Selection of the key earth observation sensors and platforms focusing on applications for Polar Regions in the scope of Copernicus system 2020-2030

An optimal payload selection conducted in the frame of the H2020 ONION project (id 687490) is presented based on the ability to cover the observation needs of the Copernicus system in the time period 2020–2030. Payload selection is constrained by the variables that can be measured, the power consumption, and weight of the instrument, and the required accuracy and spatial resolution (horizontal or vertical). It involved 20 measurements with observation gaps according to the user requirements that were detected in the top 10 use cases in the scope of Copernicus space infrastructure, 9 potential applied technologies, and 39 available commercial platforms. Additional Earth Observation (EO) infrastructures are proposed to reduce measurements gaps, based on a weighting system that assigned high relevance for measurements associated to Marine for Weather Forecast over Polar Regions. This study concludes with a rank and mapping of the potential technologies and the suitable commercial platforms to cover most of the requirements of the top ten use cases, analyzing the Marine for Weather Forecast, Sea Ice Monitoring, Fishing Pressure, and Agriculture and Forestry: Hydric stress as the priority use cases.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Global Three-Dimensional Water Vapor Feature-Tracking for Horizontal Winds Using Hyperspectral Infrared Sounder Data From Overlapped Tracks of Two Satellites

The lack of measurements of three-dimensional (3D) distribution of horizontal wind vectors is a major challenge in atmospheric science. Here, we develop an algorithm to retrieve winds for nine pressure levels at 1° grid spacing from 70°N to 70°S. The retrieval is done by tracking water vapor from the hyperspectral Cross-track Infrared Sounder aboard two polar satellites (NOAA-20 and Suomi-NPP) that have overlapped tracks separated by 50 min. We impose a gross error check by flagging retrievals that are too different from ERA-5 reanalysis. Testing the algorithm for the first week of January and July 2020 indicates that our algorithm yields 104 wind profiles per day and these 3D winds qualitatively agree with ERA-5. Compared with radiosonde data, the errors are within the range of reported errors of cloud-tracking winds

An Overview of the TROPICS NASA Earth Venture Mission

The Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) mission was selected by NASA as part of the Earth Venture-Instrument (EVI-3) program. The overarching goal for TROPICS is to provide nearly all-weather observations of 3D temperature and humidity, as well as cloud ice and precipitation horizontal structure, at high temporal resolution to conduct high-value science investigations of tropical cyclones. TROPICS will provide rapid-refresh microwave measurements (median refresh rate better than 60 min for the baseline mission) which can be used to observe the thermodynamics of the troposphere and precipitation structure for storm systems at the mesoscale and synoptic scale over the entire storm life cycle. TROPICS comprises six Cube-Sats in three low-Earth orbital planes. Each CubeSat will host a high-performance radiometer to provide temperature profiles using seven channels near the 118.75 GHz oxygen absorption line, water vapour profiles using three channels near the 183 GHz water vapour absorption line, imagery in a single channel near 90 GHz for precipitation measurements (when combined with higher-resolution water vapour channels), and a single channel near 205 GHz which is more sensitive to precipitation-sized ice particles. This observing system offers an unprecedented combination of horizontal and temporal resolution to measure environmental and inner-core conditions for tropical cyclones on a nearly global scale and is a major leap forward in the temporal resolution of several key parameters needed for assimilation into advanced data assimilation systems capable of utilizing rapid-update radiance or retrieval data.Launch readiness is currently projected for late 2019

Future Indian earth observation systems

Indian Earth Observation (EO) capability has increased manifold since the launch of Bhasakra-I in 1979 to Cartosat-Z in 2007. Improvements are not only in spatial, spectral. temporal and radiometric resolutions but also in their coverage and value added products. It has also entered into the arena of passive and active microwave remote sensing. stereo viewing and viewing from the geo-synchronous platform at moderately high resolution. Observations specific to oceans and atmosphere are getting further emphasis. Demand for a constellation of satellites for monitoring disaster situations is strongly made. In this context, India has made extensive plans for continuity and enhancement in EO capability. not only towards its OWn national needs. but also as a contributing participant towards Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Major emphasis of the future plan has been to consolidate theme-specific satellites. in order to fill the gaps in observation including those for disaster monitoring and mitigation, and also to develop synergy with international missions for complementing and supplementing Indian missions. The future Indian EO systems include those for land applications-Resourcesat witli wide swath LlSS- Ill, high resolution Cartosat (0.3 m) and Imaging Radar (RISAT: C-band, multi- polarization). It also proposes to develop space based hyper-spectral sensor and atmospheric corrector. The future ocean application sensors include improved Ocean Color Monitor, Ku band scatterometer and a thermal IR sensor. The two major satellites dedicated for atmospheric observations are INSAT-3D with 6 channel imager and 19 channel sounder. and the ISRO-CNES joint venture Megha Tropiques with three sensors viz. MADRAS, SAPHIRE and ScaRab. Satellite for Argos and Ka band radio altimeter (SA RA I,). a joint ISRO-CNES mission is also underway. L-band polarimetric radiometer. hyper spectral sounder. rain radar, millimeter wave sounder, high resolution imager from geo-synchronous platform are some of the sensors being considered for future missions

GEWEX water vapor assessment (G-VAP): final report

Este es un informe dentro del Programa para la Investigación del Clima Mundial (World Climate Research Programme, WCRP) cuya misión es facilitar el análisis y la predicción de la variabilidad de la Tierra para proporcionar un valor añadido a la sociedad a nivel práctica. La WCRP tiene varios proyectos centrales, de los cuales el de Intercambio Global de Energía y Agua (Global Energy and Water Exchanges, GEWEX) es uno de ellos. Este proyecto se centra en estudiar el ciclo hidrológico global y regional, así como sus interacciones a través de la radiación y energía y sus implicaciones en el cambio global. Dentro de GEWEX existe el proyecto de Evaluación del Vapor de Agua (VAP, Water Vapour Assessment) que estudia las medidas de concentraciones de vapor de agua en la atmósfera, sus interacciones radiativas y su repercusión en el cambio climático global.El vapor de agua es, de largo, el gas invernadero más importante que reside en la atmósfera. Es, potencialmente, la causa principal de la amplificación del efecto invernadero causado por emisiones de origen humano (principalmente el CO2). Las medidas precisas de su concentración en la atmósfera son determinantes para cuantificar este efecto de retroalimentación positivo al cambio climático. Actualmente, se está lejos de tener medidas de concentraciones de vapor de agua suficientemente precisas para sacar conclusiones significativas de dicho efecto. El informe del WCRP titulado "GEWEX water vapor assessment. Final Report" detalla el estado actual de las medidas de las concentraciones de vapor de agua en la atmósfera. AEMET ha colaborado en la generación de este informe y tiene a unos de sus miembros, Xavier Calbet, como co-autor de este informe

NIMBUS-5 sounder data processing system. Part 2: Results

The Nimbus-5 spacecraft carries infrared and microwave radiometers for sensing the temperature distribution of the atmosphere. Methods developed for obtaining temperature profiles from the combined set of infrared and microwave radiation measurements are described. Algorithms used to determine (a) vertical temperature and water vapor profiles, (b) cloud height, fractional coverage, and liquid water content, (c) surface temperature, and (d) total outgoing longwave radiation flux are described. Various meteorological results obtained from the application of the Nimbus-5 sounding data processing system during 1973 and 1974 are presented

Assimilating All-Sky Microwave Radiance Data to Improve NASA GEOS Forecasts and Analysis

The NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) has been pursuing efforts to utilize all-sky (clear+cloudy+precipitating) MW radiance data and has developed a system to assimilate all-sky GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) radiance data in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) during the last PMM funding period. The system provides additional constraints on the analysis process near the storm regions and adjusts the geophysical parameters such as precipitation, cloud, moisture, surface pressure, and wind by combining information from GMI radiance measurements and model forecasts in an optimal manner. The system proved that assimilating the GMI all-sky radiance data improve the GEOS atmospheric analyses and forecasts. This all-sky data framework has been included in the GEOS Forward Processing (FP) system since July 11, 2018 and assimilates all-sky GMI data in real-time for GEOS global analysis and forecast production at the GMAO. We are currently extending this all-sky GMI radiance data assimilation system to assimilate more all-sky MW radiance data from other sensors such as the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS), the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), and the Sounder for Atmospheric Profiling of Humidity in the Intertropics by Radiometery (SAPHIR) onboard the GPM constellation spacecrafts. Preliminary results from this extended all-sky system show increased benefit from cloud- and precipitation-affected MW radiances with much larger spatial and temporal coverages compared to the all-sky system assimilating GMI alone and improved GEOS forecast skills especially for lower tropospheric humidity fields

A Multi-Parameter Dynamical Diagnostics for Upper Tropospheric and Lower Stratospheric Studies

Ozone trend estimates have shown large uncertainties in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UTLS) region despite multi-decadal observations available from ground-based, balloon, aircraft, and satellite platforms. These uncertainties arise from large natural variability driven by dynamics (reflected in tropopause and jet variations) as well as the strength in constituent transport and mixing. Additionally, despite all the community efforts there is still a lack of representative high-quality global UTLS measurements to capture this variability. The Stratosphere-troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) Observed Composition Trends and Variability in the UTLS (OCTAV-UTLS) activity aims to reduce uncertainties in UTLS composition trend estimates by accounting for this dynamically induced variability. In this paper, we describe the production of dynamical diagnostics using meteorological information from reanalysis fields that facilitate mapping observations from several platforms into numerous geophysically-based coordinates (including tropopause and upper tropospheric jet relative coordinates). Suitable coordinates should increase the homogeneity of the air masses analyzed together, thus reducing the uncertainty caused by spatio-temporal sampling biases in the quantification of UTLS composition trends. This approach thus provides a framework for comparing measurements with diverse sampling patterns and leverages the meteorological context to derive maximum information on UTLS composition and trends and its relationships to dynamical variability. The dynamical diagnostics presented here are the first comprehensive set describing the meteorological context for multi-decadal observations by ozonesondes, lidar, aircraft, and satellite measurements in order to study the impact of dynamical processes on observed UTLS trends by different sensors on different platforms. Examples using these diagnostics to map multi-platform datasets into different geophysically-based coordinate systems are provided. The diagnostics presented can also be applied to analysis of greenhouse gases other than ozone that are relevant to surface climate and UTLS chemistry.</p

Stratospheric Gravity Waves as a Proxy for Hurricane Intensification:A Case Study of Weather Research and Forecast Simulation for Hurricane Joaquin

We conducted simulations with a 4-km resolution for Hurricane Joaquin in 2015 using the weather research and forecast (WRF) model. The model data are used to study stratospheric gravity waves (GWs) generated by the hurricane and how they correlate with hurricane intensity. The simulation results show spiral GWs propagating upward and anticlockwise away from the hurricane center. GWs with vertical wavelengths up to 14 km are generated. We find that GW activity is more frequent and intense during hurricane intensification than during weakening, particularly for the most intense GW activity. There are significant correlations between the change of stratospheric GW intensity and hurricane intensity. Therefore, the emergence of intensive stratospheric GW activity may be considered a useful proxy for identifying hurricane intensification

Gaps analysis and requirements specification for the evolution of Copernicus system for polar regions monitoring: addressing the challenges in the horizon 2020-2030

This work was developed as part of the European H2020 ONION (Operational Network of Individual Observation Nodes) project, aiming at identifying the technological opportunity areas to complement the Copernicus space infrastructure in the horizon 2020–2030 for polar region monitoring. The European Earth Observation (EO) infrastructure is assessed through of comprehensive end-user need and data gap analysis. This review was based on the top 10 use cases, identifying 20 measurements with gaps and 13 potential EO technologies to cover the identified gaps. It was found that the top priority is the observation of polar regions to support sustainable and safe commercial activities and the preservation of the environment. Additionally, an analysis of the technological limitations based on measurement requirements was performed. Finally, this analysis was used for the basis of the architecture design of a potential polar mission.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version