Polarization effects bias the performance of various existing passive spaceborne instruments, such as MODIS and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), as well as geostationary imagers. It is essential ...
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Polarization effects bias the performance of various existing passive spaceborne instruments, such as MODIS and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), as well as geostationary imagers. It is essential to evaluate and correct for these effects in order to achieve the required accuracy of the total reflectance at the top of the atmosphere. In addition to performing highly accurate decadal climate change observations, one of the objectives of the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission recommended by the National Research Council for launch by NASA is to provide the on-orbit intercalibration with the imagers over a range of parameters, including polarization. Whenever the on-orbit coincident measurements are not possible, CLARREO will provide the polarization distributions constructed using the adding-doubling radiative transfer model (ADRTM), which will cover the entire reflected solar spectrum. These ADRTM results need to be validated using real data. To this end the empirical polarization distribution models (PDMs) based on the measurements taken by the Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences Coupled with Observations from a Lidar (PARASOL) mission were developed. Examples of such PDMs for the degree of polarization and the angle of linear polarization for the cloudless ocean scenes are shown here. These PDMs are compared across the three available PARASOL polarization bands, and the effect of aerosols on them is examined. The PDM-derived dependence of the reflectance uncertainty on the degree of polarization for imagers, such as MODIS or VIIRS, after their intercalibration with the CLARREO instrument is evaluated. The influence of the aerosols on the reflectance uncertainty is examined. Finally, the PDMs for the angle of linear polarization is cross-checked against the single-scattering approximation.
A homogeneity-adjusted dataset of total cloud cover from weather stations in the contiguous United States is compared with cloud cover in four state-of-the-art global reanalysis products: the Climate Forecast System R...
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A homogeneity-adjusted dataset of total cloud cover from weather stations in the contiguous United States is compared with cloud cover in four state-of-the-art global reanalysis products: the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis from NCEP, the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications from NASA, ERA-Interim from ECMWF, and the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis Project from the Japan Meteorological Agency. The reanalysis products examined in this study generally show much lower cloud amount than visual weather station data, and this underestimation appears to be generally consistent with their overestimation of downward surface shortwave fluxes when compared with surface radiation data from the Surface Radiation Network. Nevertheless, the reanalysis products largely succeed in simulating the main aspects of interannual variability of cloudiness for large-scale means, as measured by correlations of 0.81-0.90 for U.S. mean time series. Trends in the reanalysis datasets for the U.S. mean for 1979-2009, ranging from 20.38% to 21.8% decade 21, are in the same direction as the trend in surface data (20.50% decade 21), but further effort is needed to understand the discrepancies in their magnitudes.
In this paper, a novel Multiview CLOUD (mCLOUD) visual feature extraction mechanism is proposed for the task of categorizing clouds based on ground-based images. To completely characterize the different types of cloud...
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In this paper, a novel Multiview CLOUD (mCLOUD) visual feature extraction mechanism is proposed for the task of categorizing clouds based on ground-based images. To completely characterize the different types of clouds, mCLOUD first extracts the raw visual descriptors from the views of texture, structure, and color simultaneously, in a densely sampled way-specifically, the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), the census transform histogram (CENTRIST), and the statistical color features are extracted, respectively. To obtain a more descriptive cloud representation, the feature encoding of the raw descriptors is realized by using the Fisher vector. This is followed by the feature aggregation procedure. A linear support vector machine (SVM) is employed as the classifier to yield the final cloud image categorization result. The experiments on a challenging cloud dataset termed the six-class Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) cloud demonstrate that mCLOUD consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art cloud classification approaches by large margins (at least 6.9%) under all the different experimental settings. It has also been verified that, compared to the single view, the multiview cloud representation generally enhances the performance.
Temperature sounding microwave radiometers flown on polar-orbiting weather satellites provide a long-term, global-scale record of upper-atmosphere temperatures, beginning in late 1978 and continuing to the present. Th...
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Temperature sounding microwave radiometers flown on polar-orbiting weather satellites provide a long-term, global-scale record of upper-atmosphere temperatures, beginning in late 1978 and continuing to the present. The focus of this paper is the midtropospheric measurements made by the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) channel 2 and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) channel 5. Previous versions of the Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) dataset have used a diurnal climatology derived from general circulation model output to remove the effects of drifting local measurement time. This paper presents evidence that this previous method is not sufficiently accurate and presents several alternative methods to optimize these adjustments using information from the satellite measurements themselves. These are used to construct a number of candidate climate data records using measurements from 15 MSU and AMSU satellites. The new methods result in improved agreement between measurements made by different satellites at the same time. A method is chosen based on an optimized second harmonic adjustment to produce a new version of the RSS dataset, version 4.0. The new dataset shows substantially increased global-scale warming relative to the previous version of the dataset, particularly after 1998. The new dataset shows more warming than most other midtropospheric data records constructed from the same set of satellites. It is also shown that the new dataset is consistent with long-term changes in total column water vapor over the tropical oceans, lending support to its long-term accuracy.
作者:
Chen, GeWang, XuanOcean Univ China
Coll Informat Sci & Engn Qingdao Collaborat Innovat Ctr Marine Sci & Techn Qingdao 266100 Peoples R China
A decade of newly available Argo float data for the period 2004-13 are used to investigate the three-dimensional structures of upper-ocean seasonality with emphasis on the vertical aspects of annual and semiannual cyc...
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A decade of newly available Argo float data for the period 2004-13 are used to investigate the three-dimensional structures of upper-ocean seasonality with emphasis on the vertical aspects of annual and semiannual cycles, yielding three main findings with oceanographic implications. First, the vertical evolution of the horizontal pattern of annual and semiannual amplitudes appears to be highly nonlinear, suggesting that the thermodynamic causes are depth dependent. The global ocean seasonality exhibits a vertically varying pattern in space, including midlatitude maxima in the near-surface layer due to solar forcing, zonal strips in the subsurface layer due to the equatorial current system, and systematic westward phase propagation in the intermediate layer due to annual Rossby waves. Second, a zone of 500 +/- 300-m depths along with a 6-month periodicity are chosen as appropriate space-time windows for detecting eddy signatures via Argo-derived temperature amplitude and phase, respectively. It is revealed that the eddy-induced blobby pattern observed previously by satellite altimeter appears in the Agro result as woodsy bulks, which can be well illustrated in the semiannual amplitude and phase maps at window depths. Meanwhile, six eddy deserts paired in each ocean basin have also been identified. Third, the existence of a dozen vertical quasi-annual amphidromes is first reported, with cophase lines that may radiate toward the similar to 2000-m lower limit of Argo measurement. The well-known global meridional overturning circulation and the pseudozonal overturning currents in the equatorial Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans may possibly contribute to the observed vertical amphidromes.
The first phase of an atmospheric tracer experiment program, designated Project Sagebrush, was conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory in October 2013. The purpose was to reevaluate the results of classical field e...
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The first phase of an atmospheric tracer experiment program, designated Project Sagebrush, was conducted at the Idaho National Laboratory in October 2013. The purpose was to reevaluate the results of classical field experiments in short-range plume dispersion (e.g., Project Prairie Grass) using the newer technologies that are available for measuring both turbulence levels and tracer concentrations. All releases were conducted during the daytime with atmospheric conditions ranging from neutral to unstable. The key finding was that the values of the horizontal plume spread parameter sigma(y) tended to be larger, by up to a factor of similar to 2, than those measured in many previous field studies. The discrepancies tended to increase with downwind distance. The values of the ratio sigma(y)/sigma(theta), where sigma(theta) is the standard deviation of the horizontal wind direction, also trend near the upper limit or above the range of values determined in earlier studies. There was also evidence to suggest that the value of sigma(y) began to be independent of sigma(theta) for sigma(theta) greater than 18 degrees. It was also found that the commonly accepted range of values for sigma(theta) in different stability conditions might be limiting, at best, and might possibly be unrealistically low, especially at night in low wind speeds. The results raise questions about the commonly accepted magnitudes of sigma(y) derived from older studies. These values are used in the parameterization and validation of both older stability-class dispersion models as well as newer models that are based on Taylor's equation and modern PBL theory.
Satellite radar and radiometer data indicate that subtropical South America has some of the deepest and most extreme convective storms on Earth. This study uses the full 15-yr TRMM Precipitation Radar dataset in conju...
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Satellite radar and radiometer data indicate that subtropical South America has some of the deepest and most extreme convective storms on Earth. This study uses the full 15-yr TRMM Precipitation Radar dataset in conjunction with high-resolution simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting Model to better understand the physical factors that control the climatology of high-impact weather in subtropical South America. The occurrence of intense storms with an extreme horizontal dimension is generally associated with lee cyclogenesis and a strengthening South American low-level jet (SALLJ) in the La Plata basin. The orography of the Andes is critical, and model sensitivity calculations removing and/or reducing various topographic features indicate the orographic control on the initiation of convection and its upscale growth into mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). Reduced Andes experiments show more widespread convective initiation, weaker average storm intensity, and more rapid propagation of the MCS to the east (reminiscent of the MCS life cycle downstream of lower mountains such as the Rockies). With reduced Andes, lee cyclogenesis and SALLJ winds are weaker, while they are stronger in increased Andes runs. The presence of the Sierras de Cordoba (secondary mountain range east of the Andes in Argentina) focuses convective initiation and results in more intense storms in experiments with higher Andes. Average CAPE and CIN values for each terrain modification simulation show that reduced Andes runs had lower CIN and CAPE, while increased Andes runs had both stronger CAPE and CIN. From this research, a conceptual model for convective storm environments leading to convective initiation has been developed for subtropical South America.
Sonic anemometry is fundamental to all eddy-covariance studies of surface energy and ecosystem carbon and water balance. Recent studies have shown that some nonorthogonal anemometers underestimate vertical wind. Here ...
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Sonic anemometry is fundamental to all eddy-covariance studies of surface energy and ecosystem carbon and water balance. Recent studies have shown that some nonorthogonal anemometers underestimate vertical wind. Here it is hypothesized that this is due to a lack of transducer and structural shadowing correction. This is tested with a replicated intercomparison experiment between orthogonal (K-probe, Applied Technologies, Inc.) and nonorthogonal (A-probe, Applied Technologies, Inc.;and CSAT3 and CSAT3V, Campbell Scientific, Inc.) anemometer designs. For each of the 12 weeks, five randomly selected and located anemometers were mounted both vertically and horizontally. Bayesian analysis was used to test differences between half-hourly anemometer measurements of the standard deviation of wind (sigma(u), sigma(v), and sigma(w)) and temperature, turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), the ratio between vertical/horizontal TKE (VHTKE), and sensible heat flux (H). Datasets were analyzed with various applications of transducer shadow correction. Using the manufacturer's current recommendations, orthogonal anemometers partitioned higher VHTKE and measured about 8%-9% higher sigma(w) and similar to 10% higher H. This difference can be mitigated by adding shadow correction to nonorthogonal anemometers. The horizontal manipulation challenged each anemometer to measure the three dimensions consistently, which allowed for testing two hypotheses explaining the underestimate in vertical wind. While measurements were essentially unchanged when the orthogonal anemometers were mounted sideways, the nonorthogonal anemometers changed substantially and confirmed the lack of shadow correction. Considering the ubiquity of nonorthogonal anemometers, these results are consequential across flux networks and could potentially explain half of the similar to 20% missing energy that is typical at most flux sites.
The deployment and recovery of autonomous or remotely piloted platforms from research vessels have become a way of significantly extending the capabilities and reach of the research fleet. This paper describes the use...
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The deployment and recovery of autonomous or remotely piloted platforms from research vessels have become a way of significantly extending the capabilities and reach of the research fleet. This paper describes the use of ship-launched and ship-recovered Boeing-Insitu ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The UAVs were instrumented to characterize the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) structure and dynamics, and to measure ocean surface processes during the October 2012 Equatorial Mixing (EquatorMix) experiment in the central Pacific and during the July 2013 Trident Warrior experiment off the Virginia coast. The UAV measurements, including atmospheric momentum and radiative, sensible, and latent heat fluxes, are complemented by measurements from ship-based instrumentation, including a foremast MABL eddy-covariance system, lidar altimeters, and a digitized X-band radar system. During EquatorMix, UAV measurements reveal longitudinal atmospheric roll structures not sampled by ship measurements, which contribute significantly to vertical fluxes of heat and momentum. With the nadir-looking UAV lidar, surface signatures of internal waves are observed, consistent and coherent with measurements from ship-based X-band radar, a Hydrographic Doppler Sonar System, and a theoretical model. In the Trident Warrior experiment, the instrumented UAVs were used to demonstrate real-time data assimilation of meteorological data from UAVs into regional coupled ocean-atmosphere models. The instrumented UAVs have provided unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution in atmospheric and oceanographic measurements in remote ocean locations, demonstrating the capabilities of these platforms to extend the range and capabilities of the research fleet for oceanographic and atmospheric studies.
The measurement range of a coherent wind Doppler lidar (CWDL) along a laser beam is the maximum distance from the lidar where wind speed data are accurately retrieved. It means that, at this distance, a sufficient num...
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The measurement range of a coherent wind Doppler lidar (CWDL) along a laser beam is the maximum distance from the lidar where wind speed data are accurately retrieved. It means that, at this distance, a sufficient number of emitted laser photons are backscattered and received by the lidar. Understanding of the propagation of the laser through the atmosphere, and particularly the backscattering and extinction processes from aerosols, is therefore important to estimate the metrological performances of a CWDL instrument. The range is directly related to specific instrument characteristics and atmospheric content, such as the aerosols type, size, and density distributions. Associated with the measurement range is the notion of data availability, which can be defined, at a given range and over a time period, as the percentage number of data retrieved correctly by the CWDL over the total number of measurement attempts. This paper proposes a new approach to predict the CWDL data availability and range of measurement using both instrumental simulation and atmospheric observations of aerosol optical properties from weather stations and simulations. This method is applied in several CWDL measurement campaigns during which estimated data availabilities and ranges are compared with the observations. It is shown that it is fairly possible to anticipate the data availability and the range coverage of CWDL technology at any site of interest where atmospheric data are available. The method also offers an additional way to diagnose the operation of the instrument and will help in the design of future instruments.
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