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At least 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

Removal of the solar component in AVHRR 3.7 micrometer radiances for the retrieval of cirrus cloud parameters

A numerical scheme has been developed to remove the solar component in the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 3.7- micrometer channel for the retrieval of cirrus parameters during daytime. This method uses a number of prescribed threshold values for AVHRR channels 1 (0.63 micrometer), 2 (0.8 micrometer), 3 (3.7 micrometer), 4 (10.9 micrometer), and 5 (12 micrometer) to separate clear and cloudy pixels. A look-up table relating channels 1 and 3 solar reflectances is subsequently constructed based on the prescribed mean effective ice crystal sizes and satellite geometric parameters. An adding-doubling radiative transfer program has been used to generate numerical values in the construction of the look-up table. Removal of the channel 3 solar component is accomplished by using the look-up table and the measured channel 1 reflectance. The cloud retrieval scheme described in Ou et al. has been modified in connection with the removal program. The authors have applied the removal-retrieval scheme to the AVHRR global area coverage daytime data, collected during the First ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) Regional Experiment cirrus intensive field observation (FIRE IFO) at 2100 UTC 28 October 1986 over the Wisconsin area. Distributions of the retrieved cloud heights and optical depths are comparable to those determined from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) visible and IR channels data reported by Minnis et al. Moreover, verifications of the retrieved cirrus temperature and height against lidar data have been carried out using results reported from three FIRE IFO stations. The retrieved cloud heights are within 0.5 km of the measured lidar values.

Rao, N. X.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Radiative transfer in dust and the spectral flux distribution of NGC 1068

The continuum spectral flux distribution of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068 is analyzed by detailed models of radiative transfer in an optically thick cloud of dust grains. For wavelengths short of 30 microns, models invoking a spherical dust cloud with visual optical depth near 10 in the nucleus of the galaxy can reproduce the observed spectrum in a way consistent with information derived from spectral lines. The far-infrared emission cannot be explained easily by dust in the nucleus, but it is hypothesized that this radiation is emitted by dust associated with the observed molecular clouds, and that these clouds lie outside the nucleus. This far-infrared emission, therefore, should be extended to the same degree as the molecular-cloud distribution. High angular resolution mapping will be necessary to confirm this hypothesis.

Jones, T. W.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Moderate spectral resolution solar irradiance measurements, aerosol optical depth, and solar transmission, from 360 to 1070 nm, using the refurbished rotating shadow band spectroradiometer (RSS)

Abstract. This paper reports on a third-generation rotating shadow band spectroradiometer (RSS) used to measure global and diffuse horizontal plus direct normal irradiances and transmissions at 1002 wavelengths between 360 and 1070 nm. The prism-dispersed spectral data are from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains site in north-central Oklahoma (36.605∘ N, 97.486∘ W) and cover dates between August 2009 and February 2014. The refurbished RSS isolates the detector in a vacuum chamber with pressures near 10−7 torr. This prevents the deposition of outgassed vapors from the interior of the spectrometer shell on the cooled detector that affected the operation of the first commercial RSS. Methods for (1) ensuring the correct wavelength registration of the data and (2) deriving extraterrestrial responses over the entire spectrum, including throughout strong water vapor and oxygen bands, are described. The resulting data produced are archived as ARM data records and include cloud-screened aerosol optical depths, spectral irradiances and direct normal solar transmission, as well as normalized diffuse and global irradiances.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1988

Multi-year global climatic effects of atmospheric dust from large bolide impacts

The global climatic effects of dust generated by the impact of a 10 km-diameter bolide was simulated using a one-dimensional (vertical only) globally-averaged climate model by Pollack et al. The goal of the simulation is to examine the regional climate effects, including the possibility of coastal refugia, generated by a global dust cloud in a model having realistic geographic resolution. The climate model assumes the instantaneous appearance of a global stratospheric dust cloud with initial optical depth of 10,000. The time history of optical depth decreases according to the detailed calculations of Pollack et al., reaching an optical depth of unity at day 160, and subsequently decreasing with an e-folding time of 1 year. The simulation is carried out for three years in order to examine the atmospheric effects and recovery over several seasons. The simulation does not include any effects of NOx, CO2, or wildfire smoke injections that may accompany the creation of the dust cloud. The global distribution of surface temperature changes, freezing events, precipitation and soil moisture effects and sea ice increases will be discussed.

Thompson, Starley L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Determination of the optical thickness and effective particle radius of clouds from reflected solar radiation measurements. I - Theory

A method is presented for determining the optical thickness and effective particle radius of stratiform cloud layers from reflected solar radiation measurements. A detailed study is presented which shows that the cloud optical thickness (tau c) and effective particle radius (r/e/) of water clouds can be determined solely from reflection function measurements at 0.75 micron and 2.16 microns, provided tau c is not less than 4 and r(e) is not less than 6 microns. For optically thin clouds, the retrieval becomes ambiguous, resulting in two possible solutions for the effective radius and optical thickness. Adding a third channel near 1.65 micron does not improve the situation noticeably, whereas the addition of a channel near 3.70 microns reduces the ambiguity in deriving the effective radius. The effective radius determined by the above procedure corresponds to the droplet radius at some optical depth within the cloud layer.

Nakajima, Teruyuki↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Evaluation of Spectral Band Adjustment Factors for Cross-Calibration of Visible Imagers

The CERES EBAF dataset provides TOA SW and LW fluxes for long-term monitoring of the Earth’s energy balance and to validate climate models. The EBAF products, based on the Terra and Aqua CERES instrument observed radiances, rely on coincident measurements from the onboard MODIS imagers to determine cloud properties that are used in the angular distribution model scene selection required to convert the CERES observed radiances into flux values. Once the Terra and Aqua orbits start drifting outside of their 15-minute window, the CERES project will rely solely on the NOAA-20 CERES observations. A seamless transition of fluxes and clouds can only occur if the analogous MODIS and VIIRS channels are properly inter-calibrated. The visible band (0.65 µm) in MODIS (band 1) and VIIRS (M5 or I1) is critical for retrieving the cloud mask and optical depth. The spectral response functions (SRF) of these bands differ noticeably and will require scene dependent spectral band adjustment factors (SBAF) for proper radiometric scaling between them. Fortunately, the VIIRS I1 and M5 bands are calibrated using the same solar diffuser as a reference, which implies that band reflectance differences must be due to the spectral disparity. The coincident I1 and M5 TOA reflectance measurements provide the optimal opportunity to validate SBAFs over many surface and cloud conditions. The CERES project maintains SCIAMACHY, GOME-2, Hyperion, and radiative transfer model-based scene-stratified hyper-spectral reflectance measurements that can be convolved with sensor pair SRFs to compute the corresponding SBAF. This study will evaluate the SCIAMACHY, GOME-2, Hyperion, and RTM based SBAFs over tropical ocean targets used in SNO inter-calibration of MODIS and VIIRS, including clear-sky ocean, deep convective clouds (DCC), and liquid cloud targets in terms of their applicability to absolute intercomparison of visible imagers. The large SCIAMACHY and GOME-2 footprints and the lack of Hyperion cloudy scenes will impact the resulting SBAFs and necessitates the need for future CLARREO hyper-spectral reflectances to decrease SBAF uncertainties Preliminary results indicate that the SCIAMACHY and GOME-2 based SBAFs for the VIIRS I1 and M5 band pairs may differ by 1.5% for some ATO scene types. Because most of the modern GEOs visible band SRFs encompass the VIIRS I1 band SRF, these evaluations are critical to ensure that the MODIS, VIIRS, and GEO clouds and fluxes are consistent. SBAFs for Libya-4, Dome-C and other Earth invariant target will also be evaluated.

D. R. Doelling↗
NASA NTRS1991

Stratospheric soot - Cloud forming properties and transport processes

Soot enters the stratosphere either from the troposphere in deep thunderstorm convection, predominantly in the tropics, from midlatitude forest fires, and directly from aircraft flying above the tropopause. Particles emitted from jet aircraft are relatively ineffective as cloud droplet condensation nuclei (less than 1 percent) compared with those from forest fires (above 50 percent). Chemical and other modification during aging of the particles may influence these results in some circumstances; cloud nucleating properties can be used as a soot tracer. Such aerosols, as they grow to haze drops and ilute in increasing humidity, may form ice particles in the cold polar stratosphere or in tropical cumuli anvils at 18 to 20 km altitude at temperatures as low as -90 C. Ice may also form as particles are removed by descent through troposphere folds and enter midlatitude cirrus at levels below -40 C. In the stratosphere, ice particles may provide surfaces that catalyze heterogeneous chemical reactions; in the upper troposphere, the optical depths of cirrus clouds may be significantly increased.

Hallett, John↗
DOE OSTI2018

Reflective all-sky thermal infrared cloud imager

A reflective all-sky imaging system has been built using a long-wave infrared microbolometer camera and a reflective metal sphere. This compact system was developed for measuring spatial and temporal patterns of clouds and their optical depth in support of applications including Earth-space optical communications. The camera is mounted to the side of the reflective sphere to leave the zenith sky unobstructed. The resulting geometric distortion is removed through an angular map derived from a combination of checkerboard-target imaging, geometric ray tracing, and sun-location-based alignment. A tape of high-emissivity material on the side of the reflector acts as a reference that is used to estimate and remove thermal emission from the metal sphere. In conclusion, once a bias that is under continuing study was removed, sky radiance measurements from the all-sky imager in the 8-14 μm wavelength range agreed to within 0.91 W/(m 2 sr) of measurements from a previously calibrated, lens-based infrared cloud imager over its 110° field of view.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS2012

Modifications Of Discrete Ordinate Method For Computations With High Scattering Anisotropy: Comparative Analysis

A numerical accuracy analysis of the radiative transfer equation (RTE) solution based on separation of the diffuse light field into anisotropic and smooth parts is presented. The analysis uses three different algorithms based on the discrete ordinate method (DOM). Two methods, DOMAS and DOM2+, that do not use the truncation of the phase function, are compared against the TMS-method. DOMAS and DOM2+ use the Small-Angle Modification of RTE and the single scattering term, respectively, as an anisotropic part. The TMS method uses Delta-M method for truncation of the phase function along with the single scattering correction. For reference, a standard discrete ordinate method, DOM, is also included in analysis. The obtained results for cases with high scattering anisotropy show that at low number of streams (16, 32) only DOMAS provides an accurate solution in the aureole area. Outside of the aureole, the convergence and accuracy of DOMAS, and TMS is found to be approximately similar: DOMAS was found more accurate in cases with coarse aerosol and liquid water cloud models, except low optical depth, while the TMS showed better results in case of ice cloud.

Korkin, Sergey V.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols in E3SM version 1: historical changes, causality, decomposition, and parameterization sensitivities

Abstract. The effective radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosols (ERFaer) is an important measure of the anthropogenic aerosol effects simulated by a global climate model. Here we analyze ERFaer simulated by the E3SM version 1 (E3SMv1) atmospheric model using both century-long free-running atmosphere–land simulations and short nudged simulations. We relate the simulated ERFaer to characteristics of the aerosol composition and optical properties, and we evaluate the relationships between key aerosol and cloud properties. In terms of historical changes from the year 1870 to 2014, our results show that the global mean anthropogenic aerosol burden and optical depth increase during the simulation period as expected, but the regional averages show large differences in the temporal evolution. The largest regional differences are found in the emission-induced evolution of the burden and optical depth of the sulfate aerosol: a strong decreasing trend is seen in the Northern Hemisphere high-latitude region after around 1970, while a continued increase is simulated in the tropics. The relationships between key aerosol and cloud properties (relative changes between pre-industrial and present-day conditions) also show evident changes after 1970, diverging from the linear relationships exhibited for the period of 1870–1969. In addition to the regional differences in the simulated relationships, a reduced sensitivity in cloud droplet number and other cloud properties to aerosol perturbations is seen when the aerosol perturbation is large. Consequently, the global annual mean ERFaer magnitude does not increase after around 1970. The ERFaer in E3SMv1 is relatively large compared to the recently published multi-model estimates; the primary reason is the large indirect aerosol effect (i.e., through aerosol–cloud interactions). Compared to other models, E3SMv1 features large relative changes in the cloud droplet effective radius in response to aerosol perturbations. Large sensitivity is also seen in the liquid cloud optical depth, which is determined by changes in both the effective radius and liquid water path. Aerosol-induced changes in liquid and ice cloud properties in E3SMv1 are found to have a strong correlation, as the evolution of anthropogenic sulfate aerosols affects both the liquid cloud formation and the homogeneous ice nucleation in cirrus clouds (that causes a large effect on longwave ERFaer). As suggested by a previous study, the large ERFaer appears to be one of the reasons why the model cannot reproduce the observed global mean temperature evolution in the second half of the 20th century. Sensitivity simulations are performed to understand which parameterization and/or parameter changes have a large impact on the simulated ERFaer. The ERFaer estimates in E3SMv1 for the shortwave and longwave components are sensitive to the parameterization changes in both liquid and ice cloud processes. When the parameterization of ice cloud processes is modified, the top-of-model forcing changes in the shortwave and longwave components largely offset each other, so the net effect is negligible. This suggests that, to reduce the magnitude of the net ERFaer, it would be more effective to reduce the anthropogenic aerosol effect through liquid or mixed-phase clouds.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

MODIS Aerosol and Low‐Cloud Retrievals: Orographic Effects in the Wake of Macquarie Island

Abstract Visible/infrared imagery from passive satellites is commonly relied upon to study low cloud microphysics over oceanic regions, including for the Southern Ocean (SO), but relatively little validation has been undertaken for the SO. In this article, we compare low‐cloud effective radius ( r e ), cloud droplet number concentration ( N d ) and cloud liquid water path (LWP) retrievals from the NASA Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) with surface measurements collected during the Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE). MODIS 3.7‐μm band retrievals show little bias and moderately good correlation relative to MICRE retrievals for liquid‐phase low clouds when restricted to Solar Zenith Angles <65° on spatial scales of 50–100 km. However, the low overall bias in 3.7‐μm band effective radius ( r e 3.7 ) retrievals partly results from cancellation of errors: r e 3.7 is overestimated for non‐to‐lightly precipitating clouds, and underestimated for heavier drizzling clouds by ∼1–1.5 μm. 1.6‐μm and 2.1‐μm band r e retrievals are biased high. N d may likewise be slightly under‐ or overestimated depending on the concentration, but there is insufficient data to provide confidence in this result. Interestingly, a composite of MODIS retrievals from 2002 to 2020 show a distinct region of enhanced cloud cover and N d (and lower r e ) in the wake of Macquarie Island associated with orographic cloud formation. MODIS retrievals of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom Exponent (AE) upwind and downwind of the island do not differ significantly. Comparison with MICRE measurements suggests that MODIS Collection 6 AOD retrievals are reasonable, while AE is problematically large.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of four ground-based retrievals of cloud droplet number concentration in marine stratocumulus with aircraft in situ measurements

Abstract. Cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) is crucial for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions (ACI) and associated radiative effects. We present evaluations of four ground-based Nd retrievals based on comprehensive datasets from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Aerosol and Cloud Experiments in the Eastern North Atlantic (ACE-ENA) field campaign. The Nd retrieval methods use ARM ENA observatory ground-based remote sensing observations from a micropulse lidar, Raman lidar, cloud radar, and the ARM NDROP (Droplet Number Concentration) value-added product (VAP), all of which also retrieve cloud effective radius (re). The retrievals are compared against aircraft measurements from the fast cloud droplet probe (FCDP) and the cloud and aerosol spectrometer (CAS) obtained from low-level marine boundary layer clouds on 12 flight days during summer and winter seasons. Additionally, the in situ measurements are used to validate the assumptions and characterizations used in the retrieval algorithms. Statistical comparisons of the probability distribution function (PDF) of the Nd and cloud re retrievals with aircraft measurements demonstrate that these retrievals align well with in situ measurements for overcast clouds, but they may substantially differ for broken clouds or clouds with low liquid water path (LWP). The retrievals are applied to 4 years of ground-based remote sensing measurements of overcast marine boundary layer clouds at the ARM ENA observatory to find that Nd (re) values exhibit seasonal variations, with higher (lower) values during the summer season and lower (higher) values during the winter season. The ensemble of various retrievals using different measurements and retrieval algorithms such as those in this paper can help to quantify Nd retrieval uncertainties and identify reliable Nd retrieval scenarios. Of the retrieval methods, we recommend using the micropulse lidar-based method. This method has good agreement with in situ measurements, less sensitivity to issues arising from precipitation and low cloud LWP and/or optical depth, and broad applicability by functioning for both daytime and nighttime conditions.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1981

Radio astronomy

A K-band reflected-wave ruby maser was used on the 64-meter (DSS-43) antenna at the Tidbinbilla Tracking Station, near Canberra, Australia. Spectral line observations were carried out near 22 GHz for water vapor sources and near 24 GHz for ammonia sources. The water vapor observations were made in the direction of known southern OH and H2O maser sources. All of the previously detected water line sources examined were detected. In addition, two new water vapor maser sources were discovered, G301.1+1.1and G308.9+0.1. The spectrum of G301.0+1.1 is presented six ammonia sources were found: G291.3-0.7, G305.4+0.2, G322.2+0.6, G327.3-0.5, G333.6-0.2, and G268.4-0.8. Spectra of two of these sources, G291.3-0.7 (RCW 57) and G305.4+0.2, are presented. Both show clearly the presence of the quadrupole splitting satellite lines that will allow the determination of NH3 optical depths in these clouds.

Shaffer, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Ammonia in the hot galactic centre cloud G 1.6-0.025

As part of an extensive southern survey of interstellar NH3 with the Parkes 64-m radio telescope (with a beamwidth of 81 arcsec), the (1,1), (2,2), and (3,3) transitions have been observed towards the galactic centre molecular cloud Gl.6-0.025. The cloud has an overall size of 10 arcmin, and contains several concentrations with differing velocities. It has several features also observed in other galactic centre clouds, e.g. high optical depths and kinetic temperatures above 50 K.

Gardner, F. F.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The origin and vertical distribution of carbon monoxide in Jupiter

Six clearly-resolved lines of the CO 1-0 vibration-rotation band near 4.7 microns have been observed in Jupiter at a resolution of 0.07/cm. CO is not found to be concentrated in the stratosphere, but is shown to be present in the troposphere at a mole fraction of 1.6 + or - 0.3 x 10 to the -9th, suggesting that rapid vertical mixing is the source of CO. Results indicate that the global oxygen abundance in Jupiter's gaseous envelope below the cloud-forming regions must be near the solar value, and that intervening clouds with an optical depth of 0.5-4 are present above the line-forming region.

Noll, Keith S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Ultraviolet and optical spectra of high-ionization Seyfert galaxies with narrow lines

Ultraviolet and optical spectra are presented for three unusual Seyfert galaxies (Mrk 1239, Mrk 42, and Mrk 493) that resemble Seyfert 1 galaxies in that they have strong high-ionization lines and strong nonstellar continua, but resemble Seyfert 2 galaxies in that the widths of their permitted lines are as narrow as the widths of their forbidden lines. The He II lambda 1640 and He II lambda 4686 lines are used to determine an upper limit to the reddening experienced by the emission lines. Published optical data show that these particular high-ionization narrow-line (HINL) Seyferts have low lambda 5007 H beta ratios and strong Fe II emission, which suggest the presence of high-density regions. The low Lalpha/H-beta ratios in these objects indicate that high-density clouds are indeed present, and, like the broad-line region clouds in Seyfert 1 galaxies, these clouds have large optical depths with partially ionized zones. Overall, the line ratios and continuum fluxes of these particular HINL Seyferts are indistinguishable from those of broad-lined Seyfert 1 galaxies.

Crenshaw, D. Michael↗
NASA NTRS1996

Visible/Infrared Optical Depths of Cirrus as Seen by Satellite and Scanning Lidar

The High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) and the Volume Imaging Lidar (VIL) were combined to produce a quantitative image of the visible optical depth of cirrus clouds. The HSRL was used to calibrate the VIL signal into backscatter cross sections of particulates. The backscatter cross sections were related to extinction by a constant backscatter phase function determined from the HSRL data. This produced a three dimensional image of visual extinction in the cirrus clouds over a one hour period. Two lidar images were constructed from one hour VIL cross section records.

Wylie, Donald↗
NASA NTRS2009

Evaluation of the OMI Cloud Pressures Derived from Rotational Raman Scattering by Comparisons with other Satellite Data and Radiative Transfer Simulations

In this paper we examine differences between cloud pressures retrieved from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) using the ultraviolet rotational Raman scattering (RRS) algorithm and those from the thermal infrared (IR) Aqua/MODIS. Several cloud data sets are currently being used in OMI trace gas retrieval algorithms including climatologies based on IR measurements and simultaneous cloud parameters derived from OMI. From a validation perspective, it is important to understand the OMI retrieved cloud parameters and how they differ with those derived from the IR. To this end, we perform radiative transfer calculations to simulate the effects of different geophysical conditions on the OMI RRS cloud pressure retrievals. We also quantify errors related to the use of the Mixed Lambert-Equivalent Reflectivity (MLER) concept as currently implemented of the OMI algorithms. Using properties from the Cloudsat radar and MODIS, we show that radiative transfer calculations support the following: (1) The MLER model is adequate for single-layer optically thick, geometrically thin clouds, but can produce significant errors in estimated cloud pressure for optically thin clouds. (2) In a two-layer cloud, the RRS algorithm may retrieve a cloud pressure that is either between the two cloud decks or even beneath the top of the lower cloud deck because of scattering between the cloud layers; the retrieved pressure depends upon the viewing geometry and the optical depth of the upper cloud deck. (3) Absorbing aerosol in and above a cloud can produce significant errors in the retrieved cloud pressure. (4) The retrieved RRS effective pressure for a deep convective cloud will be significantly higher than the physical cloud top pressure derived with thermal IR.

Vasilkov, Alexander↗