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At least 775 records · Page 43

The Effect of UV and Solar Wind Exposure on the Reflectance of Two Black Diffuse Materials

The Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Total Hemispherical Reflectance (THR) of two candidate black diffuse materials for the dim calibration targets of the NASA GSFC PACE Ocean Color Instrument (OCI)were reported in the SPIE conference last year. In this paper, we present new BRDF and THR results of the two black diffuse materials following additional UV exposure and solar wind tests. The BRDF measurements for five samples of each two black diffuse material were made at incident angles of 0° and 45° and at the wavelengths of 360 nm, 600 nm, and 1600 usi ng the Table-top Goniometer (TTG) located in the Diffuser Calibration Laboratory (DCL) at NASA GSFC. The THR of the samples, 15 mm in diameter, was measured using a commercial UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer from 200 nm to 2500 nm. The spectral THR results of the two black diffuse materials exposed to UV and solar wind show an approximate 10 % higher reflectivity than the unexposed samples. The spectral profiles of the THR of the exposed and unexposed samples are relatively similar. The BRDF results at the incident angle of 45° show different trends in the forward and backward scattering regions, while those at normal incident angle are consistent with the THR results. We will also present the details of the samples’ surface features and the comparison of the 0°/45° BRDF and THR results, demonstrate the significance of background subtraction in the THR measurements for small, low reflectance samples, and discuss validation of BRDF scale, measurement repeatability, and major contributions of uncertainty.

Jinan Zeng↗

Scaling photosynthetic function and CO2 dynamics from leaf to canopy level for maize – dataset combining diurnal and seasonal measurements of vegetation fluorescence, reflectance and vegetation indices with canopy gross ecosystem productivity

Recent advances in leaf fluorescence measurements and canopy proximal remote sensing currently enable the non-destructive collection of rich diurnal and seasonal time series, which are required for monitoring vegetation function at the temporal and spatial scales relevant to the natural dynamics of photosynthesis. Remote sensing assessments of vegetation function have traditionally used actively excited foliar chlorophyll fluorescence measurements, canopy optical reflectance data and vegetation indices (VIs), and only recently passive solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) measurements. In general, reflectance data are more sensitive to the seasonal variations in canopy chlorophyll content and foliar biomass, while fluorescence observations more closely relate to the dynamic changes in plant photosynthetic function. With this dataset we link leaf level actively excited chlorophyll fluorescence, canopy proximal reflectance and SIF, with eddy covariance measurements of gross ecosystem productivity (GEP). The dataset was collected during the 2017 growing season on maize, using three automated systems (i.e., Monitoring Pulse-Amplitude-Modulation fluorimeter, Moni-PAM; Fluorescence Box, FloX; and from eddy covariance tower). The data were quality checked, filtered and collated to a common 30 minutes timestep. We derived vegetation indices related to canopy functioning (e.g., Photochemical Reflectance Index, PRI; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI; Chlorophyll Red-edge, Clre) to investigate how SIF and VIs can be coupled for monitoring vegetation photosynthesis. The raw datasets and the filtered and collated data are provided to enable new processing and analyses.

Petya Campbell↗

Conjugate Effect of the 2011 Tohoku Reflected Tsunami-Driven Gravity Waves in the Ionosphere

This study presents the conjugate ionospheric disturbances triggered by the 2011 Tohoku-Oki reflected tsunami oceanic waves using the ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) total electron content (TEC) observations. We found that the equatorward and westward propagating nighttime medium-scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) occurred over Japan and Australia simultaneously following the tsunami oceanic waves reflected by the Emperor Seamount Chain in the northern hemisphere. The atmospheric gravity waves driven by reflected tsunami oceanic waves are hypothesized to be the source to trigger the conjugate MSTIDs by transporting the polarization electric fields along the field line to the conjugate hemisphere. Moreover, only the southwestward propagating MSTIDs have this conjugate effect, which could be due to the wavefront orientation. The Perkins instability could also be involved in the interhemispheric coupling process. This study provides the first observational evidence that the reflected tsunami can induce conjugate ionospheric disturbances through electrodynamic forcing.

tsunami, gravity waves, GPS TEC↗

TROPOMI Geometry-dependent Lambertian-Equivalent surface Reflectivity (GLER) Product for Improved Trace-Gas Retrieval

Accurate information about the reflectivity of the Earth's surface is required for most satellite retrievals of atmospheric composition, and this information is generally taken from monthly surface reflectivity climatology that neglects angular dependence. Previously we introduced Geometry-dependent Lambertian-equivalent surface reflectivity (GLER) which captures solar and satellite viewing angle dependence as well as daily and seasonal changes. GLER is calculated from simulations of Rayleigh-only top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances over non-Lambertian surfaces. We use NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) product over land and the wind-dependent Cox–Munk wave-facet slope distribution including water-leaving radiance over water to accounts for surface BRDF. We have developed global GLER product, previously for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and recently for Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) with several new improvements and updates. We have implemented the near real time daily V006 MODIS MCD43C1 BRDF data and gap-filled with a daily BRDF coefficient climatology created from 2002-2017 V006 MCD43GF data. The NASA’s Global Modelling Initiative hourly 0.25 x 0.25 deg Replay simulations are used for more accurate determination of pixel specific terrain pressure. To improve detection of seasonal snow/ice scenes, we use the 4-km snow cover product from the Interactive Multi-sensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS). Finally, we use an improved version of the vector linearized discrete ordinate radiative transfer (VLIDORT) for update of the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance look-up-tables (LUTs). We demonstrate how the use of GLER is beneficial to TROPOMI’s high spatial resolution (up to 3.5 km x 3.5 km) measurements to monitor atmospheric trace gas pollutants down to the sub-city scale.

TROPOMI↗

Infrared Reflection Removal in Wind Tunnels Using Polarization Theory

Infrared radiometry with infrared cameras allows for high spatial resolution, noncontact measurements in wind tunnel experiments and has been increasingly used to visualize flow features. Reflections from test section walls present a major challenge in collecting these measurements as it is difficult or impossible to separate them from the true model emission signal. This paper outlines a method to quantitatively remove specular reflections using polarization theory for materials common in the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. The method was however ultimately ineffective due to unexpected diffuse reflection and was unable to remove the specular reflection. The experiment provided insight into ways that polarization could be utilized to improve data collection capabilities of optical measurement techniques in wind tunnel settings.

Infrared↗

Spectral Gap Filling Method Using the Spectral Information from CLARREO-Pathfinder Measured Earth-Reflected Solar Spectra to Support CPF-CERES Intercalibration

The high-accuracy Earth-reflected solar spectral radiances from CLARREO Pathfinder (CPF) will serve as in-orbit benchmark measurements for intercalibrating other satellite imagers. The CPF team is developing a state-of-the-art intercalibration method to calibrate the shortwave channel (300-5000 nm) of the CERES instrument against the CPF reference with an uncertainty of 0.3%. Because the CPF instrument only covers spectral range from 350 nm to 2300 nm, the team has developed a spectral extension method to fill in the gaps between the spectral domains of CPF and the CERES shortwave channel. The method solely relies on using the hyperspectral information from the CPF wavelengths to predict the radiances below 350 nm and above 2300 nm. To quantify the relationship between the CPF spectrum and the non-overlapping portions of the spectrum between CPF and CERES, the team has simulated a large ensemble of spectra that cover the spectral range for both CPF and CERES. A hyperspectral bidirectional reflectance model for land surface based on thousands of measured land surface reflectance has been developed. This land surface model as well as the Cox-Munk model for ocean surface are used in the spectral gap filling. Various water/ice clouds, aerosols, atmosphere profiles and surfaces were used to simulate Earth-reflected radiances from 200 nm to 15 um under different solar and sensor geometries. The targeted uncertainty for the CPF-extended broadband CERES radiances is less than 0.1%. The previously derived training spectra were updated to replace the Kurucz solar irradiance model with the TSIS-1 Hybrid Solar Reference Spectrum. The influence of the scalar assumption in radiative transfer model equations on the uncertainty in estimating the broadband radiances was also investigated.

Hyperspectral↗

JPSS-2 VIIRS Pre-Launch Reflective Solar Band Testing and Performance

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments on-board the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) spacecrafts 1 and 2 provides calibrated sensor data record (SDR) reflectance, radiance, and brightness temperatures for use in environment data record (EDR) products. The SDRs and EDRs are used in weather forecasting models, weather imagery and climate applications such as ocean color, sea surface temperature and active fires. The VIIRS has 22 bands covering a spectral range 0.4–12.4 m with resolutions of 375 m and 750 m for imaging and moderate bands respectively on four focal planes. The bands are stratified into three different types based on the source of energy sensed by the bands. The reflective solar bands (RSBs) detect sunlight reflected from the Earth, thermal emissive bands (TEBs) sense emitted energy from the Earth and the day/night band (DNB) detects both solar and lunar reflected energy from the Earth. The SDR calibration uses a combination of pre-launch testing and the solar diffuser (SD), on-board calibrator blackbody (OBCBB) and space view (SV) on-orbit calibrator sources. The pre-launch testing transfers the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable calibration to the SD, for the RSB, and the OBCBB, for the TEB. Post-launch, the on-board calibrators track the changes in instrument response and adjust the SDR product as necessary to maintain the calibration. This paper will discuss the pre-launch radiometric calibration portion of the SDR calibration for the RSBs that includes the dynamic range, detector noise, calibration coefficients and radiometric uncertainties for JPSS-2 VIIRS.

JPSS↗

Quantitative Assessment of the HLS Surface Reflectance Consistency

The Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) project produces compatible surface reflectance (SR) from observations acquired by Landsat-8/9 OLI and Sentinel-2A/2B MSI. The HLS harmonization procedures include atmosphere correction, cloud masking, view angle normalization, and bandpass adjustment. The objective of this study is to quantitatively assess the reflectance consistency between Landsat and Sentinel-2 within the Version 2 HLS data. We collected 545 pairs of same-day Landsat/Sentinel-2 images across the globe to represent a wide range of vegetation types and climate regimes. The mean absolute difference (MAD) in reflectance between Landat and Sentinel-2 was calculated as a consistency indicator for each harmonization step. The MAD generally increased after the atmosphere correction, and then greatly decreased after the BRDF and bandpass adjustments, to smaller than the top-of-atmosphere MAD values. The MAD ranged from 0.0048 to 0.0093 for the six common spectral bands (blue, green, red, NIR, SWIR1, and SWIR2) in the final products, only slightly greater than the difference between Landsat and Sentinel-2 calibrations.. An evaluation on a few commonly used vegetation indices also showed good agreement between Landsat and Sentinel-2 reflectance. All these evaluations demonstrate that the HLS project produces a consistent SR dataset from Landsat-OLI and Sentinel-MSI, which will be a valuable resource for a wide range of remote sensing applications.

Qiang Zhou↗

NASA's CLARREO Pathfinder Mission: The Reflected Solar’s First SITSat

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder mission will take reflected solar (RS) highly accurate measurements needed to monitor Earth’s climate and will be the first RS SI-traceable Satellite Sensor (SITSat). The mission includes a RS spectrometer that will be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) and take measurements for at least one year. CLARREO Pathfinder (CPF) will use on-orbit calibration to achieve an unprecedented high accuracy with SI-traceability and the inter-calibration of other on-orbit instruments. The spectrometer is based on the HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science (HySICS) instrument developed by the University of Colorado/Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics of Boulder, CO, USA. HySICS is being designed to have a radiometric uncertainty of 0.3% (1-sigma), a five to ten times improvement over existing spaceflight RS instruments. High accuracy SI-traceable measurements such as these are critical to develop long-term climate-quality data sets. Additionally, by measuring spectral reflectance with high accuracy the CPF instrument will serve as an on-orbit intercalibration radiometric reference for operational Earth-viewing sensors, such as the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) broadband shortwave instrument and the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Two-axis pointing, a spectral range from 350 nm to 2300 nm, and a spectral resolution ≤6 nm enable CPF to provide nearly coincident temporal, spatial, angular, and spectral matching of intercalibration targets, with sampling sufficient to reduce random errors. The intercalibration method will refine knowledge of target sensors’ effective offsets, gain, non-linearity, spectral response, and polarization sensitivity (as is relevant). Calibrated reflectance and reflected radiance spectra will be distributed to the scientific community through a NASA Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). We will present an overview of the CLARREO Pathfinder mission, its anticipated impact on monitoring climate variability, and the novel CPF direct intercalibration approach.

climate↗

Design and development of laser damage resistant low group delay dispersion optical coatings for high reflection at 45o incidence P polarization and wavelengths from 800 to 1000 nm.

This paper describes the modelling and design development of an optical coating that is suitable for broad bandwidth high reflection (BBHR) at 45° angle of incidence (AOI), P polarization (Ppol) and fs-class laser pulses whose frequencies correspond to wavelengths from 800 to 1000 nm, and that can eventually be produced uniformly on meter-class optical substrates. The coating design process was guided by specifications of not only high reflection but also high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) as well as low group delay dispersion (GDD) for reflected light over the broad, 200 nm bandwidth in order to minimize temporal broadening of the fs pulses upon reflection. The coating is based on TiO 2 /SiO 2 layer pairs by means of e-beam evaporation with ion-assisted deposition (IAD). We used OptiLayer Thin Film Software to explore coating designs with a limited optimization process starting from TiO 2 /SiO 2 layer pairs with layer thicknesses in an opposite “chirp” arrangement. This approach proved to be successful, leading to a design with R > 99.5% from 801 – 999 nm and GDD < 20 fs 2 from 843 – 949 nm (45° AOI, Ppol). The GDD behaves in a smooth way that lends itself to compensation of GDD effects. Also, the electric field intensities are favorable to high LIDT in that they quench rapidly into the outer coating layers or are of moderate strength, or they are located in the higher band gap SiO 2 layers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Titanium and Aluminum Rod-Replacement Experiments in Fully-Reflected 6.90% Enriched UO{sub 2} Fuel Rod Lattices

The Seven Percent Critical Experiment (7uPCX) was designed to provide benchmark criticality and reactor physics data for water-moderated pin-fueled nuclear reactor cores. The enrichment of the fuel was chosen to explore the enrichment range above the current 5% ceiling for US commercial pressurized water reactors. The experiment was part of the US Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy Research Initiative Project 01-124 titled 'Reactor Physics and Criticality Benchmark Evaluations for Advanced Nuclear Fuel'. Three sets of benchmark experiments have been completed using the 7uPCX and documented as LEUCOMP-THERM-080, LEU-COMP-THERM-078, and LEUCOMP-THERM-096. The experiments for LEUCOMP-THERM-080 and LEU-COMP-THERM-078 were done in fully-reflected arrays with the number of fuel rods in the array as the approach parameter. The experiments for LEU-COMP-THERM-096 are similar to those in LEUCOMP-THERM-080 except that the arrays are partially-reflected - the arrays were larger than would be possible with full reflection and the approach-to-critical experiments were done with the depth of the water in the critical assembly as the approach parameter. The experiments described here are similar to the fully-reflected experiments in LEU-COMP-THERM-080 with some of the central fuel rods in the array replaced by titanium rods, aluminum rods, and/or water. The experiments are designed to provide criticality safety benchmarks with significant reactivity from titanium and equivalent configurations with aluminum experiment rods. These experiments are documented as LEU-COMP-THERM-097. (authors)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Spectroscopic refractometer for transparent and absorbing liquids by reflection of white light near the critical angle

We propose and evaluate a spectroscopic refractometer device to measure the refractive index dispersion of transparent and absorbing solutions. The angle-dependent reflectivity of a white beam of light in an internal reflection configuration around the critical angle is spectrally analyzed. The refractive index in a wavelength range from 400 nm to 900 nm is obtained from the angle-reflectivity curve around the critical angle at each wavelength. The device does not use angle scanning mechanisms, decreasing considerably the complexity of the instrument in comparison to previous proposals. As a result, the measurements are obtained relatively fast. Nevertheless, a good experimental resolution in refractive index of about {Delta}n Almost-Equal-To 10{sup -4} at all the wavelengths is achieved in the case of transparent solutions. The calibration procedure of the device is discussed in detail. We also present measurements of the refractive index dispersion of rhodamine 6G-methanol solutions, which has a strong absorption band in the visible spectra.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Chemical selective microstructural analysis of thin film using resonant x-ray reflectivity

Strong modulations of the reflected x-ray intensities near the respective absorption edges of the constituent materials promise to determine layer composition of thin film structures along with spectroscopic like information. Near the absorption edge, the orders of magnitude more contrast beyond the pure electron density distributions of materials find an approach to overcome the low density difficulty of the conventional x-ray reflectivity technique. These aspects are explained by experimental studies on partially decomposed boron nitride thin films. Chemical composition profile is determined from free surface to the embedded buried layer with depth resolution in nanometer scale. The results of resonant reflectivity for chemical analysis are correlated with depth dependent x-ray photo electron spectroscopy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Crack depth profiling using guided wave angle dependent reflectivity

Tomographic corrosion monitoring techniques have been developed, using two rings of sensors around the circumference of a pipe. This technique is capable of providing a detailed wall thickness map, however this might not be the only type of structural damage. Therefore this concept is expanded to detect and size cracks and small corrosion defects like root corrosion. The expanded concept uses two arrays of guided-wave transducers, collecting both reflection and transmission data. The data is processed such that the angle-dependent reflectivity is obtained without using a baseline signal of a defect-free situation. The angle-dependent reflectivity is the input of an inversion scheme that calculates a crack depth profile. From this profile, the depth and length of the crack can be determined. Preliminary experiments show encouraging results. The depth sizing accuracy is in the order of 0.5 mm.

42 ENGINEERING↗

ON ESTIMATING THE HIGH-ENERGY CUTOFF IN THE X-RAY SPECTRA OF BLACK HOLES VIA REFLECTION SPECTROSCOPY

The fundamental parameters describing the coronal spectrum of an accreting black hole are the slope Γ of the power-law continuum and the energy E{sub cut} at which it rolls over. Remarkably, this latter parameter can be accurately measured for values as high as 1 MeV by modeling the spectrum of X-rays reflected from a black hole accretion disk at energies below 100 keV. This is possible because the details in the reflection spectrum, rich in fluorescent lines and other atomic features, are very sensitive to the spectral shape of the hardest coronal radiation illuminating the disk. We show that by fitting simultaneous NuSTAR (3–79 keV) and low-energy (e.g., Suzaku) data with the most recent version of our reflection model relxill one can obtain reasonable constraints on E{sub cut} at energies from tens of keV up to 1 MeV, for a source as faint as 1 mCrab in a 100 ks observation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Imaging surface topography with coherent x-ray reflectivity: Theory, kinematics, and simulations

A theoretical formalism is described for understanding coherent x-ray reflectivity (CXR) from the surface of a semi-infinite crystal having a variable surface topography, described by the height profile ℎ(𝑥,𝑦). The surface topography is imaged as a complex “effective density,” obtained from the phasing and inversion of the coherent x-ray reflectivity data, measured through a rocking scan centered at a vertical momentum transfer 𝑄$^{0}_{𝑧}$ and a vertical range Δ⁢𝑄 𝑧 . The formalism predicts that the effective density has an amplitude with a maximum located at the surface height for each position within the surface plane. The phase of the effective density has a lateral variation that is controlled by the surface height and a vertical variation that reflects a combination of the interfacial structure and specific choice of measurement conditions. This understanding enables direct observation of nanometer-scale interfacial topography, i.e., ℎ⁡(𝑥,𝑦)⁢𝑐 𝑠 (where 𝑐 𝑠 is the vertical substrate lattice parameter) with Å-scale sensitivity to surface height. Numerical simulations illustrate and confirm the theoretical results. These results show how the interpretation of the interfacial density phase obtained by CXR data inversion (i.e., surface topography with respect to a flat surface) is conceptually similar to that previously known for Bragg coherent diffraction imaging (BCDI) measurements of isolated nanoparticles (i.e., lattice displacements with respect to an ideal crystal lattice). This suggests that CXR can be thought of as a form of dark field imaging with respect to the bright field BCDI approach. An implication of these results is that interfacial imaging may bypass some of the significant challenges associated with BCDI imaging of multiple particles having different orientations.

X-ray imaging↗

Resonant Optical Reflection from AsSb–AlGaAs Metamaterials and Structures

The optical reflection in periodic structures based on a semiconductor AlGaAs matrix containing two-dimensional arrays of plasmonic AsSb nanoinclusions was studied. The number of periods was 12 or 24. The spatial period was near 110 nm in both cases. In the experimental optical reflection spectra at normal incidence we observed resonant Bragg diffraction with the main peaks at wavelengths of 757 or 775 nm, depending on the spatial period of the nanostructure. The magnitudes of the resonance peaks reached 19 and 31% for the systems of 12 and 24 AsSb–AlGaAs layers, while the volume fraction of the nanoinclusions was much less than 1%. In the case of light incident at inclined angles, the Bragg-diffraction pattern shifted according to Wulff-Bragg’s law. Numerical calculations of the optical reflection spectra were performed using the transfer-matrix method by taking into account the spatial geometry of the structures and the resonance characteristics of the plasmonic AsSb layers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Evaluation of NOAA-20 VIIRS reflective solar bands calibration performance using vicarious approaches

The newly launched polar-orbiting NOAA-20 satellite is the follow-on mission to the SNPP (Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite. Both satellites are in an afternoon orbit with a close equatorial cross time. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a key sensor onboard NOAA-20 and SNPP. The two VIIRS sensors are within the same engineering design with nearly identical spectral ranges. Its on-board calibration components include a solar diffuser and a solar diffuser stability monitor for the reflective solar bands (RSB), a V-groove blackbody for the thermal emissive bands (TEB), and a space view as background reference. This study evaluates calibration performance of the NOAA-20 VIIRS RSB using the first internally released L1B data product by NASA Land SIPS, which has consistent calibration coefficient look up tables (LUT) throughout the entire mission. Several independent vicarious approaches are used to examine the stability and consistence of reflectance. The first approach is based on a double difference method by comparison with SNPP VIIRS using observations from simultaneous nadir overpasses (SNO) with Aqua MODIS. The second is based on the reflectance trends from 16-day repeatable orbits obtained over the widely used Liby-4 desert site so each data point has the nearly same viewing angles relative to the site. The third approach is to use the frequent overpasses over the Dome C snow site. Results of this study provide NOAA-20 VIIRS post-launch calibration stability performance and radiometric agreement with SNPP for the first 18 months of mission.

VIIRS↗