynamical and liquid-phase microphysical responses are investigated using the following two different reference frames: static cloudy updraft grid cells versus tracked cumulus thermals. In both frameworks, we observe the expected microphysical responses to higher aerosol concentrations, such as higher cloud number concentrations and lower rain number concentrations. In terms of the dynamical responses, both frameworks indicate weak impacts of varying aerosol concentrations relative to the noise between simulations over the observationally derived range of aerosol variability for this case study. On the other hand, results suggest that thermals are more selective than cloudy updraft grid cells in terms of sampling the most active convective air masses. For instance, vertical velocity from thermals is significantly higher at upper levels than when sampled from cloudy updraft grid points, and several microphysical variables have higher average values in the cumulus thermal framework than in the cloudy updraft framework. In addition, the thermal analysis is seen to add rich quantitative information about the rates and covariability of microphysical processes spatially and throughout tracked thermal lifecycles, which can serve as a stronger foundation for improving subgrid-scale parameterizations.

aerosols↗

NASA NTRS1991

The 158 micron forbidden C II line - A measure of global star formation activity in galaxies

Some 158 micron forbidden C II fine structure line observations from a sample of fourteen gas rich galaxies are reported. These measurements confirm and generalize previous basic results that the C II line is bright amounting to approximately 0.1 to 1 percent of the FIR luminosity of the nuclear regions of galaxies; the C II line is formed in the warm (temperature of the gas is greater than 200 K), dense (n sub H greater than 1000/cu cm) photodissociated gas at the interfaces between giant molecular clouds and ionized gas regions and is therefore associated with the molecular gas component in spiral galaxies; the C II line tracks the FIR continuum in a manner consistent with the PDR models; the integrated C II to isotope (C-12)D (transition 1 to 0) line ratio is large (greater than or equal to 1000) in all galaxies studied, and is similarly large for galactic molecular clouds; the C II line is therefore energetically very important for the study of giant molecular clouds. Conclusions obtained from these results are given.

Stacey, G. J.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Ultra-Stable Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (5STAR)

The Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research (4STAR) combines airborne sun tracking and sky scanning with diffraction spectroscopy to improve knowledge of atmospheric constituents and their links to airpollution and climate. Direct beam hyperspectral measurement of optical depth improves retrievals of gas constituentsand determination of aerosol properties. Sky scanning enhances retrievals of aerosol type and size distribution.Hyperspectral cloud-transmitted radiance measurements enable the retrieval of cloud properties from below clouds.These measurements tighten the closure between satellite and ground-based measurements. 4STAR incorporates amodular sun-tracking sky-scanning optical head with optical fiber signal transmission to rack mounted spectrometers,permitting miniaturization of the external optical tracking head, and future detector evolution.4STAR has supported a broad range of flight experiments since it was first flown in 2010. This experience provides thebasis for a series of improvements directed toward reducing measurement uncertainty and calibration complexity, andexpanding future measurement capabilities, to be incorporated into a new 5STAR instrument. A 9-channel photodioderadiometer with AERONET-matched bandpass filters will be incorporated to improve calibration stability. A wide dynamic range tracking camera will provide a high precision solar position tracking signal as well as an image of sky conditions around the solar axis. An ultrasonic window cleaning system design will be tested. A UV spectrometer tailored for formaldehyde and SO2 gas retrievals will be added to the spectrometer enclosure. Finally, expansion capability for a 4 channel polarized radiometer to measure the Stokes polarization vector of sky light will be incorporated. This paper presents initial progress on this next-generation 5STAR instrument.

atmosphere↗

NASA NTRS1993

Satellite observations of a polar low over the Norwegian Sea by Special Sensor Microwave Imager, Geosat, and TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder

Many polar lows are generated at the boundary between sea ice and the ocean, in regions of large temperature gradients, where in situ observations are rare or nonexistent. Since satellite observations are frequent in high-latitude regions, they can be used to detect polar lows and track their propagation and evolution. The Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) providing estimates of surface wind speed, integrated cloud liquid water content, water vapor content, and precipitation size ice-scattering signal over the ocean; the Geosat radar altimeter measuring surface wind speed and significant wave height; and the TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) allowing the determination of temperature and humidity profiles in the atmosphere have been used in synergy for a specific case which occurred in the Norwegian Sea on January, 23-24 1988. All three instruments show sharp atmospheric gradients associated with the propagation of this low across the ocean, which permit the detection of the polar low at a very early stage and tracking it during its development, propagation, and decay. The wind speed gradients are measured with good qualitative agreement between the altimeter and SSM/I. TOVS retrieved fields prior to the formation of the low confirm the presence of an upper level trough, while during the mature phase baroclinicity can be observed in the 1000-500 hPa geopotential thicknesses.

Claud, Chantal↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Towards Physics Guided Optical Flow for Tracking Atmospheric Motion

Observations of atmospheric 3D winds are critical for improving short-range and long-range forecasting. Such advancement in forecasting directly applies to research in a number of areas including convective processes, wildfire plumes and tornado prediction. Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs) provide a passively sensed approach to quantifying horizontal motion and cloud heights, which are typically sourced from geostationary sensors due to the availability of high frequency observations. Recent work has shown that estimating AMVs by tracking individual pixels with dense optical flow is a promising new direction. In this work, we compare state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks for optical flow in a physics-guided deep learning framework for predicting AMVs. The approach is semi-supervised and uses physically informed wind vectors from high-resolution numerical simulations for supervised learning followed by fine-tuning though warping and reconstruction of full-disk geostationary images (GOES-16). In the vertical direction, we use labels from the CALIPSO low-earth orbit satellite to predict cloud height from 16-band geostationary images with a neural network. We present results for both tasks on held-out time periods and secondary datasets.

Geostationary↗

DOE OSTI2021

Fossil fuel CO 2 emissions over metropolitan areas from space: A multi-model analysis of OCO-2 data over Lahore, Pakistan

Urban areas, where gathering more than 55% of the global population, alone contributed to more than 70% of anthropogenic fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO 2ff ) emissions. Accurate quantification of CO 2ff emissions from urban areas is of great importance to the formulation of global warming mitigation policies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Satellite-based inversion techniques are unique among “top-down” approaches, potentially allowing us to track CO 2ff emission changes over cities globally. However, its accuracy is still limited by incomplete background information, cloud blockages, aerosol contaminations, and uncertainties in models and emission inventories used as prior. To evaluate the current potential of space-based quantification techniques, we present the first attempt to monitor long-term changes in CO 2ff emissions based on the OCO-2 satellite measurements of column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO 2 (X CO2 ) over a fast-growing Asian metropolitan area: Lahore, Pakistan. We first examined the OCO-2 data availability at global scale. About 17% of OCO-2 soundings are marked as high-quality soundings by quality flags over the global 70 most populated cities over the period 2014-2019. Cloud blockage and aerosol contamination are the two main causes of data loss. As an attempt to recover additional soundings, we evaluated the effectiveness of OCO-2 quality flags at the city level by comparing three flux quantification methods (WRF-Chem, X-STILT, and flux cross-sectional integration method), all based on the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (ODIAC) product. The satellite/bottom-up emissions (OCO-2/ODIAC) ratios of the high-quality tracks better converged across the three methods compared to the all-data tracks with reduced uncertainties in emissions. Thus, OCO-2 quality flags are useful filters of low-quality OCO-2 retrievals at local scales, although originally designed for global-scale studies. All three methods consistently suggested that the ratio medians are greater than 1, which implies that the ODIAC slightly underestimated the CO2ff emissions over Lahore. Additionally, our estimation of the a posteriori CO2ff emission trend was about 734 kt C/year (i.e., an annual 6.7% increase). 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations of the Mann-Kendall upward trend test showed that less than 10% prior uncertainty for 8 tracks (or less than 20% prior uncertainty for 25 tracks) is required to achieve a greater-than-50% trend significant possibility at a 95% confidence level. It implies that the trend is driven by the prior and not due to the assimilation of OCO-2 retrievals. The key to improving the role of satellite data in CO 2 emission trend detection lies in collecting more frequent high-quality tracks near metropolitan areas to achieve significant constraints from X CO2 retrievals.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

NASA NTRS1993

Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE 3)

The proposed SAGE III instrument would be the principal source of data for global changes of stratospheric aerosols, stratospheric water vapor, and ozone profiles, and a contributing source of data for upper tropospheric water vapor, aerosols, and clouds. The ability to obtain such data has been demonstrated by the predecessor instrument, SAGE II, but SAGE III will be substantially more capable, as discussed below. The capabilities for monitoring the profiles of atmospheric constituents have been verified in detail, including ground-based validations, for aerosol, ozone, and water vapor. Indeed, because of its self-calibrating characteristics, SAGE II was an essential component of the international ozone trend assessments, and SAGE II is now proving to be invaluable in tracking the aerosols from Mt. Pinatubo. Although SAGE profiles generally terminate at the height of the first tropospheric cloud layer, it has been found that the measurements extend down to 3 km altitude more than 40 percent of the time at most latitudes. Thus, useful information can also be obtained on upper tropospheric aerosols, water vapor, and ozone.

Mccormick, M. P.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Retrievals of Cloud Droplet Size from the Research Scanning Polarimeter Data: Validation Using In Situ Measurements

We present comparisons of cloud droplet size distributions (DSDs) retrieved from the research scanning polarimeter (RSP) data with correlative in situ measurements made during the North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES). The airborne portion of this field experiment was based out of St. John's airport, Newfoundland, Canada with the focus of this paper being on the deployment in May - June 2016. RSP was onboard the NASA C-130 aircraft together with an array of in situ and other remote sensing instrumentation. The RSP is an along-track scanner measuring the polarized and total reflectance in 9 spectral channels. Its uniquely high angular resolution allows for characterization of liquid water droplet sizes using the rainbow structure observed in the polarized reflectance over the scattering angle range from 135 to 165.degrees The rainbow is dominated by single scattering of light by cloud droplets, so its structure is characteristic specifically of the droplet sizes at cloud top (within unit optical depth into the cloud, equivalent to approximately 50m). A parametric fitting algorithm applied to the polarized reflectance provides retrievals of the droplet effective radius and variance assuming a prescribed size distribution shape (gamma distribution). In addition to this, we use a non-parametric method, the Rainbow Fourier Transform (RFT), which allows us to retrieve the droplet size distribution itself. The latter is important in the case of clouds with complex microphysical structure, or multiple layers of cloud, which result in multi-modal DSDs. During NAAMES the aircraft performed a number of flight patterns specifically designed for comparisons between remote sensing retrievals and in situ measurements. These patterns consisted of two flight segments above the same straight ground track. One of these segments was flown above clouds allowing for remote sensing measurements, while the other was near the cloud top where cloud droplets were sampled. We compare the DSDs retrieved from the RSP data with in situ measurements made by the Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP). The comparisons generally show good agreement (better than 1 micron for effective radius and in most cases better than 0.02 for effective variance) with deviations explainable by the position of the aircraft within the cloud, or by the presence of additional cloud layers between the cloud being sampled by the in situ instrumentation and the altitude of the remote sensing segment. In the latter case, the multi-modal DSDs retrieved from the RSP data were consistent with the multi-layer cloud structures observed in the correlative High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) profiles. The results of these comparisons provide a rare validation of polarimetric droplet size retrieval techniques, demonstrating their accuracy and robustness and the potential of satellite data of this kind on a global scale.

Remote Sensing↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-18612-DND

Can a space-based elastic backscatter lidar and coincident infrared radiometer recognize the varied microphysical properties observed by aircraft-based cloud probes in cirrus clouds? If so, then the global and continuous coverage provided by the satellite instruments can extend the knowledge about cirrus cloud properties gained from intensive aircraft field campaigns. The recent Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) aircraft field mission that occurred during August and September, 2013 is an ideal data set to use to test whether this is possible. During SEAC4RS there was extensive sampling of cirrus clouds occurring in widely varied conditions, including the North American Monsoon, forest fires, midlatitude frontal convection and tropical convection. Aircraft cloud probe sampling (2D-S, FCDP or FSSP, CPI) was performed from three airplanes, often coordinated with remote sensing by an aircraft-based elastic backscatter lidar (CPL). During the mission the CALIPSO satellite also observed these clouds from space with a similar elastic backscatter lidar (CALIOP) and an infrared radiometer (IIR). There are several cases where the airplanes sampled directly along the satellite track, but also many overpasses of the region and these features that were not coincident with the aircraft-based sampling. This presentation seeks to address the question of whether relationships between the cloud particle size distribution measurements and habits observed by the SPEC cloud probes and CPL aircraft lidar parameters can be up-scaled to classify the CALIPSO satellite observations from this region and time period. The lidar can also provide cloud top information and evidence of whether there was irreversible transport of ice and aerosols into the UT/LS.

Melody Avery↗

DOE OSTI2020

AWARE: The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) West Antarctic Radiation Experiment

The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE) performed comprehensive meteorological and aerosol measurements and ground-based atmospheric remote sensing at two Antarctic stations using the most advanced instrumentation available. A suite of cloud research radars, lidars, spectral and broadband radiometers, aerosol chemical and microphysical sampling equipment, and meteorological instrumentation was deployed at McMurdo Station on Ross Island from December 2015 through December 2016. A smaller suite of radiometers and meteorological equipment, including radiosondes optimized for surface energy budget measurement, was deployed on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet between 4 December 2015 and 17 January 2016. AWARE provided Antarctic atmospheric data comparable to several well-instrumented high Arctic sites that have operated for many years and that reveal numerous contrasts with the Arctic in aerosol and cloud microphysical properties. These include persistent differences in liquid cloud occurrence, cloud height, and cloud thickness. Antarctic aerosol properties are also quite different from the Arctic in both seasonal cycle and composition, due to the continent’s isolation from lower latitudes by Southern Ocean storm tracks. Antarctic aerosol number and mass concentrations are not only non-negligible but perhaps play a more important role than previously recognized because of the higher sensitivities of clouds at the very low concentrations caused by the large-scale dynamical isolation. Antarctic aerosol chemical composition, particularly organic components, has implications for local cloud microphysics. The AWARE dataset, fully available online in the ARM Program data archive, offers numerous case studies for unique and rigorous evaluation of mixed-phase cloud parameterization in climate models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2020

AWARE: The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) West Antarctic Radiation Experiment

The US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE) performed comprehensive meteorological and aerosol measurements, and ground-based atmospheric remote sensing at two Antarctic stations using the most advanced instrumentation available. A suite of cloud research radars, lidars, spectral and broadband radiometers, aerosol chemical and microphysical sampling equipment, and meteorological instrumentation was deployed at McMurdo Station on Ross Island from December 2015 through December 2016. A smaller suite of radiometers and meteorological equipment including radiosondes, optimized for surface energy budget measurement, was deployed on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet between 4 December 2015 and 17 January 2016. AWARE provided Antarctic atmospheric data comparable to several well-instrumented high Arctic sites that have operated for many years and that reveal numerous contrasts with the Arctic in aerosol and cloud microphysical properties. These include persistent differences in liquid cloud occurrence, cloud height and cloud thickness. Antarctic aerosol properties are also quite different from the Arctic in both seasonal cycle and composition, due to the continent’s isolation from lower latitudes by Southern Ocean storm tracks. Antarctic aerosol number and mass concentrations are not only non-negligible but perhaps play a more important role than previously recognized because of the higher sensitivities of clouds at the very low concentrations caused by the large-scale dynamical isolation. Antarctic aerosol chemical composition, particularly organic components, has implications for local cloud microphysics. The AWARE data set, fully available online in the ARM Program data archive, offers numerous case studies for unique and rigorous evaluation of mixed-phase cloud parameterization in climate models.

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Towards Physics Guided Optical Flow for Tracking Atmospheric Motion

Atmospheric 3D winds in the horizontal and vertical directions are critical for improving short-range and long-range forecasting. Such advancement in forecasting directly applies to research in a number of areas including convective processes, wildfire plumes and tornado prediction. Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMVs) provide a passively sensed approach to quantifying horizontal motion and cloud heights, which are typically sourced from geostationary sensors due to the availability of high frequency observations. Recent work has shown that estimating AMVs by tracking individual pixels with dense optical flow is a promising new direction. In this work, we use a state-of-the-art convolutional neural network for optical flow (FlowNetS) in a physics-guided deep learning framework for predicting AMVs in the horizontal direction. The approach is semi-supervised and uses physically informed wind vectors from high-resolution numerical simulations (DYAMOND) for supervised learning followed by fine-tuning though warping and reconstruction of full-disk geostationary images (GOES-16). In the vertical direction, we use labels from the CALIPSO low-earth orbit satellite to predict cloud height from 16-band geostationary images with a neural network. We present results for both tasks on held-out time periods and secondary datasets.

geostationary↗