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At least 451 records · Page 25

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DOE OSTI2021

Cloud optical depth and liquid effective radius retrievals from SPHOT zenith radiances

A new three-channel (440, 870, and 1640 nm) retrieval algorithm for cloud optical depth has recently been developed by Christine Chiu and her co-workers [Chiu et al., 2012]. This VAP is to implement the three-channel cloud optical depth retrieval algorithm as an ARM operational VAP. First, simultaneously retrieved cloud optical depth and effective radius datasets will be generated by using the pre-calibrated zenith radiance measurements taken from the ARM Sun-Photometer (SPHOT) and the NASA AERONET and Satellite-based surface albedo derived from MODSI. Finally, the algorithm produces uncertainties along with the retrieval products. This VAP outputs a daily NetCDF file.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

TRACER CLAMPS2 MWR TROPoe Retrievals

These files contain 24 hour periods of retrieved thermodynamic profiles derived from observations collected by the CLAMPS2 Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) and microwave radiometer (MWR). The TROPoe algorithm is a python equivalent to the AERIoe algorithm (see Turner and Loehnert, 2014; Turner and Blumberg 2019). These data were collected during the TRACER-CUBIC project. MWR only and combined AERI and MWR retrievals are available. During this deployment the AERI had high noise so AERI only retrievals are unavailable and the combined AERI and MWR retrievals should be used with extreme caution.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2023

TRACER CLAMPS2 AERI_MWR TROPoe Retrievals

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1976

Evaluation and operation of Wallops Flight Center Mid-Air Retrieval System on a Skyvan aircraft

A Mid-Air Retrieval System (MARS) for parachute-borne payloads has been evaluated and made operational at Wallops Flight Center. The evaluation indicated that the Skyvan is a near-optimum aerial retrieval platform from the standpoints of safety, reliability and economy. The system is presently capable of retrieving parachute-borne payloads launched by rockets and balloons weighing from 10 to 325 pounds as far as 250 n mi from Wallops. Its payload retrieval capability could be increased to as much as 1000 pounds.

Young, D. C.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Investigations with satellite data. 2: Temperature retrievals

A method for retrieving atmospheric temperatures in a severe storm situation was investigated. Retrieval was accomplished through the aid of satellite radiance measurements and nearby radiosondes. A set of coefficients was derived which when multiplied by the measured radiances, yielded smaller temperature retrieval errors than the minimum-information retrieval method.

Fritz, S.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Backus-Gilbert theory and its application to retrieval of ozone and temperature profiles

The inversion method provides a quantitative evaluation of the trade-off between vertical resolution of a retrieved profile and formal root-mean-square (rms) error due to measurement noise propagation. The problem of retrieving the top-side ozone profile from backscattered ultraviolet (BUV) measurements is considered. For measurements of the type currently being obtained with the Nimbus 4 and AE-E BUV experiments, it is found that a vertical resolution of approximately 0.75 scale height can be achieved for a formal volume mixing ratio profile error of 10%. Other examples include treatments of the retrieval of temperature profiles from measurements in the 15 micron CO2 absorption band for both the terrestrial and Martian atmospheres. Finally, the method is applied to the problem of retrieving temperature profiles of the Jovian planets from measurements in the far infrared pressure induced H2 lines to be obtained from the Mariner Jupiter/Saturn fly-by missions.

Conrath, B. J.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Evaluation and use of TOVS retrievals at NMC

In a current analysis procedure at the National Meteorological Center (NMC), a first guess analysis (from the latest 6 or 12 hour forecast) is updated by new data. In the newest analysis procedures, which are based on optimum interpolation, the observational correction depends on the size of preassigned, expected observational errors versus the size of expected errors in the first guess forecast. In the case of Northern Hemisphere ocean temperatures, the latter are around 2 degrees. The infrared satellite retrievals have a similar size "error". If (as assumed) their errors are uncorrelated with the first guess error, they will improve the analysis. The larger errors of the microwave retrievals, however, mean that they will be given little weight in the analysis. An evaluation of the TIROS-N retrievals is currently underway at NMC to determine the impact of satellite derived data within operational analysis schemes, to isolate possible problems within current retrieval methods, and to offer possible solutions for these problems.

Phillips, N. A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Progress in passive microwave remote sensing - Nonlinear retrieval techniques

A variety of nonlinear retrieval methods have been applied to passive microwave remote sensing problems. These problems can be characterized in part by the degree to which their underlying physics and statistics can be understood and characterized in a simple way. Four examples of varying complexity are considered here; the simplest problem requires only analytic expressions for retrievals, whereas the most complex problem has been handled only with pattern classification techniques. The four examples are: (1) Doppler measurements of winds at 70 to 100 km, (2) retrieval of atmospheric water vapor profiles using the opaque 183-GHz water vapor resonance, (3) retrieval of snow accumulation rate by means of combined theoretical and empirical procedures, and (4) classification of diverse polar terrain by means of pattern recognition techniques.

Staelin, D. H.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Retrieval of ocean surface and atmospheric parameters from multichannel microwave radiometric measurements

Methods for the retrieval of ocean surface temperature, surface wind speed, rain rate, cloud height, and the amounts of water vapor and nonprecipitated liquid water over the ocean from Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) data are presented. The sensitivity of retrieval algorithms for wind speed and sea surface temperature, in the absence of rain, to the undetected presence of rain, is discussed along with the accuracy of a more general method for the retrieval of rain rate in conjunction with other meteorological parameters. It is concluded that the inability to retrieve the average rain rate accurately at small rain angles is due to the inability of SMMR to distinguish between small raindrops and nonprecipitating droplets.

Chang, A. T. C.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Precipitable water: Its linear retrieval using leaps and bounds procedure and its global distribution from SEASAT SMMR data

Eight subsets using two to five frequencies of the SEASAT scanning multichannel microwave radiometer are examined to determine their potential in the retrieval of atmospheric water vapor content. Analysis indicates that the information concerning the 18 and 21 GHz channels are optimum for water vapor retrieval. A comparison with radiosonde observations gave an rms accuracy of approximately 0.40 g sq cm. The rms accuracy of precipitable water using different subsets was within 10 percent. Global maps of precipitable water over oceans using two and five channel retrieval (average of two and five channel retrieval) are given. Study of these maps reveals the possibility of global moisture distribution associated with oceanic currents and large scale general circulation in the atmosphere. A stable feature of the large scale circulation is noticed. The precipitable water is maximum over the Bay of Bengal and in the North Pacific over the Kuroshio current and shows a general latitudinal pattern.

Pandey, P. C.↗

NASA NTRS1983

VAS temperature retrievals for NASA special network observations of 6 March 1982

VAS retrieval capability was studied. A mesoscale event consisting of a rapidly moving temperature perturbation with strong horizontal wind shear but shallow vertical extent occurred over Texas. The mesoscale event passed through the special radiosonde network and was documented with three hourly measurements. The event occurred behind a cold frontal cloud band during clear conditions. The event was accompanied by large skin temperature changes as the day progressed. This combination allows the testing of two important aspects of the retrieval algorithms with minimal cloud contamination and good ground truth. The first aspect concerns the horizontal and vertical resolving power of the retrievals and the second aspect concerns sensitivity to the boundary term. The NASA special network radiosonde is proven to be useful. It is demonstrated that: the VAS is capable, of delineating a mesoscale, normal retrieval procedure has the deficiency of oversmoothing, but this can be corrected, to document first quess dependence, and a superior data set to evolve better techniques for treating the surface boundary problem.

Hayden, C. M.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Retrieval of clear sky moisture profiles using the 183 GHz water vapor line

A technique for retrieving vertical moisture profiles from downlooking radiometric measurements of atmospheric radiation near the 183 GHz water vapor line is described. A simulation experiment utilizing this retrieval technique and temperature and moisture profiles from tropical radiosonde stations has been carried out. Assuming the atmospheric temperature profile is known to 2 K rms (state-of-the-art with present remote sensors) and the instrument noise is 1-2 K rms brightness temperature (achievable with current technology), the humidity between the 700 and 1000 mb pressure levels was retrieved to within about 20 percent of true value over ocean and within about 45 percent of true value over land. The precipitable water content was retrieved to within about 10 percent rms of true value over the ocean and within about 45 percent rms of true value over land.

Kakar, R. K.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Retrieval of ocean surface parameters from the scanning multifrequency microwave radiometer (SMMR) on the Nimbus-7 satellite

Sea-surface temperature retrievals have been tested on 2 months of Nimbus-7 scanning multichannel microwave radiometer data. Using the prelaunch versions of the instrument calibration and geophysical parameter retrieval algorithms the initial results were poor. Improved algorithms produced substantially better results. It appears that at least for the night-Southern Hemisphere portion of the Nimbus-7 orbit, a rms measurement accuracy of 1.45 C has been achieved. Similar tests with wind speed retrievals yield an accuracy of 2.7 m/s rms with no substantial differences between day and night measurements but limited by availability of surface observations to the Northern Hemisphere. Moreover, it appears that the retrieved wind speed is more nearly related to the square of the wind observed at the surface than to the wind itself.

Wilheit, T. T., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Mixed Layers and Satellite Retrievals

As part of the process to determine whether it is possible to retrieve boundary layer structure with the current sounding techniques, temperature retievals were performed for radiosonde profiles that showed temperature inversions. It was found that when temperature inversions exceed 8 to 10 C a retrieval will indeed show a temperature increase with height over a limited vertical distance. For weaker inversions retrieved temperatures are generally smoothly decreasing with height. It is, however, impossible to determine the actual mixed layer height from the retrievals. Whether the water vapor channels could be used in observing mixed layer structure was investigated. Temperature inversions are accompanied by significant drops in relative humidity. While this effect is very pronounced in parts of the trade wind regimes with relative humidity drops of up to 60%, it is widespread in other areas of the ocean as well. A simulation experiment was performed in which brightness temperatures were computed for smooth temperature and humidity profiles and compared with those computed from inversion profiles.

Boers, R.↗

NASA NTRS1985

STS retrieval of satellites

The Space Transportation System (STS) provides the capability to retrieve satellites from space. This capability was demonstrated on flights STS 41-C and STS 51-A, and will be demonstrated again on a future flight with the retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF). This paper describes the activity required to ensure a successful retrieval from initial flight planning to actual flight operations. Attention is given to retrieval hardware necessary for success and manifest. Discussion of flight design to meet all constraints placed on the manifested cargo is included. Flightcrew and flight control team training are addressed. Flight rules, techniques, and procedures development are described and examples given. Mission Control Center (MCC) and Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) operations for integrated testing and actual flight support will be presented.

Bruce, T. N.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Temperature retrievals by Rayleigh backscatter lidar signals

Differences between retrieved temperatures from lidar and atmospheric model temperatures are calculated for four problems: (1) the effect of a transient thin aerosol layer at any altitude on temperature retrieved by a single-wavelength lidar; (2) the effect of residual aerosols on temperature retrieved by a two-wavelength lidar; (3) the errors due to splicing two backscatter signals which are obtained separately; and (4) the effect of multiple scattering. The results show that temperatures can be retrieved for + or - 3 K if Rayleigh backscatter can be measured for + or - 1.5 percent. The LITE lidar in a 240 km orbit aboard the Shuttle should be able to make a + or -3 K measurements from 10-40 km with vertical resolutions of 1 km and horizontal resolutions of 300 km.

Uchino, O.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Optimized retrievals of precipitable water from the VAS 'split window'

Precipitable water fields have been retrieved from the VISSR Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) using a radiation transfer model for the differential water vapor absorption between the 11- and 12-micron 'split window' channels. Previous moisture retrievals using only the split window channels provided very good space-time continuity but poor absolute accuracy. This note describes how retrieval errors can be significantly reduced from plus or minus 0.9 to plus or minus 0.6 gm/sq cm by empirically optimizing the effective air temperature and absorption coefficients used in the two-channel model. The differential absorption between the VAS 11- and 12-micron channels, empirically estimated from 135 colocated VAS-RAOB observations, is found to be approximately 50 percent smaller than the theoretical estimates. Similar discrepancies have been noted previously between theoretical and empirical absorption coefficients applied to the retrieval of sea surface temperatures using radiances observed by VAS and polar-orbiting satellites. These discrepancies indicate that radiation transfer models for the 11-micron window appear to be less accurate than the satellite observations.

Chesters, Dennis↗

NASA NTRS1988

First-guess dependence of a physically based set of temperature-humidity retrievals from HIRS2/MSU data

The first-guess dependence of temperature and humidity fields retrieved from HIRS2/MSU data using the GLA (Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres) physically based retrieval scheme is examined. Retrievals were performed over the ALPEX region for two successive synoptic periods, 1200 UTC March 4 and 00000 UTC March 5, 1982, using three different initial guesses for each period. Results show rather low first-guess dependence for the thickness fields and larger first-guess dependence for the precipitable water fields, especially close to the surface. The humidity retrieval algorithm used is described. The processing system has the property of maintaining the accuracy of a good guess and improving a poor one for both thickness and precipitable water at all levels.

Reuter, D.↗