A Parameterization of the Diffuse transmittance and Reflectance for Aerosol Remote Sensing Problems

To account for surface reflection is a major and most complex issue of any satellite aerosol retrieval algorithm. The surface contribution to the satellite signal is usually calculated assuming Lambertian reflection. Then the problem is reduced to the calculation of total atmospheric transmittance and spherical albedo. Usually, these parameters are stored in so-called look-up tables (LUTs), which can be quite large. The main aim of this paper is the parameterization of these look-up tables in terms of simple approximate equations, which can be subsequently used in aerosol remote sensing techniques over reflecting land surfaces

The Influence of Neighbouring Clouds on the Clear Sky Reflectance Studied with the 3-D Transport Code RADUGA

Operational remote sensing of terrestrial atmosphere is heavily based on the 1-D radiative transfer equation. However, cloudy scenes are influenced by 3-D effects (e.g., illumination from cloud sides, etc.). This leads to biases in aerosol/cloud/land/ocean retrieval schemes for scenes with clouds. These biases can be understood and quantified only with the use of the 3-D radiative transfer theory, which allows to account for arbitrary spatial variation of atmospheric parameters. The task of this paper is twofold. First of all we introduce a novel technique for the solution of the 3-D radiative transfer equation based on the grid approximations and the straightforward iteration procedure realised on supercomputers with parallel architecture. We study the performance of our technique comparing with the solutions obtained by the Monte-Carlo code. A close correspondence is found. Secondly, we quantify the influence of neighbouring clouds on the clear sky reflection function at the nadir observation depending on the solar illumination conditions. We find that the influence of cloud on the clear sky reflectance function is not negligible (even outside the cloud geometrical shadow). Thus, the peculiar inner boundary layer arises in the sky reflectance function with shadowing and brightening effects

IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters: Vol. 10, No. 6, November 2013

1. Merchant Vessel Classification Based on Scattering Component Analysis for COSMO-SkyMed SAR Images / Hong Zhang, et al. 2. Multibaseline PolInSAR Using RADARSAT-2 Quad-Pol Data: improvements in interferometric Phase Analysis / Samira Alipour, et al. 3. Semantic Annotation of High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images via Gaussian Process Multi-Instance Multilabel Learning / Keming Chen, et al. 4. An Azimuth-Dependent Phase Gradient Autofocus (APGA) Algorithm for Airborne/ Stationary BiSAR Imagery / Song Zhuo, et al. 5. Unsupervised Detection of Built -Up Areas From Multiple High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images / Chao Tao, et al. 6. Fast Nonlocal Remote Sensing Image Denoising Using Cosine Integral Images / Bindang Xue, et al. 7. Multichannel InSAR DEM Reconstruction Through Improved Closed-Form Robust Chinese Remainder Theorem / Zhihui Yuan, et al. 8. EBG Antenna for GPR Colocated With a Metal Detector for Landmine Detection / Ian T. McMichael, et al. 9. Swarm Optimization of Structuring Elements for VHR Image Classification / Abdelhamid Daamouched, et al. 10. Considerations for Ku-Band Scatterometer Calibration Using the Dry-Snow Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet / Kevin R. Moon, David G. Long 11. Unsupervised Coastal Line Extraction from SAR Images / Fabio Baselice, Giampaolo Ferraioli 12. Detection of 3-D Individual Trees in Urban Areas by Combining Airborne LiDAR Data and Imagery / Wei Yao, Yuzhang Wei 13. Inversion of Sweep Frequency Backscatter Ionogram from Monostatic HF Sky-Wave Radar / Ning Li, et al. 14. Utilizing Versatile Transmission Waveforms to Mitigate Pulse-Compression Range Sidelobes with the HIWRAP Radar / Matthew L. McLinden, et al. 15. Space-Time Cube Representation of Stream Bank Evolution Mapped by Terrestrial Laser Scanning / M.J. Starek, et al. etc

Foundations of Atmospheric Remote Sensing

Theoretical foundations of atmospheric remote sensing are electromagnetic theory, radiative transfer and inversion theory. This book provides an overview of these topics in a common context, compile the results of recent research, as well as fill the gaps, where needed. The following aspects are covered: principles of remote sensing, the atmospheric physics, foundations of the radiative transfer theory, electromagnetic absorption, scattering and propagation, review of computational techniques in radiative transfer, retrieval techniques as well as regularization principles of inversion theory. As such, the book provides a valuable resource for those who work with remote sensing data and want to get a broad view of theoretical foundations of atmospheric remote sensing. The book will be also useful for students and researchers working in such diverse fields like inverse problems, atmospheric physics, electromagnetic theory, and radiative transfer

Determination of atmospheric aerosol properties over land using satellite measurements

Mostly, aerosol properties are poorly understood because the aerosol properties are very sparse. The first workshop on the determination of atmospheric aerosol properties over land using satellite measurements is convened in Bremen, Germany. In this workshop, the topics of discussions included a variety of satellite aerosol optical thickness retrieval methods, the description of modern satellite instrumentation, and the information content of satellite measurements with respect to the aerosol properties retrieval from spaceborne observations. The presentations are mostly concerned with the aerosol optical thickness retrieval over land

The Cloud Phase Discrimination From a Satellite

International audienceA new technique to identify mixed-phase clouds but also clouds with supercooled water droplets using satellite measurements is proposed. The technique is based on measurements of the backscattered solar light at wavelengths 1.55 and 1.67 m in combination with cloud brightness temperature measurements at 12 m. For the first time, the concept of the phase index-temperature correlation plot (the P-T diagram) is introduced in the cloud remote sensing. Retrievals of cloud temperature and cloud phase index are performed using data from the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) and Scaning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) both onboard the Envisat platform. Index Terms-Cloud remote sensing, temperature, thermo-dynamic phase

The influence of broken cloudiness on cloud top height retrievals using nadir observations of backscattered solar radiation in the oxygen A-band

The paper is devoted to theoretical studies of the influence of cloud inhomogeneities on cloud top height (CTH) retrievals based on top-of-atmosphere nadir reflectance observations in the oxygen A-band. A three-demensional (3D) Monte Carlo code is used to simulate highly resolved spectral measurements in the oxygen A-band. These synthetic radiances are used as input for the retrieval code SACURA based on asymptotic radiative transfer theory and the independent pixel approximation. The results show that the effect of cloud inhomogeneity on the derived CTHs is small. While we found considerable 3D effects in the reflectance of more than 30% compared to the independent column approximation, the spectral dependence of the difference was small. As SACURA is mainly based on spectral ratios, the retrieval results are hardly affected by the large absolute deviations. In consequence, SACURA is capable to retrieve CTHs with an accuracy of better than 1.5km for overcast and also most partially cloudy cases