The absolute radiometric calibration of the advanced very high resolution radiometer

An increasing number of remote sensing investigations require radiometrically calibrated imagery from NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiation (AVHRR) sensors. Although a prelaunch calibration is done for these sensors, there is no capability for monitoring any changes in the in-flight absolute calibration for the visible and near infrared spectral channels. Hence, the possibility of using the reflectance-based method developed at White Sands for in-orbit calibration of LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM) and SPOT Haute Resolution Visible (HVR) data to calibrate the AVHRR sensor was investigated. Three diffrent approaches were considered: Method 1 - ground and atmospheric measurements and reference to another calibrated satellite sensor; Method 2 - ground and atmospheric measurements with no reference to another sensor; and Method 3 - no ground and atmospheric measurements but reference to another satellite sensor. The purpose is to describe an investigation on the use of Method 2 to calibrate NOAA-9 AVHRR channels 1 and 2 with the help of ground and atmospheric measurements at Rogers (dry) Lake, Edwards Air Force Base (EAFB) in the Mojave desert of California

The absolute radiometric calibration of the advanced very high resolution radiometer

The need for independent, redundant absolute radiometric calibration methods is discussed with reference to the Thematic Mapper. Uncertainty requirements for absolute calibration of between 0.5 and 4 percent are defined based on the accuracy of reflectance retrievals at an agricultural site. It is shown that even very approximate atmospheric corrections can reduce the error in reflectance retrieval to 0.02 over the reflectance range 0 to 0.4

The absolute radiometric calibration of the advanced very high resolution radiometer

The measurement conditions are described for an intensive field campaign at White Sands Missile Range for the calibration of the AVHRRs on NOAA-9, NOAA-10 and NOAA-11, LANDSAT-4 TM and SPOT. Three different methods for calibration of AVHRRs by reference to a ground surface site are reported, and results from these methods are compared. Significant degradations in NOAA-9 and NOAA-10 AVHRR responsivities occurred since prelaunch calibrations were completed. As of February 1988, degradations in NOAA-9 AVHRR responsivities were on the order of 37 percent in channel and 41 percent in channel 2, and for the NOAA-10 AVHRR these degradations were 42 and 59 percent in channels 1 and 2, respectively

H-Alpha and Hard X-Ray Observations of a Two-Ribbon Flare Associated with a Filament Eruption

We perform a multi-wavelength study of a two-ribbon flare on 2002 September 29 and its associated filament eruption, observed simultaneously in the H-alpha line by a ground-based imaging spectrograph and in hard X-rays by RHESSI. The flare ribbons contain several H-alpha bright kernels that show different evolutional behaviors. In particular, we find two kernels that may be the footpoints of a loop. A single hard X-ray source appears to cover these two kernels and to move across the magnetic neutral line. We explain this as a result of the merging of two footpoint sources that show gradually asymmetric emission owing to an asymmetric magnetic topology of the newly reconnected loops. In one of the H-alpha kernels, we detect a continuum enhancement at the visible wavelength. By checking its spatial and temporal relationship with the hard X-ray emission, we ascribe it as being caused by electron beam precipitation. In addition, we derive the line-of-sight velocity of the filament plasma based on the Doppler shift of the filament-caused absorption in the H-alpha blue wing. The filament shows rapid acceleration during the impulsive phase. These observational features are in principal consistent with the general scenario of the canonical two-ribbon flare model.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Angle-resolved photoemission studies of the superconducting gap symmetry in Fe-based superconductors

The superconducting gap is the fundamental parameter that characterizes the superconducting state, and its symmetry is a direct consequence of the mechanism responsible for Cooper pairing. Here we discuss about angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements of the superconducting gap in the Fe-based high-temperature superconductors. We show that the superconducting gap is Fermi surface dependent and nodeless with small anisotropy, or more precisely, a function of momentum. We show that while this observation is inconsistent with weak coupling approaches for superconductivity in these materials, it is well supported by strong coupling models and global superconducting gaps. We also suggest that the strong anisotropies measured by other probes sensitive to the residual density of states are not related to the pairing interaction itself, but rather emerge naturally from the smaller lifetime of the superconducting Cooper pairs that is a direct consequence of the momentum dependent interband scattering inherent to these materials.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Weight function for the quantum affine algebra Uq(sl^3)U_q(\hat{sl}_3)

We give a precise expression for the universal weight function of the quantum affine algebra $U_q(\hat{sl}_3)$. The calculations use the technique of projecting products of Drinfeld currents on the intersections of Borel subalgebras.Comment: 28 page