Photometric modelling for laboratory measurements of dark volcanic sand

We have performed laboratory measurements of the bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) of a sample of dark volcanic sand. The measurements were carried out with three different treatments of the sample to produce different porosity and roughness characteristics. We model the measured BRF with a semi-numerical scattering model for particulate media, meant especially for dark planetary regoliths. We compare the BRF in two different spectral bands, 500-600 nm and 800-900 nm. The particulate medium (PM). scattering model is found to fit the measured data well, with a phase function representing the differences between the spectral bands. The interpretation of the physical parameters of the PM model is qualitatively sound, but remains somewhat uncertain due in part to the difficulty of characterizing the measured sample. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Multiple Scattering in Discrete Random Media Using First-Order Incoherent Interactions

Peer reviewe

Soot-doped natural snow and its albedo — results from field experiments

Soot has a pronounced effect on the cryosphere and experiments are still needed to reduce the associated uncertainties. This work presents a series of experiments to address this issue, with soot being deposited onto a natural snow surface after which the albedo changes were monitored. The albedo reduction was the most pronounced for the snow with higher soot content, and it was observed immediately following soot deposition. Compared with a previous laboratory study the effects of soot on the snow were not as prominent in outdoor conditions. During snowmelt, about 50% of the originally deposited soot particles were observed to remain at the snow surface. More detailed experiments are however needed to better explain soot's effect on snow and to better quantify this effect. Our albedo versus soot parameterization agreed relatively well with previously published relationships.Peer reviewe

Land Surface Albedos Computed from BRF Measurements with a Study of Conversion Formulae

Land surface hemispherical albedos of several targets have been resolved using the bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) library of the Finnish Geodetic Institute (FGI). The library contains BRF data measured by FGI during the years 2003–2009. Surface albedos are calculated using selected BRF datasets from the library. Polynomial interpolation and extrapolation have been used in computations. Several broadband conversion formulae generally used for satellite based surface albedo retrieval have been tested. The albedos were typically found to monotonically increase with increasing zenith angle of the Sun. The surface albedo variance was significant even within each target category / surface type. In general, the albedo estimates derived using diverse broadband conversion formulas and estimates obtained by direct integration of the measured spectra were in line

Evaluation of the Snow Albedo Retrieved from the Snow Kernel Improved the Ross-Roujean BRDF Model

The original kernel-driven bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) models were developed based on soil-vegetation systems. To further improve the ability of the models to characterize the snow surface scattering properties, a snow kernel was derived from the asymptotic radiative transfer (ART) model and used in the kernel-driven BRDF model framework. However, there is a need to further evaluate the influence of using this snow kernel to improve the original kernel-driven models in snow albedo retrieval applications. The aim of this study is to perform such an evaluation using a variety of snow BRDF data. The RossThick-Roujean (RTR) model is used as a framework for taking in the new snow kernel (hereafter named the RTS model) since the Roujean geometric-optical (GO) kernel captures a neglectable hotspot effect and represents a more prominent dome-shaped BRDF, especially at a small solar zenith angle (SZA). We obtained the following results: (1) The RTR model has difficulties in reconstructing the snow BRDF shape, especially at large SZAs, which tends to underestimate the reflectance in the forward direction and overestimate reflectance in the backward direction for various data sources. In comparison, the RTS model performs very well in fitting snow BRDF data and shows high accuracy for all data. (2) The RTR model retrieved snow albedos at SZAs = 30°–70° are underestimated by 0.71% and 0.69% in the red and near-infrared (NIR) bands, respectively, compared with the simulation results of the bicontinuous photon tracking (bic-PT) model, which serve as “real” values. However, the albedo retrieved by the RTS model is significantly improved and generally agrees well with the simulation results of the bic-PT model, although the improved model still somewhat underestimates the albedo by 0.01% in the red band and overestimates the albedo by 0.05% in the NIR band, respectively, at SZAs = 30°–70°, which may be negligible. (3) The albedo derived by these two models shows a high correlation (R2 > 0.9) between the field-measured and Polarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectances (POLDER) data, especially for the black-sky albedo. However, the albedo derived using the RTR model is significantly underestimated compared with the RTS model. The RTR model underestimates the black-sky albedo (white-sky albedo) retrievals by 0.62% (1.51%) and 0.93% (2.08%) in the red and NIR bands, respectively, for the field-measured data. The shortwave black-sky and white-sky albedos derived using the RTR model for the POLDER data are underestimated by 1.43% and 1.54%, respectively, compared with the RTS model. These results indicate that the snow kernel in the kernel-driven BRDF model frame is more accurate in snow albedo retrievals and has the potential for application in the field of the regional and global energy budget

Light scattering model for small space debris particles

We have developed a scattering model allowing to study interaction of light with particles populating the near-Earth environment: satellite explosion remnants, collisional debris, particles detached from peeling paint surfaces, and ejecta resulting from micrometeorite bombardment. In its present configuration the model accounts for rough needles, grains, and plates as primary shape elements. More complex shapes are built upon combining them. The model is compared and validated against laboratory measurements. The studied samples include a set of space debris analogue samples obtained from the controlled MIRAD (Microparticle impact related attitude disturbances) experiment that collided solar cell panels with a projectile. The resulting samples are mostly carbon needles and curved aluminium sheets. We have both measured and modelled the scattering of light from a set of these samples. The model agrees rather well with the measurements. The shape and orientation of the particles are found to be the main contributor in how light is scattered, whereas the material dependence shows a weaker trend. Large amount of data with varying viewing and illumination angles are needed to allow for inversion of the target characteristics. The experimental results exploited in our study have significantly aided the model development. In the future, this work can be expanded to a real-mode in-orbit scattering model that can be utilised in Earth system and/or astronomical observations and space mission concept designs. Additional measurements with larger variety of samples and their expanded size range are required to extend and solidify the model for the full range of populations representing space particles