Stray radiation and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite /IRAS/ telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Noll, R. J.; Harned, R.; Breault, R. P.; Malugin, R.

1981-01-01

Stray light control is a major consideration in the design of infrared cryogenically cooled telescopes such as the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). The basic design of the baffle system, and the placement, shape, and coating of the secondary support struts for the telescope subsystem are described. The intent of this paper is to highlight the stray light problems encountered while designing the system, and to illustrate how computer analysis can be a useful design aid. Scattering measurements of the primary mirror, and a full system level scatter measurement are presented. Comparisons of predicted performance with the measured results are also presented.

A climate index derived from satellite measured spectral infrared radiation. Ph.D. Thesis

Science.gov (United States)

Abel, M. D.; Fox, S. K.

1982-01-01

The vertical infrared radiative emitting structure (VIRES) climate index, based on radiative transfer theory and derived from the spectral radiances typically used to retrieve temperature profiles, is introduced. It is assumed that clouds and climate are closely related and a change in one will result in a change in the other. The index is a function of the cloud, temperature, and moisture distributions. It is more accurately retrieved from satellite data than is cloudiness per se. The VIRES index is based upon the shape and relative magnitude of the broadband weighting function of the infrared radiative transfer equation. The broadband weighting curves are retrieved from simulated satellite infrared sounder data (spectral radiances). The retrieval procedure is described and the error error sensitivities of the method investigated. Index measuring options and possible applications of the VIRES index are proposed.

Cosmic far-infrared background at high galactic latitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stecker, F.W.; Puget, J.L.; Fazio, G.G.

1977-01-01

We predict far-infrared background fluxes from various cosmic sources. These fluxes lie near the high-frequency side of the blackbody radiation spectrum. These sources could account for a significant fraction of the background radiation at frequencies above 400 GHz which might be misinterpreted as a ''Comptonization'' distortion of the blackbody radiation. Particular attention is paid to the possible contributions from external galaxies, from rich clusters of galaxies, and from galactic dust emission

Cosmic far-infrared background at high galactic latitudes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stecker, F.W.; Puget, J.L.; Fazio, G.G.

1976-12-01

Far-infrared background fluxes from various cosmic sources are predicted. These fluxes lie near the high-frequency side of the blackbody radiation spectrum. These sources could account for a significant fraction of the background radiation at frequencies above 400 GHz, which might be misinterpreted as a comptonization distortion of the blackbody radiation. Particular attention is paid to the possible contributions from external galaxies, rich clusters of galaxies and from galactic dust emission

Early results from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neugebauer, G.; Beichman, C.A.; Soifer, B.T.

1984-01-01

For 10 months the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) provided astronomers with what might be termed their first view of the infrared sky on a clear, dark night. Without IRAS, atmospheric absorption and the thermal emission from both the atmosphere and Earthbound telescopes make the task of the infrared astronomer comparable to what an optical astronomer would face if required to work only on cloudy afternoons. IRAS observations are serving astronomers in the same manner as the photographic plates of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey; just as the optical survey has been used by all astronomers for over three decades, as a source of quantitative information about the sky and as a roadmap for future observations, the results of IRAS will be studied for years to come. IRAS has demonstrated the power of infrared astronomy from space. Already, from a brief look at a miniscule fraction of the data available, we have learned much about the solar system, about nearby stars, about the Galaxy as a whole and about distant extragalactic systems. Comets are much dustier than previously thought. Solid particles, presumably the remnants of the star-formation process, orbit around Vega and other stars and may provide the raw material for planetary systems. Emission from cool interstellar material has been traced throughout the Galaxy all the way to the galactic poles. Both the clumpiness and breadth of the distribution of this material were previously unsuspected. The far-infrared sky away from the galactic plane has been found to be dominate by spiral galaxies, some of which emit more than 50% and as much as 98% of their energy in the infrared - an exciting and surprising revelation. The IRAS mission is clearly the pathfinder for future mission that, to a large extent, will be devoted to the discoveries revealed by IRAS. 8 figures

Microwave and theoretical studies for Cosmic Background Explorer satellite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilkinson, D.T.

1983-07-01

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, its instruments, and its scientific mission are discussed. The COBE radiometer is considered, and measurement of galactic radio emission with masers is reviewed. Extragalactic radiation and zodiacal dust are mentioned briefly

A Dynamic Enhancement With Background Reduction Algorithm: Overview and Application to Satellite-Based Dust Storm Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Steven D.; Bankert, Richard L.; Solbrig, Jeremy E.; Forsythe, John M.; Noh, Yoo-Jeong; Grasso, Lewis D.

2017-12-01

This paper describes a Dynamic Enhancement Background Reduction Algorithm (DEBRA) applicable to multispectral satellite imaging radiometers. DEBRA uses ancillary information about the clear-sky background to reduce false detections of atmospheric parameters in complex scenes. Applied here to the detection of lofted dust, DEBRA enlists a surface emissivity database coupled with a climatological database of surface temperature to approximate the clear-sky equivalent signal for selected infrared-based multispectral dust detection tests. This background allows for suppression of false alarms caused by land surface features while retaining some ability to detect dust above those problematic surfaces. The algorithm is applicable to both day and nighttime observations and enables weighted combinations of dust detection tests. The results are provided quantitatively, as a detection confidence factor [0, 1], but are also readily visualized as enhanced imagery. Utilizing the DEBRA confidence factor as a scaling factor in false color red/green/blue imagery enables depiction of the targeted parameter in the context of the local meteorology and topography. In this way, the method holds utility to both automated clients and human analysts alike. Examples of DEBRA performance from notable dust storms and comparisons against other detection methods and independent observations are presented.

THE COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND EXPERIMENT (CIBER): THE LOW RESOLUTION SPECTROMETER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsumura, K.; Arai, T.; Matsumoto, T.; Matsuura, S.; Murata, K. [Department of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics, Institute of Space and Astronoutical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan); Battle, J.; Bock, J. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Brown, S.; Lykke, K.; Smith, A. [Optical Technology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (United States); Cooray, A. [Center for Cosmology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Hristov, V.; Levenson, L. R.; Mason, P. [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Keating, B.; Renbarger, T. [Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093 (United States); Kim, M. G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, D. H.; Nam, U. W. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Sullivan, I., E-mail: tsumura@ir.isas.jaxa.jp [Department of Physics, The University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); and others

2013-08-15

Absolute spectrophotometric measurements of diffuse radiation at 1 {mu}m to 2 {mu}m are crucial to our understanding of the radiative content of the universe from nucleosynthesis since the epoch of reionization, the composition and structure of the zodiacal dust cloud in our solar system, and the diffuse galactic light arising from starlight scattered by interstellar dust. The Low Resolution Spectrometer (LRS) on the rocket-borne Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment is a {lambda}/{Delta}{lambda} {approx} 15-30 absolute spectrophotometer designed to make precision measurements of the absolute near-infrared sky brightness between 0.75 {mu}m <{lambda} < 2.1 {mu}m. This paper presents the optical, mechanical, and electronic design of the LRS, as well as the ground testing, characterization, and calibration measurements undertaken before flight to verify its performance. The LRS is shown to work to specifications, achieving the necessary optical and sensitivity performance. We describe our understanding and control of sources of systematic error for absolute photometry of the near-infrared extragalactic background light.

Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer for investigation of Jupiter and its satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aptaker, I.M.

1988-01-01

The Near-Infrared-Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) is one of the science instruments in the Galileo mission, which will explore Jupiter and its satellites in the mid-1990's. The NIMS experiment will map geological units on the surfaces of the Jovian satellites and characterize their mineral content; and, for the atmosphere of Jupiter, investigate cloud properties and the spatial and temporal variability of molecular abundances. The optics are gold-coated reflective and consist of a telescope and a grating spectrometer. The balance of the instrument includes a 17-detector (silicon and indium antimonide) focal plane array, a tuning fork chopper, microprocessor-controlled electronics, and a passive radiative cooler. A wobbling secondary mirror in the telescope provides 20 pixels in one dimension of spatial scanning in a pushbroom mode with 0.5 mr x 0.5 mr instantaneous field of view. The spectral range is 0.7-5.2 microns; resolution is 0.025 micron. NIMS is the first infrared experiment to combine both spatial and spectral mapping capability in one instrument

Demonstration of Cosmic Microwave Background Delensing Using the Cosmic Infrared Background.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Patricia; Challinor, Anthony; Sherwin, Blake D; Mak, Daisy

2016-10-07

Delensing is an increasingly important technique to reverse the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and thus reveal primordial signals the lensing may obscure. We present a first demonstration of delensing on Planck temperature maps using the cosmic infrared background (CIB). Reversing the lensing deflections in Planck CMB temperature maps using a linear combination of the 545 and 857 GHz maps as a lensing tracer, we find that the lensing effects in the temperature power spectrum are reduced in a manner consistent with theoretical expectations. In particular, the characteristic sharpening of the acoustic peaks of the temperature power spectrum resulting from successful delensing is detected at a significance of 16σ, with an amplitude of A_{delens}=1.12±0.07 relative to the expected value of unity. This first demonstration on data of CIB delensing, and of delensing techniques in general, is significant because lensing removal will soon be essential for achieving high-precision constraints on inflationary B-mode polarization.

Gas leak detection in infrared video with background modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Xiaoxia; Huang, Likun

2018-03-01

Background modeling plays an important role in the task of gas detection based on infrared video. VIBE algorithm is a widely used background modeling algorithm in recent years. However, the processing speed of the VIBE algorithm sometimes cannot meet the requirements of some real time detection applications. Therefore, based on the traditional VIBE algorithm, we propose a fast prospect model and optimize the results by combining the connected domain algorithm and the nine-spaces algorithm in the following processing steps. Experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

COBE diffuse infrared background experiment observations of the galactic bulge

Science.gov (United States)

Weiland, J. L.; Arendt, R. G.; Berriman, G. B.; Dwek, E.; Freudenreich, H. T.; Hauser, M. G.; Kelsall, T.; Lisse, C. M.; Mitra, M.; Moseley, S. H.

1994-01-01

Low angular resolution maps of the Galactic bulge at 1.25, 2.2, 3.5, and 4.9 micrometers obtained by the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) onboard NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) are presented. After correction for extinction and subtraction of an empirical model for the Galactic disk, the surface brightness distribution of the bulge resembles a flattened ellipse with a minor-to-major axis ratio of approximately 0.6. The bulge minor axis scale height is found to be 2.1 deg +/- 0.2 deg for all four near-infrared wavelengths. Asymmetries in the longitudinal distribution of bulge brightness contours are qualitatively consistent with those expected for a triaxial bar with its near end in the first Galactic quadrant (0 deg less than l less than 90 deg). There is no evidence for an out-of-plane tilt of such a bar.

Background suppression of infrared small target image based on inter-frame registration

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Xiubo; Xue, Bindang

2018-04-01

We propose a multi-frame background suppression method for remote infrared small target detection. Inter-frame information is necessary when the heavy background clutters make it difficult to distinguish real targets and false alarms. A registration procedure based on points matching in image patches is used to compensate the local deformation of background. Then the target can be separated by background subtraction. Experiments show our method serves as an effective preliminary of target detection.

Assimilating All-Sky Himawari-8 Satellite Infrared Radiances: A Case of Typhoon Soudelor (2015)

OpenAIRE

Honda, Takumi; Miyoshi, Takemasa; Lien, Guo-Yuan; Nishizawa, Seiya; Yoshida, Ryuji; Adachi, Sachiho A.; Terasaki, Koji; Okamoto, Kozo; Tomita, Hirofumi; Bessho, Kotaro

2018-01-01

Japan’s new geostationary satellite Himawari-8, the first of a series of the third-generation geostationary meteorological satellites includingGOES-16, has been operational since July 2015. Himawari-8 produces highresolution observations with 16 frequency bands every 10 min for full disk, and every 2.5 min for local regions. This study aims to assimilate all-sky every-10-min infrared (IR) radiances from Himawari-8 with a regional numerical weather prediction model and to investigate its impac...

Multiple wavelength spectral system simulating background light noise environment in satellite laser communications

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Wei; Sun, Jianfeng; Hou, Peipei; Xu, Qian; Xi, Yueli; Zhou, Yu; Zhu, Funan; Liu, Liren

2017-08-01

Performance of satellite laser communications between GEO and LEO satellites can be influenced by background light noise appeared in the field of view due to sunlight or planets and some comets. Such influences should be studied on the ground testing platform before the space application. In this paper, we introduce a simulator that can simulate the real case of background light noise in space environment during the data talking via laser beam between two lonely satellites. This simulator can not only simulate the effect of multi-wavelength spectrum, but also the effects of adjustable angles of field-of-view, large range of adjustable optical power and adjustable deflection speeds of light noise in space environment. We integrate these functions into a device with small and compact size for easily mobile use. Software control function is also achieved via personal computer to adjust these functions arbitrarily. Keywords:

Infrared image background modeling based on improved Susan filtering

Science.gov (United States)

Yuehua, Xia

2018-02-01

When SUSAN filter is used to model the infrared image, the Gaussian filter lacks the ability of direction filtering. After filtering, the edge information of the image cannot be preserved well, so that there are a lot of edge singular points in the difference graph, increase the difficulties of target detection. To solve the above problems, the anisotropy algorithm is introduced in this paper, and the anisotropic Gauss filter is used instead of the Gauss filter in the SUSAN filter operator. Firstly, using anisotropic gradient operator to calculate a point of image's horizontal and vertical gradient, to determine the long axis direction of the filter; Secondly, use the local area of the point and the neighborhood smoothness to calculate the filter length and short axis variance; And then calculate the first-order norm of the difference between the local area of the point's gray-scale and mean, to determine the threshold of the SUSAN filter; Finally, the built SUSAN filter is used to convolution the image to obtain the background image, at the same time, the difference between the background image and the original image is obtained. The experimental results show that the background modeling effect of infrared image is evaluated by Mean Squared Error (MSE), Structural Similarity (SSIM) and local Signal-to-noise Ratio Gain (GSNR). Compared with the traditional filtering algorithm, the improved SUSAN filter has achieved better background modeling effect, which can effectively preserve the edge information in the image, and the dim small target is effectively enhanced in the difference graph, which greatly reduces the false alarm rate of the image.

Spinning projectile's attitude measurement with LW infrared radiation under sea-sky background

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Miaomiao; Bu, Xiongzhu; Yu, Jing; He, Zilu

2018-05-01

With the further development of infrared radiation research in sea-sky background and the requirement of spinning projectile's attitude measurement, the sea-sky infrared radiation field is used to carry out spinning projectile's attitude angle instead of inertial sensors. Firstly, the generation mechanism of sea-sky infrared radiation is analysed. The mathematical model of sea-sky infrared radiation is deduced in LW (long wave) infrared 8 ∼ 14 μm band by calculating the sea surface and sky infrared radiation. Secondly, according to the movement characteristics of spinning projectile, the attitude measurement model of infrared sensors on projectile's three axis is established. And the feasibility of the model is analysed by simulation. Finally, the projectile's attitude calculation algorithm is designed to improve the attitude angle estimation accuracy. The results of semi-physical experiments show that the segmented interactive algorithm estimation error of pitch and roll angle is within ±1.5°. The attitude measurement method is effective and feasible, and provides accurate measurement basis for the guidance of spinning projectile.

THE COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND EXPERIMENT (CIBER): THE WIDE-FIELD IMAGERS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bock, J.; Battle, J. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Sullivan, I. [Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Arai, T.; Matsumoto, T.; Matsuura, S.; Tsumura, K. [Department of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan); Cooray, A.; Mitchell-Wynne, K.; Smidt, J. [Center for Cosmology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Hristov, V.; Lam, A. C.; Levenson, L. R.; Mason, P. [Department of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Keating, B.; Renbarger, T. [Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093 (United States); Kim, M. G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, D. H. [Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Nam, U. W. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Suzuki, K. [Instrument Development Group of Technical Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi 464-8602 (Japan); and others

2013-08-15

We have developed and characterized an imaging instrument to measure the spatial properties of the diffuse near-infrared extragalactic background light (EBL) in a search for fluctuations from z > 6 galaxies during the epoch of reionization. The instrument is part of the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER), designed to observe the EBL above Earth's atmosphere during a suborbital sounding rocket flight. The imaging instrument incorporates a 2 Degree-Sign Multiplication-Sign 2 Degree-Sign field of view to measure fluctuations over the predicted peak of the spatial power spectrum at 10 arcmin, and 7'' Multiplication-Sign 7'' pixels, to remove lower redshift galaxies to a depth sufficient to reduce the low-redshift galaxy clustering foreground below instrumental sensitivity. The imaging instrument employs two cameras with {Delta}{lambda}/{lambda} {approx} 0.5 bandpasses centered at 1.1 {mu}m and 1.6 {mu}m to spectrally discriminate reionization extragalactic background fluctuations from local foreground fluctuations. CIBER operates at wavelengths where the electromagnetic spectrum of the reionization extragalactic background is thought to peak, and complements fluctuation measurements by AKARI and Spitzer at longer wavelengths. We have characterized the instrument in the laboratory, including measurements of the sensitivity, flat-field response, stray light performance, and noise properties. Several modifications were made to the instrument following a first flight in 2009 February. The instrument performed to specifications in three subsequent flights, and the scientific data are now being analyzed.

Uncertainty Evaluations of the CRCS In-orbit Field Radiometric Calibration Methods for Thermal Infrared Channels of FENGYUN Meteorological Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Y.; Rong, Z.; Min, M.; Hao, X.; Yang, H.

2017-12-01

Meteorological satellites have become an irreplaceable weather and ocean-observing tool in China. These satellites are used to monitor natural disasters and improve the efficiency of many sectors of Chinese national economy. It is impossible to ignore the space-derived data in the fields of meteorology, hydrology, and agriculture, as well as disaster monitoring in China, a large agricultural country. For this reason, China is making a sustained effort to build and enhance its meteorological observing system and application system. The first Chinese polar-orbiting weather satellite was launched in 1988. Since then China has launched 14 meteorological satellites, 7 of which are sun synchronous and 7 of which are geostationary satellites; China will continue its two types of meteorological satellite programs. In order to achieve the in-orbit absolute radiometric calibration of the operational meteorological satellites' thermal infrared channels, China radiometric calibration sites (CRCS) established a set of in-orbit field absolute radiometric calibration methods (FCM) for thermal infrared channels (TIR) and the uncertainty of this method was evaluated and analyzed based on TERRA/AQUA MODIS observations. Comparisons between the MODIS at pupil brightness temperatures (BTs) and the simulated BTs at the top of atmosphere using radiative transfer model (RTM) based on field measurements showed that the accuracy of the current in-orbit field absolute radiometric calibration methods was better than 1.00K (@300K, K=1) in thermal infrared channels. Therefore, the current CRCS field calibration method for TIR channels applied to Chinese metrological satellites was with favorable calibration accuracy: for 10.5-11.5µm channel was better than 0.75K (@300K, K=1) and for 11.5-12.5µm channel was better than 0.85K (@300K, K=1).

Online Visualization and Analysis of Global Half-Hourly Infrared Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Zhong; Ostrenga, Dana; Leptoukh, Gregory

2011-01-01

nfrared (IR) images (approximately 11-micron channel) recorded by satellite sensors have been widely used in weather forecasting, research, and classroom education since the Nimbus program. Unlike visible images, IR imagery can reveal cloud features without sunlight illumination; therefore, they can be used to monitor weather phenomena day and night. With geostationary satellites deployed around the globe, it is possible to monitor weather events 24/7 at a temporal resolution that polar-orbiting satellites cannot achieve at the present time. When IR data from multiple geostationary satellites are merged to form a single product--also known as a merged product--it allows for observing weather on a global scale. Its high temporal resolution (e.g., every half hour) also makes it an ideal ancillary dataset for supporting other satellite missions, such as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), etc., by providing additional background information about weather system evolution.

Research on the algorithm of infrared target detection based on the frame difference and background subtraction method

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yun; Zhao, Yuejin; Liu, Ming; Dong, Liquan; Hui, Mei; Liu, Xiaohua; Wu, Yijian

2015-09-01

As an important branch of infrared imaging technology, infrared target tracking and detection has a very important scientific value and a wide range of applications in both military and civilian areas. For the infrared image which is characterized by low SNR and serious disturbance of background noise, an innovative and effective target detection algorithm is proposed in this paper, according to the correlation of moving target frame-to-frame and the irrelevance of noise in sequential images based on OpenCV. Firstly, since the temporal differencing and background subtraction are very complementary, we use a combined detection method of frame difference and background subtraction which is based on adaptive background updating. Results indicate that it is simple and can extract the foreground moving target from the video sequence stably. For the background updating mechanism continuously updating each pixel, we can detect the infrared moving target more accurately. It paves the way for eventually realizing real-time infrared target detection and tracking, when transplanting the algorithms on OpenCV to the DSP platform. Afterwards, we use the optimal thresholding arithmetic to segment image. It transforms the gray images to black-white images in order to provide a better condition for the image sequences detection. Finally, according to the relevance of moving objects between different frames and mathematical morphology processing, we can eliminate noise, decrease the area, and smooth region boundaries. Experimental results proves that our algorithm precisely achieve the purpose of rapid detection of small infrared target.

Feasibility study for Japanese Air Quality Mission from Geostationary Satellite: Infrared Imaging Spectrometer

Science.gov (United States)

Sagi, K.; Kasai, Y.; Philippe, B.; Suzuki, K.; Kita, K.; Hayashida, S.; Imasu, R.; Akimoto, H.

2009-12-01

A Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite is potentially able to monitor the regional distribution of pollution with good spatial and temporal resolution. The Japan Society of Atmospheric Chemistry (JSAC) and the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (JAXA) initiated a concept study for air quality measurements from a GEO satellite targeting the Asian region [1]. This work presents the results of sensitivity studies for a Thermal Infrared (TIR) (650-2300cm-1) candidate instrument. We performed a simulation study and error analysis to optimize the instrumental operating frequencies and spectral resolution. The scientific requirements, in terms of minimum precision (or error) values, are 10% for tropospheric O3 and CO and total column of HN3 and nighttime HNO2 and 25% for O3 and CO with separating 2 or 3 column in troposphere. Two atmospheric scenarios, one is Asian background, second is polluted case, were assumed for this study. The forward calculations and the retrieval error analysis were performed with the AMATERASU model [2] developed within the NICT-THz remote sensing project. Retrieval error analysis employed the Optimal Estimation Method [3]. The geometry is off-nadir observation on Tokyo from the geostationary satellite at equator. Fine spectral resolution will allow to observe boundary layer O3 and CO. We estimate the observation precision in the spectral resolution from 0.1cm-1 to 1cm-1 for 0-2km, 2-6km, and 6-12km. A spectral resolution of 0.3 cm-1 gives good sensitivity for all target molecules (e.g. tropospheric O3 can be detected separated 2 column with error 30%). A resolution of 0.6 cm-1 is sufficient to detect tropospheric column amount of O3 and CO (in the Asian background scenario), which is within the required precision and with acceptable instrumental SNR values of 100 for O3 and 30 for CO. However, with this resolution, the boundary layer ozone will be difficult to detect in the background abundance. In addition, a spectral resolution of 0.6 cm

Quantifying the clear-sky bias of satellite-derived infrared LST

Science.gov (United States)

Ermida, S. L.; Trigo, I. F.; DaCamara, C.

2017-12-01

Land surface temperature (LST) is one of the most relevant parameters when addressing the physical processes that take place at the surface of the Earth. Satellite data are particularly appropriate for measuring LST over the globe with high temporal resolution. Remote-sensed LST estimation from space-borne sensors has been systematically performed over the Globe for nearly 3 decades and geostationary LST climate data records are now available. The retrieval of LST from satellite observations generally relies on measurements in the thermal infrared (IR) window. Although there is a large number of IR sensors on-board geostationary satellites and polar orbiters suitable for LST retrievals with different temporal and spatial resolutions, the use of IR observations limits LST estimates to clear sky conditions. As a consequence, climate studies based on IR LST are likely to be affected by the restriction of LST data to cloudless conditions. However, such "clear sky bias" has never been quantified and, therefore, the actual impact of relying only on clear sky data is still to be determined. On the other hand, an "all-weather" global LST database may be set up based on passive microwave (MW) measurements which are much less affected by clouds. An 8-year record of all-weather MW LST is here used to quantify the clear-sky bias of IR LST at global scale based on MW observations performed by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) onboard NASA's Aqua satellite. Selection of clear-sky and cloudy pixels is based on information derived from measurements performed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on-board the same satellite.

Cosmic Infrared Background Fluctuations and Zodiacal Light

Science.gov (United States)

Arendt, Richard G.; Kashlinsky, A.; Moseley, S. H.; Mather, J.

2016-06-01

We performed a specific observational test to measure the effect that the zodiacal light can have on measurements of the spatial fluctuations of the near-IR background. Previous estimates of possible fluctuations caused by zodiacal light have often been extrapolated from observations of the thermal emission at longer wavelengths and low angular resolution or from IRAC observations of high-latitude fields where zodiacal light is faint and not strongly varying with time. The new observations analyzed here target the COSMOS field at low ecliptic latitude where the zodiacal light intensity varies by factors of ˜2 over the range of solar elongations at which the field can be observed. We find that the white-noise component of the spatial power spectrum of the background is correlated with the modeled zodiacal light intensity. Roughly half of the measured white noise is correlated with the zodiacal light, but a more detailed interpretation of the white noise is hampered by systematic uncertainties that are evident in the zodiacal light model. At large angular scales (≳100″) where excess power above the white noise is observed, we find no correlation of the power with the modeled intensity of the zodiacal light. This test clearly indicates that the large-scale power in the infrared background is not being caused by the zodiacal light.

Retrieval of precipitable water using near infrared channels of Global Imager/Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (GLI/ADEOS-II)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuji, M.; Uchiyama, A.

2002-01-01

Retrieval of precipitable water (vertically integrated water vapor amount) is proposed using near infrared channels og Global Imager onboard Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-II (GLI/ADEOS-II). The principle of retrieval algorithm is based upon that adopted with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite series. Simulations were carried out with GLI Signal Simulator (GSS) to calculate the radiance ratio between water vapor absorbing bands and non-absorbing bands. As a result, it is found that for the case of high spectral reflectance background (a bright target) such as the land surface, the calibration curves are sensitive to the precipitable water variation. For the case of low albedo background (a dark target) such as the ocean surface, on the contrary, the calibration curve is not very sensitive to its variation under conditions of the large water vapor amount. It turns out that aerosol loading has little influence on the retrieval over a bright target for the aerosol optical thickness less than about 1.0 at 500nm. It is also anticipated that simultaneous retrieval of the water vapor amount using GLI data along with other channels will lead to improved accuracy of the determination of surface geophysical properties, such as vegetation, ocean color, and snow and ice, through the better atmospheric correction

Real time imaging and infrared background scene analysis using the Naval Postgraduate School infrared search and target designation (NPS-IRSTD) system

Science.gov (United States)

Bernier, Jean D.

1991-09-01

The imaging in real time of infrared background scenes with the Naval Postgraduate School Infrared Search and Target Designation (NPS-IRSTD) System was achieved through extensive software developments in protected mode assembly language on an Intel 80386 33 MHz computer. The new software processes the 512 by 480 pixel images directly in the extended memory area of the computer where the DT-2861 frame grabber memory buffers are mapped. Direct interfacing, through a JDR-PR10 prototype card, between the frame grabber and the host computer AT bus enables each load of the frame grabber memory buffers to be effected under software control. The protected mode assembly language program can refresh the display of a six degree pseudo-color sector in the scanner rotation within the two second period of the scanner. A study of the imaging properties of the NPS-IRSTD is presented with preliminary work on image analysis and contrast enhancement of infrared background scenes.

Estimating the top altitude of optically thick ice clouds from thermal infrared satellite observations using CALIPSO data

Science.gov (United States)

Minnis, Patrick; Yost, Chris R.; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Chen, Yan

2008-06-01

The difference between cloud-top altitude Z top and infrared effective radiating height Z eff for optically thick ice clouds is examined using April 2007 data taken by the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) and the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). For even days, the difference ΔZ between CALIPSO Z top and MODIS Z eff is 1.58 +/- 1.26 km. The linear fit between Z top and Z eff , applied to odd-day data, yields a difference of 0.03 +/- 1.21 km and can be used to estimate Z top from any infrared-based Z eff for thick ice clouds. Random errors appear to be due primarily to variations in cloud ice-water content (IWC). Radiative transfer calculations show that ΔZ corresponds to an optical depth of ~1, which based on observed ice-particle sizes yields an average cloud-top IWC of ~0.015 gm-3, a value consistent with in situ measurements. The analysis indicates potential for deriving cloud-top IWC using dual-satellite data.

Planck 2015 results: XXIII. The thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect-cosmic infrared background correlation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ade, P. A R; Aghanim, N.; Arnaud, M.

2016-01-01

We use Planck data to detect the cross-correlation between the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect and the infrared emission from the galaxies that make up the the cosmic infrared background (CIB). We first perform a stacking analysis towards Planck-confirmed galaxy clusters. We detect infrared...... that infrared galaxies in the outskirts of clusters have higher infrared flux than cluster-core galaxies. We also study the cross-correlation between tSZ and CIB anisotropies, following three alternative approaches based on power spectrum analyses: (i) using a catalogue of confirmed clusters detected in Planck...... data; (ii) using an all-sky tSZ map built from Planck frequency maps; and (iii) using cross-spectra between Planck frequency maps. With the three different methods, we detect the tSZ-CIB cross-power spectrum at significance levels of (i) 6σ; (ii) 3σ; and (iii) 4σ. We model the tSZ-CIB cross-correlation...

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of Gridded Satellite Data from ISCCP B1 (GridSat-B1) Infrared Channel Brightness Temperature, Version 2

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Gridded Satellite (GridSat-B1) data provides a uniform set of quality controlled geostationary satellite observations for the visible, infrared window and...

Design of a nano-satellite demonstrator of an infrared imaging space interferometer: the HyperCube

Science.gov (United States)

Dohlen, Kjetil; Vives, Sébastien; Rakotonimbahy, Eddy; Sarkar, Tanmoy; Tasnim Ava, Tanzila; Baccichet, Nicola; Savini, Giorgio; Swinyard, Bruce

2014-07-01

The construction of a kilometer-baseline far infrared imaging interferometer is one of the big instrumental challenges for astronomical instrumentation in the coming decades. Recent proposals such as FIRI, SPIRIT, and PFI illustrate both science cases, from exo-planetary science to study of interstellar media and cosmology, and ideas for construction of such instruments, both in space and on the ground. An interesting option for an imaging multi-aperture interferometer with km baseline is the space-based hyper telescope (HT) where a giant, sparsely populated primary mirror is constituted of several free-flying satellites each carrying a mirror segment. All the segments point the same object and direct their part of the pupil towards a common focus where another satellite, containing recombiner optics and a detector unit, is located. In Labeyrie's [1] original HT concept, perfect phasing of all the segments was assumed, allowing snap-shot imaging within a reduced field of view and coronagraphic extinction of the star. However, for a general purpose observatory, image reconstruction using closure phase a posteriori image reconstruction is possible as long as the pupil is fully non-redundant. Such reconstruction allows for much reduced alignment tolerances, since optical path length control is only required to within several tens of wavelengths, rather than within a fraction of a wavelength. In this paper we present preliminary studies for such an instrument and plans for building a miniature version to be flown on a nano satellite. A design for recombiner optics is proposed, including a scheme for exit pupil re-organization, is proposed, indicating the focal plane satellite in the case of a km-baseline interferometer could be contained within a 1m3 unit. Different options for realization of a miniature version are presented, including instruments for solar observations in the visible and the thermal infrared and giant planet observations in the visible, and an

A Readout Integrated Circuit (ROIC) employing self-adaptive background current compensation technique for Infrared Focal Plane Array (IRFPA)

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Tong; Zhao, Jian; He, Yong; Jiang, Bo; Su, Yan

2018-05-01

A novel self-adaptive background current compensation circuit applied to infrared focal plane array is proposed in this paper, which can compensate the background current generated in different conditions. Designed double-threshold detection strategy is to estimate and eliminate the background currents, which could significantly reduce the hardware overhead and improve the uniformity among different pixels. In addition, the circuit is well compatible to various categories of infrared thermo-sensitive materials. The testing results of a 4 × 4 experimental chip showed that the proposed circuit achieves high precision, wide application and high intelligence. Tape-out of the 320 × 240 readout circuit, as well as the bonding, encapsulation and imaging verification of uncooled infrared focal plane array, have also been completed.

Planck intermediate results: XLVIII. Disentangling Galactic dust emission and cosmic infrared background anisotropies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aghanim, N.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.

2016-01-01

Using the Planck 2015 data release (PR2) temperature maps, we separate Galactic thermal dust emission from cosmic infrared background (CIB) anisotropies. For this purpose, we implement a specifically tailored component-separation method, the so-called generalized needlet internal linear combinati...

Identifying clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using infrared satellite data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Abreu, Pedro; et al.,

2013-12-01

We describe a new method of identifying night-time clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using infrared data from the Imager instruments on the GOES-12 and GOES-13 satellites. We compare cloud identifications resulting from our method to those obtained by the Central Laser Facility of the Auger Observatory. Using our new method we can now develop cloud probability maps for the 3000 km^2 of the Pierre Auger Observatory twice per hour with a spatial resolution of ~2.4 km by ~5.5 km. Our method could also be applied to monitor cloud cover for other ground-based observatories and for space-based observatories.

Geostationary Satellite (GOES) Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Visible and Infrared satellite imagery taken from radiometer instruments on SMS (ATS) and GOES satellites in geostationary orbit. These satellites produced...

Planck early results. XVIII. The power spectrum of cosmic infrared background anisotropies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poutanen, T.; Natoli, P.; Polenta, G.

2011-01-01

Using Planck maps of six regions of low Galactic dust emission with a total area of about 140 deg2, we determine the angular power spectra of cosmic infrared background (CIB) anisotropies from multipole = 200 to = 2000 at 217, 353, 545 and 857 GHz. We use 21-cm observations of Hi as a tracer...... of thermal dust emission to reduce the already low level of Galactic dust emission and use the 143 GHz Planck maps in these fields to clean out cosmic microwave background anisotropies. Both of these cleaning processes are necessary to avoid significant contamination of the CIB signal. We measure correlated...

Infrared observations of Comet Austin (1990 V) by the COBE/Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Lisse, C. M.; Freudenreich, H. T.; Hauser, M. G.; Kelsall, T.; Moseley, S. H.; Reach, W. T.; Silverberg, R. F.

1994-01-01

Comet Austin was observed by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)/Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) with broadband photometry at 1-240 micrometers during the comet's close passage by Earth in 1990 May. A 6 deg long (6 x 10(exp 6) km) dust tail was found at 12 and 25 micrometers, with detailed structure due to variations in particle properties and mass-loss rate. The spectrum of the central 42 x 42 sq arcmin pixel was found to agree with that of a graybody of temperature 309 +/- 5 K and optical depth 7.3 +/- 10(exp -8). Comparison with IUE and ground-based obervations indicates that particles of radius greater than 20 micrometers predominate by surface area. A mass-loss rate of 510 (+510/-205) kg/s and a total tail mass of 7 +/- 2 x 10(exp 10) kg was found for a model dust tail composed of Mie spheres with a differential particle mass distribution dn/d log m approx. m(exp -0.63) and 2:1 silicate:amorphous carbon composition by mass.

Atmospheric influences on infrared-laser signals used for occultation measurements between Low Earth Orbit satellites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Schweitzer

2011-10-01

Full Text Available LEO-LEO infrared-laser occultation (LIO is a new occultation technique between Low Earth Orbit (LEO satellites, which applies signals in the short wave infrared spectral range (SWIR within 2 μm to 2.5 μm. It is part of the LEO-LEO microwave and infrared-laser occultation (LMIO method that enables to retrieve thermodynamic profiles (pressure, temperature, humidity and altitude levels from microwave signals and profiles of greenhouse gases and further variables such as line-of-sight wind speed from simultaneously measured LIO signals. Due to the novelty of the LMIO method, detailed knowledge of atmospheric influences on LIO signals and of their suitability for accurate trace species retrieval did not yet exist. Here we discuss these influences, assessing effects from refraction, trace species absorption, aerosol extinction and Rayleigh scattering in detail, and addressing clouds, turbulence, wind, scattered solar radiation and terrestrial thermal radiation as well. We show that the influence of refractive defocusing, foreign species absorption, aerosols and turbulence is observable, but can be rendered small to negligible by use of the differential transmission principle with a close frequency spacing of LIO absorption and reference signals within 0.5%. The influences of Rayleigh scattering and terrestrial thermal radiation are found negligible. Cloud-scattered solar radiation can be observable under bright-day conditions, but this influence can be made negligible by a close time spacing (within 5 ms of interleaved laser-pulse and background signals. Cloud extinction loss generally blocks SWIR signals, except very thin or sub-visible cirrus clouds, which can be addressed by retrieving a cloud layering profile and exploiting it in the trace species retrieval. Wind can have a small influence on the trace species absorption, which can be made negligible by using a simultaneously retrieved or a moderately accurate background wind speed profile. We

Planck 2013 results. XXX. Cosmic infrared background measurements and implications for star formation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Armitage-Caplan, C.

2014-01-01

We present new measurements of cosmic infrared background (CIB) anisotropies using Planck. Combining HFI data with IRAS, the angular auto-and cross-frequency power spectrum is measured from 143 to 3000 GHz, and the auto-bispectrum from 217 to 545 GHz. The total areas used to compute the CIB power...

Vacuum Radiance-Temperature Standard Facility for Infrared Remote Sensing at NIM

Science.gov (United States)

Hao, X. P.; Song, J.; Xu, M.; Sun, J. P.; Gong, L. Y.; Yuan, Z. D.; Lu, X. F.

2018-06-01

As infrared remote sensors are very important parts of Earth observation satellites, they must be calibrated based on the radiance temperature of a blackbody in a vacuum chamber prior to launch. The uncertainty of such temperature is thus an essential component of the sensors' uncertainty. This paper describes the vacuum radiance-temperature standard facility (VRTSF) at the National Institute of Metrology of China, which will serve to calibrate infrared remote sensors on Chinese meteorological satellites. The VRTSF can be used to calibrate vacuum blackbody radiance temperature, including those used to calibrate infrared remote sensors. The components of the VRTSF are described in this paper, including the VMTBB, the LNBB, the FTIR spectrometer, the reduced-background optical system, the vacuum chamber used to calibrate customers' blackbody, the vacuum-pumping system and the liquid-nitrogen-support system. The experimental methods and results are expounded. The uncertainty of the radiance temperature of VMTBB is 0.026 °C at 30 °C over 10 μm.

The Relativistic Effect of the Deviation between the CMB Temperatures Obtained by the COBE Satellite

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rabounski D.

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS on the COBE satellite, gives different temperatures of the Cosmic Microwave Background. This deviation has a theoretical explanation in the Doppler effect on the dipole (weak component of the radiation, the true microwave background of the Universe that moves at 365 km/sec, if the monopole (strong component of the radiation is due to the Earth. Owing to the Doppler effect, the dipole radiation temperature (determined by the 1st derivative of the monopole is lower than the monopole radiation temperature, with a value equal to the observed deviation. By this theory, the WMAP and PLANCK satellites, targeting the L2 point in the Sun-Earth-Moon system, should be insensitive to the monopole radiation. In contrast to the launched WMAP satellite, the PLANCK satellite will have on board absolute instruments which will not be able to detect the measured temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background. That the monopole (strong component of the observed Cosmic Microwave Background is generated by the Earth is given a complete theoretical proof herein.

Polar-Orbiting Satellite (POES) Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Visible and Infrared satellite imagery taken from camera systems or radiometer instruments on satellites in orbit around the poles. Satellite campaigns include...

Introducing Multisensor Satellite Radiance-Based Evaluation for Regional Earth System Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Matsui, T.; Santanello, J.; Shi, J. J.; Tao, W.-K.; Wu, D.; Peters-Lidard, C.; Kemp, E.; Chin, M.; Starr, D.; Sekiguchi, M.;

JPSS Preparations at the Satellite Proving Ground for Marine, Precipitation, and Satellite Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Folmer, M. J.; Berndt, E.; Clark, J.; Orrison, A.; Kibler, J.; Sienkiewicz, J. M.; Nelson, J. A., Jr.; Goldberg, M.

2016-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Satellite Proving Ground (PG) for Marine, Precipitation, and Satellite Analysis (MPS) has been demonstrating and evaluating Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) products along with other polar-orbiting satellite platforms in preparation for the Joint Polar Satellite System - 1 (JPSS-1) launch in March 2017. The first S-NPP imagery was made available to the MPS PG during the evolution of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and has since been popular in operations. Since this event the MPS PG Satellite Liaison has been working with forecasters on ways to integrate single-channel and multispectral imagery from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)into operations to complement numerical weather prediction and geostationary satellite savvy National Weather Service (NWS) National Centers. Additional unique products have been introduced to operations to address specific forecast challenges, including the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) Layered Precipitable Water, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Snowfall Rate product, NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) Soundings, ozone products from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Cross-track Infrared Sounder/Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (CrIS/ATMS), and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI). In addition, new satellite domains have been created to provide forecasters at the NWS Ocean Prediction Center and Weather Prediction Center with better quality imagery at high latitudes. This has led to research projects that are addressing forecast challenges such as tropical to extratropical transition and explosive cyclogenesis. This presentation will provide examples of how the MPS PG has been introducing and integrating

Far Infrared Spectrometry of the Cosmic Background Radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Mather, J. C.

1974-01-01

I describe two experiments to measure the cosmic background radiation near 1 mm wavelength. The first was a ground-based search for spectral lines, made with a Fabry-Perot interferometer and an InSb detector. The second is a measurement of the spectrum from 3 to 18 cm{sup -1}, made with a balloon-borne Fourier transform spectrometer. It is a polarizing Michelson interferometer, cooled in liquid helium, and operated with a germanium bolometer. I give the theory of operation, construction details, and experimental results. The first experiment was successfully completed but the second suffered equipment malfunction on its first flight. I describe the theory of Fourier transformations and give a new understanding of convolutional phase correction computations. I discuss for infrared bolometer calibration procedures, and tabulate test results on nine detectors. I describe methods of improving bolometer sensitivity with immersion optics and with conductive film blackening.

Effects of ionizing radiation on cryogenic infrared detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Moseley, S. H.; Silverberg, R. F.; Lakew, B.

1989-01-01

The Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) is one of three experiments to be carried aboard the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite scheduled to be launched by NASA on a Delta rocket in 1989. The DIRBE is a cryogenic absolute photometer operating in a liquid helium dewar at 1.5 K. Photometric stability is a principal requirement for achieving the scientific objectives of this experiment. The Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS), launched in 1983, which used detectors similar to those in DIRBE, revealed substantial changes in detector responsivity following exposure to ionizing radiation encountered on passage through the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA). Since the COBE will use the same 900 Km sun-synchronous orbit as IRAS, ionizing radiation-induced performance changes in the detectors were a major concern. Here, ionizing radiation tests carried out on all the DIRBE photodetectors are reported. Responsivity changes following exposure to gamma rays, protons, and alpha particle are discussed. The detector performance was monitored following a simulated entire mission life dose. In addition, the response of the detectors to individual particle interactions was measured. The InSb photovoltaic detectors and the Blocked Impurity Band (BIB) detectors revealed no significant change in responsivity following radiation exposure. The Ge:Ga detectors show large effects which were greatly reduced by proper thermal annealing.

Atmospheric correction using near-infrared bands for satellite ocean color data processing in the turbid western Pacific region.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Menghua; Shi, Wei; Jiang, Lide

2012-01-16

A regional near-infrared (NIR) ocean normalized water-leaving radiance (nL(w)(λ)) model is proposed for atmospheric correction for ocean color data processing in the western Pacific region, including the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea. Our motivation for this work is to derive ocean color products in the highly turbid western Pacific region using the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) onboard South Korean Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS). GOCI has eight spectral bands from 412 to 865 nm but does not have shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands that are needed for satellite ocean color remote sensing in the turbid ocean region. Based on a regional empirical relationship between the NIR nL(w)(λ) and diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (K(d)(490)), which is derived from the long-term measurements with the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, an iterative scheme with the NIR-based atmospheric correction algorithm has been developed. Results from MODIS-Aqua measurements show that ocean color products in the region derived from the new proposed NIR-corrected atmospheric correction algorithm match well with those from the SWIR atmospheric correction algorithm. Thus, the proposed new atmospheric correction method provides an alternative for ocean color data processing for GOCI (and other ocean color satellite sensors without SWIR bands) in the turbid ocean regions of the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea, although the SWIR-based atmospheric correction approach is still much preferred. The proposed atmospheric correction methodology can also be applied to other turbid coastal regions.

A Study of Background Conditions for Sphinx—The Satellite-Borne Gamma-Ray Burst Polarimeter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fei Xie

2018-04-01

Full Text Available SPHiNX is a proposed satellite-borne gamma-ray burst polarimeter operating in the energy range 50–500 keV. The mission aims to probe the fundamental mechanism responsible for gamma-ray burst prompt emission through polarisation measurements. Optimising the signal-to-background ratio for SPHiNX is an important task during the design phase. The Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit is used in this work. From the simulation, the total background outside the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA is about 323 counts/s, which is dominated by the cosmic X-ray background and albedo gamma rays, which contribute ∼60% and ∼35% of the total background, respectively. The background from albedo neutrons and primary and secondary cosmic rays is negligible. The delayed background induced by the SAA-trapped protons is about 190 counts/s when SPHiNX operates in orbit for one year. The resulting total background level of ∼513 counts/s allows the polarisation of ∼50 GRBs with minimum detectable polarisation less than 30% to be determined during the two-year mission lifetime.

Infrared radiation scene generation of stars and planets in celestial background

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Feng; Hong, Yaohui; Xu, Xiaojian

2014-10-01

An infrared (IR) radiation generation model of stars and planets in celestial background is proposed in this paper. Cohen's spectral template1 is modified for high spectral resolution and accuracy. Based on the improved spectral template for stars and the blackbody assumption for planets, an IR radiation model is developed which is able to generate the celestial IR background for stars and planets appearing in sensor's field of view (FOV) for specified observing date and time, location, viewpoint and spectral band over 1.2μm ~ 35μm. In the current model, the initial locations of stars are calculated based on midcourse space experiment (MSX) IR astronomical catalogue (MSX-IRAC) 2 , while the initial locations of planets are calculated using secular variations of the planetary orbits (VSOP) theory. Simulation results show that the new IR radiation model has higher resolution and accuracy than common model.

Interpreting the cosmic far-infrared background anisotropies using a gas regulator model

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Hao-Yi; Doré, Olivier; Teyssier, Romain; Serra, Paolo

2018-04-01

Cosmic far-infrared background (CFIRB) is a powerful probe of the history of star formation rate (SFR) and the connection between baryons and dark matter across cosmic time. In this work, we explore to which extent the CFIRB anisotropies can be reproduced by a simple physical framework for galaxy evolution, the gas regulator (bathtub) model. This model is based on continuity equations for gas, stars, and metals, taking into account cosmic gas accretion, star formation, and gas ejection. We model the large-scale galaxy bias and small-scale shot noise self-consistently, and we constrain our model using the CFIRB power spectra measured by Planck. Because of the simplicity of the physical model, the goodness of fit is limited. We compare our model predictions with the observed correlation between CFIRB and gravitational lensing, bolometric infrared luminosity functions, and submillimetre source counts. The strong clustering of CFIRB indicates a large galaxy bias, which corresponds to haloes of mass 1012.5 M⊙ at z = 2, higher than the mass associated with the peak of the star formation efficiency. We also find that the far-infrared luminosities of haloes above 1012 M⊙ are higher than the expectation from the SFR observed in ultraviolet and optical surveys.

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites collect visible and infrared cloud imagery as well as monitoring the atmospheric, oceanographic,...

CROSS-CORRELATION BETWEEN X-RAY AND OPTICAL/NEAR-INFRARED BACKGROUND INTENSITY FLUCTUATIONS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitchell-Wynne, Ketron; Cooray, Asantha [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Xue, Yongquan [CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, Center for Astrophysics, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Luo, Bin [School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093 (China); Brandt, William [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802 (United States); Koekemoer, Anton [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

2016-12-01

Angular power spectra of optical and infrared background anisotropies at wavelengths between 0.5 and 5 μ m are a useful probe of faint sources present during reionization, in addition to faint galaxies and diffuse signals at low redshift. The cross-correlation of these fluctuations with backgrounds at other wavelengths can be used to separate some of these signals. A previous study on the cross-correlation between X-ray and Spitzer fluctuations at 3.6 μ m and 4.5 μ m has been interpreted as evidence for direct collapse black holes present at z  > 12. Here we return to this cross-correlation and study its wavelength dependence from 0.5 to 4.5 μ m using Hubble and Spitzer data in combination with a subset of the 4 Ms Chandra observations in GOODS-S/ECDFS. Our study involves five Hubble bands at 0.6, 0.7, 0.85, 1.25, and 1.6 μ m, and two Spitzer -IRAC bands at 3.6 μ m and 4.5 μ m. We confirm the previously seen cross-correlation between 3.6 μ m (4.5 μ m) and X-rays with 3.7 σ (4.2 σ ) and 2.7 σ (3.7 σ ) detections in the soft [0.5–2] keV and hard [2–8] keV X-ray bands, respectively, at angular scales above 20 arcsec. The cross-correlation of X-rays with Hubble is largely anticorrelated, ranging between the levels of 1.4 σ –3.5 σ for all the Hubble and X-ray bands. This lack of correlation in the shorter optical/NIR bands implies the sources responsible for the cosmic infrared background at 3.6 and 4.5 μ m are at least partly dissimilar to those at 1.6 μ m and shorter.

Cosmic microwave and infrared backgrounds cross-correlation for ISW detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ilić, S

2014-01-01

We have investigated the cross-correlation between the cosmic infrared and microwave backgrounds (CIB and CMB) anisotropies through the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect. We have first described the CIB anisotropies using a linearly biased power spectrum, then derive the theoretical angular power spectrum of the CMB-CIB cross-correlation for different instruments and frequencies. We have discussed the detectability of the ISW signal by performing a signal-to-noise (SNR) analysis with our predicted spectra. The significances obtained range from 6σ to 7σ in an ideal case, depending on the frequency; in realistic cases which account for the presence of noise including astrophysical contaminants, the results span the range 2 – 5σ, depending strongly on the major contribution to the noise term

HerMES: COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND ANISOTROPIES AND THE CLUSTERING OF DUSTY STAR-FORMING GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Viero, M. P.; Zemcov, M.; Bock, J.; Cooray, A.; Dowell, C. D. [California Institute of Technology, 1200 E. California Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Wang, L. [Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE (United Kingdom); Addison, G. [Department of Astrophysics, Denys Wilkinson Building, University of Oxford, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Amblard, A. [NASA, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Arumugam, V. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Aussel, H.; Bethermin, M. [Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu - CNRS - Universite Paris Diderot, CE-Saclay, pt courrier 131, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Boselli, A.; Buat, V.; Burgarella, D. [Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille - LAM, Universite d' Aix-Marseille and CNRS, UMR7326, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, F-13388 Marseille Cedex 13 (France); Casey, C. M. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Clements, D. L. [Astrophysics Group, Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); Conley, A. [Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy 389-UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Conversi, L. [Herschel Science Centre, European Space Astronomy Centre, Villanueva de la Canada, E-28691 Madrid (Spain); De Zotti, G. [INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell' Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Farrah, D., E-mail: marco.viero@caltech.edu [Astronomy Centre, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); and others

2013-07-20

We present measurements of the auto- and cross-frequency power spectra of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) at 250, 350, and 500 {mu}m (1200, 860, and 600 GHz) from observations totaling {approx}70 deg{sup 2} made with the SPIRE instrument aboard the Herschel Space Observatory. We measure a fractional anisotropy {delta}I/I = 14% {+-} 4%, detecting signatures arising from the clustering of dusty star-forming galaxies in both the linear (2-halo) and nonlinear (1-halo) regimes; and that the transition from the 2- to 1-halo terms, below which power originates predominantly from multiple galaxies within dark matter halos, occurs at k{sub {theta}} {approx} 0.10-0.12 arcmin{sup -1} (l {approx} 2160-2380), from 250 to 500 {mu}m. New to this paper is clear evidence of a dependence of the Poisson and 1-halo power on the flux-cut level of masked sources-suggesting that some fraction of the more luminous sources occupy more massive halos as satellites, or are possibly close pairs. We measure the cross-correlation power spectra between bands, finding that bands which are farthest apart are the least correlated, as well as hints of a reduction in the correlation between bands when resolved sources are more aggressively masked. In the second part of the paper, we attempt to interpret the measurements in the framework of the halo model. With the aim of fitting simultaneously with one model the power spectra, number counts, and absolute CIB level in all bands, we find that this is achievable by invoking a luminosity-mass relationship, such that the luminosity-to-mass ratio peaks at a particular halo mass scale and declines toward lower and higher mass halos. Our best-fit model finds that the halo mass which is most efficient at hosting star formation in the redshift range of peak star-forming activity, z {approx} 1-3, is log(M{sub peak}/M{sub Sun }) {approx} 12.1 {+-} 0.5, and that the minimum halo mass to host infrared galaxies is log(M{sub min}/M{sub Sun }) {approx} 10

Evaluation Of Spatial Filters For Background Suppression In Infrared Mosaic Sensor Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Bergen, T. L.; Mazaika, P. K.

1982-12-01

Spaceborne infrared mosaic sensors have been proposed for future surveillance systems. Because these systems will generate a large volume of data, background suppression will require algorithms which use innovative architectures and minimal storage. This paper analyzes the implementation and performance of candidate temporal and spatial filters. Spatial filters are attractive because they require far less memory, can effectively exploit a parallel, pipelined architecture, and are relatively insensitive to target speed. However, the performance of spatial filtering is substantially worse than that of temporal filtering when the sensor has good line-of-sight stability.

Development of Yellow Sand Image Products Using Infrared Brightness Temperature Difference Method

Science.gov (United States)

Ha, J.; Kim, J.; Kwak, M.; Ha, K.

2007-12-01

A technique for detection of airborne yellow sand dust using meteorological satellite has been developed from various bands from ultraviolet to infrared channels. Among them, Infrared (IR) channels have an advantage of detecting aerosols over high reflecting surface as well as during nighttime. There had been suggestion of using brightness temperature difference (BTD) between 11 and 12¥ìm. We have found that the technique is highly depends on surface temperature, emissivity, and zenith angle, which results in changing the threshold of BTD. In order to overcome these problems, we have constructed the background brightness temperature threshold of BTD and then aerosol index (AI) has been determined from subtracting the background threshold from BTD of our interested scene. Along with this, we utilized high temporal coverage of geostationary satellite, MTSAT, to improve the reliability of the determined AI signal. The products have been evaluated by comparing the forecasted wind field with the movement fiend of AI. The statistical score test illustrates that this newly developed algorithm produces a promising result for detecting mineral dust by reducing the errors with respect to the current BTD method.

Satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burns, J.A.; Matthews, M.S.

1986-01-01

The present work is based on a conference: Natural Satellites, Colloquium 77 of the IAU, held at Cornell University from July 5 to 9, 1983. Attention is given to the background and origins of satellites, protosatellite swarms, the tectonics of icy satellites, the physical characteristics of satellite surfaces, and the interactions of planetary magnetospheres with icy satellite surfaces. Other topics include the surface composition of natural satellites, the cratering of planetary satellites, the moon, Io, and Europa. Consideration is also given to Ganymede and Callisto, the satellites of Saturn, small satellites, satellites of Uranus and Neptune, and the Pluto-Charon system

Spectralon BRDF and DHR Measurements in Support of Satellite Instruments Operating Through Shortwave Infrared

Science.gov (United States)

Georgiev, Georgi T.; Butler, James J.; Thome, Kurt; Cooksey, Catherine; Ding, Leibo

2016-01-01

Satellite instruments operating in the reflective solar wavelength region require accurate and precise determination of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDFs) of the laboratory and flight diffusers used in their pre-flight and on-orbit calibrations. This paper advances that initial work and presents a comparison of spectral Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Directional Hemispherical Reflectance (DHR) of Spectralon*, a common material for laboratory and onorbit flight diffusers. A new measurement setup for BRDF measurements from 900 nm to 2500 nm located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is described. The GSFC setup employs an extended indium gallium arsenide detector, bandpass filters, and a supercontinuum light source. Comparisons of the GSFC BRDF measurements in the ShortWave InfraRed (SWIR) with those made by the NIST Spectral Trifunction Automated Reference Reflectometer (STARR) are presented. The Spectralon sample used in this study was 2 inch diameter, 99% white pressed and sintered Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) target. The NASA/NIST BRDF comparison measurements were made at an incident angle of 0 deg and viewing angle of 45 deg. Additional BRDF data not compared to NIST were measured at additional incident and viewing angle geometries and are not presented here The total combined uncertainty for the measurement of BRDF in the SWIR range made by the GSFC scatterometer is less than 1% (k=1). This study is in support of the calibration of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) of and other current and future NASA remote sensing missions operating across the reflected solar wavelength region.

THE COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND EXPERIMENT (CIBER): THE NARROW-BAND SPECTROMETER

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Korngut, P. M.; Bock, J. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Renbarger, T.; Keating, B. [Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093 (United States); Arai, T.; Matsumoto, T.; Matsuura, S. [Department of Space Astronomy and Astrophysics, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan); Battle, J.; Hristov, V.; Lanz, A.; Levenson, L. R.; Mason, P. [Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Brown, S. W.; Lykke, K. R.; Smith, A. W. [Sensor Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (United States); Cooray, A. [Center for Cosmology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Kim, M. G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, D. H.; Nam, U. W. [Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of); Shultz, B., E-mail: pkorngut@caltech.edu [Materion Barr Precision Optics and Thin Film Coatings, Westford, MA 01886 (United States); and others

2013-08-15

We have developed a near-infrared spectrometer designed to measure the absolute intensity of the solar 854.2 nm Ca II Fraunhofer line, scattered by interplanetary dust, in the zodiacal light (ZL) spectrum. Based on the known equivalent line width in the solar spectrum, this measurement can derive the zodiacal brightness, testing models of the ZL based on morphology that are used to determine the extragalactic background light in absolute photometry measurements. The spectrometer is based on a simple high-resolution tipped filter placed in front of a compact camera with wide-field refractive optics to provide the large optical throughput and high sensitivity required for rocket-borne observations. We discuss the instrument requirements for an accurate measurement of the absolute ZL brightness, the measured laboratory characterization, and the instrument performance in flight.

Identification of dust outbreaks on infrared MSG-SEVIRI data by using a Robust Satellite Technique (RST)

Science.gov (United States)

Sannazzaro, Filomena; Filizzola, Carolina; Marchese, Francesco; Corrado, Rosita; Paciello, Rossana; Mazzeo, Giuseppe; Pergola, Nicola; Tramutoli, Valerio

2014-01-01

Dust storms are meteorological phenomena of great interest for scientific community because of their potential impact on climate changes, for the risk that may pose to human health and due to other issues as desertification processes and reduction of the agricultural production. Satellite remote sensing, thanks to global coverage, high frequency of observation and low cost data, may highly contribute in monitoring these phenomena, provided that proper detection methods are used. In this work, the known Robust Satellite Techniques (RST) multitemporal approach, used for studying and monitoring several natural/environmental hazards, is tested on some important dust events affecting Mediterranean region in May 2004 and Arabian Peninsula in February 2008. To perform this study, data provided by the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) have been processed, comparing the generated dust maps to some independent satellite-based aerosol products. Outcomes of this work show that the RST technique can be profitably used for detecting dust outbreaks from space, providing information also about areas characterized by a different probability of dust presence. They encourage further improvements of this technique in view of its possible implementation in the framework of operational warning systems.

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite /IRAS/ Scientific Data Analysis System /SDAS/ sky flux subsystem

Science.gov (United States)

Stagner, J. R.; Girard, M. A.

1980-01-01

The sky flux subsystem of the Infrared Astronomical Satellite Scientific Data Analysis System is described. Its major output capabilities are (1) the all-sky lune maps (8-arcminute pixel size), (2) galactic plane maps (2-arcminute pixel size) and (3) regional maps of small areas such as extended sources greater than 1-degree in extent. The major processing functions are to (1) merge the CRDD and pointing data, (2) phase the detector streams, (3) compress the detector streams in the in-scan and cross-scan directions, and (4) extract data. Functional diagrams of the various capabilities of the subsystem are given. Although this device is inherently nonimaging, various calibrated and geometrically controlled imaging products are created, suitable for quantitative and qualitative scientific interpretation.

GHRSST Level 2P Global Sea Surface Temperature from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite (GDS version 2)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a multi-disciplinary instrument that is being flown on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of...

THE NEAR-INFRARED BACKGROUND INTENSITY AND ANISOTROPIES DURING THE EPOCH OF REIONIZATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cooray, Asantha; Gong Yan; Smidt, Joseph [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Santos, Mario G. [CENTRA, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisboa 1049-001 (Portugal)

2012-09-01

A fraction of the extragalactic near-infrared (near-IR) background light involves redshifted photons from the ultraviolet (UV) emission from galaxies present during reionization at redshifts above 6. The absolute intensity and the anisotropies of the near-IR background provide an observational probe of the first-light galaxies and their spatial distribution. We estimate the extragalactic background light intensity during reionization by accounting for the stellar and nebular emission from first-light galaxies. We require the UV photon density from these galaxies to generate a reionization history that is consistent with the optical depth to electron scattering from cosmic microwave background measurements. We also require the bright-end luminosity function (LF) of galaxies in our models to reproduce the measured Lyman-dropout LFs at redshifts of 6-8. The absolute intensity is about 0.1-0.4 nW m{sup -2} sr{sup -1} at the peak of its spectrum at {approx}1.1 {mu}m. We also discuss the anisotropy power spectrum of the near-IR background using a halo model to describe the galaxy distribution. We compare our predictions for the anisotropy power spectrum to existing measurements from deep near-IR imaging data from Spitzer/IRAC, Hubble/NICMOS, and AKARI. The predicted rms fluctuations at tens of arcminute angular scales are roughly an order of magnitude smaller than the existing measurements. While strong arguments have been made that the measured fluctuations do not have an origin involving faint low-redshift galaxies, we find that measurements in the literature are also incompatible with galaxies present during the era of reionization. The measured near-IR background anisotropies remain unexplained with an unknown origin.

Short-Term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center: Transitioning Satellite Data to Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Zavodsky, Bradley

2012-01-01

The Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center located at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center has been conducting testbed activities aimed at transitioning satellite products to National Weather Service operational end users for the last 10 years. SPoRT is a NASA/NOAA funded project that has set the bar for transition of products to operational end users through a paradigm of understanding forecast challenges and forecaster needs, displaying products in end users decision support systems, actively assessing the operational impact of these products, and improving products based on forecaster feedback. Aiming for quality partnerships rather than a large quantity of data users, SPoRT has become a community leader in training operational forecasters on the use of up-and-coming satellite data through the use of legacy instruments and proxy data. Traditionally, SPoRT has supplied satellite imagery and products from NASA instruments such as the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). However, recently, SPoRT has been funded by the GOES-R and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Proving Grounds to accelerate the transition of selected imagery and products to help improve forecaster awareness of upcoming operational data from the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), and Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). This presentation provides background on the SPoRT Center, the SPoRT paradigm, and some example products that SPoRT is excited to work with forecasters to evaluate.

Advancing satellite-based solar power forecasting through integration of infrared channels for automatic detection of coastal marine inversion layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kostylev, Vladimir; Kostylev, Andrey; Carter, Chris; Mahoney, Chad; Pavlovski, Alexandre; Daye, Tony [Green Power Labs Inc., Dartmouth, NS (Canada); Cormier, Dallas Eugene; Fotland, Lena [San Diego Gas and Electric Co., San Diego, CA (United States)

2012-07-01

The marine atmospheric boundary layer is a layer or cool, moist maritime air with the thickness of a few thousand feet immediately below a temperature inversion. In coastal areas as moist air rises from the ocean surface, it becomes trapped and is often compressed into fog above which a layer of stratus clouds often forms. This phenomenon is common for satellite-based solar radiation monitoring and forecasting. Hour ahead satellite-based solar radiation forecasts are commonly using visible spectrum satellite images, from which it is difficult to automatically differentiate low stratus clouds and fog from high altitude clouds. This provides a challenge for cloud motion tyracking and cloud cover forecasting. San Diego Gas and Electric {sup registered} (SDG and E {sup registered}) Marine Layer Project was undertaken to obtain information for integration with PV forecasts, and to develop a detailed understanding of long-term benefits from forecasting Marine Layer (ML) events and their effects on PV production. In order to establish climatological ML patterns, spatial extent and distribution of marine layer, we analyzed visible and IR spectrum satellite images (GOES WEST) archive for the period of eleven years (2000 - 2010). Historical boundaries of marine layers impact were established based on the cross-classification of visible spectrum (VIS) and infrared (IR) images. This approach is successfully used by us and elsewhere for evaluating cloud albedo in common satellite-based techniques for solar radiation monitoring and forecasting. The approach allows differentiation of cloud cover and helps distinguish low laying fog which is the main consequence of marine layer formation. ML occurrence probability and maximum extent inland was established for each hour and day of the analyzed period and seasonal/patterns were described. SDG and E service area is the most affected region by ML events with highest extent and probability of ML occurrence. Influence of ML was the

Comparison of cloud optical depth and cloud mask applying BRDF model-based background surface reflectance

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, H. W.; Yeom, J. M.; Woo, S. H.

2017-12-01

Over the thin cloud region, satellite can simultaneously detect the reflectance from thin clouds and land surface. Since the mixed reflectance is not the exact cloud information, the background surface reflectance should be eliminated to accurately distinguish thin cloud such as cirrus. In the previous research, Kim et al (2017) was developed the cloud masking algorithm using the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI), which is one of significant instruments for Communication, Ocean, and Meteorology Satellite (COMS). Although GOCI has 8 spectral channels including visible and near infra-red spectral ranges, the cloud masking has quantitatively reasonable result when comparing with MODIS cloud mask (Collection 6 MYD35). Especially, we noticed that this cloud masking algorithm is more specialized in thin cloud detections through the validation with Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data. Because this cloud masking method was concentrated on eliminating background surface effects from the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance. Applying the difference between TOA reflectance and the bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model-based background surface reflectance, cloud areas both thick cloud and thin cloud can be discriminated without infra-red channels which were mostly used for detecting clouds. Moreover, when the cloud mask result was utilized as the input data when simulating BRDF model and the optimized BRDF model-based surface reflectance was used for the optimized cloud masking, the probability of detection (POD) has higher value than POD of the original cloud mask. In this study, we examine the correlation between cloud optical depth (COD) and its cloud mask result. Cloud optical depths mostly depend on the cloud thickness, the characteristic of contents, and the size of cloud contents. COD ranges from less than 0.1 for thin clouds to over 1000 for the huge cumulus due to scattering by droplets. With

Satellite precipitation estimation over the Tibetan Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Porcu, F.; Gjoka, U.

2012-04-01

Precipitation characteristics over the Tibetan Plateau are very little known, given the scarcity of reliable and widely distributed ground observation, thus the satellite approach is a valuable choice for large scale precipitation analysis and hydrological cycle studies. However,the satellite perspective undergoes various shortcomings at the different wavelengths used in atmospheric remote sensing. In the microwave spectrum often the high soil emissivity masks or hides the atmospheric signal upwelling from light-moderate precipitation layers, while low and relatively thin precipitating clouds are not well detected in the visible-infrared, because of their low contrast with cold and bright (if snow covered) background. In this work an IR-based, statistical rainfall estimation technique is trained and applied over the Tibetan Plateau hydrological basin to retrive precipitation intensity at different spatial and temporal scales. The technique is based on a simple artificial neural network scheme trained with two supervised training sets assembled for monsoon season and for the rest of the year. For the monsoon season (estimated from June to September), the ground radar precipitation data for few case studies are used to build the training set: four days in summer 2009 are considered. For the rest of the year, CloudSat-CPR derived snowfall rate has been used as reference precipitation data, following the Kulie and Bennartz (2009) algorithm. METEOSAT-7 infrared channels radiance (at 6.7 and 11 micometers) and derived local variability features (such as local standard deviation and local average) are used as input and the actual rainrate is obtained as output for each satellite slot, every 30 minutes on the satellite grid. The satellite rainrate maps for three years (2008-2010) are computed and compared with available global precipitation products (such as C-MORPH and TMPA products) and with other techniques applied to the Plateau area: similarities and differences are

Research on capability of detecting ballistic missile by near space infrared system

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Li; Sheng, Wen; Jiang, Wei; Jiang, Feng

2018-01-01

The infrared detection technology of ballistic missile based on near space platform can effectively make up the shortcomings of high-cost of traditional early warning satellites and the limited earth curvature of ground-based early warning radar. In terms of target detection capability, aiming at the problem that the formula of the action distance based on contrast performance ignores the background emissivity in the calculation process and the formula is only valid for the monochromatic light, an improved formula of the detecting range based on contrast performance is proposed. The near space infrared imaging system parameters are introduced, the expression of the contrastive action distance formula based on the target detection of the near space platform is deduced. The detection range of the near space infrared system for the booster stage ballistic missile skin, the tail nozzle and the tail flame is calculated. The simulation results show that the near-space infrared system has the best effect on the detection of tail-flame radiation.

Microscopic dust in the infrared sky

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leene, A.; Wesselius, P.

1985-01-01

After ten months of observation IRAS (InfraRed Astronomical Satellite) revealed for the first time an infrared sky map. One of its major discovery has been the display of new constituents in Universe: the infrared cirrus which are interstellar clouds constituted of microparticles abounding in carbon. Results and first hypothesis are presented in this article [fr

Time series analysis of infrared satellite data for detecting thermal anomalies: a hybrid approach

Science.gov (United States)

Koeppen, W. C.; Pilger, E.; Wright, R.

2011-07-01

We developed and tested an automated algorithm that analyzes thermal infrared satellite time series data to detect and quantify the excess energy radiated from thermal anomalies such as active volcanoes. Our algorithm enhances the previously developed MODVOLC approach, a simple point operation, by adding a more complex time series component based on the methods of the Robust Satellite Techniques (RST) algorithm. Using test sites at Anatahan and Kīlauea volcanoes, the hybrid time series approach detected ~15% more thermal anomalies than MODVOLC with very few, if any, known false detections. We also tested gas flares in the Cantarell oil field in the Gulf of Mexico as an end-member scenario representing very persistent thermal anomalies. At Cantarell, the hybrid algorithm showed only a slight improvement, but it did identify flares that were undetected by MODVOLC. We estimate that at least 80 MODIS images for each calendar month are required to create good reference images necessary for the time series analysis of the hybrid algorithm. The improved performance of the new algorithm over MODVOLC will result in the detection of low temperature thermal anomalies that will be useful in improving our ability to document Earth's volcanic eruptions, as well as detecting low temperature thermal precursors to larger eruptions.

Remote sensing of height of a fog layer and temperature of fog droplets using infrared thermometer and meteorological satellite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Inoue, K.; Abe, H.

1998-01-01

To study meteorological characteristics of cool foggy easterly (Yamase), by which rice production in the Tohoku region was frequently damaged, we measured temperature of the fog layer resulted from Yamase, using infrared thermal indicator and meteorological satellite (HIMAWARI). These temperature data were compared with wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures obtained by a ventilated psychrometer. Generally, the temperature of fog droplets estimated from infrared thermal indicator was higher than the wet-bulb temperature by about 0∼1°C. This result indicates clearly that fog droplets were cooled by evaporation on the droplet surface. Under the conditions that the fog layer is homogeneous in liquid water content and fog droplet size distribution, the height of the fog layer can be estimated by the observation of visibility and relative solar radiation flux. (author)

Prelaunch calibrations and on-orbit performance analysis of FY-2D SVISSR infrared channels

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yong; Chen, Fuchun

2014-10-01

Meteorological satellites have become an irreplaceable weather and ocean-observing tool in China. These satellites are used to monitor natural disasters and improve the efficiency of many sectors of Chinese national economy. FY-2 series satellites are one of the key components of Chinese meteorological observing system and application system. In this paper, the operational satellite- FY-2D's infrared channels were focused and analyzed. The instruments' background was introduced briefly. The main payload SVISSR specifications were compared with its ancestral VISSR. The optical structure of the SVISSR was also expressed. FY-2D prelaunch calibrations methodology was introduced and the accuracies of the absolute radiometric calibration were analyzed. Some key optics on-orbit performance of FY-2D SVISSR were analyzed include onboard blackbody, cold FPA and detector noise level. All of these works show that FY- 2D's main payload SVISSR was in a healthy status.

Investigation of Adaptive-threshold Approaches for Determining Area-Time Integrals from Satellite Infrared Data to Estimate Convective Rain Volumes

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Paul L.; VonderHaar, Thomas H.

1996-01-01

The principal goal of this project is to establish relationships that would allow application of area-time integral (ATI) calculations based upon satellite data to estimate rainfall volumes. The research is being carried out as a collaborative effort between the two participating organizations, with the satellite data analysis to determine values for the ATIs being done primarily by the STC-METSAT scientists and the associated radar data analysis to determine the 'ground-truth' rainfall estimates being done primarily at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T). Synthesis of the two separate kinds of data and investigation of the resulting rainfall-versus-ATI relationships is then carried out jointly. The research has been pursued using two different approaches, which for convenience can be designated as the 'fixed-threshold approach' and the 'adaptive-threshold approach'. In the former, an attempt is made to determine a single temperature threshold in the satellite infrared data that would yield ATI values for identifiable cloud clusters which are closely related to the corresponding rainfall amounts as determined by radar. Work on the second, or 'adaptive-threshold', approach for determining the satellite ATI values has explored two avenues: (1) attempt involved choosing IR thresholds to match the satellite ATI values with ones separately calculated from the radar data on a case basis; and (2) an attempt involved a striaghtforward screening analysis to determine the (fixed) offset that would lead to the strongest correlation and lowest standard error of estimate in the relationship between the satellite ATI values and the corresponding rainfall volumes.

Discriminating satellite IR anomalies associated with the MS 7.1 Yushu earthquake in China

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Kai; Wu, Lixin; Zheng, Shuo; Ma, Weiyu

2018-03-01

In the process of exploring pre-earthquake thermal anomalies using satellite infrared data, Blackett et al. (2011) found that the previously reported anomalies before the 2001 Mw 7.7 Gujarat earthquake, in India, were related to positive biases caused by data gaps due to cloud cover and mosaicing of neighboring orbits of MODIS satellite data. They supposed that such effects could also be responsible for other cases. We noted a strip-shaped TIR anomaly on March 17th, 2010, 28 days before the Ms. 7.1 Yushu earthquake (Qin et al., 2011). Here we again investigate multi-year infrared satellite data in different bands to discriminate whether the anomaly is associated with the earthquake, or is only bias caused by the data gaps. From the water vapor images, we find lots of clouds that have TIR anomalies. However, on the cloudiness background, there is an obvious strip-shaped gap matching the tectonic faults almost perfectly. In particular, the animation loops of hourly water vapor images show that the cloud kept moving from west to east, while they never covered the strip-shaped gap. We consider that the cloud with this special spatial pattern should have implied the abnormal signals associated with the seismogenic process. Based on current physical models, the satellite IR anomalies both on TIR and water vapor bands can qualitatively be explained using synthetic mechanisms.

Satellite infrared imagery for thermal plume contamination monitoring in coastal ecosystem of Cernavoda NPP

Science.gov (United States)

Zoran, M. A.; Zoran, Liviu Florin V.; Dida, Adrian I.

2017-10-01

Satellite remote sensing is an important tool for spatio-temporal analysis and surveillance of NPP environment, thermal heat waste of waters being a major concern in many coastal ecosystems involving nuclear power plants. As a test case the adopted methodology was applied for 700x2 MW Cernavoda nuclear power plant (NPP) located in the South-Eastern part of Romania, which discharges warm water affecting coastal ecology. The thermal plume signatures in the NPP hydrological system have been investigated based on TIR (Thermal Infrared) spectral bands of NOAA AVHRR, Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI, and MODIS Terra/Aqua time series satellite data during 1990-2016 period. If NOAA AVHRR data proved the general pattern and extension of the thermal plume signature in Danube river and Black Sea coastal areas, Landsat TM/ETM and MODIS data used for WST (Water Surface Temperature) change detection, mapping and monitoring provided enhanced information about the plume shape, dimension and direction of dispersion in these waters. Thermal discharge from two nuclear reactors cooling is dissipated as waste heat in Danube-Black -Sea Channel and Danube River. From time-series analysis of satellite data during period 1990-2016 was found that during the winter season thermal plume was localized to an area of a few km of NPP, and the mean temperature difference between the plume and non-plume areas was about 1.7 oC. During summer and fall, derived mean temperature difference between the plume and non-plume areas was of about 1.3°C and thermal plume area was extended up to 5- 10 km far along Danube Black Sea Channel.

Infrared Thermography Approach for Effective Shielding Area of Field Smoke Based on Background Subtraction and Transmittance Interpolation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Runze; Zhang, Tonglai; Chen, Yongpeng; Liang, Hao; Li, Bingyang; Zhou, Zunning

2018-05-06

Effective shielding area is a crucial indicator for the evaluation of the infrared smoke-obscuring effectiveness on the battlefield. The conventional methods for assessing the shielding area of the smoke screen are time-consuming and labor intensive, in addition to lacking precision. Therefore, an efficient and convincing technique for testing the effective shielding area of the smoke screen has great potential benefits in the smoke screen applications in the field trial. In this study, a thermal infrared sensor with a mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) range of 3 to 5 μm was first used to capture the target scene images through clear as well as obscuring smoke, at regular intervals. The background subtraction in motion detection was then applied to obtain the contour of the smoke cloud at each frame. The smoke transmittance at each pixel within the smoke contour was interpolated based on the data that was collected from the image. Finally, the smoke effective shielding area was calculated, based on the accumulation of the effective shielding pixel points. One advantage of this approach is that it utilizes only one thermal infrared sensor without any other additional equipment in the field trial, which significantly contributes to the efficiency and its convenience. Experiments have been carried out to demonstrate that this approach can determine the effective shielding area of the field infrared smoke both practically and efficiently.

Infrared Thermography Approach for Effective Shielding Area of Field Smoke Based on Background Subtraction and Transmittance Interpolation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Runze Tang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Effective shielding area is a crucial indicator for the evaluation of the infrared smoke-obscuring effectiveness on the battlefield. The conventional methods for assessing the shielding area of the smoke screen are time-consuming and labor intensive, in addition to lacking precision. Therefore, an efficient and convincing technique for testing the effective shielding area of the smoke screen has great potential benefits in the smoke screen applications in the field trial. In this study, a thermal infrared sensor with a mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR range of 3 to 5 μm was first used to capture the target scene images through clear as well as obscuring smoke, at regular intervals. The background subtraction in motion detection was then applied to obtain the contour of the smoke cloud at each frame. The smoke transmittance at each pixel within the smoke contour was interpolated based on the data that was collected from the image. Finally, the smoke effective shielding area was calculated, based on the accumulation of the effective shielding pixel points. One advantage of this approach is that it utilizes only one thermal infrared sensor without any other additional equipment in the field trial, which significantly contributes to the efficiency and its convenience. Experiments have been carried out to demonstrate that this approach can determine the effective shielding area of the field infrared smoke both practically and efficiently.

The ultraviolet galactic background from TD-1 satellite observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morgan, D.H.; Nandy, K.; Thompson, G.I.

1976-01-01

The background data from the S2/68 ultraviolet telescope on the TD-I satellite have been analysed. Using statistical tests those data contaminated by noise due to charged particles in the atmosphere have been discarded, and the remainder have been arranged to form ultraviolet profiles of the Galaxy. These profiles have been constructed at 2740 and 2350 A. The zodiacal light components of the total radiation field have been separated from the galactic components to give the intensity of the zodiacal light at elongation 90 0 as function of ecliptic latitude. The spectrum of the zodiacal light in the near ultraviolet is found to be redder than that of the Sun. The intensity of the diffuse galactic light as a function of galactic latitude has been obtained by subtraction of the zodiacal light and contributions due to faint stars calculated using an axi-symmetric model of the Galaxy. On comparison with predictions of the diffuse galactic light from a radiative transfer model it is found that the ratio of the albedos at 2350 and 2740 A is relatively insensitive to the model used, and is 0.73 +- 0.1. The albedo at 2740 A is found to be 0.65 +- 0.1 when g is assumed to be 0.75. (author)

Infrared Astronomy and Education: Linking Infrared Whole Sky Mapping with Teacher and Student Research

Science.gov (United States)

Borders, Kareen; Mendez, Bryan; Thaller, Michelle; Gorjian, Varoujan; Borders, Kyla; Pitman, Peter; Pereira, Vincent; Sepulveda, Babs; Stark, Ron; Knisely, Cindy; Dandrea, Amy; Winglee, Robert; Plecki, Marge; Goebel, Jeri; Condit, Matt; Kelly, Susan

The Spitzer Space Telescope and the recently launched WISE (Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer) observe the sky in infrared light. Among the objects WISE will study are asteroids, the coolest and dimmest stars, and the most luminous galaxies. Secondary students can do authentic research using infrared data. For example, students will use WISE data to mea-sure physical properties of asteroids. In order to prepare students and teachers at this level with a high level of rigor and scientific understanding, the WISE and the Spitzer Space Tele-scope Education programs provided an immersive teacher professional development workshop in infrared astronomy.The lessons learned from the Spitzer and WISE teacher and student pro-grams can be applied to other programs engaging them in authentic research experiences using data from space-borne observatories such as Herschel and Planck. Recently, WISE Educator Ambassadors and NASA Explorer School teachers developed and led an infrared astronomy workshop at Arecibo Observatory in PuertoRico. As many common misconceptions involve scale and distance, teachers worked with Moon/Earth scale, solar system scale, and distance and age of objects in the Universe. Teachers built and used basic telescopes, learned about the history of telescopes, explored ground and satellite based telescopes, and explored and worked on models of WISE Telescope. An in-depth explanation of WISE and the Spitzer telescopes gave participants background knowledge for infrared astronomy observations. We taught the electromagnetic spectrum through interactive stations. We will outline specific steps for sec-ondary astronomy professional development, detail student involvement in infrared telescope data analysis, provide data demonstrating the impact of the above professional development on educator understanding and classroom use, and detail future plans for additional secondary professional development and student involvement in infrared astronomy. Funding was

The number counts and infrared backgrounds from infrared-bright galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hacking, P.B.; Soifer, B.T.

1991-01-01

Extragalactic number counts and diffuse backgrounds at 25, 60, and 100 microns are predicted using new luminosity functions and improved spectral-energy distribution density functions derived from IRAS observations of nearby galaxies. Galaxies at redshifts z less than 3 that are like those in the local universe should produce a minimum diffuse background of 0.0085, 0.038, and 0.13 MJy/sr at 25, 60, and 100 microns, respectively. Models with significant luminosity evolution predict backgrounds about a factor of 4 greater than this minimum. 22 refs

Infrared Sky Surveys

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Stephan D.

2009-02-01

A retrospective is given on infrared sky surveys from Thomas Edison’s proposal in the late 1870s to IRAS, the first sensitive mid- to far-infrared all-sky survey, and the mid-1990s experiments that filled in the IRAS deficiencies. The emerging technology for space-based surveys is highlighted, as is the prominent role the US Defense Department, particularly the Air Force, played in developing and applying detector and cryogenic sensor advances to early mid-infrared probe-rocket and satellite-based surveys. This technology was transitioned to the infrared astronomical community in relatively short order and was essential to the success of IRAS, COBE and ISO. Mention is made of several of the little known early observational programs that were superseded by more successful efforts.

Infrared observation of the early universe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsumoto, T.

1984-01-01

The rocket observation of the near-infrared extragalactic background radiation and its influence on the cosmology are described. The furute plans to observe the near-infrared and far-infrared backgrounds are also presented. (author)

Cosmic Infrared Background Fluctuations in Deep Spitzer Infrared Array Camera Images: Data Processing and Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Arendt, Richard; Kashlinsky, A.; Moseley, S.; Mather, J.

2010-01-01

This paper provides a detailed description of the data reduction and analysis procedures that have been employed in our previous studies of spatial fluctuation of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) using deep Spitzer Infrared Array Camera observations. The self-calibration we apply removes a strong instrumental signal from the fluctuations that would otherwise corrupt the results. The procedures and results for masking bright sources and modeling faint sources down to levels set by the instrumental noise are presented. Various tests are performed to demonstrate that the resulting power spectra of these fields are not dominated by instrumental or procedural effects. These tests indicate that the large-scale ([greater, similar]30') fluctuations that remain in the deepest fields are not directly related to the galaxies that are bright enough to be individually detected. We provide the parameterization of these power spectra in terms of separate instrument noise, shot noise, and power-law components. We discuss the relationship between fluctuations measured at different wavelengths and depths, and the relations between constraints on the mean intensity of the CIB and its fluctuation spectrum. Consistent with growing evidence that the [approx]1-5 [mu]m mean intensity of the CIB may not be as far above the integrated emission of resolved galaxies as has been reported in some analyses of DIRBE and IRTS observations, our measurements of spatial fluctuations of the CIB intensity indicate the mean emission from the objects producing the fluctuations is quite low ([greater, similar]1 nW m-2 sr-1 at 3-5 [mu]m), and thus consistent with current [gamma]-ray absorption constraints. The source of the fluctuations may be high-z Population III objects, or a more local component of very low luminosity objects with clustering properties that differ from the resolved galaxies. Finally, we discuss the prospects of the upcoming space-based surveys to directly measure the epochs

COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND FLUCTUATIONS IN DEEP SPITZER INFRARED ARRAY CAMERA IMAGES: DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arendt, Richard G.; Kashlinsky, A.; Moseley, S. H.; Mather, J.

2010-01-01

This paper provides a detailed description of the data reduction and analysis procedures that have been employed in our previous studies of spatial fluctuation of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) using deep Spitzer Infrared Array Camera observations. The self-calibration we apply removes a strong instrumental signal from the fluctuations that would otherwise corrupt the results. The procedures and results for masking bright sources and modeling faint sources down to levels set by the instrumental noise are presented. Various tests are performed to demonstrate that the resulting power spectra of these fields are not dominated by instrumental or procedural effects. These tests indicate that the large-scale (∼>30') fluctuations that remain in the deepest fields are not directly related to the galaxies that are bright enough to be individually detected. We provide the parameterization of these power spectra in terms of separate instrument noise, shot noise, and power-law components. We discuss the relationship between fluctuations measured at different wavelengths and depths, and the relations between constraints on the mean intensity of the CIB and its fluctuation spectrum. Consistent with growing evidence that the ∼1-5 μm mean intensity of the CIB may not be as far above the integrated emission of resolved galaxies as has been reported in some analyses of DIRBE and IRTS observations, our measurements of spatial fluctuations of the CIB intensity indicate the mean emission from the objects producing the fluctuations is quite low (∼>1 nW m -2 sr -1 at 3-5 μm), and thus consistent with current γ-ray absorption constraints. The source of the fluctuations may be high-z Population III objects, or a more local component of very low luminosity objects with clustering properties that differ from the resolved galaxies. Finally, we discuss the prospects of the upcoming space-based surveys to directly measure the epochs inhabited by the populations producing these

Satellite Remote Sensing For Aluminum And Nickel Laterites

Science.gov (United States)

Henderson, Frederick B.; Penfield, Glen T.; Grubbs, Donald K.

1984-08-01

The new LANDSAT-4,-5/Thematic Mapper (TM) land observational satellite remote sensing systems are providing dramatically new and important short wave infrared (SWIR) data, which combined with Landsat's Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) visible (VIS), very near infrared (VNIR), and thermal infrared (TI) data greatly improves regional geological mapping on a global scale. The TM will significantly improve clay, iron oxide, aluminum, and nickel laterite mapping capabilities over large areas of the world. It will also improve the ability to discriminate vegetation stress and species distribution associated with lateritic environments. Nickel laterites on Gag Island, Indonesia are defined by MSS imagery. Satellite imagery of the Cape Bougainville and the Darling Range, Australia bauxite deposits show the potential use of MSS data for exploration and mining applications. Examples of satellite syn-thetic aperture radar (SAR) for Jamaica document the use of this method for bauxite exploration. Thematic Mapper data will be combined with the French SPOT satellite's high spatial resolution and stereoscopic digital data, and U.S., Japanese, European, and Canadian Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data to assist with logistics, mine development, and environ-mental concerns associated with aluminum and nickel lateritic deposits worldwide.

Detecting ship targets in spaceborne infrared image based on modeling radiation anomalies

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Haibo; Zou, Zhengxia; Shi, Zhenwei; Li, Bo

2017-09-01

Using infrared imaging sensors to detect ship target in the ocean environment has many advantages compared to other sensor modalities, such as better thermal sensitivity and all-weather detection capability. We propose a new ship detection method by modeling radiation anomalies for spaceborne infrared image. The proposed method can be decomposed into two stages, where in the first stage, a test infrared image is densely divided into a set of image patches and the radiation anomaly of each patch is estimated by a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), and thereby target candidates are obtained from anomaly image patches. In the second stage, target candidates are further checked by a more discriminative criterion to obtain the final detection result. The main innovation of the proposed method is inspired by the biological mechanism that human eyes are sensitive to the unusual and anomalous patches among complex background. The experimental result on short wavelength infrared band (1.560 - 2.300 μm) and long wavelength infrared band (10.30 - 12.50 μm) of Landsat-8 satellite shows the proposed method achieves a desired ship detection accuracy with higher recall than other classical ship detection methods.

The study of infrared target recognition at sea background based on visual attention computational model

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Deng-wei; Zhang, Tian-xu; Shi, Wen-jun; Wei, Long-sheng; Wang, Xiao-ping; Ao, Guo-qing

2009-07-01

Infrared images at sea background are notorious for the low signal-to-noise ratio, therefore, the target recognition of infrared image through traditional methods is very difficult. In this paper, we present a novel target recognition method based on the integration of visual attention computational model and conventional approach (selective filtering and segmentation). The two distinct techniques for image processing are combined in a manner to utilize the strengths of both. The visual attention algorithm searches the salient regions automatically, and represented them by a set of winner points, at the same time, demonstrated the salient regions in terms of circles centered at these winner points. This provides a priori knowledge for the filtering and segmentation process. Based on the winner point, we construct a rectangular region to facilitate the filtering and segmentation, then the labeling operation will be added selectively by requirement. Making use of the labeled information, from the final segmentation result we obtain the positional information of the interested region, label the centroid on the corresponding original image, and finish the localization for the target. The cost time does not depend on the size of the image but the salient regions, therefore the consumed time is greatly reduced. The method is used in the recognition of several kinds of real infrared images, and the experimental results reveal the effectiveness of the algorithm presented in this paper.

Grain investigation by the help of satellite observatories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Friedemann, C.

1988-01-01

Interstellar grains are investigated by the help of satellite observatories taking into account extraterrestrical ultraviolet observations, infrared astronomy by the help of orbiting cooled telescopes, observed ultraviolet properties of interstellar grains, and consequences of infrared astronomy for dust investigation

Assessing Recent Improvements in the GOSAT TANSO-FTS Thermal InfraRed Emission Spectrum using Satellite Inter-Comparison with NASA AIRS, EUMETSAT IASI, and JPSS CrIS

Science.gov (United States)

Knuteson, R.; Burgess, G.; Shiomi, K.; Kuze, A.; Yoshida, J.; Kataoka, F.; Suto, H.

2016-12-01

The Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for carbon Observation Fourier-Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) onboard the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) has been providing global space-borne observations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) since 2009 (Kuze et al. 2012). The TANSO-FTS sensor is an interferometer spectrometer measuring shortwave reflected solar radiation with high spectral resolution in three spectral bands. A bore-sighted band 4 uses the same interferometer to measure thermal infrared radiation (TIR) at the top of the atmosphere. This paper is a comparison of the TANSO-FTS TIR band with coincident measurements of the NASA Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) grating spectrometer. The time and space coincident matchups are at the Simultaneous Nadir Overpass (SNO) locations of the orbits of GOSAT and the NASA AQUA satellite. GOSAT/AQUA SNOs occur at about 40N and 40S latitude. A continuous set of SNO matchups has been found from the start of valid radiance data collection in April 2009 through the end of 2015. UW-SSEC has obtained the time, latitude, and longitude of the SNO location using the ORBNAV software at http://sips.ssec.wisc.edu/orbnav. UW-SSEC obtained the matching AIRS v5 L1B radiances from the NASA archive. JAXA has reprocessed the entire TANSO-FTS TIR band using the previous v161and a new calibration version (v203) which includes calibration parameter optimizations. The TANSO-FTS has been reduced to the AIRS spectral channels using the AIRS spectral response functions (SRFs). This paper will show the time series of observed brightness temperatures from AIRS and GOSAT TANSO-FTS TIR observations from the SNO matchups. Similar results are obtained by comparison with the EUMETSAT Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on the METOP platform and the JPSS Cross-track InfraRed Sounder (CrIS) on the Suomi-NPP platform. This paper validates the improvements in the GOSAT ground calibration software by providing a reference

Recent advances in infrared astronomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robson, E.I.

1980-01-01

A background survey is given of developments in infrared astronomy during the last decade. Advantages obtained in using infrared wavelengths to penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and the detectors used for this work are considered. Infrared studies of, among other subjects, the stars, dust clouds, the centre of our galaxy and the 3k cosmic background radiation, are discussed. (UK)

Search for infrared counterparts of gamma-ray bursters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaefer, B.E.; Cline, T.L.

1985-01-01

The result of two searches for infrared counterparts of Gamma-ray Bursters (GRB's) is reported. The first search was made using data from the Infrared Astronomy Satellite and covered 23 positions. The second search was made with the Kitt Peak 1.5 m telescope and covered 3 positions. In neither of these two searches was any infrared candidate detected

The Planck Satellite LFI and the Microwave Background: Importance of the 4 K Reference Targets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robitaille P.-M.

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Armed with 4 K reference targets, the Planck satellite low frequency instrument (LFI is intended to map the microwave anisotropies of the sky from the second Lagrange point, L2. Recently, the complete design and pre-flight testing of these 4 K targets has been published (Valenziano L. et al., JINST 4, 2009, T12006. The receiver chain of the LFI is based on a pseudo-correlation architecture. Consequently, the presence of a 3 K microwave background signal at L2 can be established, if the 4 K reference targets function as intended. Conversely, demonstration that the targets are unable to provide the desired emission implies that the 3 K signal cannot exist, at this location. Careful study reveals that only the second scenario can be valid. This analysis thereby provides firm evidence that the monopole of the microwave background, as initially detected by Penzias and Wilson, is being produced by the Earth itself.

The Planck Satellite LFI and the Microwave Background: Importance of the 4K Reference Targets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robitaille P.-M.

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Armed with ~4K reference targets, the Planck satellite low frequency instrument (LFI is intended to map the microwave anisotropies of the sky from the second Lagrange point, L2. Recently, the complete design and pre-flight testing of these ~4K targets has been published (Valenziano L. et al., JINST 4, 2009, T12006. The receiver chain of the LFI is based on a pseudo-correlation architecture. Consequently, the presence of a ~3K microwave background signal at L2 can be established, if the ~4K reference targets function as intended. Conversely, demonstration that the targets are unable to provide the desired emission implies that the ~3K signal cannot exist, at this location. Careful study reveals that only the second scenario can be valid. This analysis thereby provides firm evidence that the monopole of the microwave background, as initially detected by Penzias and Wilson, is being produced by the Earth itself.

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Kunduz mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter S in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Kunduz mineral district, which has celestite deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2007,2008,2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Dudkash mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter R in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Dudkash mineral district, which has industrial mineral deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2006,2007,2008,2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Aynak mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter E in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Aynak mineral district, which has copper deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ((c)JAXA,2008,2010), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the DS

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Kundalyan mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter H in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Kundalyan mineral district, which has porphyry copper and gold deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Herat mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter T in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Herat mineral district, which has barium and limestone deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2007,2008,2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Tourmaline mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter J in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Tourmaline mineral district, which has tin deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the DS products

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Badakhshan mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter F in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Badakhshan mineral district, which has gold deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ((c)JAXA,2007,2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the DS products

Bolometers for far-infrared and submillimetre astronomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griffin, M.J.

2000-01-01

Important scientific goals of far-infrared and submillimetre astronomy include measurements of anisotropies in the cosmic background radiation, deep imaging surveys for detection of high-red-shift galaxies, and imaging and spectroscopy of star formation regions and the interstellar medium in the milky way and nearby galaxies. Use of sensitive bolometer arrays leads to very large improvements in observing speed. Recent progress in the development of bolometric detector systems for ground-based and space-borne far-infrared and submillimetre astronomical observations is reviewed, including spider-web NTD bolometers, transition-edge superconducting sensors, and micromachined planar arrays of ion-implanted silicon bolometers. Future arrays may be based on planar absorbers without feedhorns, which offer potential advantages including more efficient use of space in the focal plane and improved instantaneous sampling of the telescope point spread function, but present challenges in suppression of stray light and RF interference. FIRST and Planck Surveyor are planned satellite missions involving passively cooled (∼70 K) telescopes, and bolometer array developments for these missions are described

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Bakhud mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter U in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.; Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Bakhud mineral district, which has industrial fluorite deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2006,2007, 2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Uruzgan mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter V in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Uruzgan mineral district, which has tin and tungsten deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA, 2008, 2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Katawas mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter N in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Katawas mineral district, which has gold deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©AXA, 2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the DS products match JAXA

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Takhar mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter Q in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Takhar mineral district, which has industrial evaporite deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA, 2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Baghlan mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter P in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Baghlan mineral district, which has industrial clay and gypsum deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA, 2006, 2007, 2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from

Analysis of data collected by the Tatyana II satellite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rivera, Lilianaa; Mendoza-Torres, Eduardo; Martinez, Oscar; Salazar, Humberto

2011-01-01

The Tatyana II satellite is the second one of the University Satellite Program, which is led by the Moscow State University with the participation of the Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla. This satellite has ultraviolet, red-infrared and charged particles detectors. In this work preliminary results based on the data collected by these detectors on board the satellite over a period of ∼3.5 months are presented.

Provisional maps of thermal areas in Yellowstone National Park, based on satellite thermal infrared imaging and field observations

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, R. Greg; Heasler, Henry; Jaworowski, Cheryl; Lowenstern, Jacob B.; Keszthelyi, Laszlo P.

2014-01-01

Maps that define the current distribution of geothermally heated ground are useful toward setting a baseline for thermal activity to better detect and understand future anomalous hydrothermal and (or) volcanic activity. Monitoring changes in the dynamic thermal areas also supports decisions regarding the development of Yellowstone National Park infrastructure, preservation and protection of park resources, and ensuring visitor safety. Because of the challenges associated with field-based monitoring of a large, complex geothermal system that is spread out over a large and remote area, satellite-based thermal infrared images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) were used to map the location and spatial extent of active thermal areas, to generate thermal anomaly maps, and to quantify the radiative component of the total geothermal heat flux. ASTER thermal infrared data acquired during winter nights were used to minimize the contribution of solar heating of the surface. The ASTER thermal infrared mapping results were compared to maps of thermal areas based on field investigations and high-resolution aerial photos. Field validation of the ASTER thermal mapping is an ongoing task. The purpose of this report is to make available ASTER-based maps of Yellowstone’s thermal areas. We include an appendix containing the names and characteristics of Yellowstone’s thermal areas, georeferenced TIFF files containing ASTER thermal imagery, and several spatial data sets in Esri shapefile format.

LiteBIRD: a small satellite for the study of B-mode polarization and inflation from cosmic background radiation detection

Science.gov (United States)

Hazumi, M.; Borrill, J.; Chinone, Y.; Dobbs, M. A.; Fuke, H.; Ghribi, A.; Hasegawa, M.; Hattori, K.; Hattori, M.; Holzapfel, W. L.; Inoue, Y.; Ishidoshiro, K.; Ishino, H.; Karatsu, K.; Katayama, N.; Kawano, I.; Kibayashi, A.; Kibe, Y.; Kimura, N.; Koga, K.; Komatsu, E.; Lee, A. T.; Matsuhara, H.; Matsumura, T.; Mima, S.; Mitsuda, K.; Morii, H.; Murayama, S.; Nagai, M.; Nagata, R.; Nakamura, S.; Natsume, K.; Nishino, H.; Noda, A.; Noguchi, T.; Ohta, I.; Otani, C.; Richards, P. L.; Sakai, S.; Sato, N.; Sato, Y.; Sekimoto, Y.; Shimizu, A.; Shinozaki, K.; Sugita, H.; Suzuki, A.; Suzuki, T.; Tajima, O.; Takada, S.; Takagi, Y.; Takei, Y.; Tomaru, T.; Uzawa, Y.; Watanabe, H.; Yamasaki, N.; Yoshida, M.; Yoshida, T.; Yotsumoto, K.

2012-09-01

LiteBIRD [Lite (Light) satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background Radiation Detection] is a small satellite to map the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation over the full sky at large angular scales with unprecedented precision. Cosmological inflation, which is the leading hypothesis to resolve the problems in the Big Bang theory, predicts that primordial gravitational waves were created during the inflationary era. Measurements of polarization of the CMB radiation are known as the best probe to detect the primordial gravitational waves. The LiteBIRD working group is authorized by the Japanese Steering Committee for Space Science (SCSS) and is supported by JAXA. It has more than 50 members from Japan, USA and Canada. The scientific objective of LiteBIRD is to test all the representative inflation models that satisfy single-field slow-roll conditions and lie in the large-field regime. To this end, the requirement on the precision of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, at LiteBIRD is equal to or less than 0.001. Our baseline design adopts an array of multi-chroic superconducting polarimeters that are read out with high multiplexing factors in the frequency domain for a compact focal plane. The required sensitivity of 1.8μKarcmin is achieved with 2000 TES bolometers at 100mK. The cryogenic system is based on the Stirling/JT technology developed for SPICA, and the continuous ADR system shares the design with future X-ray satellites.

Assembling the Infrared Extragalactic Background Light with CIBER-2: Probing Inter-Halo Light and the Epoch of Reionization.

Science.gov (United States)

Bock, James

We propose to carry out a program of observations with the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER-2). CIBER-2 is a near-infrared sounding rocket experiment designed to measure spatial fluctuations in the extragalactic background light. CIBER-2 scientifically follows on the detection of fluctuations with the CIBER-1 imaging instrument, and will use measurement techniques developed and successfully demonstrated by CIBER-1. With high-sensitivity, multi-band imaging measurements, CIBER-2 will elucidate the history of interhalo light (IHL) production and carry out a deep search for extragalactic background fluctuations associated with the epoch of reionization (EOR). CIBER-1 has made high-quality detections of large-scale fluctuations over 4 sounding rocket flights. CIBER-1 measured the amplitude and spatial power spectrum of fluctuations, and observed an electromagnetic spectrum that is close to Rayleigh-Jeans, but with a statistically significant turnover at 1.1 um. The fluctuations cross-correlate with Spitzer images and are significantly bluer than the spectrum of the integrated background derived from galaxy counts. We interpret the CIBER-1 fluctuations as arising from IHL, low-mass stars tidally stripped from their parent galaxies during galaxy mergers. The first generation of stars and their remnants are likely responsible for the for the reionization of the intergalactic medium, observed to be ionized out to the most distant quasars at a redshift of 6. The total luminosity produced by first stars is uncertain, but a lower limit can be placed assuming a minimal number of photons to produce and sustain reionization. This 'minimal' extragalactic background component associated with reionization is detectable in fluctuations at the design sensitivity of CIBER-2. The CIBER-2 instrument is optimized for sensitivity to surface brightness in a short sounding rocket flight. The instrument consists of a 28 cm wide-field telescope operating in 6 spectral bands

Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for each of the 24 mineral project areas (referred to herein as areas of interest), whose locality names, locations, and main mineral occurrences are shown on the index map of Afghanistan (fig. 1). ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA

Dynamics of satellites, asteroids, and rings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dermott, S.F.

1987-01-01

Work is reported on: (1) the shapes and the internal structures of satellites; (2) the tidal heating of Miranda; (3) the dynamics of arc-like rings; and (4) the structure of the zodiacal cloud that was revealed by the Infrared Astronomy Satellite. Significant progress was made in determining the shape and internal structure of Mimas and in understanding the dynamical evolution of Miranda's orbit

Satellite Detection of Orographic Gravity-wave Activity in the Winter Subtropical Stratosphere over Australia and Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Eckermann, S. D.; Wu, D. L.

2012-01-01

Orographic gravity-wave (OGW) parameterizations in models produce waves over subtropical mountain ranges in Australia and Africa that propagate into the stratosphere during austral winter and deposit momentum, affecting weather and climate. Satellite sensors have measured stratospheric GWs for over a decade, yet find no evidence of these waves. So are parameterizations failing here? Here we argue that the short wavelengths of subtropical OGWs place them near or below the detection limits of satellite sensors. To test this hypothesis, we reanalyze nine years of stratospheric radiances from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on NASA's Aqua satellite during austral winter, applying new averaging techniques to maximize signal-to-noise and improve thresholds for OGW detection. Deep climatological enhancements in stratospheric OGW variance over specific mountain ranges in Australia and southern Africa are revealed for the first time, which exhibit temporal and vertical variations consistent with predicted OGW responses to varying background winds.

Development of Fast, Background-Limited Transition-Edge Sensors for the Background-Limited Infrared/Sub-Millimetre Spectrograph (BLISS) for SPICA

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Andrew D.; Runyan, M. C.; Kenyon, M.; Echternach, P. M.; Chui, T.; Bumble, B.; Bradford, C. M.; Holmes, W. A.; Bock, J. J.

2012-01-01

We report experimental progress toward demonstrating background-limited arrays of membrane-isolated transition-edge sensors (TESs) for the Background Limited Infrared/Sub-mm Spectrograph (BLISS). BLISS is a space-borne instrument with grating spectrometers for wavelengths lambda = 35-435 microns and with R = lambda/(delta)lambda approx. 500. The goals for BLISS TESs are: noise equivalent power (NEP) = 5x10(exp -20) W/Hz(1/2) and response time t or = 135mK) and Mo/Cu proximitized bilayers, where T(sub c) is the thermistor transition temperature. We measured the Ir TES arrays in our 50mK adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator test system, which can measure up to eight 1x32 arrays simultaneously using a time-division multiplexer, as well as our single-pixel test system which can measure down to 15mK. In our previous Ir array measurements our best reported performance was NEP=2.5x10(exp -19) W/Hz(1/2) and tapprox.5ms for straight-beam TESs. In fact, we expected NEPapprox.1.5x10(exp -19)W/Hz(1/2) for meander beam TESs, but did not achieve this previously due to 1/f noise. Here, we detail improvements toward measuring the expected NEP and demonstrate NEP=(1.3+0.2)x10(exp -19)W/Hz(1/2) in our single-pixel test system and NEP=(1.6+0.3)x10(exp -19)W/Hz(1/2) in our array test system.

Comparison of Two Methodologies for Calibrating Satellite Instruments in the Visible and Near-Infrared

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, Robert A.; Brown, Steven W.; Lykke, Keith R.; Guenther, Bruce; Butler, James J.; Schwarting, Thomas; Turpie, Kevin; Moyer, David; DeLuccia, Frank; Moeller, Christopher

2015-01-01

Traditionally, satellite instruments that measure Earth-reflected solar radiation in the visible and near infrared wavelength regions have been calibrated for radiance responsivity in a two-step method. In the first step, the relative spectral response (RSR) of the instrument is determined using a nearly monochromatic light source such as a lamp-illuminated monochromator. These sources do not typically fill the field-of-view of the instrument nor act as calibrated sources of light. Consequently, they only provide a relative (not absolute) spectral response for the instrument. In the second step, the instrument views a calibrated source of broadband light, such as a lamp-illuminated integrating sphere. The RSR and the sphere absolute spectral radiance are combined to determine the absolute spectral radiance responsivity (ASR) of the instrument. More recently, a full-aperture absolute calibration approach using widely tunable monochromatic lasers has been developed. Using these sources, the ASR of an instrument can be determined in a single step on a wavelength-by-wavelength basis. From these monochromatic ASRs, the responses of the instrument bands to broadband radiance sources can be calculated directly, eliminating the need for calibrated broadband light sources such as lamp-illuminated integrating spheres. In this work, the traditional broadband source-based calibration of the Suomi National Preparatory Project (SNPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor is compared with the laser-based calibration of the sensor. Finally, the impact of the new full-aperture laser-based calibration approach on the on-orbit performance of the sensor is considered.

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Haji-Gak mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter C in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Haji-Gak mineral district, which has iron ore deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ((c)JAXA,2006,2007), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the DS products

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Kharnak-Kanjar mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter K in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Kharnak-Kanjar mineral district, which has mercury deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2007,2008,2010), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Dusar-Shaida mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter I in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Dusar-Shaida mineral district, which has copper and tin deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Ghazni1 mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter DD in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Ghazni1 mineral district, which has spectral reflectance anomalies indicative of clay, aluminum, gold, silver, mercury, and sulfur deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ((c)JAXA, 2008, 2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the South Helmand mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter O in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the South Helmand mineral district, which has travertine deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA, 2008, 2010), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Ghazni2 mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter EE in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Ghazni2 mineral district, which has spectral reflectance anomalies indicative of gold, mercury, and sulfur deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ((c)JAXA, 2008, 2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the North Takhar mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter D in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the North Takhar mineral district, which has placer gold deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2006,2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such

Infrared Methods for Daylight Acquisition of LEO Satellites

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Nelson, Joel

2004-01-01

..., and very capable space surveillance systems. The first product of the Raven program was a family of telescopes capable of generating world-class optical observation data of deep-space satellites...

Germanium blocked impurity band far infrared detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rossington, C.S.

1988-04-01

The infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum has been of interest to scientist since the eighteenth century when Sir William Herschel discovered the infrared as he measured temperatures in the sun's spectrum and found that there was energy beyond the red. In the late nineteenth century, Thomas Edison established himself as the first infrared astronomer to look beyond the solar system when he observed the star Arcturus in the infrared. Significant advances in infrared technology and physics, long since Edison's time, have resulted in many scientific developments, such as the Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) which was launched in 1983, semiconductor infrared detectors for materials characterization, military equipment such as night-vision goggles and infrared surveillance equipment. It is now planned that cooled semiconductor infrared detectors will play a major role in the ''Star Wars'' nuclear defense scheme proposed by the Reagan administration

Probing reionization with the cross-power spectrum of 21 cm and near-infrared radiation backgrounds

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mao, Xiao-Chun, E-mail: xcmao@bao.ac.cn [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)

2014-08-01

The cross-correlation between the 21 cm emission from the high-redshift intergalactic medium and the near-infrared (NIR) background light from high-redshift galaxies promises to be a powerful probe of cosmic reionization. In this paper, we investigate the cross-power spectrum during the epoch of reionization. We employ an improved halo approach to derive the distribution of the density field and consider two stellar populations in the star formation model: metal-free stars and metal-poor stars. The reionization history is further generated to be consistent with the electron-scattering optical depth from cosmic microwave background measurements. Then, the intensity of the NIR background is estimated by collecting emission from stars in first-light galaxies. On large scales, we find that the 21 cm and NIR radiation backgrounds are positively correlated during the very early stages of reionization. However, these two radiation backgrounds quickly become anti-correlated as reionization proceeds. The maximum absolute value of the cross-power spectrum is |Δ{sub 21,NIR}{sup 2}|∼10{sup −4} mK nW m{sup –2} sr{sup –1}, reached at ℓ ∼ 1000 when the mean fraction of ionized hydrogen is x-bar{sub i}∼0.9. We find that Square Kilometer Array can measure the 21 cm-NIR cross-power spectrum in conjunction with mild extensions to the existing CIBER survey, provided that the integration time independently adds up to 1000 and 1 hr for 21 cm and NIR observations, and that the sky coverage fraction of the CIBER survey is extended from 4 × 10{sup –4} to 0.1. Measuring the cross-correlation signal as a function of redshift provides valuable information on reionization and helps confirm the origin of the 'missing' NIR background.

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Kandahar mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter Z in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Kandahar mineral district, which has bauxite deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ((c)JAXA,2006,2007,2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the DS

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Farah mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter FF in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.

2014-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Farah mineral district, which has spectral reflectance anomalies indicative of copper, zinc, lead, silver, and gold deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ((c)JAXA, 2007, 2008, 2010), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Zarkashan mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter G in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Zarkashan mineral district, which has copper and gold deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2006,2007, 2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Khanneshin mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter A in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Khanneshin mineral district, which has uranium, thorium, rare-earth-element, and apatite deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2007,2008,2010), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Nalbandon mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter L in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Nalbandon mineral district, which has lead and zinc deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA, 2007, 2008, 2010), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Balkhab mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter B in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2012-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Balkhab mineral district, which has copper deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420-500 nanometer, nm), green (520-600 nm), red (610-690 nm), and near-infrared (760-890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520-770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2007,2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such, the DS products match

Egypt satellite images for land surface characterization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hasager, Charlotte Bay

images used for mapping the vegetation cover types and other land cover types in Egypt. The mapping ranges from 1 km resolution to 30 m resolution. The aim is to provide satellite image mapping with land surface characteristics relevant for roughness mapping.......Satellite images provide information on the land surface properties. From optical remote sensing images in the blue, green, red and near-infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum it is possible to identify a large number of surface features. The report briefly describes different satellite...

Voyager infrared spectroscopy and radiometry investigation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hanel, R; Conrath, B; Gautier, D; Gierasch, P; Kumar, S; Kunde, V; Lowman, P; Maguire, W; Pearl, J; Pirraglia, J [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, Md. (USA). Goddard Space Flight Center

1977-11-01

The infrared investigation on Voyager uses two interferometers covering the spectral ranges 60-600 cm/sup -1/ (17-170 ..mu..m) and 1000-7000 cm/sup -1/ (1.4-10 ..mu..m), and a radiometer covering the range 8000-25000 cm/sup -1/ (0.4-1.2 ..mu..m). Two spectral resolutions (approximately 6.5 and 2.0 cm/sup -1/) are available for each of the interferometers. In the middle of the thermal channel (far infrared interferometer) the noise level is equivalent to the signal from a target at 50 K; in the middle of the reflected sunlight channel (near infrared interferometer) the noise level is equivalent to the signal from an object of albedo 0.2 at the distance of Uranus. For planets and satellites with substantial atmospheres, the data will be used to investigate cloud and gas composition (including isotopic ratios), haze scale height, atmospheric vertical thermal structure, local and planetary circulation and dynamics, and planetary energy balance. For satellites with tenuous atmospheres, data will be gathered on surface and atmospheric compositon, surface temperature and thermal properties, local and global phase functions, and surface structure. For Saturn's rings, the composition and radial structure, particle size and thermal characteristics will be investigated. Comparative studies of the planets and their satellite systems will be carried out.

Development of Fast, Background-Limited Transition-Edge Sensors for the Background-Limited Infrared/Sub-mm Spectrograph (BLISS) for SPICA

Science.gov (United States)

Beyer, Andrew D.; Runyan, M. C.; Kenyon, M.; Echternach, P. M .; Chui, T.; Bumble, B.; Bradford, C. M.; Holmes, W. A.; Bock, J. J.

2012-01-01

We report experimental progress toward demonstrating background-limited arrays of membrane-isolated transition-edge sensors (TESs) for the Background Limited Infrared/Sub-mm Spectrograph (BLISS). BLISS is a space-borne instrument with grating spectrometers for wavelengths lambda=35-435 micron and with R=lambda/delta lambda approximately equals 500. The goals for BLISS TESs are: noise equivalent power (NEP) = 5x10 (sup -20) W/Hz(exp 1/2) and response time tau = 135mK) and Mo/Cu proximitized bilayers, where T(sub c) is the thermistor transition temperature. We measured the Ir TES arrays in our 50mK adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator test system, which can measure up to eight 1x32 arrays simultaneously using a time-division multiplexer, as well as our single-pixel test system which can measure down to 15mK. In our previous Ir array measurements our best reported performance was NEP=2.5x10(exp -19) W/Hz(sub 1/2) and Tau approximately equals 5ms for straight-beam TESs. In fact, we expected NEP approximately equals 1.5x10(exp -19)?W/Hz(sup 1/2) for meander beam TESs, but did not achieve this previously due to 1/f noise. Here, we detail improvements toward measuring the expected NEP and demonstrate NEP=(1.3+0.2)x10 (sup -19)W/Hz(exp 1/2) in our single-pixel test system and NEP=(1.6+/-0.3)x10(sup -19)W/Hz(sup 1/2) in our array test system.

Objective estimation of tropical cyclone innercore surface wind structure using infrared satellite images

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Changjiang; Dai, Lijie; Ma, Leiming; Qian, Jinfang; Yang, Bo

2017-10-01

An objective technique is presented for estimating tropical cyclone (TC) innercore two-dimensional (2-D) surface wind field structure using infrared satellite imagery and machine learning. For a TC with eye, the eye contour is first segmented by a geodesic active contour model, based on which the eye circumference is obtained as the TC eye size. A mathematical model is then established between the eye size and the radius of maximum wind obtained from the past official TC report to derive the 2-D surface wind field within the TC eye. Meanwhile, the composite information about the latitude of TC center, surface maximum wind speed, TC age, and critical wind radii of 34- and 50-kt winds can be combined to build another mathematical model for deriving the innercore wind structure. After that, least squares support vector machine (LSSVM), radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), and linear regression are introduced, respectively, in the two mathematical models, which are then tested with sensitivity experiments on real TC cases. Verification shows that the innercore 2-D surface wind field structure estimated by LSSVM is better than that of RBFNN and linear regression.

Daily SST fields produced by blending infrared and microwave radiometer estimates

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Sreejith, O.P.; Shenoi, S.S.C.

Measurement of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) using satellite based sensors have matured during the last decade. The infrared measurements, using the AVHRR sensor, flown onboard the NOAA satellites, have been used for the generation of high...

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Parwan mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter CC in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Parwan mineral district, which has gold and copper deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2006, 2007), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Nuristan mineral district in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.; Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Nuristan mineral district, which has gem, lithium, and cesium deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2008,2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS

Measurement of the cosmic microwave background spectrum by the COBE FIRAS instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Mather, J. C.; Cheng, E. S.; Cottingham, D. A.; Eplee, R. E., Jr.; Fixsen, D. J.; Hewagama, T.; Isaacman, R. B.; Jensen, K. A.; Meyer, S. S.; Noerdlinger, P. D.

1994-01-01

The cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) has a blackbody spectrum within 3.4 x 10(exp -8) ergs/sq cm/s/sr cm over the frequency range from 2 to 20/cm (5-0.5 mm). These measurements, derived from the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotomer (FIRAS) instrument on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, imply stringent limits on energy release in the early universe after t approximately 1 year and redshift z approximately 3 x 10(exp 6). The deviations are less than 0.30% of the peak brightness, with an rms value of 0.01%, and the dimensionless cosmological distortion parameters are limited to the absolute value of y is less than 2.5 x 10(exp -5) and the absolute value of mu is less than 3.3 x 10(exp -4) (95% confidence level). The temperature of the CMBR is 2.726 +/- 0.010 K (95% confidence level systematic).

HIRS-AMTS satellite sounding system test - Theoretical and empirical vertical resolving power. [High resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder - Advanced Moisture and Temperature Sounder

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, O. E.

1982-01-01

The present investigation is concerned with the vertical resolving power of satellite-borne temperature sounding instruments. Information is presented on the capabilities of the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) and a proposed sounding instrument called the Advanced Moisture and Temperature Sounder (AMTS). Two quite different methods for assessing the vertical resolving power of satellite sounders are discussed. The first is the theoretical method of Conrath (1972) which was patterned after the work of Backus and Gilbert (1968) The Backus-Gilbert-Conrath (BGC) approach includes a formalism for deriving a retrieval algorithm for optimizing the vertical resolving power. However, a retrieval algorithm constructed in the BGC optimal fashion is not necessarily optimal as far as actual temperature retrievals are concerned. Thus, an independent criterion for vertical resolving power is discussed. The criterion is based on actual retrievals of signal structure in the temperature field.

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Ghunday-Achin mineral district in Afghanistan, in Davis, P.A, compiler, Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Arko, Scott A.; Harbin, Michelle L.; Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Ghunday-Achin mineral district, which has magnesite and talc deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2008,2009), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As

H-ATLAS: THE COSMIC ABUNDANCE OF DUST FROM THE FAR-INFRARED BACKGROUND POWER SPECTRUM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thacker, Cameron; Cooray, Asantha; Smidt, Joseph; De Bernardis, Francesco; Mitchell-Wynne, K. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Amblard, A. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Auld, R.; Eales, S.; Pascale, E. [School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff, CF24 3AA (United Kingdom); Baes, M.; Michalowski, M. J. [Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, KrijgslAAn 281 S9, B-9000 Gent (Belgium); Clements, D. L.; Dariush, A.; Hopwood, R. [Physics Department, Imperial College London, South Kensington campus, London, SW7 2AZ (United Kingdom); De Zotti, G. [INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova (Italy); Dunne, L.; Maddox, S. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch (New Zealand); Hoyos, C. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD (United Kingdom); Ibar, E. [UK Astronomy Technology Centre, The Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Jarvis, M. [Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); and others

2013-05-01

We present a measurement of the angular power spectrum of the cosmic far-infrared background (CFIRB) anisotropies in one of the extragalactic fields of the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey at 250, 350, and 500 {mu}m bands. Consistent with recent measurements of the CFIRB power spectrum in Herschel-SPIRE maps, we confirm the existence of a clear one-halo term of galaxy clustering on arcminute angular scales with large-scale two-halo term of clustering at 30 arcmin to angular scales of a few degrees. The power spectrum at the largest angular scales, especially at 250 {mu}m, is contaminated by the Galactic cirrus. The angular power spectrum is modeled using a conditional luminosity function approach to describe the spatial distribution of unresolved galaxies that make up the bulk of the CFIRB. Integrating over the dusty galaxy population responsible for the background anisotropies, we find that the cosmic abundance of dust, relative to the critical density, to be between {Omega}{sub dust} = 10{sup -6} and 8 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -6} in the redshift range z {approx} 0-3. This dust abundance is consistent with estimates of the dust content in the universe using quasar reddening and magnification measurements in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Panjsher Valley mineral district in Afghanistan: Chapter M in Local-area-enhanced, high-resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of mineral districts in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Cagney, Laura E.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Panjsher Valley mineral district, which has emerald and silver-iron deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA, 2009, 2010), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from

Observing outer planet satellites (except Titan) with JWST: Science justification and observational requirements

Science.gov (United States)

Kestay, Laszlo P.; Grundy, Will; Stansberry, John; Sivaramakrishnan, Anand; Thatte, Deepashri; Gudipati, Murthy; Tsang, Constantine; Greenbaum, Alexandra; McGruder, Chima

2016-01-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will allow observations with a unique combination of spectral, spatial, and temporal resolution for the study of outer planet satellites within our Solar System. We highlight the infrared spectroscopy of icy moons and temporal changes on geologically active satellites as two particularly valuable avenues of scientific inquiry. While some care must be taken to avoid saturation issues, JWST has observation modes that should provide excellent infrared data for such studies.

Satellite imagery in safeguards: progress and prospects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niemeyer, I.; Listner, C.

2013-01-01

The use of satellite imagery has become very important for the verification of the safeguards implementation under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The main applications of satellite imagery are to verify the correctness and completeness of the member states' declarations, and to provide preparatory information for inspections, complimentary access and other technical visits. If the area of interest is not accessible, remote sensing sensors provide one of the few opportunities of gathering data for nuclear monitoring, as for example in Iraq between 1998 and 2002 or currently in North Korea. Satellite data of all available sensor types contains a considerable amount of safeguard-relevant information. Very high-resolution optical satellite imagery provides the most detailed spatial information on nuclear sites and activities up to 0.41 m resolution, together with up to 8 spectral bands from the visible light and near infrared. Thermal infrared (TIR) images can indicate the operational status of nuclear facilities and help to identify undeclared activities. Hyper-spectral imagery allows a quantitative estimation of geophysical, geochemical and biochemical characteristics of the earth's surface and is therefore useful for assessing, for example, surface cover changes due to drilling, mining and milling activities. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image data up to 1 m spatial resolution provides an all-weather, day and night monitoring capability. However, the absence (or existence) of nuclear activities can never be confirmed completely based on satellite imagery. (A.C.)

The infrared astronomical mission AKARI

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Murakami, Hiroshi; Baba, Hajime; Barthel, Peter; Clements, David L.; Cohen, Martin; Doi, Yasuo; Enya, Keigo; Figueredo, Elysandra; Fujishiro, Naofumi; Fujiwara, Hideaki; Fujiwara, Mikio; Garcia-Lario, Pedro; Goto, Tomotsugu; Hasegawa, Sunao; Hibi, Yasunori; Hirao, Takanori; Hiromoto, Norihisa; Hong, Seung Soo; Imai, Koji; Ishigaki, Miho; Ishiguro, Masateru; Ishihara, Daisuke; Ita, Yoshifusa; Jeong, Woong-Seob; Jeong, Kyung Sook; Kaneda, Hidehiro; Kataza, Hirokazu; Kawada, Mitsunobu; Kawai, Toshihide; Kawamura, Akiko; Kessler, Martin F.; Kester, Do; Kii, Tsuneo; Kim, Dong Chan; Kim, Wjung; Kobayashi, Hisato; Koo, Bon Chul; Kwon, Suk Minn; Lee, Hyung Mok; Lorente, Rosario; Makiuti, Sin'itirou; Matsuhara, Hideo; Matsumoto, Toshio; Matsuo, Hiroshi; Matsuura, Shuji; Mueller, Thomas G.; Murakami, Noriko; Nagata, Hirohisa; Nakagawa, Takao; Naoi, Takahiro; Narita, Masanao; Noda, Manabu; Oh, Sang Hoon; Ohnishi, Akira; Ohyama, Youichi; Okada, Yoko; Okuda, Haruyuki; Oliver, Sebastian; Onaka, Takashi; Ootsubo, Takafumi; Oyabu, Shinki; Pak, Sojong; Park, Yong-Sun; Pearson, Chris P.; Rowan-Robinson, Michael; Saito, Toshinobu; Sakon, Itsuki; Salama, Alberto; Sato, Shinji; Savage, Richard S.; Serjeant, Stephen; Shibai, Hiroshi; Shirahata, Mai; Sohn, Jungjoo; Suzuki, Toyoaki; Takagi, Toshinobu; Takahashi, Hidenori; Tanabe, Toshihiko; Takeuchi, Tsutomu T.; Takita, Satoshi; Thomson, Matthew; Uemizu, Kazunori; Ueno, Munetaka; Usui, Fumihiko; Verdugo, Eva; Wada, Takehiko; Wang, Lingyu; Watabe, Toyoki; Watarai, Hidenori; White, Glenn J.; Yamamura, Issei; Yamauchi, Chisato; Yasuda, Akiko

2007-01-01

AKARI, the first Japanese satellite dedicated to infrared astronomy, was launched on 2006 February 21, and started observations in May of the same year. AKARI has a 68.5 cm cooled telescope, together with two focal-plane instruments, which survey the sky in six wavelength bands from mid- to

Use of Real Time Satellite Infrared and Ocean Color to Produce Ocean Products

Science.gov (United States)

Roffer, M. A.; Muller-Karger, F. E.; Westhaver, D.; Gawlikowski, G.; Upton, M.; Hall, C.

2014-12-01

Real-time data products derived from infrared and ocean color satellites are useful for several types of users around the world. Highly relevant applications include recreational and commercial fisheries, commercial towing vessel and other maritime and navigation operations, and other scientific and applied marine research. Uses of the data include developing sampling strategies for research programs, tracking of water masses and ocean fronts, optimizing ship routes, evaluating water quality conditions (coastal, estuarine, oceanic), and developing fisheries and essential fish habitat indices. Important considerations for users are data access and delivery mechanisms, and data formats. At this time, the data are being generated in formats increasingly available on mobile computing platforms, and are delivered through popular interfaces including social media (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and others), Google Earth and other online Geographical Information Systems, or are simply distributed via subscription by email. We review 30 years of applications and describe how we develop customized products and delivery mechanisms working directly with users. We review benefits and issues of access to government databases (NOAA, NASA, ESA), standard data products, and the conversion to tailored products for our users. We discuss advantages of different product formats and of the platforms used to display and to manipulate the data.

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the Ahankashan mineral district in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the Ahankashan mineral district, which has copper and gold deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2007,2008, 2009, 2010),but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this

Vacuum ultraviolet backgrounds from space - Ten years after

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huffman, R.E.; Larrabee, J.C.; Leblanc, F.J.

1989-01-01

The airglow, scattering, and auroral emission sources of the VUV background of the earth's atmosphere set limits on the usefulness of UV space observations, but facilitate such passive remote sensing types as electron density profiling and auroral location and strength determinations, which are presently discussed. UV auroral imaging has to date been conducted by four different experiments: (1) the VUV Backgrounds observations (flown on the S3-4 satellite in 1978); (2) the Horizon UV Program experiment (flown on STS-4 in 1982); the HILAT satellite's Atmospheric/Ionospheric Monitor (1986); and the Atmospheric/Ionospheric Remote Sensor (flown on the Polar BEAR satellite, 1988-1989). 18 refs

SALIENCY BASED SEGMENTATION OF SATELLITE IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Sharma

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Saliency gives the way as humans see any image and saliency based segmentation can be eventually helpful in Psychovisual image interpretation. Keeping this in view few saliency models are used along with segmentation algorithm and only the salient segments from image have been extracted. The work is carried out for terrestrial images as well as for satellite images. The methodology used in this work extracts those segments from segmented image which are having higher or equal saliency value than a threshold value. Salient and non salient regions of image become foreground and background respectively and thus image gets separated. For carrying out this work a dataset of terrestrial images and Worldview 2 satellite images (sample data are used. Results show that those saliency models which works better for terrestrial images are not good enough for satellite image in terms of foreground and background separation. Foreground and background separation in terrestrial images is based on salient objects visible on the images whereas in satellite images this separation is based on salient area rather than salient objects.

Properties in the middle and far infrared radiation of spiral and irregular galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Contursi, Alessandra

1998-01-01

In the first part of this research thesis, the author reports the study in the middle infrared of H II regions belonging to Magellanic clouds. For this purpose, he presents different aspects of infrared emission by the interstellar medium: origin and evolution of interstellar grains, dust studied by astrophysical observations, dust models, infrared observations made by COBE and IRAS satellites, exploitation of the ISO satellite. He also presents the Small and Large Magellanic clouds, and reports the study of the H II N4 region of the large one, imagery and spectroscopy of the H II N66 region of the small one, and the study of silicate emission in the central region of N66. The second part reports the study of cluster normal spiral galaxies in the middle and far infrared. For this purpose, the author discusses the colours in the middle infrared of Virgo's and Coma's galaxies, discusses the properties in the infrared of spiral galaxies (Coma and A1367), based on observations made by ISO [fr

Satellite-Based Sunshine Duration for Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bodo Ahrens

2013-06-01

Full Text Available In this study, two different methods were applied to derive daily and monthly sunshine duration based on high-resolution satellite products provided by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring using data from Meteosat Second Generation (MSG SEVIRI (Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager. The satellite products were either hourly cloud type or hourly surface incoming direct radiation. The satellite sunshine duration estimates were not found to be significantly different using the native 15-minute temporal resolution of SEVIRI. The satellite-based sunshine duration products give additional spatial information over the European continent compared with equivalent in situ-based products. An evaluation of the satellite sunshine duration by product intercomparison and against station measurements was carried out to determine their accuracy. The satellite data were found to be within ±1 h/day compared to high-quality Baseline Surface Radiation Network or surface synoptic observations (SYNOP station measurements. The satellite-based products differ more over the oceans than over land, mainly because of the treatment of fractional clouds in the cloud type-based sunshine duration product. This paper presents the methods used to derive the satellite sunshine duration products and the performance of the different retrievals. The main benefits and disadvantages compared to station-based products are also discussed.

Thermal infrared remote sensing of crude oil slicks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salisbury, J.W.; D'Aria, D.M.

1993-01-01

It is important to develop a remote sensing technique for reliable detection of oil slicks for reasons of both oil exploration and environmental protection. Yet, unambiguous detection has proven an elusive goal. This article presents new thermal infrared spectra of oil slicks made from five different crude oil samples with a wide range of API gravities and compositions. After a brief outgassing phase, all oil slick spectra are quite similar and little affected by thickness, extended exposure to air or sunlight, and even by emulsification with seawater (mousse formation). Thus, oil slicks provide a remarkably unvarying spectral signature as remote sensing targets in the thermal infrared compared to other regions of the spectrum. This spectral signature in the 8-14 μm atmospheric window is flat, with an average reflectance of 4%. Seawater, on the other hand, has a spectrum that varies in reflectance with wavelength in the 8-14 μm window from 0.90 to 3.65%. In addition, the authors show that sea foam displays a reflectance spectrum quite similar to that of seawater in the 8-14 μm region, because the very high absorption coefficient of water in this wavelength region prevents volume scattering in foam bubbles. This results in a relatively uniform spectral background, against which oil slicks can be detected, based on their different spectral signature. Thus, thermal infrared multispectral remote sensing appears to offer a simple and reliable technique for aircraft or satellite detection of oil slicks

Satellite observations of the northeast monsoon coastal current

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Shenoi, S.S.C.; Gouveia, A.D.; Shetye, S.R.; Rao, L.V.G.

Satellite Infrared observations, from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), during November 1987-February 1988 and hydrographic data from the eastern Arabian Sea are used to describe the poleward flowing coastal current in the eastern...

FireBird - a small satellite fire monitoring mission: Status and first results

Science.gov (United States)

Lorenz, Eckehard; Rücker, Gernot; Terzibaschian, Thomas; Klein, Doris; Tiemann, Joachim

2014-05-01

The scientific mission FireBird is operated by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and consists of two small satellites. The first satellite - TET-1 - was successfully launched from Baikonur, Russia in July 2012. Its first year in orbit was dedicated to a number of experiments within the framework of the DLR On Orbit Verification (OOV) program which is dedicated to technology testing in space. After successful completion of its OOV phase, TET-1 was handed over to the DLR FireBird mission and is now a dedicated Earth Observation mission. Its primary goal is sensing of hot phenomena such as wildfires, volcanoes, gas flares and industrial hotspots. The second satellite, BiROS is scheduled for launch in the second or third quarter of 2015. The satellite builds on the heritage of the DLR BIRD (BIspectral Infrared Detection) mission and delivers quantitative information (such as Fire Radiative Power, FRP) at a spatial resolution of 350 m, superior to any current fire enabled satellite system such as NPP VIIRS, MODIS or Meteosat SEVIRI. The satellite is undergoing a four month validation phase during which satellite operations are adapted to the new mission goals of FireBIRD and processing capacities are established to guarantee swift processing and delivery of high quality data. The validation phase started with an informal Operational Readiness Review and will be completed with a formal review, covering all aspects of the space and ground segments. The satellite is equipped with a camera with a 42 m ground pixel size in the red, green and near infrared spectral range, and a 370 m ground pixel size camera in the mid and thermal infrared with a swath of 185 km. The satellite can be pointed towards a target in order to enhance observation frequency. First results of the FireBird mission include a ground validation experiment and acquisitions over fires across the world. Once the validation phase is finished the data will be made available to a wide scientific community.

Modulation/demodulation techniques for satellite communications. Part 1: Background

Science.gov (United States)

Omura, J. K.; Simon, M. K.

1981-01-01

Basic characteristics of digital data transmission systems described include the physical communication links, the notion of bandwidth, FCC regulations, and performance measurements such as bit rates, bit error probabilities, throughputs, and delays. The error probability performance and spectral characteristics of various modulation/demodulation techniques commonly used or proposed for use in radio and satellite communication links are summarized. Forward error correction with block or convolutional codes is also discussed along with the important coding parameter, channel cutoff rate.

Planck 2013 results. XXX. Cosmic infrared background measurements and implications for star formation

Science.gov (United States)

Planck Collaboration; Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Armitage-Caplan, C.; Arnaud, M.; Ashdown, M.; Atrio-Barandela, F.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Banday, A. J.; Barreiro, R. B.; Bartlett, J. G.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoît, A.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Bernard, J.-P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bethermin, M.; Bielewicz, P.; Blagrave, K.; Bobin, J.; Bock, J. J.; Bonaldi, A.; Bond, J. R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F. R.; Boulanger, F.; Bridges, M.; Bucher, M.; Burigana, C.; Butler, R. C.; Cardoso, J.-F.; Catalano, A.; Challinor, A.; Chamballu, A.; Chen, X.; Chiang, H. C.; Chiang, L.-Y.; Christensen, P. R.; Church, S.; Clements, D. L.; Colombi, S.; Colombo, L. P. L.; Couchot, F.; Coulais, A.; Crill, B. P.; Curto, A.; Cuttaia, F.; Danese, L.; Davies, R. D.; Davis, R. J.; de Bernardis, P.; de Rosa, A.; de Zotti, G.; Delabrouille, J.; Delouis, J.-M.; Désert, F.-X.; Dickinson, C.; Diego, J. M.; Dole, H.; Donzelli, S.; Doré, O.; Douspis, M.; Dupac, X.; Efstathiou, G.; Enßlin, T. A.; Eriksen, H. K.; Finelli, F.; Forni, O.; Frailis, M.; Franceschi, E.; Galeotta, S.; Ganga, K.; Ghosh, T.; Giard, M.; Giraud-Héraud, Y.; González-Nuevo, J.; Górski, K. M.; Gratton, S.; Gregorio, A.; Gruppuso, A.; Hansen, F. K.; Hanson, D.; Harrison, D.; Helou, G.; Henrot-Versillé, S.; Hernández-Monteagudo, C.; Herranz, D.; Hildebrandt, S. R.; Hivon, E.; Hobson, M.; Holmes, W. A.; Hornstrup, A.; Hovest, W.; Huffenberger, K. M.; Jaffe, A. H.; Jaffe, T. R.; Jones, W. C.; Juvela, M.; Kalberla, P.; Keihänen, E.; Kerp, J.; Keskitalo, R.; Kisner, T. S.; Kneissl, R.; Knoche, J.; Knox, L.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lacasa, F.; Lagache, G.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Lamarre, J.-M.; Langer, M.; Lasenby, A.; Laureijs, R. J.; Lawrence, C. R.; Leonardi, R.; León-Tavares, J.; Lesgourgues, J.; Liguori, M.; Lilje, P. B.; Linden-Vørnle, M.; López-Caniego, M.; Lubin, P. M.; Macías-Pérez, J. F.; Maffei, B.; Maino, D.; Mandolesi, N.; Maris, M.; Marshall, D. J.; Martin, P. G.; Martínez-González, E.; Masi, S.; Massardi, M.; Matarrese, S.; Matthai, F.; Mazzotta, P.; Melchiorri, A.; Mendes, L.; Mennella, A.; Migliaccio, M.; Mitra, S.; Miville-Deschênes, M.-A.; Moneti, A.; Montier, L.; Morgante, G.; Mortlock, D.; Munshi, D.; Murphy, J. A.; Naselsky, P.; Nati, F.; Natoli, P.; Netterfield, C. B.; Nørgaard-Nielsen, H. U.; Noviello, F.; Novikov, D.; Novikov, I.; Osborne, S.; Oxborrow, C. A.; Paci, F.; Pagano, L.; Pajot, F.; Paladini, R.; Paoletti, D.; Partridge, B.; Pasian, F.; Patanchon, G.; Perdereau, O.; Perotto, L.; Perrotta, F.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Pierpaoli, E.; Pietrobon, D.; Plaszczynski, S.; Pointecouteau, E.; Polenta, G.; Ponthieu, N.; Popa, L.; Poutanen, T.; Pratt, G. W.; Prézeau, G.; Prunet, S.; Puget, J.-L.; Rachen, J. P.; Reach, W. T.; Rebolo, R.; Reinecke, M.; Remazeilles, M.; Renault, C.; Ricciardi, S.; Riller, T.; Ristorcelli, I.; Rocha, G.; Rosset, C.; Roudier, G.; Rowan-Robinson, M.; Rubiño-Martín, J. A.; Rusholme, B.; Sandri, M.; Santos, D.; Savini, G.; Scott, D.; Seiffert, M. D.; Serra, P.; Shellard, E. P. S.; Spencer, L. D.; Starck, J.-L.; Stolyarov, V.; Stompor, R.; Sudiwala, R.; Sunyaev, R.; Sureau, F.; Sutton, D.; Suur-Uski, A.-S.; Sygnet, J.-F.; Tauber, J. A.; Tavagnacco, D.; Terenzi, L.; Toffolatti, L.; Tomasi, M.; Tristram, M.; Tucci, M.; Tuovinen, J.; Türler, M.; Valenziano, L.; Valiviita, J.; Van Tent, B.; Vielva, P.; Villa, F.; Vittorio, N.; Wade, L. A.; Wandelt, B. D.; Welikala, N.; White, M.; White, S. D. M.; Winkel, B.; Yvon, D.; Zacchei, A.; Zonca, A.

2014-11-01

We present new measurements of cosmic infrared background (CIB) anisotropies using Planck. Combining HFI data with IRAS, the angular auto- and cross-frequency power spectrum is measured from 143 to 3000 GHz, and the auto-bispectrum from 217 to 545 GHz. The total areas used to compute the CIB power spectrum and bispectrum are about 2240 and 4400 deg2, respectively. After careful removal of the contaminants (cosmic microwave background anisotropies, Galactic dust, and Sunyaev-Zeldovich emission), and a complete study of systematics, the CIB power spectrum is measured with unprecedented signal to noise ratio from angular multipoles ℓ ~ 150 to 2500. The bispectrum due to the clustering of dusty, star-forming galaxies is measured from ℓ ~ 130 to 1100, with a total signal to noise ratio of around 6, 19, and 29 at 217, 353, and 545 GHz, respectively. Two approaches are developed for modelling CIB power spectrum anisotropies. The first approach takes advantage of the unique measurements by Planck at large angular scales, and models only the linear part of the power spectrum, with a mean bias of dark matter haloes hosting dusty galaxies at a given redshift weighted by their contribution to the emissivities. The second approach is based on a model that associates star-forming galaxies with dark matter haloes and their subhaloes, using a parametrized relation between the dust-processed infrared luminosity and (sub-)halo mass. The two approaches simultaneously fit all auto- and cross-power spectra very well. We find that the star formation history is well constrained up to redshifts around 2, and agrees with recent estimates of the obscured star-formation density using Spitzer and Herschel. However, at higher redshift, the accuracy of the star formation history measurement is strongly degraded by the uncertainty in the spectral energy distribution of CIB galaxies. We also find that the mean halo mass which is most efficient at hosting star formation is log (Meff/M⊙) = 12

Infrared Astronomy Professional Development for K-12 Educators: WISE Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Borders, Kareen; Mendez, B. M.

2010-01-01

K-12 educators need effective and relevant astronomy professional development. WISE Telescope (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer) and Spitzer Space Telescope Education programs provided an immersive teacher professional development workshop at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico during the summer of 2009. As many common misconceptions involve scale and distance, teachers worked with Moon/Earth scale, solar system scale, and distance of objects in the universe. Teachers built and used basic telescopes, learned about the history of telescopes, explored ground and satellite based telescopes, and explored and worked on models of WISE Telescope. An in-depth explanation of WISE and Spitzer telescopes gave participants background knowledge for infrared astronomy observations. We taught the electromagnetic spectrum through interactive stations. The stations included an overview via lecture and power point, the use of ultraviolet beads to determine ultraviolet exposure, the study of WISE lenticulars and diagramming of infrared data, listening to light by using speakers hooked up to photoreceptor cells, looking at visible light through diffraction glasses and diagramming the data, protocols for using astronomy based research in the classroom, and infrared thermometers to compare environmental conditions around the observatory. An overview of LIDAR physics was followed up by a simulated LIDAR mapping of the topography of Mars. We will outline specific steps for K-12 infrared astronomy professional development, provide data demonstrating the impact of the above professional development on educator understanding and classroom use, and detail future plans for additional K-12 professional development. Funding was provided by WISE Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, Starbucks, Arecibo Observatory, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Washington Space Grant Consortium.

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the North Bamyan mineral district in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the North Bamyan mineral district, which has copper deposits. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2006,2007, 2008), but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that original image values cannot be recreated from this DS. As such

Local-area-enhanced, 2.5-meter resolution natural-color and color-infrared satellite-image mosaics of the South Bamyan mineral district in Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Philip A.; Davis, Philip A.

2013-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, prepared databases for mineral-resource target areas in Afghanistan. The purpose of the databases is to (1) provide useful data to ground-survey crews for use in performing detailed assessments of the areas and (2) provide useful information to private investors who are considering investment in a particular area for development of its natural resources. The set of satellite-image mosaics provided in this Data Series (DS) is one such database. Although airborne digital color-infrared imagery was acquired for parts of Afghanistan in 2006, the image data have radiometric variations that preclude their use in creating a consistent image mosaic for geologic analysis. Consequently, image mosaics were created using ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite; renamed Daichi) satellite images, whose radiometry has been well determined (Saunier, 2007a,b). This part of the DS consists of the locally enhanced ALOS image mosaics for the South Bamyan mineral district, which has areas with a spectral reflectance anomaly that require field investigation. ALOS was launched on January 24, 2006, and provides multispectral images from the AVNIR (Advanced Visible and Near-Infrared Radiometer) sensor in blue (420–500 nanometer, nm), green (520–600 nm), red (610–690 nm), and near-infrared (760–890 nm) wavelength bands with an 8-bit dynamic range and a 10-meter (m) ground resolution. The satellite also provides a panchromatic band image from the PRISM (Panchromatic Remote-sensing Instrument for Stereo Mapping) sensor (520–770 nm) with the same dynamic range but a 2.5-m ground resolution. The image products in this DS incorporate copyrighted data provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (©JAXA,2006,2007, 2008),but the image processing has altered the original pixel structure and all image values of the JAXA ALOS data, such that

Enhanced ionosphere-magnetosphere data from the DMSP satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rich, F.J.; Hardy, D.A.; Gussenhoven, M.S.

1985-01-01

The satellites of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) represent a series of low-altitude (835 km) polar-orbiting satellites. Their primary objective is related to the observation of the tropospheric weather with a high-resolution white light and infrared imaging system. It is also possible to make images of auroras. On a daily basis, information about auroras is used to assist various communication systems which are affected by the ionospheric disturbances associated with auroras. In the past few years, there have been several improvements in the ionospheric monitoring instrumentation. Since the high-latitude ionosphere is connected to the magnetosphere, the DMSP data are used to monitor magnetospheric processes. The instrumentation of the DMSP satellites is discussed, taking into account the data provided by them. 7 references

Mapping global precipitation with satellite borne microwave radiometer and infrared radiometer using Kalman filter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noda, S.; Sasashige, K.; Katagami, D.; Ushio, T.; Kubota, T.; Okamoto, K.; Iida, Y.; Kida, S.; Shige, S.; Shimomura, S.; Aonashi, K.; Inoue, T.; Morimoto, T.; Kawasaki, Z.

2007-01-01

Estimates of precipitation at a high time and space resolution are required for many important applications. In this paper, a new global precipitation map with high spatial (0.1 degree) and temporal (1 hour) resolution using Kalman filter technique is presented and evaluated. Infrared radiometer data, which are available globally nearly everywhere and nearly all the time from geostationary orbit, are used with the several microwave radiometers aboard the LEO satellites. IR data is used as a means to move the precipitation estimates from microwave observation during periods when microwave data are not available at a given location. Moving vector is produced by computing correlations on successive images of IR data. When precipitation is moved, the Kalman filter is applied for improving the moving technique in this research. The new approach showed a better score than the technique without Kalman filter. The correlation coefficient was 0.1 better than without the Kalman filter about 6 hours after the last microwave overpasses, and the RMS error was improved about 0.1 mm/h with the Kalman filter technique. This approach is unique in that 1) the precipitation estimates from the microwave radiometer is mainly used, 2) the IR temperature in every hour is also used for the precipitation estimates based on the Kalman filter theory

NOAA Interest in Small Satellite Solutions for Mitigation of Data Gaps

Science.gov (United States)

Caulfield, M.; Tewey, K.; John, P.

2016-12-01

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is undertaking a strategy to achieve satellite constellation robustness by 2023 to maintain continuity of polar satellite observations, which are central to NOAA's weather forecast capability. NOAA's plans include mitigation activities in the event of a loss of polar observations. In 2017, NOAA will begin development of the Earth Observing Nanosatellite - Microwave (EON-MW). EON-MW is a miniature microwave sounder that approximates the atmospheric profiling capabilities of the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) instrument on the NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). NOAA is collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory (MIT / LL) on EON-MW, which includes 2 years of risk reduction efforts to further define the EON-MW mission and identify and manage key technical risks. These studies will refine designs and evaluate system trades for operational earth observations from a U-class satellite platform, as well as examine microwave sensor concepts and investigated payload architecture to support microwave frequencies for atmospheric remote sensing. Similar to EON-MW, NOAA is also investigating the potential to mitigate against the loss of the JPSS Cross Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) data with a CubeSat based mid-wave Infrared sounder. NOAA is collaborating with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to design the Earth Observation Nanosatellite-Infrared (EON-IR). EON-IR will leverage the NASA-JPL CubSat based infrared sounder CubSat Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS) mission. In FY 2015 NOAA funded a study to analyze the feasibility of meeting the essential requirements of the CrIS from a CubeSat platform and began exploring the basic design of the EON-IR payload and bus. NOAA will continue to study EON-IR in 2016 by examining ways to modify the CIRAS design to better meet NOAA's observational and operational needs. These modifications will aim to increase mission

Stellar bars and the spatial distribution of infrared luminosity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Devereux, N.

1987-01-01

Ground-based 10 micron observations of the central region of over 100 infrared luminous galaxies are presented. A first order estimate of the spatial distribution of infrared emission in galaxies is obtained through a combination of ground-based and Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) data. The galaxies are nearby and primarily noninteracting, permitting an unbiased investigation of correlations with Hubble type. Approximately 40% of the early-type barred galaxies in this sample are associated with enhanced luminosity in the central (approximately 1 kpc diameter) region. The underlying luminosity source is attributed to both Seyfert and star formation activity. Late-type spirals are different in that the spatial distribution of infrared emission and the infrared luminoisty are not strongly dependent on barred morphology

Satellite Infrared Radiation Measurements Prior to the Major Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Ouzounov, Dimitar; Pulintes, S.; Bryant, N.; Taylor, Patrick; Freund, F.

2005-01-01

This work describes our search for a relationship between tectonic stresses and increases in mid-infrared (IR) flux as part of a possible ensemble of electromagnetic (EM) phenomena that may be related to earthquake activity. We present and &scuss observed variations in thermal transients and radiation fields prior to the earthquakes of Jan 22, 2003 Colima (M6.7) Mexico, Sept. 28 .2004 near Parkfield (M6.0) in California and Northern Sumatra (M8.5) Dec. 26,2004. Previous analysis of earthquake events has indicated the presence of an IR anomaly, where temperatures increased or did not return to its usual nighttime value. Our procedures analyze nighttime satellite data that records the general condtion of the ground after sunset. We have found from the MODIS instrument data that five days before the Colima earthquake the IR land surface nighttime temperature rose up to +4 degrees C in a 100 km radius around the epicenter. The IR transient field recorded by MODIS in the vicinity of Parkfield, also with a cloud free environment, was around +1 degree C and is significantly smaller than the IR anomaly around the Colima epicenter. Ground surface temperatures near the Parkfield epicenter four days prior to the earthquake show steady increase. However, on the night preceding the quake, a significant drop in relative humidity was indicated, process similar to those register prior to the Colima event. Recent analyses of continuous ongoing long- wavelength Earth radiation (OLR) indicate significant and anomalous variability prior to some earthquakes. The cause of these anomalies is not well understood but could be the result of a triggering by an interaction between the lithosphere-hydrosphere and atmospheric related to changes in the near surface electrical field and/or gas composition prior to the earthquake. The OLR anomaly usually covers large areas surrounding the main epicenter. We have found strong anomalies signal (two sigma) along the epicentral area signals on Dec 21

Optical polarization: background and camouflage

Science.gov (United States)

Škerlind, Christina; Hallberg, Tomas; Eriksson, Johan; Kariis, Hans; Bergström, David

2017-10-01

Polarimetric imaging sensors in the electro-optical region, already military and commercially available in both the visual and infrared, show enhanced capabilities for advanced target detection and recognition. The capabilities arise due to the ability to discriminate between man-made and natural background surfaces using the polarization information of light. In the development of materials for signature management in the visible and infrared wavelength regions, different criteria need to be met to fulfil the requirements for a good camouflage against modern sensors. In conventional camouflage design, the aimed design of the surface properties of an object is to spectrally match or adapt it to a background and thereby minimizing the contrast given by a specific threat sensor. Examples will be shown from measurements of some relevant materials and how they in different ways affect the polarimetric signature. Dimensioning properties relevant in an optical camouflage from a polarimetric perspective, such as degree of polarization, the viewing or incident angle, and amount of diffuse reflection, mainly in the infrared region, will be discussed.

Hydrocarbons on Saturn's satellites Iapetus and Phoebe

Science.gov (United States)

Cruikshank, D.P.; Wegryn, E.; Dalle, Ore C.M.; Brown, R.H.; Bibring, J.-P.; Buratti, B.J.; Clark, R.N.; McCord, T.B.; Nicholson, P.D.; Pendleton, Y.J.; Owen, T.C.; Filacchione, G.; Coradini, A.; Cerroni, P.; Capaccioni, F.; Jaumann, R.; Nelson, R.M.; Baines, K.H.; Sotin, Christophe; Bellucci, G.; Combes, M.; Langevin, Y.; Sicardy, B.; Matson, D.L.; Formisano, V.; Drossart, P.; Mennella, V.

2008-01-01

Material of low geometric albedo (pV ??? 0.1) is found on many objects in the outer Solar System, but its distribution in the saturnian satellite system is of special interest because of its juxtaposition with high-albedo ice. In the absence of clear, diagnostic spectral features, the composition of this low-albedo (or "dark") material is generally inferred to be carbon-rich, but the form(s) of the carbon is unknown. Near-infrared spectra of the low-albedo hemisphere of Saturn's satellite Iapetus were obtained with the Visible-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on the Cassini spacecraft at the fly-by of that satellite of 31 December 2004, yielding a maximum spatial resolution on the satellite's surface of ???65 km. The spectral region 3-3.6 ??m reveals a broad absorption band, centered at 3.29 ??m, and concentrated in a region comprising about 15% of the low-albedo surface area. This is identified as the C{single bond}H stretching mode vibration in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. Two weaker bands attributed to {single bond}CH2{single bond} stretching modes in aliphatic hydrocarbons are found in association with the aromatic band. The bands most likely arise from aromatic and aliphatic units in complex macromolecular carbonaceous material with a kerogen- or coal-like structure, similar to that in carbonaceous meteorites. VIMS spectra of Phoebe, encountered by Cassini on 11 June 2004, also show the aromatic hydrocarbon band, although somewhat weaker than on Iapetus. The origin of the PAH molecular material on these two satellites is unknown, but PAHs are found in carbonaceous meteorites, cometary dust particles, circumstellar dust, and interstellar dust. ?? 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Satellite instrument provides nighttime sensing capability

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

2012-12-01

"This is not your father's low-light sensor," Steve Miller, senior research scientist and deputy director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, said at a 5 December news briefing at the AGU Fall Meeting. He and others at the briefing were showing off the nighttime sensing capability of the day/night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) of instruments onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Earth-observing research satellite, a joint NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite that was launched on 28 October 2011. Noting that low-light satellite technology has been available for about 40 years, Miller said that the VIIRS day/night band "is truly a paradigm shift in the technology and capability."

PROBING THE EPOCH OF PRE-REIONIZATION BY CROSS-CORRELATING COSMIC MICROWAVE AND INFRARED BACKGROUND ANISOTROPIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Atrio-Barandela, F.; Kashlinsky, A.

2014-01-01

The epoch of first star formation and the state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) at that time are not directly observable with current telescopes. The radiation from those early sources is now part of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) and, as these sources ionize the gas around them, the IGM plasma would produce faint temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) via the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (TSZ) effect. While these TSZ anisotropies are too faint to be detected, we show that the cross-correlation of maps of source-subtracted CIB fluctuations from Euclid, with suitably constructed microwave maps at different frequencies, can probe the physical state of the gas during reionization and test/constrain models of the early CIB sources. We identify the frequency-combined, CMB-subtracted microwave maps from space- and ground-based instruments to show that they can be cross-correlated with the forthcoming all-sky Euclid CIB maps to detect the cross-power at scales ∼5'-60' with signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns) of up to S/N ∼ 4-8 depending on the contribution to the Thomson optical depth during those pre-reionization epochs (Δτ ≅ 0.05) and the temperature of the IGM (up to ∼10 4 K). Such a measurement would offer a new window to explore the emergence and physical properties of these first light sources

Connecting Satellite-Based Precipitation Estimates to Users

Science.gov (United States)

Huffman, George J.; Bolvin, David T.; Nelkin, Eric

2018-01-01

Beginning in 1997, the Merged Precipitation Group at NASA Goddard has distributed gridded global precipitation products built by combining satellite and surface gauge data. This started with the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP), then the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), and recently the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (IMERG). This 20+-year (and on-going) activity has yielded an important set of insights and lessons learned for making state-of-the-art precipitation data accessible to the diverse communities of users. Merged-data products critically depend on the input sensors and the retrieval algorithms providing accurate, reliable estimates, but it is also important to provide ancillary information that helps users determine suitability for their application. We typically provide fields of estimated random error, and recently reintroduced the quality index concept at user request. Also at user request we have added a (diagnostic) field of estimated precipitation phase. Over time, increasingly more ancillary fields have been introduced for intermediate products that give expert users insight into the detailed performance of the combination algorithm, such as individual merged microwave and microwave-calibrated infrared estimates, the contributing microwave sensor types, and the relative influence of the infrared estimate.

Physics teaching by infrared remote sensing of vegetation

Science.gov (United States)

Schüttler, Tobias; Maman, Shimrit; Girwidz, Raimund

2018-05-01

Context- and project-based teaching has proven to foster different affective and cognitive aspects of learning. As a versatile and multidisciplinary scientific research area with diverse applications for everyday life, satellite remote sensing is an interesting context for physics education. In this paper we give a brief overview of satellite remote sensing of vegetation and how to obtain your own, individual infrared remote sensing data with affordable converted digital cameras. This novel technique provides the opportunity to conduct individual remote sensing measurement projects with students in their respective environment. The data can be compared to real satellite data and is of sufficient accuracy for educational purposes.

About Nano-JASMINE Satellite System and Project Status

Science.gov (United States)

Sako, Nobutada

Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory, The University of Tokyo (ISSL) and National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAO) have been developing a small infrared astrometry satellite named “Nano-JASMINE”. The satellite size is about 50cm cubic and 20kg, which plays a pre-cursor role of JASMINE Project which is programmed by NAO and JAXA. In addition, since there has been only one astrometry satellite HIPPARCOS by ESA in the past, Nano-JASMINE is also expected to achieve certain scientific results in the field of astrometry. In this project, ISSL aims to develop new advanced small satellite bus system whose performance is comparable to that of 100-500kg sized satellites, including attitude stability of 1 arc-second and thermal stability of the mission subsystem of 1 mK. This paper overviews the Nano-JASMINE bus system with emphasis on attitude and thermal control systems.

The satellite archaeological survey of Egypt

OpenAIRE

Sparavigna, Amelia Carolina

2011-01-01

A recent announcement of some pyramids, buried under the sand of Egypt and discovered by means of infrared remote sensing, renewed the interest on the archaeological surveys aided by satellites. Here we propose the use of images, obtained from those of Google Maps after some processing to enhance their details, to locate archaeological remains in Egypt.

Human Detection Based on the Generation of a Background Image by Using a Far-Infrared Light Camera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eun Som Jeon

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The need for computer vision-based human detection has increased in fields, such as security, intelligent surveillance and monitoring systems. However, performance enhancement of human detection based on visible light cameras is limited, because of factors, such as nonuniform illumination, shadows and low external light in the evening and night. Consequently, human detection based on thermal (far-infrared light cameras has been considered as an alternative. However, its performance is influenced by the factors, such as low image resolution, low contrast and the large noises of thermal images. It is also affected by the high temperature of backgrounds during the day. To solve these problems, we propose a new method for detecting human areas in thermal camera images. Compared to previous works, the proposed research is novel in the following four aspects. One background image is generated by median and average filtering. Additional filtering procedures based on maximum gray level, size filtering and region erasing are applied to remove the human areas from the background image. Secondly, candidate human regions in the input image are located by combining the pixel and edge difference images between the input and background images. The thresholds for the difference images are adaptively determined based on the brightness of the generated background image. Noise components are removed by component labeling, a morphological operation and size filtering. Third, detected areas that may have more than two human regions are merged or separated based on the information in the horizontal and vertical histograms of the detected area. This procedure is adaptively operated based on the brightness of the generated background image. Fourth, a further procedure for the separation and removal of the candidate human regions is performed based on the size and ratio of the height to width information of the candidate regions considering the camera viewing direction

Development of a low background test facility for the SPICA-SAFARI on-ground calibration

Science.gov (United States)

Dieleman, P.; Laauwen, W. M.; Ferrari, L.; Ferlet, M.; Vandenbussche, B.; Meinsma, L.; Huisman, R.

2012-09-01

SAFARI is a far-infrared camera to be launched in 2021 onboard the SPICA satellite. SAFARI offers imaging spectroscopy and imaging photometry in the wavelength range of 34 to 210 μm with detector NEP of 2•10-19 W/√Hz. A cryogenic test facility for SAFARI on-ground calibration and characterization is being developed. The main design driver is the required low background of a few attoWatts per pixel. This prohibits optical access to room temperature and hence all test equipment needs to be inside the cryostat at 4.5K. The instrument parameters to be verified are interfaces with the SPICA satellite, sensitivity, alignment, image quality, spectral response, frequency calibration, and point spread function. The instrument sensitivity is calibrated by a calibration source providing a spatially homogeneous signal at the attoWatt level. This low light intensity is achieved by geometrical dilution of a 150K source to an integrating sphere. The beam quality and point spread function is measured by a pinhole/mask plate wheel, back-illuminated by a second integrating sphere. This sphere is fed by a stable wide-band source, providing spectral lines via a cryogenic etalon.

Looking at Earth from space: Direct readout from environmental satellites

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

Direct readout is the capability to acquire information directly from meteorological satellites. Data can be acquired from NASA-developed, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-operated satellites, as well as from other nations' meteorological satellites. By setting up a personal computer-based ground (Earth) station to receive satellite signals, direct readout may be obtained. The electronic satellite signals are displayed as images on the computer screen. The images can display gradients of the Earth's topography and temperature, cloud formations, the flow and direction of winds and water currents, the formation of hurricanes, the occurrence of an eclipse, and a view of Earth's geography. Both visible and infrared images can be obtained. This booklet introduces the satellite systems, ground station configuration, and computer requirements involved in direct readout. Also included are lists of associated resources and vendors.

Infrared-faint radio sources: a cosmological view. AGN number counts, the cosmic X-ray background and SMBH formation

Science.gov (United States)

Zinn, P.-C.; Middelberg, E.; Ibar, E.

2011-07-01

Context. Infrared-faint radio sources (IFRS) are extragalactic emitters clearly detected at radio wavelengths but barely detected or undetected at optical and infrared wavelengths, with 5σ sensitivities as low as 1 μJy. Aims: Spectral energy distribution (hereafter SED) modelling and analyses of their radio properties indicate that IFRS are consistent with a population of (potentially extremely obscured) high-redshift AGN at 3 ≤ z ≤ 6. We demonstrate some astrophysical implications of this population and compare them to predictions from models of galaxy evolution and structure formation. Methods: We compiled a list of IFRS from four deep extragalactic surveys and extrapolated the IFRS number density to a survey-independent value of (30.8 ± 15.0) deg-2. We computed the IFRS contribution to the total number of AGN in the Universe to account for the cosmic X-ray background. By estimating the black hole mass contained in IFRS, we present conclusions for the SMBH mass density in the early universe and compare it to relevant simulations of structure formation after the Big Bang. Results: The number density of AGN derived from the IFRS density was found to be ~310 deg-2, which is equivalent to a SMBH mass density of the order of 103 M⊙ Mpc-3 in the redshift range 3 ≤ z ≤ 6. This produces an X-ray flux of 9 × 10-16 W m-2 deg-2 in the 0.5-2.0 keV band and 3 × 10-15 W m-2 deg-2 in the 2.0-10 keV band, in agreement with the missing unresolved components of the Cosmic X-ray Background. To address SMBH formation after the Big Bang we invoke a scenario involving both halo gas accretion and major mergers.

Geostationary satellite estimation of biomass burning in Amazonia during BASE-A

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Menzel, W.P.; Cutrim, E.C.; Prins, E.M.

1991-01-01

This chapter presents the results of using Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) infrared window (3.9 and 11.2 microns) data to monitor biomass burning several times per day in Amazonia. The technique of Matson and Dozier using two window channels was adapted to GOES VAS infrared data to estimate the size and temperature of fires associated with deforestation in the vicinity of Alta Floresta, Brazil, during the Biomass Burning Airborne and Spaceborne Experiment - Amazonia (BASE-A). Although VAS data do not offer the spatial resolution available with AVHRR data 97 km versus 1 km, respectively, this decreased resolution does not seem to hinder the ability of the VAS instrument to detect fires; in some cases it proves to be advantageous in that saturation does not occur as often. VAS visible data are additionally helpful in verifying that the hot spots sensed in the infrared are actually related to fires. Furthermore, the fire plumes can be tracked in time to determine their motion and extent. In this way, the GOES satellite offers a unique ability to monitor diurnal variations in fire activity and transport of related aerosols

A new real time infrared background discrimination radiometer (BDR)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kopolovich, Z.; Cabib, D.; Buckwald, R.A.

1989-01-01

This paper reports on a new radiometer (BDR) that has been developed, which discriminates small differences between an object and its surrounding background, and is able to measure an object's changing contrast when the contrast of a moving object is to be measured against a changing background. The difference in radiant emittance of a small object against its background or of two objects with respect to each other and this difference is small compared to the emittance itself. Practical examples of such measurements are contrast measurements of airplanes and missiles in flight, contrast measurements of small, weak objects on a warm background and uniformity measurements of radiant emittance from an object's surface. Previous instruments were unable to make such measurements since the process of contrast measurement with a fixed field of view radiometer is too slow for implementation on flying objects; detection of a small difference between two large DC signals is impossible in a traditional fixed field of view radiometer when the instrument itself is saturated

Science operations management. [with Infrared Astronomy Satellite project

Science.gov (United States)

Squibb, G. F.

1984-01-01

The operation teams engaged in the IR Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) project included scientists from the IRAS International Science Team. The detailed involvement of these scientists in the design, testing, validation, and operations phases of the IRAS mission contributed to the success of this project. The Project Management Group spent a substantial amount of time discussing science-related issues, because science team coleaders were members from the outset. A single scientific point-of-contact for the Management Group enhanced the depth and continuity of agreement reached in decision-making.

Design of a multiband near-infrared sky brightness monitor using an InSb detector.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Shu-Cheng; Wang, Jian; Tang, Qi-Jie; Jiang, Feng-Xin; Chen, Jin-Ting; Zhang, Yi-Hao; Wang, Zhi-Yue; Chen, Jie; Zhang, Hong-Fei; Jiang, Hai-Jiao; Zhu, Qing-Feng; Jiang, Peng; Ji, Tuo

2018-02-01

Infrared sky background level is an important parameter of infrared astronomy observations from the ground, particularly for a candidate site of an infrared capable observatory since low background level is required for such a site. The Chinese astronomical community is looking for a suitable site for a future 12 m telescope, which is designed for working in both optical and infrared wavelengths. However, none of the proposed sites has been tested for infrared observations. Nevertheless, infrared sky background measurements are also important during the design of infrared observing instruments. Based on the requirement, in order to supplement the current site survey data and guide the design of future infrared instruments, a multiband near-infrared sky brightness monitor (MNISBM) based on an InSb sensor is designed in this paper. The MNISBM consists of an optical system, mechanical structure and control system, detector and cooler, high gain readout electronics, and operational software. It is completed and tested in the laboratory. The results show that the sensitivity of the MNISBM meets the requirements of the measurement of near-infrared sky background level of several well-known astronomical infrared observing sites.

Design of a multiband near-infrared sky brightness monitor using an InSb detector

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Shu-cheng; Wang, Jian; Tang, Qi-jie; Jiang, Feng-xin; Chen, Jin-ting; Zhang, Yi-hao; Wang, Zhi-yue; Chen, Jie; Zhang, Hong-fei; Jiang, Hai-jiao; Zhu, Qing-feng; Jiang, Peng; Ji, Tuo

2018-02-01

Infrared sky background level is an important parameter of infrared astronomy observations from the ground, particularly for a candidate site of an infrared capable observatory since low background level is required for such a site. The Chinese astronomical community is looking for a suitable site for a future 12 m telescope, which is designed for working in both optical and infrared wavelengths. However, none of the proposed sites has been tested for infrared observations. Nevertheless, infrared sky background measurements are also important during the design of infrared observing instruments. Based on the requirement, in order to supplement the current site survey data and guide the design of future infrared instruments, a multiband near-infrared sky brightness monitor (MNISBM) based on an InSb sensor is designed in this paper. The MNISBM consists of an optical system, mechanical structure and control system, detector and cooler, high gain readout electronics, and operational software. It is completed and tested in the laboratory. The results show that the sensitivity of the MNISBM meets the requirements of the measurement of near-infrared sky background level of several well-known astronomical infrared observing sites.

Infrared and Raman spectroscopy: principles and spectral interpretation

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Larkin, Peter

2011-01-01

"Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy: Principles and Spectral Interpretation explains the background, core principles and tests the readers understanding of the important techniques of Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy...

Preliminary background prediction for the INTEGRAL x-ray monitor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feroci, M.; Costa, E.; Budtz-Joergensen, C.

1996-01-01

The JEM-X (joint European x-ray monitor) experiment will be flown onboard the ESA's INTEGRAL satellite. The instrumental background level of the two JEM-X twin detectors will depend on several parameters, among which the satellite orbit and mass distribution, and the detectors materials play...

THERMAL AND VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGE FUSION USING WAVELET IN REMOTE SENSING AND SATELLITE IMAGE PROCESSING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. H. Ahrari

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Multimodal remote sensing approach is based on merging different data in different portions of electromagnetic radiation that improves the accuracy in satellite image processing and interpretations. Remote Sensing Visible and thermal infrared bands independently contain valuable spatial and spectral information. Visible bands make enough information spatially and thermal makes more different radiometric and spectral information than visible. However low spatial resolution is the most important limitation in thermal infrared bands. Using satellite image fusion, it is possible to merge them as a single thermal image that contains high spectral and spatial information at the same time. The aim of this study is a performance assessment of thermal and visible image fusion quantitatively and qualitatively with wavelet transform and different filters. In this research, wavelet algorithm (Haar and different decomposition filters (mean.linear,ma,min and rand for thermal and panchromatic bands of Landast8 Satellite were applied as shortwave and longwave fusion method . Finally, quality assessment has been done with quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative parameters such as Entropy, Standard Deviation, Cross Correlation, Q Factor and Mutual Information were used. For thermal and visible image fusion accuracy assessment, all parameters (quantitative and qualitative must be analysed with respect to each other. Among all relevant statistical factors, correlation has the most meaningful result and similarity to the qualitative assessment. Results showed that mean and linear filters make better fused images against the other filters in Haar algorithm. Linear and mean filters have same performance and there is not any difference between their qualitative and quantitative results.

Power spectrum constraints from spectral distortions in the cosmic microwave background

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Wayne; Scott, Douglas; Silk, Joseph

1994-01-01

Using recent experimental limits on chemical potential distortions from Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) Far Infrared Astronomy Satellite (FIRAS), and the large lever-arm spanning the damping of sub-Jeans scale fluctuations to the COBE DMR fluctuations, we set a constraint on the slope of the primordial power spectrum n. It is possible to analytically calculate the contribution over the full range of scales and redshifts, correctly taking into account fluctuation growth and damping as well as thermalization processes. Assuming conservatively that mu is less than 1.76 x 10(exp -4), we find that the 95% upper limit on n is only weakly dependent on other cosmological parameters, e.g., n is less than 1.60 (h=0.5) and n is less than 1.63 (h=1.0) for Omega(sub 0) = 1, with marginally weaker constraints for Omega(sub 0) is less than 1 in a flat model with a cosmological constant.

Infrared detectors for Earth observation

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes, K.; Davis, R. P.; Knowles, P.; Shorrocks, N.

2016-05-01

IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer), developed by CNES and launched since 2006 on the Metop satellites, is established as a major source of data for atmospheric science and weather prediction. The next generation - IASI NG - is a French national contribution to the Eumetsat Polar System Second Generation on board of the Metop second generation satellites and is under development by Airbus Defence and Space for CNES. The mission aim is to achieve twice the performance of the original IASI instrument in terms of sensitivity and spectral resolution. In turn, this places very demanding requirements on the infrared detectors for the new instrument. Selex ES in Southampton has been selected for the development of the infrared detector set for the IASI-NG instruments. The wide spectral range, 3.6 to 15.5 microns, is covered in four bands, each served by a dedicated detector design, with a common 4 x 4 array format of 1.3 mm square macropixels. Three of the bands up to 8.7 microns employ photovoltaic MCT (mercury cadmium telluride) technology and the very long wave band employs photoconductive MCT, in common with the approach taken between Airbus and Selex ES for the SEVIRI instrument on Second Generation Meteosat. For the photovoltaic detectors, the MCT crystal growth of heterojunction photodiodes is by the MOVPE technique (metal organic vapour phase epitaxy). Novel approaches have been taken to hardening the photovoltaic macropixels against localised crystal defects, and integrating transimpedance amplifiers for each macropixel into a full-custom silicon read out chip, which incorporates radiation hard design.

Satellite-based technique for nowcasting of thunderstorms over ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Suman Goyal

2017-08-31

Aug 31, 2017 ... Due to inadequate radar network, satellite plays the dominant role for nowcast of these thunderstorms. In this study, a nowcast based algorithm ForTracc developed by Vila ... of actual development of cumulonimbus clouds, ... MCS over Indian region using Infrared Channel ... (2016) based on case study of.

HerMES: The contribution to the cosmic infrared background from galaxies selected by mass and redshift

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Viero, M. P.; Moncelsi, L.; Bock, J.; Bridge, C.; Cooray, A. [California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Quadri, R. F. [Carnegie Observatories, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Arumugam, V.; Ivison, R. J. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom); Assef, R. J. [Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States); Béthermin, M. [Laboratoire AIM-Paris-Saclay, CEA/DSM/Irfu-CNRS-Université Paris Diderot, CE-Saclay, pt courrier 131, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Casey, C. M. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Conley, A.; Glenn, J. [Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy 389-UCB, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); Farrah, D. [Department of Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 (United States); Heinis, S. [Laboratoire d' Astrophysique de Marseille-LAM, Université d' Aix-Marseille and CNRS, UMR7326, 38 rue F. Joliot-Curie, F-13388 Marseille Cedex 13 (France); Ibar, E. [Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Casilla 306, Santiago 22 (Chile); Ikarashi, S.; Kohno, K. [Institute of Astronomy, University of Tokyo, 2-21-1 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-0015 (Japan); Marsden, G. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, 6224 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1 (Canada); Oliver, S. J., E-mail: marco.viero@caltech.edu [Astronomy Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH (United Kingdom); and others

2013-12-10

We quantify the fraction of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) that originates from galaxies identified in the UV/optical/near-infrared by stacking 81,250 (∼35.7 arcmin{sup –2}) K-selected sources (K {sub AB} < 24.0) split according to their rest-frame U – V versus V – J colors into 72,216 star-forming and 9034 quiescent galaxies, on maps from Spitzer/MIPS (24 μm), Herschel/PACS (100, 160 μm), Herschel/SPIRE (250, 350, 500 μm), and AzTEC (1100 μm). The fraction of the CIB resolved by our catalog is (69% ± 15%) at 24 μm, (78% ± 17%) at 70 μm, (58% ± 13%) at 100 μm, (78% ± 18%) at 160 μm, (80% ± 17%) at 250 μm, (69% ± 14%) at 350 μm, (65% ± 12%) at 500 μm, and (45% ± 8%) at 1100 μm. Of that total, about 95% originates from star-forming galaxies, while the remaining 5% is from apparently quiescent galaxies. The CIB at λ ≲ 200 μm appears to be sourced predominantly from galaxies at z ≲ 1, while at λ ≳ 200 μm the bulk originates from 1 ≲ z ≲ 2. Galaxies with stellar masses log(M/M {sub ☉}) = 9.5-11 are responsible for the majority of the CIB, with those in the log(M/M {sub ☉}) = 9.5-10 bin contributing mostly at λ < 250 μm, and those in the log(M/M {sub ☉}) = 10-11 bin dominating at λ > 350 μm. The contribution from galaxies in the log(M/M {sub ☉}) = 9.0-9.5 (lowest) and log(M/M {sub ☉}) = 11.0-12.0 (highest) stellar-mass bins contribute the least—both of order 5%—although the highest stellar-mass bin is a significant contributor to the luminosity density at z ≳ 2. The luminosities of the galaxies responsible for the CIB shifts from combinations of 'normal' and luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) at λ ≲ 160 μm, to LIRGs at 160 ≲ λ ≲ 500 μm, to finally LIRGs and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies at λ ≳ 500 μm. Stacking analyses were performed using SIMSTACK, a novel algorithm designed to account for possible biases in the stacked flux density due to clustering. It is made available to

Monitoring of Siberian biomass burning smoke from AHI on board geostationary satellite Himawari-8

Science.gov (United States)

Sano, I.; Mukai, S.; Yoshida, A.; Nakata, M.; Minoura, H.; Holben, B. N.

2016-12-01

High frequency aerosol measurements are demanded for evaluation of the model simulations, monitoring the atmospheric qualities such as Particulate Matter (PM2.5), and so on. Geostationary satellite provides us with the high frequency information of the atmosphere. Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) launched the Himawari-8 geostationary satellite in 2014 and has prepared Himawari-9 for launching in 2016. Both satellites carry new generation imagers named Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI). They have 16 multi-channels from short visible to thermal infrared wavelengths with 1 km IFOV for visible and 2 km for infrared. Each observation is done within 10 minutes for the Earth full disk. Then high frequency Earth observations are realized. AHI has frequently observed biomass burning plume around East Siberia and its transportation according to weather system. This work retrieves aerosol properties due to the Siberian smoke plume and its movements based on the measurements with AHI. The results are compared with ground based measurements which have newly deployed at an AERONET/Niigata site in Japan. It is shown here that continuous measurements of aerosols from geostationary satellite combination with the polar orbiting satellite provide us with much detail information of aerosol.

Mapping the infrared background radiation from the Shuttle

Science.gov (United States)

Koch, D.; Fazio, G. G.; Traub, W. A.; Urban, E. W.; Katz, L.; Rieke, G. H.; Gautier, T. N.; Hoffmann, W. F.; Low, F. J.; Poteet, W.

1981-01-01

The Spacelab-2 Small Helium-Cooled Infrared Telescope will be used to map extended astronomical sources of low surface brightness emission, to measure the Shuttle induced environment and to develop techniques for managing large volumes of superfluid helium in space. The instrument is an f/4 15.2-cm Herschelian telescope with ten photoconductor detectors in the focal plane. This paper describes the hardware and software aspects of the instrument with emphasis on mission operations. In particular, a description is given of the observing plan formulated to meet the scientific and engineering objectives, the scan drive system, the precautions in design and operation necessary to prevent the sun, moon, and earth from adversely affecting the observations, the implications of thruster firings, and the on-board experiment computer application software to control the scanning of the telescope and support on-board displays.

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) for AKARI

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kawada, Mitsunobu; Baba, Hajime; Barthel, Peter D.; Clements, David; Cohen, Martin; Doi, Yasuo; Figueredo, Elysandra; Fujiwara, Mikio; Goto, Tomotsugu; Hasegawa, Sunao; Hibi, Yasunori; Hirao, Takanori; Hiromoto, Norihisa; Jeong, Woong-Seob; Kaneda, Hidehiro; Kawai, Toshihide; Kawamura, Akiko; Kester, Do; Kii, Tsuneo; Kobayashi, Hisato; Kwon, Suk Minn; Lee, Hyung Mok; Makiuti, Sin'itirou; Matsuo, Hiroshi; Matsuura, Shuji; Mueller, Thomas G.; Murakami, Noriko; Nagata, Hirohisa; Nakagawa, Takao; Narita, Masanao; Noda, Manabu; Oh, Sang Hoon; Okada, Yoko; Okuda, Haruyuki; Oliver, Sebastian; Ootsubo, Takafumi; Pak, Soojong; Park, Yong-Sun; Pearson, Chris P.; Rowan-Robinson, Michael; Saito, Toshinobu; Salama, Alberto; Sato, Shinji; Savage, Richard S.; Serjeant, Stephen; Shibai, Hiroshi; Shirahata, Mai; Sohn, Jungjoo; Suzuki, Toyoaki; Takagi, Toshinobu; Takahashi, Hidenori; Thomson, Matthew; Usui, Fumihiko; Verdugo, Eva; Watabe, Toyoki; White, Glenn J.; Wang, Lingyu; Yamamura, Issei; Yamauchi, Chisato; Yasuda, Akiko

2007-01-01

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal-plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 mu m, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The

CALIPSO Imaging Infrared Radiometer L2 Data Track V3-02

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) was launched on April 28, 2006 to study the impact of clouds and aerosols on the Earth’s...

A General Approach to Enhance Short Wave Satellite Imagery by Removing Background Atmospheric Effects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ronald Scheirer

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Atmospheric interaction distorts the surface signal received by a space-borne instrument. Images derived from visible channels appear often too bright and with reduced contrast. This hampers the use of RGB imagery otherwise useful in ocean color applications and in forecasting or operational disaster monitoring, for example forest fires. In order to correct for the dominant source of atmospheric noise, a simple, fast and flexible algorithm has been developed. The algorithm is implemented in Python and freely available in PySpectral which is part of the PyTroll family of open source packages, allowing easy access to powerful real-time image-processing tools. Pre-calculated look-up tables of top of atmosphere reflectance are derived by off-line calculations with RTM DISORT as part of the LibRadtran package. The approach is independent of platform and sensor bands, and allows it to be applied to any band in the visible spectral range. Due to the use of standard atmospheric profiles and standard aerosol loads, it is possible just to reduce the background disturbance. Thus signals from excess aerosols become more discernible. Examples of uncorrected and corrected satellite images demonstrate that this flexible real-time algorithm is a useful tool for atmospheric correction.

The impact of different background errors in the assimilation of satellite radiances and in-situ observational data using WRFDA for three rainfall events over Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Zakeri, Zeinab; Azadi, Majid; Ghader, Sarmad

2018-01-01

Satellite radiances and in-situ observations are assimilated through Weather Research and Forecasting Data Assimilation (WRFDA) system into Advanced Research WRF (ARW) model over Iran and its neighboring area. Domain specific background error based on x and y components of wind speed (UV) control variables is calculated for WRFDA system and some sensitivity experiments are carried out to compare the impact of global background error and the domain specific background errors, both on the precipitation and 2-m temperature forecasts over Iran. Three precipitation events that occurred over the country during January, September and October 2014 are simulated in three different experiments and the results for precipitation and 2-m temperature are verified against the verifying surface observations. Results show that using domain specific background error improves 2-m temperature and 24-h accumulated precipitation forecasts consistently, while global background error may even degrade the forecasts compared to the experiments without data assimilation. The improvement in 2-m temperature is more evident during the first forecast hours and decreases significantly as the forecast length increases.

Joint Polar Satellite System: the United States New Generation Civilian Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System

Science.gov (United States)

Mandt, G.

2017-12-01

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) is the Nation's advanced series of polar-orbiting environmental satellites. JPSS represents significant technological and scientific advancements in observations used for severe weather prediction and environmental monitoring. The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) is providing state-of-the art atmospheric, oceanographic, and environmental data, as the first of the JPSS satellites while the second in the series, J-1, is scheduled to launch in October 2017. The JPSS baseline consists of a suite of four instruments: an advanced microwave and infrared sounders which are critical for weather forecasting; a leading-edge visible and infrared imager critical to data sparse areas such as Alaska and needed for environmental assessments such as snow/ice cover, droughts, volcanic ash, forest fires and surface temperature; and an ozone sensor primarily used for global monitoring of ozone and input to weather and climate models. The same suite of instruments that are on JPSS-1 will be on JPSS-2, 3 and 4. The JPSS-2 instruments are well into their assembly and test phases and are scheduled to be completed in 2018. The JPSS-2 spacecraft critical design review (CDR) is scheduled for 2Q 2018 with the launch in 2021. The sensors for the JPSS-3 and 4 spacecraft have been approved to enter into their acquisition phases. JPSS partnership with the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) continues to provide a strong foundation for the program's success. JPSS also continues to maintain its important international relationships with European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). JPSS works closely with its user community through the Proving Ground and Risk Reduction (PGRR) Program to identify opportunities to maximize the operational application of current JPSS capabilities. The PGRR Program also helps identify and evaluate the use of JPSS

Rapid response flood detection using the MSG geostationary satellite

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Proud, Simon Richard; Fensholt, Rasmus; Rasmussen, Laura Vang

2011-01-01

A novel technique for the detection of flooded land using satellite data is presented. This new method takes advantage of the high temporal resolution of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) aboard the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) series of satellites to derive several p...... of data gathered during the 2009 flooding events in West Africa shows that the presented method can detect floods of comparable size to the SEVIRI pixel resolution on a short timescale, making it a valuable tool for large scale flood mapping....

Application of point-to-point matching algorithms for background correction in on-line liquid chromatography-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (LC-FTIR).

Science.gov (United States)

Kuligowski, J; Quintás, G; Garrigues, S; de la Guardia, M

2010-03-15

A new background correction method for the on-line coupling of gradient liquid chromatography and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry has been developed. It is based on the use of a point-to-point matching algorithm that compares the absorption spectra of the sample data set with those of a previously recorded reference data set in order to select an appropriate reference spectrum. The spectral range used for the point-to-point comparison is selected with minimal user-interaction, thus facilitating considerably the application of the whole method. The background correction method has been successfully tested on a chromatographic separation of four nitrophenols running acetonitrile (0.08%, v/v TFA):water (0.08%, v/v TFA) gradients with compositions ranging from 35 to 85% (v/v) acetonitrile, giving accurate results for both, baseline resolved and overlapped peaks. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Applications of satellite data to the studies of agricultural meteorology, 2: Relationship between air temperature and surface temperature measured by infrared thermal radiometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Horiguchi, I.; Tani, H.; Morikawa, S.

1985-01-01

Experiments were performed in order to establish interpretation keys for estimation of air temperature from satellite IR data. Field measurements were carried out over four kinds of land surfaces including seven different field crops on the university campus at Sapporo. The air temperature was compared with the surface temperature measured by infrared thermal radiometer (National ER2007, 8.5-12.5μm) and, also with other meteorological parameters (solar radiation, humidity and wind speed). Also perpendicular vegetation index (PVI) was measured to know vegetation density of lands by ho radio-spectralmeter (Figs. 1 & 2). Table 1 summarizes the measurements taken in these experiments.The correlation coefficients between air temperature and other meteorological parameters for each area are shown in Table 2. The best correlation coefficient for total data was obtained with surface temperature, and it suggests the possibility that air temperature may be estimated by satellite IR data since they are related to earth surface temperatures.Further analyses were done between air temperature and surface temperature measured with thermal infrared radiometer.The following conclusions may be drawn:(1) Air temperature from meteorological site was well correlated to surface temperature of lands that were covered with dense plant and water, for example, grass land, paddy field and rye field (Table 2).(2) The correlation coefficients and the regression equations on grass land, paddy field and rye field were almost the same (Fig. 3). The mean correlation coefficient for these three lands was 0.88 and the regression equation is given in Eq. (2).(3) There was good correlation on bare soil land also, but had large variations (Fig. 3).(4) The correlations on crop fields depend on the density of plant cover. Good correlation is obtained on dense vegetative fields.(5) Small variations about correlation coefficients were obtained for the time of day (Table 3).(6) On the other hand, large

Space environment monitoring by low-altitude operational satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kroehl, H.W.

1982-01-01

The primary task of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) is the acquisition of meteorological data in the visual and infrared spectral regions. The Air Weather Service operates two satellites in low-altitude, sun-synchronous, polar orbits at 850 km altitude, 98.7 deg inclination, 101.5 minute period and dawn-dusk or noon-midnight equatorial crossing times. Special DMSP sensors of interest to the space science community are the precipitating electron spectrometer, the terrestrial noise receiver, and the topside ionosphere plasma monitor. Data from low-altitude, meteorological satellites can be used to build empirical models of precipitating electron characteristics of the auroral zone and polar cap. The Tiros-NOAA satellite program complements the DMSP program. The orbital elements are the same as DMSP's, except for the times of equatorial crossing, and the tilt of the orbital plane. The Tiros-NOAA program meets the civilian community's needs for meteorological data as the DMSP program does for the military

Probing the primeval fireball

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silk, J.

1990-01-01

The existence of cosmic background radiation is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that the universe experienced a fiery dense beginning called the Big Bang. This paper discusses the information on the cosmic background radiation brought by the NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which was launched on November 18, 1989 and is presently scanning the skies from a near-polar orbit. The three instruments of the COBE satellite (the Differential Microwave Radiometer, the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment, and the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer) are designed to analyze the redshifted radiation from the Big Bang and the first generation of stars and young galaxies

Theories of cometary origin and the brightness of the infrared sky

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bailey, M.E.

1983-01-01

The far-infrared flux produced by a power-law density distribution of comets surrounding the planetary system is calculated. If the comet cloud is as massive and as dense as some recent ideas suggest, the total contribution by comets to the far-infrared background radiation may be significant and could be detected using current observational techniques. In this way observations of the infrared background could constrain theories of Solar System and cometary origins. (author)

MODVOLC2: A Hybrid Time Series Analysis for Detecting Thermal Anomalies Applied to Thermal Infrared Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Koeppen, W. C.; Wright, R.; Pilger, E.

2009-12-01

We developed and tested a new, automated algorithm, MODVOLC2, which analyzes thermal infrared satellite time series data to detect and quantify the excess energy radiated from thermal anomalies such as active volcanoes, fires, and gas flares. MODVOLC2 combines two previously developed algorithms, a simple point operation algorithm (MODVOLC) and a more complex time series analysis (Robust AVHRR Techniques, or RAT) to overcome the limitations of using each approach alone. MODVOLC2 has four main steps: (1) it uses the original MODVOLC algorithm to process the satellite data on a pixel-by-pixel basis and remove thermal outliers, (2) it uses the remaining data to calculate reference and variability images for each calendar month, (3) it compares the original satellite data and any newly acquired data to the reference images normalized by their variability, and it detects pixels that fall outside the envelope of normal thermal behavior, (4) it adds any pixels detected by MODVOLC to those detected in the time series analysis. Using test sites at Anatahan and Kilauea volcanoes, we show that MODVOLC2 was able to detect ~15% more thermal anomalies than using MODVOLC alone, with very few, if any, known false detections. Using gas flares from the Cantarell oil field in the Gulf of Mexico, we show that MODVOLC2 provided results that were unattainable using a time series-only approach. Some thermal anomalies (e.g., Cantarell oil field flares) are so persistent that an additional, semi-automated 12-µm correction must be applied in order to correctly estimate both the number of anomalies and the total excess radiance being emitted by them. Although all available data should be included to make the best possible reference and variability images necessary for the MODVOLC2, we estimate that at least 80 images per calendar month are required to generate relatively good statistics from which to run MODVOLC2, a condition now globally met by a decade of MODIS observations. We also found

TIRCIS: A Thermal Infrared, Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Small Satellite Applications

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This project will demonstrate how hyperspectral thermal infrared (TIR; 8-14 microns) image data, with a spectral resolution of up to 8 wavenumbers, can be acquired...

Satellite Observation Systems for Polar Climate Change Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Comiso, Josefino C.

2012-01-01

The key observational tools for detecting large scale changes of various parameters in the polar regions have been satellite sensors. The sensors include passive and active satellite systems in the visible, infrared and microwave frequencies. The monitoring started with Tiros and Nimbus research satellites series in the 1970s but during the period, not much data was stored digitally because of limitations and cost of the needed storage systems. Continuous global data came about starting with the launch of ocean color, passive microwave, and thermal infrared sensors on board Nimbus-7 and Synthetic Aperture Radar, Radar Altimeter and Scatterometer on board SeaSat satellite both launched in 1978. The Nimbus-7 lasted longer than expected and provided about 9 years of useful data while SeaSat quit working after 3 months but provided very useful data that became the baseline for follow-up systems with similar capabilities. Over the years, many new sensors were launched, some from Japan Aeronautics and Space Agency (JAXA), some from the European Space Agency (ESA) and more recently, from RuSSia, China, Korea, Canada and India. For polar studies, among the most useful sensors has been the passive microwave sensor which provides day/night and almost all weather observation of the surface. The sensor provide sea surface temperature, precipitation, wind, water vapor and sea ice concentration data that have been very useful in monitoring the climate of the region. More than 30 years of such data are now available, starting with the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on board the Nimbus-7, the Special Scanning Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) on board a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on board the EOS/ Aqua satellite. The techniques that have been developed to derive geophysical parameters from data provided by these and other sensors and associated instrumental and algorithm errors and validation techniques

Extragalactic background light measurements and applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooray, Asantha

2016-03-01

This review covers the measurements related to the extragalactic background light intensity from γ-rays to radio in the electromagnetic spectrum over 20 decades in wavelength. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) remains the best measured spectrum with an accuracy better than 1%. The measurements related to the cosmic optical background (COB), centred at 1 μm, are impacted by the large zodiacal light associated with interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. The best measurements of COB come from an indirect technique involving γ-ray spectra of bright blazars with an absorption feature resulting from pair-production off of COB photons. The cosmic infrared background (CIB) peaking at around 100 μm established an energetically important background with an intensity comparable to the optical background. This discovery paved the way for large aperture far-infrared and sub-millimetre observations resulting in the discovery of dusty, starbursting galaxies. Their role in galaxy formation and evolution remains an active area of research in modern-day astrophysics. The extreme UV (EUV) background remains mostly unexplored and will be a challenge to measure due to the high Galactic background and absorption of extragalactic photons by the intergalactic medium at these EUV/soft X-ray energies. We also summarize our understanding of the spatial anisotropies and angular power spectra of intensity fluctuations. We motivate a precise direct measurement of the COB between 0.1 and 5 μm using a small aperture telescope observing either from the outer Solar System, at distances of 5 AU or more, or out of the ecliptic plane. Other future applications include improving our understanding of the background at TeV energies and spectral distortions of CMB and CIB.

Estimating top-of-atmosphere thermal infrared radiance using MERRA-2 atmospheric data

Science.gov (United States)

Kleynhans, Tania; Montanaro, Matthew; Gerace, Aaron; Kanan, Christopher

2017-05-01

Thermal infrared satellite images have been widely used in environmental studies. However, satellites have limited temporal resolution, e.g., 16 day Landsat or 1 to 2 day Terra MODIS. This paper investigates the use of the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis data product, produced by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to predict global topof-atmosphere (TOA) thermal infrared radiance. The high temporal resolution of the MERRA-2 data product presents opportunities for novel research and applications. Various methods were applied to estimate TOA radiance from MERRA-2 variables namely (1) a parameterized physics based method, (2) Linear regression models and (3) non-linear Support Vector Regression. Model prediction accuracy was evaluated using temporally and spatially coincident Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) thermal infrared data as reference data. This research found that Support Vector Regression with a radial basis function kernel produced the lowest error rates. Sources of errors are discussed and defined. Further research is currently being conducted to train deep learning models to predict TOA thermal radiance

Satellite Remote Sensing in Seismology. A Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew A. Tronin

2009-12-01

Full Text Available A wide range of satellite methods is applied now in seismology. The first applications of satellite data for earthquake exploration were initiated in the ‘70s, when active faults were mapped on satellite images. It was a pure and simple extrapolation of airphoto geological interpretation methods into space. The modern embodiment of this method is alignment analysis. Time series of alignments on the Earth's surface are investigated before and after the earthquake. A further application of satellite data in seismology is related with geophysical methods. Electromagnetic methods have about the same long history of application for seismology. Stable statistical estimations of ionosphere-lithosphere relation were obtained based on satellite ionozonds. The most successful current project "DEMETER" shows impressive results. Satellite thermal infra-red data were applied for earthquake research in the next step. Numerous results have confirmed previous observations of thermal anomalies on the Earth's surface prior to earthquakes. A modern trend is the application of the outgoing long-wave radiation for earthquake research. In ‘80s a new technology—satellite radar interferometry—opened a new page. Spectacular pictures of co-seismic deformations were presented. Current researches are moving in the direction of pre-earthquake deformation detection. GPS technology is also widely used in seismology both for ionosphere sounding and for ground movement detection. Satellite gravimetry has demonstrated its first very impressive results on the example of the catastrophic Indonesian earthquake in 2004. Relatively new applications of remote sensing for seismology as atmospheric sounding, gas observations, and cloud analysis are considered as possible candidates for applications.

Efficient Photometry In-Frame Calibration (EPIC) Gaussian Corrections for Automated Background Normalization of Rate-Tracked Satellite Imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Griesbach, J.; Wetterer, C.; Sydney, P.; Gerber, J.

Photometric processing of non-resolved Electro-Optical (EO) images has commonly required the use of dark and flat calibration frames that are obtained to correct for charge coupled device (CCD) dark (thermal) noise and CCD quantum efficiency/optical path vignetting effects respectively. It is necessary to account/calibrate for these effects so that the brightness of objects of interest (e.g. stars or resident space objects (RSOs)) may be measured in a consistent manner across the CCD field of view. Detected objects typically require further calibration using aperture photometry to compensate for sky background (shot noise). For this, annuluses are measured around each detected object whose contained pixels are used to estimate an average background level that is subtracted from the detected pixel measurements. In a new photometric calibration software tool developed for AFRL/RD, called Efficient Photometry In-Frame Calibration (EPIC), an automated background normalization technique is proposed that eliminates the requirement to capture dark and flat calibration images. The proposed technique simultaneously corrects for dark noise, shot noise, and CCD quantum efficiency/optical path vignetting effects. With this, a constant detection threshold may be applied for constant false alarm rate (CFAR) object detection without the need for aperture photometry corrections. The detected pixels may be simply summed (without further correction) for an accurate instrumental magnitude estimate. The noise distribution associated with each pixel is assumed to be sampled from a Poisson distribution. Since Poisson distributed data closely resembles Gaussian data for parameterized means greater than 10, the data may be corrected by applying bias subtraction and standard-deviation division. EPIC performs automated background normalization on rate-tracked satellite images using the following technique. A deck of approximately 50-100 images is combined by performing an independent median

Scientific Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

1967-01-01

noise signal level exceeds 10 times the normal background. EXPERIMENTS FOR SATELLITE ASTRONOMY 615 ANTENNA MONOPOLE -., PREAMPLFE = BANDPASS-FILTER...OUTPUT TO AND DETECTOR TELEMETRYCHANNELS (18) CALIBRATION NOISE MATRIX CLOCK NOISE SOURCE ’ON’ SOURCE COMMAND F ROM PROGRAMERP ANTENNA MONOPOLE FIGURE 13...Animal Tempera- ture Sensing for Studying the Effect of Prolonged Orbital Flight on the Circadian Rhythms of Pocket Mice . Unmanned Spacecraft Meeting

Dangerous gas detection based on infrared video

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Kang; Hong, Hanyu; Huang, Likun

2018-03-01

As the gas leak infrared imaging detection technology has significant advantages of high efficiency and remote imaging detection, in order to enhance the detail perception of observers and equivalently improve the detection limit, we propose a new type of gas leak infrared image detection method, which combines background difference methods and multi-frame interval difference method. Compared to the traditional frame methods, the multi-frame interval difference method we proposed can extract a more complete target image. By fusing the background difference image and the multi-frame interval difference image, we can accumulate the information of infrared target image of the gas leak in many aspect. The experiment demonstrate that the completeness of the gas leakage trace information is enhanced significantly, and the real-time detection effect can be achieved.

Analysis and research on thermal infrared properties and adaptability of the camouflage net

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Guangzhen; Hu, Jianghua; Jian, Chaochao; Yang, Juntang

2016-10-01

As camouflage equipment, camouflage net which covers or obstruct the enemy reconnaissance and attack, have the compatibility such as optics, infrared, radar wave band performance. To improve the adaptive between the camouflage net with background in infrared wavelengths, the heat shield and heat integration requirements on the surface of the camouflage net was analyzed. The condition that satisfied the heat shield was when the average thermal infrared transmittance was less than 25.38% on camouflage screen surface. Studies have shown that camouflage nets and the background field fused together when infrared radiation temperature difference control is within the scope of ± 4K . Experiment on temperature contrast was tested in situ background, thermal camouflage spots and camouflage net with sponge material, the infrared heat maps was recorded in the period of experiment through the thermal imager. Results showed that the thermal inertia of camouflage net was markedly lower than the background and the exposed signs were obvious. It was difficult to reach camouflage thermal infrared fusion requirements by relying on camouflage spot emissivity, but sponge which mix with polymer resin can reduce target significance in the context of mottled and realize the fusion effect.

Background Characterization Techniques For Pattern Recognition Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Noah, Meg A.; Noah, Paul V.; Schroeder, John W.; Kessler, Bernard V.; Chernick, Julian A.

1989-08-01

The Department of Defense has a requirement to investigate technologies for the detection of air and ground vehicles in a clutter environment. The use of autonomous systems using infrared, visible, and millimeter wave detectors has the potential to meet DOD's needs. In general, however, the hard-ware technology (large detector arrays with high sensitivity) has outpaced the development of processing techniques and software. In a complex background scene the "problem" is as much one of clutter rejection as it is target detection. The work described in this paper has investigated a new, and innovative, methodology for background clutter characterization, target detection and target identification. The approach uses multivariate statistical analysis to evaluate a set of image metrics applied to infrared cloud imagery and terrain clutter scenes. The techniques are applied to two distinct problems: the characterization of atmospheric water vapor cloud scenes for the Navy's Infrared Search and Track (IRST) applications to support the Infrared Modeling Measurement and Analysis Program (IRAMMP); and the detection of ground vehicles for the Army's Autonomous Homing Munitions (AHM) problems. This work was sponsored under two separate Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) programs by the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), White Oak MD, and the Army Material Systems Analysis Activity at Aberdeen Proving Ground MD. The software described in this paper will be available from the respective contract technical representatives.

Direction Dependent Background Fitting for the Fermi GBM Data

OpenAIRE

Szécsi, Dorottya; Bagoly, Zsolt; Kóbori, József; Horváth, István; Balázs, Lajos G.

2013-01-01

We present a method for determining the background of Fermi GBM GRBs using the satellite positional information and a physical model. Since the polynomial fitting method typically used for GRBs is generally only indicative of the background over relatively short timescales, this method is particularly useful in the cases of long GRBs or those which have Autonomous Repoint Request (ARR) and a background with much variability on short timescales. We give a Direction Dependent Background Fitting...

Cryogenic implications of orbit selection of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, J.H.; Brooke, W.F.; Maa, S.

1986-01-01

The Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) which completed the first all sky survey in the infrared demonstrated the tremendous advantage of space-based infrared astronomy. The ability to cool the telescope optics and focal plane to liquid helium temperatures and the absence of atmospheric disturbances which cause ''seeing'' effects resulted in the discovery of 250,000 IR sources and many interesting phenomena including dust clouds around Vega and the infrared ''cirrus'' at 100 μm. To realize the true benefit of space infrared astronomy, NASA is now studying the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, a long-life space-based observatory, to follow up on the survey results of IRAS. The choice of orbits is a critical program decision. The objective of this paper is to compare the performance of an all superfluid helium SIRTF system in the two possible orbit inclinations, polar orbit (99 0 ) and the low inclination orbit (28.5 0 )

Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) science instruments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramos, R.; Hing, S.M.; Leidich, C.A.; Fazio, G.; Houck, J.R.

1989-01-01

Concepts of scientific instruments designed to perform infrared astronomical tasks such as imaging, photometry, and spectroscopy are discussed as part of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) project under definition study at NASA/Ames Research Center. The instruments are: the multiband imaging photometer, the infrared array camera, and the infrared spectograph. SIRTF, a cryogenically cooled infrared telescope in the 1-meter range and wavelengths as short as 2.5 microns carrying multiple instruments with high sensitivity and low background performance, provides the capability to carry out basic astronomical investigations such as deep search for very distant protogalaxies, quasi-stellar objects, and missing mass; infrared emission from galaxies; star formation and the interstellar medium; and the composition and structure of the atmospheres of the outer planets in the solar sytem. 8 refs

Longwave infrared observation of urban landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Goward, S. N.

1981-01-01

An investigation is conducted regarding the feasibility to develop improved methods for the identification and analysis of urban landscapes on the basis of a utilization of longwave infrared observations. Attention is given to landscape thermal behavior, urban thermal properties, modeled thermal behavior of pavements and buildings, and observed urban landscape thermal emissions. The differential thermal behavior of buildings, pavements, and natural areas within urban landscapes is found to suggest that integrated multispectral solar radiant reflectance and terrestrial radiant emissions data will significantly increase potentials for analyzing urban landscapes. In particular, daytime satellite observations of the considered type should permit better identification of urban areas and an analysis of the density of buildings and pavements within urban areas. This capability should enhance the utility of satellite remote sensor data in urban applications.

Spitzer deep and wide legacy mid- and far-infrared number counts and lower limits of cosmic infrared background

Science.gov (United States)

Béthermin, M.; Dole, H.; Beelen, A.; Aussel, H.

2010-03-01

Aims: We aim to place stronger lower limits on the cosmic infrared background (CIB) brightness at 24 μm, 70 μm and 160 μm and measure the extragalactic number counts at these wavelengths in a homogeneous way from various surveys. Methods: Using Spitzer legacy data over 53.6 deg2 of various depths, we build catalogs with the same extraction method at each wavelength. Completeness and photometric accuracy are estimated with Monte-Carlo simulations. Number count uncertainties are estimated with a counts-in-cells moment method to take galaxy clustering into account. Furthermore, we use a stacking analysis to estimate number counts of sources not detected at 70 μm and 160 μm. This method is validated by simulations. The integration of the number counts gives new CIB lower limits. Results: Number counts reach 35 μJy, 3.5 mJy and 40 mJy at 24 μm, 70 μm, and 160 μm, respectively. We reach deeper flux densities of 0.38 mJy at 70, and 3.1 at 160 μm with a stacking analysis. We confirm the number count turnover at 24 μm and 70 μm, and observe it for the first time at 160 μm at about 20 mJy, together with a power-law behavior below 10 mJy. These mid- and far-infrared counts: 1) are homogeneously built by combining fields of different depths and sizes, providing a legacy over about three orders of magnitude in flux density; 2) are the deepest to date at 70 μm and 160 μm; 3) agree with previously published results in the common measured flux density range; 4) globally agree with the Lagache et al. (2004) model, except at 160 μm, where the model slightly overestimates the counts around 20 and 200 mJy. Conclusions: These counts are integrated to estimate new CIB firm lower limits of 2.29-0.09+0.09 nW m-2 sr-1, 5.4-0.4+0.4 nW m-2 sr-1, and 8.9-1.1+1.1 nW m-2 sr-1 at 24 μm, 70 μm, and 160 μm, respectively, and extrapolated to give new estimates of the CIB due to galaxies of 2.86-0.16+0.19 nW m-2 sr-1, 6.6-0.6+0.7 nW m-2 sr-1, and 14.6-2.9+7.1 nW m-2 sr-1

Infrared detectors and test technology of cryogenic camera

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaole; Liu, Xingxin; Xing, Mailing; Ling, Long

2016-10-01

Cryogenic camera which is widely used in deep space detection cools down optical system and support structure by cryogenic refrigeration technology, thereby improving the sensitivity. Discussing the characteristics and design points of infrared detector combined with camera's characteristics. At the same time, cryogenic background test systems of chip and detector assembly are established. Chip test system is based on variable cryogenic and multilayer Dewar, and assembly test system is based on target and background simulator in the thermal vacuum environment. The core of test is to establish cryogenic background. Non-uniformity, ratio of dead pixels and noise of test result are given finally. The establishment of test system supports for the design and calculation of infrared systems.

A data mining approach for sharpening satellite thermal imagery over land

Science.gov (United States)

Thermal infrared (TIR) imagery is normally acquired at coarser pixel resolution than that of shortwave sensors on the same satellite platform and often the TIR resolution is not suitable for monitoring crop conditions of individual fields or the impacts of land cover changes which are at significant...

Satellite Earth observation data to identify climate and anthropogenic pressures on Bucharest periurban forests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zoran, Maria; Savastru, Roxana; Savastru, Dan [National Institute of R& D for Optoelectronics, MG5 Bucharest-Magurele, 077125 Romania (Romania); Dida, Adrian [University Transylvania of Brasov, Brasov (Romania)

2016-03-25

Satellite Earth observation data in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) wavelengths represent a useful source of information for forest systems monitoring through derived biogeophysical parameters (vegetation index, leaf area index, canopy cover, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, chlorophyll content, net primary production, canopy water stress, etc.). Use of satellite remote sensing data to assess forest spatio-temporal changes due to climatic or anthropogenic stressors is an excellent example of the value of multispectral and multitemporal observations. Fusion technique was applied to time-series multispectral and multitemporal satellite imagery (NOAA AVHRR, MODIS Terra/Aqua, Landsat ETM and IKONOS satellite data) for periurban forest areas Cernica-Branesti, placed in the neighboring of Bucharest town, Romania, over 2002-2014 period.

Satellite Earth observation data to identify climate and anthropogenic pressures on Bucharest periurban forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zoran, Maria; Savastru, Roxana; Savastru, Dan; Dida, Adrian

2016-01-01

Satellite Earth observation data in the visible and near-infrared (VNIR) wavelengths represent a useful source of information for forest systems monitoring through derived biogeophysical parameters (vegetation index, leaf area index, canopy cover, fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation, chlorophyll content, net primary production, canopy water stress, etc.). Use of satellite remote sensing data to assess forest spatio-temporal changes due to climatic or anthropogenic stressors is an excellent example of the value of multispectral and multitemporal observations. Fusion technique was applied to time-series multispectral and multitemporal satellite imagery (NOAA AVHRR, MODIS Terra/Aqua, Landsat ETM and IKONOS satellite data) for periurban forest areas Cernica-Branesti, placed in the neighboring of Bucharest town, Romania, over 2002-2014 period.

Artificial Satellites and How to Observe Them

CERN Document Server

Schmude, Jr , Richard

2012-01-01

Astronomers' Observing Guides provide up-to-date information for amateur astronomers who want to know all about what it is they are observing. This is the basis for the first part of the book. The second part details observing techniques for practical astronomers, working with a range of different instruments. Every amateur astronomer sees "stars" that aren't natural objects steadily slide across the background of the sky. Artificial satellites can be seen on any night, and some are as bright as the planets. But can you identify which satellite or spent launch vehicle casing you are seeing? Do you know how to image it? Artificial Satellites and How to Observe Them describes all of the different satellites that can be observed, including communication, scientific, spy satellites, and of course, the International Space Station. Richard Schmude describes how to recognize them and even how to predict their orbits. The book tells how to observe artificial satellites with the unaided eye, binoculars and with telesc...

Greenhouse gas profiling by infrared-laser and microwave occultation: retrieval algorithm and demonstration results from end-to-end simulations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Proschek

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Measuring greenhouse gas (GHG profiles with global coverage and high accuracy and vertical resolution in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS is key for improved monitoring of GHG concentrations in the free atmosphere. In this respect a new satellite mission concept adding an infrared-laser part to the already well studied microwave occultation technique exploits the joint propagation of infrared-laser and microwave signals between Low Earth Orbit (LEO satellites. This synergetic combination, referred to as LEO-LEO microwave and infrared-laser occultation (LMIO method, enables to retrieve thermodynamic profiles (pressure, temperature, humidity and accurate altitude levels from the microwave signals and GHG profiles from the simultaneously measured infrared-laser signals. However, due to the novelty of the LMIO method, a retrieval algorithm for GHG profiling is not yet available. Here we introduce such an algorithm for retrieving GHGs from LEO-LEO infrared-laser occultation (LIO data, applied as a second step after retrieving thermodynamic profiles from LEO-LEO microwave occultation (LMO data. We thoroughly describe the LIO retrieval algorithm and unveil the synergy with the LMO-retrieved pressure, temperature, and altitude information. We furthermore demonstrate the effective independence of the GHG retrieval results from background (a priori information in discussing demonstration results from LMIO end-to-end simulations for a representative set of GHG profiles, including carbon dioxide (CO₂, water vapor (H₂O, methane (CH₄, and ozone (O₃. The GHGs except for ozone are well retrieved throughout the UTLS, while ozone is well retrieved from about 10 km to 15 km upwards, since the ozone layer resides in the lower stratosphere. The GHG retrieval errors are generally smaller than 1% to 3% r.m.s., at a vertical resolution of about 1 km. The retrieved profiles also appear unbiased, which points

Background and state of the art of near infrared spectroscopy in the forest sector base

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muñiz, G.I.B. de; Magalhães, W.L.E.; Carneiro, M.E.; Viana, L.C.

2012-01-01

The knowledge of wood properties is the fundamental importance for the indication of the potential and use of this material. In the search for new alternatives for a fast, simple and reliable characterization, there are the non-destructive evaluations of wood. The near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been used as a non-destructive method that allows qualitative and quantitative information of the constituents of biomass through the interaction of electromagnetic waves with near-infrared next to the sample. This work aims to provide a review of the technique of near infrared spectroscopy and its application in forestry. The technique is used in virtually all areas due to the level of development that this technology has reached in recent years. NIR spectroscopy has proved a quick and efficient replacement of several tests that determine the quality of the wood. This is a literature review and state of the art on the theme [pt

BACKGROUND AND STATE OF THEE ART OF NEAR INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY IN THE FOREST SECTOR BASE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Graciela Inês Bolzon de Muñiz

2012-12-01

Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/198050987567The knowledge of wood properties is the fundamental importance for the indication of the potential and use of this material. In the search for new alternatives for a fast, simple and reliable characterization, there are the non-destructive evaluations of wood. The near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS has been used as a non-destructive method that allows qualitative and quantitative information of the constituents of biomass through the interaction of electromagnetic waves with near-infrared next to the sample. This work aims to provide a review of the technique of near infrared spectroscopy and its application in forestry. The technique is used in virtually all areas due to the level of development that this technology has reached in recent years. NIR spectroscopy has proved a quick and efficient replacement of several tests that determine the quality of the wood. This is a literature review and state of the art on the theme.

Comparability of red/near-infrared reflectance and NDVI based on the spectral response function between MODIS and 30 other satellite sensors using rice canopy spectra.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Weijiao; Huang, Jingfeng; Wang, Xiuzhen; Wang, Fumin; Shi, Jingjing

2013-11-26

Long-term monitoring of regional and global environment changes often depends on the combined use of multi-source sensor data. The most widely used vegetation index is the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), which is a function of the red and near-infrared (NIR) spectral bands. The reflectance and NDVI data sets derived from different satellite sensor systems will not be directly comparable due to different spectral response functions (SRF), which has been recognized as one of the most important sources of uncertainty in the multi-sensor data analysis. This study quantified the influence of SRFs on the red and NIR reflectances and NDVI derived from 31 Earth observation satellite sensors. For this purpose, spectroradiometric measurements were performed for paddy rice grown under varied nitrogen levels and at different growth stages. The rice canopy reflectances were convoluted with the spectral response functions of various satellite instruments to simulate sensor-specific reflectances in the red and NIR channels. NDVI values were then calculated using the simulated red and NIR reflectances. The results showed that as compared to the Terra MODIS, the mean relative percentage difference (RPD) ranged from -12.67% to 36.30% for the red reflectance, -8.52% to -0.23% for the NIR reflectance, and -9.32% to 3.10% for the NDVI. The mean absolute percentage difference (APD) compared to the Terra MODIS ranged from 1.28% to 36.30% for the red reflectance, 0.84% to 8.71% for the NIR reflectance, and 0.59% to 9.32% for the NDVI. The lowest APD between MODIS and the other 30 satellite sensors was observed for Landsat5 TM for the red reflectance, CBERS02B CCD for the NIR reflectance and Landsat4 TM for the NDVI. In addition, the largest APD between MODIS and the other 30 satellite sensors was observed for IKONOS for the red reflectance, AVHRR1 onboard NOAA8 for the NIR reflectance and IKONOS for the NDVI. The results also indicated that AVHRRs onboard NOAA7-17 showed

InSAR atmospheric correction using Himawari-8 Geostationary Meteorological Satellite

Science.gov (United States)

Kinoshita, Y.; Nimura, T.; Furuta, R.

2017-12-01

The atmospheric delay effect is one of the limitations for the accurate surface displacement detection by Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR). Many previous studies have attempted to mitigate the neutral atmospheric delay in InSAR (e.g. Jolivet et al. 2014; Foster et al. 2006; Kinoshita et al. 2013). Hanssen et al. (2001) investigated the relationship between the 27 hourly observations of GNSS precipitable water vapor (PWV) and the infrared brightness temperature derived from visible satellite imagery, and showed a good correlation. Here we showed a preliminary result of the newly developed method for the neutral atmospheric delay correction using the Himawari-8 Japanese geostationary meteorological satellite data. The Himawari-8 satellite is the Japanese state-of-the-art geostationary meteorological satellite that has 16 observation channels and has spatial resolutions of 0.5 km (visible) and 2.0 km (near-infrared and infrared) with an time interval of 2.5 minutes around Japan. To estimate the relationship between the satellite brightness temperature and the atmospheric delay amount. Since the InSAR atmospheric delay is principally the same as that in GNSS, we at first compared the Himawari-8 data with the GNSS zenith tropospheric delay data derived from the Japanese dense GNSS network. The comparison of them showed that the band with the wavelength of 6.9 μm had the highest correlation to the GNSS observation. Based on this result, we developed an InSAR atmospheric delay model that uses the Himawari-8 6.9 μm band data. For the model validation, we generated InSAR images from the ESA's C-band Sentinel-1 SLC data with the GAMMA SAR software. We selected two regions around Tokyo and Sapporo (both in Japan) as the test sites because of the less temporal decorrelation. The validation result showed that the delay model reasonably estimate large scale phase variation whose spatial scale was on the order of over 20 km. On the other hand, phase variations of

AXION DECAY AND ANISOTROPY OF NEAR-IR EXTRAGALACTIC BACKGROUND LIGHT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, Yan; Chen, Xuelei [National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100012 (China); Cooray, Asantha; Mitchell-Wynne, Ketron [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697 (United States); Zemcov, Michael [Center for Detectors, School of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623 (United States); Smidt, Joseph [Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

2016-07-10

The extragalactic background light (EBL) is composed of the cumulative radiation from all galaxies and active galactic nuclei over cosmic history. In addition to point sources, the EBL also contains information from diffuse sources of radiation. The angular power spectra of the near-infrared intensities could contain additional signals, and a complete understanding of the nature of the infrared (IR) background is still lacking in the literature. Here we explore the constraints that can be placed on particle decays, especially candidate dark matter (DM) models involving axions that trace DM halos of galaxies. Axions with a mass around a few electronvolts will decay via two photons with wavelengths in the near-IR band and will leave a signature in the IR background intensity power spectrum. Using recent power spectra measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment, we find that the 0.6–1.6 μ m power spectra can be explained by axions with masses around 4 eV. The total axion abundance Ω{sub a} ≃ 0.05, and it is comparable to the baryon density of the universe. The suggested mean axion mass and abundance are not ruled out by existing cosmological observations. Interestingly, the axion model with a mass distribution is preferred by the data, which cannot be explained by the standard quantum chromodynamics theory and needs further discussion.

Non-uniformity Correction of Infrared Images by Midway Equalization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yohann Tendero

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The non-uniformity is a time-dependent noise caused by the lack of sensor equalization. We present here the detailed algorithm and on line demo of the non-uniformity correction method by midway infrared equalization. This method was designed to suit infrared images. Nevertheless, it can be applied to images produced for example by scanners, or by push-broom satellites. The obtained single image method works on static images, is fully automatic, having no user parameter, and requires no registration. It needs no camera motion compensation, no closed aperture sensor equalization and is able to correct for a fully non-linear non-uniformity.

Photometrical research geostationary satellite "SBIRS GEO-2"

Science.gov (United States)

Sukhov, P. P.; Epishev, V. P; Sukhov, K. P; Kudak, V. I.

The multicolor photometrical observations GSS "Sbirs Geo-2" were carried in B,V,R filters out during the autumn equinox 2014 and spring 2015 y. Periodic appearance of many light curves and dips of mirror reflections suggests that the GSS was not in orbit in a static position, predetermined three-axis orientation and in dynamic motion. On the basis of computer modeling suggests the following dynamics GSS "Sbirs Geo-2" in orbit. Helically scanning the visible Earth's surface infrared satellite sensors come with period P1 = 15.66 sec. and the rocking of the GSS about the direction of the motion vector of the satellite in orbit with P2 = 62.64 sec., most likely with the purpose to survey the greatest possible portion of the earth's surface.

Infrared images target detection based on background modeling in the discrete cosine domain

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Han; Pei, Jihong

2018-02-01

Background modeling is the critical technology to detect the moving target for video surveillance. Most background modeling techniques are aimed at land monitoring and operated in the spatial domain. A background establishment becomes difficult when the scene is a complex fluctuating sea surface. In this paper, the background stability and separability between target are analyzed deeply in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain, on this basis, we propose a background modeling method. The proposed method models each frequency point as a single Gaussian model to represent background, and the target is extracted by suppressing the background coefficients. Experimental results show that our approach can establish an accurate background model for seawater, and the detection results outperform other background modeling methods in the spatial domain.

User Validation of VIIRS Satellite Imagery

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Don Hillger

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS Imagery from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP satellite is the finest spatial resolution (375 m multi-spectral imagery of any operational meteorological satellite to date. The Imagery environmental data record (EDR has been designated as a Key Performance Parameter (KPP for VIIRS, meaning that its performance is vital to the success of a series of Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS satellites that will carry this instrument. Because VIIRS covers the high-latitude and Polar Regions especially well via overlapping swaths from adjacent orbits, the Alaska theatre in particular benefits from VIIRS more than lower-latitude regions. While there are no requirements that specifically address the quality of the EDR Imagery aside from the VIIRS SDR performance requirements, the value of VIIRS Imagery to operational users is an important consideration in the Cal/Val process. As such, engaging a wide diversity of users constitutes a vital part of the Imagery validation strategy. The best possible image quality is of utmost importance. This paper summarizes the Imagery Cal/Val Team’s quality assessment in this context. Since users are a vital component to the validation of VIIRS Imagery, specific examples of VIIRS imagery applied to operational needs are presented as an integral part of the post-checkout Imagery validation.

Comparisons of aerosol optical depth provided by seviri satellite observations and CAMx air quality modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandes, A.; Riffler, M.; Ferreira, J.; Wunderle, S.; Borrego, C.; Tchepel, O.

2015-04-01

Satellite data provide high spatial coverage and characterization of atmospheric components for vertical column. Additionally, the use of air pollution modelling in combination with satellite data opens the challenging perspective to analyse the contribution of different pollution sources and transport processes. The main objective of this work is to study the AOD over Portugal using satellite observations in combination with air pollution modelling. For this purpose, satellite data provided by Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager (SEVIRI) on-board the geostationary Meteosat-9 satellite on AOD at 550 nm and modelling results from the Chemical Transport Model (CAMx - Comprehensive Air quality Model) were analysed. The study period was May 2011 and the aim was to analyse the spatial variations of AOD over Portugal. In this study, a multi-temporal technique to retrieve AOD over land from SEVIRI was used. The proposed method takes advantage of SEVIRI's high temporal resolution of 15 minutes and high spatial resolution. CAMx provides the size distribution of each aerosol constituent among a number of fixed size sections. For post processing, CAMx output species per size bin have been grouped into total particulate sulphate (PSO4), total primary and secondary organic aerosols (POA + SOA), total primary elemental carbon (PEC) and primary inert material per size bin (CRST1 to CRST_4) to be used in AOD quantification. The AOD was calculated by integration of aerosol extinction coefficient (Qext) on the vertical column. The results were analysed in terms of temporal and spatial variations. The analysis points out that the implemented methodology provides a good spatial agreement between modelling results and satellite observation for dust outbreak studied (10th -17th of May 2011). A correlation coefficient of r=0.79 was found between the two datasets. This work provides relevant background to start the integration of these two different types of the data in order

Parametric analysis of lava dome-collapse events and pyroclastic deposits at Shiveluch volcano, Kamchatka, using visible and infrared satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Krippner, Janine B.; Belousov, Alexander B.; Belousova, Marina G.; Ramsey, Michael S.

2018-04-01

For the years 2001 to 2013 of the ongoing eruption of Shiveluch volcano, a combination of different satellite remote sensing data are used to investigate the dome-collapse events and the resulting pyroclastic deposits. Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka, Russia, is one of the world's most active dome-building volcanoes, which has produced some of the largest known historical block-and-ash flows (BAFs). Globally, quantitative data for deposits resulting from such large and long-lived dome-forming eruptions, especially like those at Shiveluch, are scarce. We use Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) thermal infrared (TIR), shortwave infrared (SWIR), and visible-near infrared (VNIR) data to analyze the dome-collapse scars and BAF deposits that were formed during eruptions and collapse events in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, and two events in 2013. These events produced flows with runout distances of as far as 19 km from the dome, and with aerial extents of as much as 22.3 km2. Over the 12 years of this period of investigation, there is no trend in deposit area or runout distances of the flows through time. However, two potentially predictive features are apparent in our data set: 1) the largest dome-collapse events occurred when the dome exceeded a relative height (from dome base to top) of 500 m; 2) collapses were preceded by thermal anomalies in six of the cases in which ASTER data were available, although the areal extent of these precursory thermal areas did not generally match the size of the collapse events as indicated by scar area (volumes are available for three collapse events). Linking the deposit distribution to the area, location, and temperature profiles of the dome-collapse scars provides a basis for determining similar future hazards at Shiveluch and at other dome-forming volcanoes. Because of these factors, we suggest that volcanic hazard analysis and mitigation at volcanoes with similar BAF emplacement behavior may

The long-term effects of space weather on satellite operations

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D. T. Welling

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Integrated lifetime radiation damage may cause spacecraft to become more susceptible to operational anomalies by changing material characteristics of electronic components. This study demonstrates and quantifies the impact of these effects by examining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC satellite anomaly database. Energetic particle data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES is used to construct the total lifetime particle exposure a satellite has received at the epoch of an anomaly. These values are compared to the satellite's chronological age and the average exposure per year (calculated over two solar cycles. The results show that many anomalies occur on satellites that have received a total lifetime high-energy particle exposure that is disproportionate to their age. In particular, 10.8% of all events occurred on satellites that received over two times more 20 to 40 MeV proton lifetime particle exposure than predicted using an average annual mean. This number inflates to 35.2% for 40 to 80 MeV protons and 33.7% for ≥2 MeV electrons. Overall, 73.5% of all anomalies occurred on a spacecraft that had experienced greater than two times the expected particle exposure for one of the eight particle populations used in this study. Simplistically, this means that the long term radiation background exposure matters, and that if the background radiation is elevated during the satellite's lifetime, the satellite is likely to experience more anomalies than satellites that have not been exposed to the elevated environment.

Research on infrared small-target tracking technology under complex background

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lei; Wang, Xin; Chen, Jilu; Pan, Tao

2012-10-01

In this paper, some basic principles and the implementing flow charts of a series of algorithms for target tracking are described. On the foundation of above works, a moving target tracking software base on the OpenCV is developed by the software developing platform MFC. Three kinds of tracking algorithms are integrated in this software. These two tracking algorithms are Kalman Filter tracking method and Camshift tracking method. In order to explain the software clearly, the framework and the function are described in this paper. At last, the implementing processes and results are analyzed, and those algorithms for tracking targets are evaluated from the two aspects of subjective and objective. This paper is very significant in the application of the infrared target tracking technology.

A Bayesian kriging approach for blending satellite and ground precipitation observations

Science.gov (United States)

Verdin, Andrew P.; Rajagopalan, Balaji; Kleiber, William; Funk, Christopher C.

2015-01-01

Drought and flood management practices require accurate estimates of precipitation. Gauge observations, however, are often sparse in regions with complicated terrain, clustered in valleys, and of poor quality. Consequently, the spatial extent of wet events is poorly represented. Satellite-derived precipitation data are an attractive alternative, though they tend to underestimate the magnitude of wet events due to their dependency on retrieval algorithms and the indirect relationship between satellite infrared observations and precipitation intensities. Here we offer a Bayesian kriging approach for blending precipitation gauge data and the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation satellite-derived precipitation estimates for Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela. First, the gauge observations are modeled as a linear function of satellite-derived estimates and any number of other variables—for this research we include elevation. Prior distributions are defined for all model parameters and the posterior distributions are obtained simultaneously via Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. The posterior distributions of these parameters are required for spatial estimation, and thus are obtained prior to implementing the spatial kriging model. This functional framework is applied to model parameters obtained by sampling from the posterior distributions, and the residuals of the linear model are subject to a spatial kriging model. Consequently, the posterior distributions and uncertainties of the blended precipitation estimates are obtained. We demonstrate this method by applying it to pentadal and monthly total precipitation fields during 2009. The model's performance and its inherent ability to capture wet events are investigated. We show that this blending method significantly improves upon the satellite-derived estimates and is also competitive in its ability to represent wet events. This procedure also provides a means to estimate a full conditional distribution

Thermal emission before earthquakes by analyzing satellite infra-red data

Science.gov (United States)

Ouzounov, D.; Taylor, P.; Bryant, N.; Pulinets, S.; Freund, F.

2004-05-01

Satellite thermal imaging data indicate long-lived thermal anomaly fields associated with large linear structures and fault systems in the Earth's crust but also with short-lived anomalies prior to major earthquakes. Positive anomalous land surface temperature excursions of the order of 3-4oC have been observed from NOAA/AVHRR, GOES/METEOSAT and EOS Terra/Aqua satellites prior to some major earthquake around the world. The rapid time-dependent evolution of the "thermal anomaly" suggests that is changing mid-IR emissivity from the earth. These short-lived "thermal anomalies", however, are very transient therefore there origin has yet to be determined. Their areal extent and temporal evolution may be dependent on geology, tectonic, focal mechanism, meteorological conditions and other factors.This work addresses the relationship between tectonic stress, electro-chemical and thermodynamic processes in the atmosphere and increasing mid-IR flux as part of a larger family of electromagnetic (EM) phenomena related to seismic activity.We still need to understand better the link between seismo-mechanical processes in the crust, on the surface, and at the earth-atmospheric interface that trigger thermal anomalies. This work serves as an introduction to our effort to find an answer to this question. We will present examples from the strong earthquakes that have occurred in the Americas during 2003/2004 and the techniques used to record the thermal emission mid-IR anomalies, geomagnetic and ionospheric variations that appear to associated with impending earthquake activity.

Hoar crystal development and disappearance at Dome C, Antarctica: observation by near-infrared photography and passive microwave satellite

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N. Champollion

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Hoar crystals episodically cover the snow surface in Antarctica and affect the roughness and reflective properties of the air–snow interface. However, little is known about their evolution and the processes responsible for their development and disappearance despite a probable influence on the surface mass balance and energy budget. To investigate hoar evolution, we use continuous observations of the surface by in situ near-infrared photography and by passive microwave remote sensing at Dome C in Antarctica. From the photography data, we retrieved a daily indicator of the presence/absence of hoar crystals using a texture analysis algorithm. The analysis of this 2 yr long time series shows that Dome C surface is covered almost half of the time by hoar. The development of hoar crystals takes a few days and seems to occur whatever the meteorological conditions. In contrast, the disappearance of hoar is rapid (a few hours and coincident with either strong winds or with moderate winds associated with a change in wind direction from southwest (the prevailing direction to southeast. From the microwave satellite data, we computed the polarisation ratio (i.e. horizontal over vertical polarised brightness temperatures, an indicator known to be sensitive to hoar in Greenland. Photography data and microwave polarisation ratio are correlated, i.e. high values of polarisation ratio which theoretically correspond to low snow density values near the surface are associated with the presence of hoar crystals in the photography data. Satellite data over nearly ten years (2002–2011 confirm that a strong decrease of the polarisation ratio (i.e. signature of hoar disappearance is associated with an increase of wind speed or a change in wind direction from the prevailing direction. The photography data provides, in addition, evidence of interactions between hoar and snowfall. Further adding the combined influence of wind speed and wind direction results in a

Use of ASTER and MODIS thermal infrared data to quantify heat flow and hydrothermal change at Yellowstone National Park

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, R. Greg; Keszthelyi, Laszlo P.; Lowenstern, Jacob B.; Jaworowski, Cheryl; Heasler, Henry

2012-01-01

The overarching aim of this study was to use satellite thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing to monitor geothermal activity within the Yellowstone geothermal area to meet the missions of both the U.S. Geological Survey and the Yellowstone National Park Geology Program. Specific goals were to: 1) address the challenges of monitoring the surface thermal characteristics of the > 10,000 spatially and temporally dynamic thermal features in the Park (including hot springs, pools, geysers, fumaroles, and mud pots) that are spread out over ~ 5000 km2, by using satellite TIR remote sensing tools (e.g., ASTER and MODIS), 2) to estimate the radiant geothermal heat flux (GHF) for Yellowstone's thermal areas, and 3) to identify normal, background thermal changes so that significant, abnormal changes can be recognized, should they ever occur (e.g., changes related to tectonic, hydrothermal, impending volcanic processes, or human activities, such as nearby geothermal development). ASTER TIR data (90-m pixels) were used to estimate the radiant GHF from all of Yellowstone's thermal features and update maps of thermal areas. MODIS TIR data (1-km pixels) were used to record background thermal radiance variations from March 2000 through December 2010 and establish thermal change detection limits. A lower limit for the radiant GHF estimated from ASTER TIR temperature data was established at ~ 2.0 GW, which is ~ 30–45% of the heat flux estimated through geochemical thermometry. Also, about 5 km2 of thermal areas was added to the geodatabase of mapped thermal areas. A decade-long time-series of MODIS TIR radiance data was dominated by seasonal cycles. A background subtraction technique was used in an attempt to isolate variations due to geothermal changes. Several statistically significant perturbations were noted in the time-series from Norris Geyser Basin, however many of these did not correspond to documented thermal disturbances. This study provides concrete examples of the

Improved Satellite Techniques for Monitoring and Forecasting the Transition of Hurricanes to Extratropical Storms

Science.gov (United States)

Folmer, Michael; Halverson, Jeffrey; Berndt, Emily; Dunion, Jason; Goodman, Steve; Goldberg, Mitch

2014-01-01

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites R-Series (GOES-R) and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Satellite Proving Grounds have introduced multiple proxy and operational products into operations over the last few years. Some of these products have proven to be useful in current operations at various National Weather Service (NWS) offices and national centers as a first look at future satellite capabilities. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), NESDIS Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) and the NASA Hurricane and Severe Storms Sentinel (HS3) field campaign have had access to a few of these products to assist in monitoring extratropical transitions of hurricanes. The red, green, blue (RGB) Air Mass product provides forecasters with an enhanced view of various air masses in one complete image to help differentiate between possible stratospheric/tropospheric interactions, moist tropical air masses, and cool, continental/maritime air masses. As a compliment to this product, a new Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) Ozone product was introduced in the past year to assist in diagnosing the dry air intrusions seen in the RGB Air Mass product. Finally, a lightning density product was introduced to forecasters as a precursor to the new Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) that will be housed on GOES-R, to monitor the most active regions of convection, which might indicate a disruption in the tropical environment and even signal the onset of extratropical transition. This presentation will focus on a few case studies that exhibit extratropical transition and point out the usefulness of these new satellite techniques in aiding forecasters forecast these challenging events.

Offshore Wind Energy: Wind and Sea Surface Temperature from Satellite Observations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karagali, Ioanna

as the entire atmosphere above. Under conditions of light winds and strong solar insolation, warming of the upper oceanic layer may occur. In this PhD study, remote sensing from satellites is used to obtain information for the near-surface ocean wind and the sea surface temperature over the North Sea......, demonstrate that wind information from SAR is more appropriate when small scale local features are of interest, not resolved by scatterometers. Hourly satellite observations of the sea surface temperature, from a thermal infra-red sensor, are used to identify and quantify the daily variability of the sea...

Geostationary satellite observations of the april 1979 soufriere eruptions.

Science.gov (United States)

Krueger, A F

1982-06-04

Infrared images from the geostationary satellite SMS-1 were used to study the growth of the eight major eruptions of Soufriere, St. Vincent, during April 1979. These eruptions differed considerably in growth and intensity, the most intense being that of 17 April which formed an ash cloud of 96,000 square kilometers in 4 hours. The weakest eruption formed a cloud of only 16,000 square kilometers.

Volcanic SO2 fluxes derived from satellite data: a survey using OMI, GOME-2, IASI and MODIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Theys

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Sulphur dioxide (SO2 fluxes of active degassing volcanoes are routinely measured with ground-based equipment to characterize and monitor volcanic activity. SO2 of unmonitored volcanoes or from explosive volcanic eruptions, can be measured with satellites. However, remote-sensing methods based on absorption spectroscopy generally provide integrated amounts of already dispersed plumes of SO2 and satellite derived flux estimates are rarely reported. Here we review a number of different techniques to derive volcanic SO2 fluxes using satellite measurements of plumes of SO2 and investigate the temporal evolution of the total emissions of SO2 for three very different volcanic events in 2011: Puyehue-Cordón Caulle (Chile, Nyamulagira (DR Congo and Nabro (Eritrea. High spectral resolution satellite instruments operating both in the ultraviolet-visible (OMI/Aura and GOME-2/MetOp-A and thermal infrared (IASI/MetOp-A spectral ranges, and multispectral satellite instruments operating in the thermal infrared (MODIS/Terra-Aqua are used. We show that satellite data can provide fluxes with a sampling of a day or less (few hours in the best case. Generally the flux results from the different methods are consistent, and we discuss the advantages and weaknesses of each technique. Although the primary objective of this study is the calculation of SO2 fluxes, it also enables us to assess the consistency of the SO2 products from the different sensors used.

Thermal infrared anomalies of several strong earthquakes.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Congxin; Zhang, Yuansheng; Guo, Xiao; Hui, Shaoxing; Qin, Manzhong; Zhang, Ying

2013-01-01

In the history of earthquake thermal infrared research, it is undeniable that before and after strong earthquakes there are significant thermal infrared anomalies which have been interpreted as preseismic precursor in earthquake prediction and forecasting. In this paper, we studied the characteristics of thermal radiation observed before and after the 8 great earthquakes with magnitude up to Ms7.0 by using the satellite infrared remote sensing information. We used new types of data and method to extract the useful anomaly information. Based on the analyses of 8 earthquakes, we got the results as follows. (1) There are significant thermal radiation anomalies before and after earthquakes for all cases. The overall performance of anomalies includes two main stages: expanding first and narrowing later. We easily extracted and identified such seismic anomalies by method of "time-frequency relative power spectrum." (2) There exist evident and different characteristic periods and magnitudes of thermal abnormal radiation for each case. (3) Thermal radiation anomalies are closely related to the geological structure. (4) Thermal radiation has obvious characteristics in abnormal duration, range, and morphology. In summary, we should be sure that earthquake thermal infrared anomalies as useful earthquake precursor can be used in earthquake prediction and forecasting.

AKARI INFRARED CAMERA SURVEY OF THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD. II. THE NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPIC CATALOG

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimonishi, Takashi; Onaka, Takashi; Kato, Daisuke; Sakon, Itsuki; Ita, Yoshifusa; Kawamura, Akiko; Kaneda, Hidehiro

2013-01-01

We performed a near-infrared spectroscopic survey toward an area of ∼10 deg 2 of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the infrared satellite AKARI. Observations were carried out as part of the AKARI Large-area Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LSLMC). The slitless multi-object spectroscopic capability of the AKARI/IRC enabled us to obtain low-resolution (R ∼ 20) spectra in 2-5 μm for a large number of point sources in the LMC. As a result of the survey, we extracted about 2000 infrared spectra of point sources. The data are organized as a near-infrared spectroscopic catalog. The catalog includes various infrared objects such as young stellar objects (YSOs), asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars, supergiants, and so on. It is shown that 97% of the catalog sources have corresponding photometric data in the wavelength range from 1.2 to 11 μm, and 67% of the sources also have photometric data up to 24 μm. The catalog allows us to investigate near-infrared spectral features of sources by comparison with their infrared spectral energy distributions. In addition, it is estimated that about 10% of the catalog sources are observed at more than two different epochs. This enables us to study a spectroscopic variability of sources by using the present catalog. Initial results of source classifications for the LSLMC samples are presented. We classified 659 LSLMC spectra based on their near-infrared spectral features by visual inspection. As a result, it is shown that the present catalog includes 7 YSOs, 160 C-rich AGBs, 8 C-rich AGB candidates, 85 O-rich AGBs, 122 blue and yellow supergiants, 150 red super giants, and 128 unclassified sources. Distributions of the classified sources on the color-color and color-magnitude diagrams are discussed in the text. Continuous wavelength coverage and high spectroscopic sensitivity in 2-5 μm can only be achieved by space observations. This is an unprecedented large-scale spectroscopic survey toward the LMC in the near-infrared

THE DISTORTION OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND SPECTRUM DUE TO INTERGALACTIC DUST

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Imara, Nia; Loeb, Abraham, E-mail: nimara@cfa.harvard.edu [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

2016-07-10

Infrared emission from intergalactic dust might compromise the ability of future experiments to detect subtle spectral distortions in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) from the early universe. We provide the first estimate of foreground contamination of the CMB signal due to diffuse dust emission in the intergalactic medium. We use models of the extragalactic background light to calculate the intensity of intergalactic dust emission and find that emission by intergalactic dust at z ≲ 0.5 exceeds the sensitivity of the planned Primordial Inflation Explorer to CMB spectral distortions by 1–3 orders of magnitude. In the frequency range ν = 150–2400 GHz, we place an upper limit of 0.06% on the contribution to the far-infrared background from intergalactic dust emission.

The cosmic microwave background: past, present and future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silk, Joseph

2007-01-01

The cosmic microwave background has provided an unprecedented cosmological window on the very early universe for probing the initial conditions from which structure evolved. Infinitesimal variations in temperature on the sky, first predicted in 1967 but only discovered in the 1990s, provide the fossil fluctuations that seeded the formation of the galaxies. The cosmic microwave background radiation has now been mapped with ground-based, balloon-borne and satellite telescopes. I describe its current status and future challenges

Improving the Accuracy of Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Measurements by Explicitly Accounting for the Bulk-Skin Temperature Difference

Science.gov (United States)

Castro, Sandra L.; Emery, William J.

2002-01-01

The focus of this research was to determine whether the accuracy of satellite measurements of sea surface temperature (SST) could be improved by explicitly accounting for the complex temperature gradients at the surface of the ocean associated with the cool skin and diurnal warm layers. To achieve this goal, work centered on the development and deployment of low-cost infrared radiometers to enable the direct validation of satellite measurements of skin temperature. During this one year grant, design and construction of an improved infrared radiometer was completed and testing was initiated. In addition, development of an improved parametric model for the bulk-skin temperature difference was completed using data from the previous version of the radiometer. This model will comprise a key component of an improved procedure for estimating the bulk SST from satellites. The results comprised a significant portion of the Ph.D. thesis completed by one graduate student and they are currently being converted into a journal publication.

Cosmic microwave background power asymmetry from non-Gaussian modulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Fabian; Hui, Lam

2013-01-04

Non-Gaussianity in the inflationary perturbations can couple observable scales to modes of much longer wavelength (even superhorizon), leaving as a signature a large-angle modulation of the observed cosmic microwave background power spectrum. This provides an alternative origin for a power asymmetry that is otherwise often ascribed to a breaking of statistical isotropy. The non-Gaussian modulation effect can be significant even for typical ~10(-5) perturbations while respecting current constraints on non-Gaussianity if the squeezed limit of the bispectrum is sufficiently infrared divergent. Just such a strongly infrared-divergent bispectrum has been claimed for inflation models with a non-Bunch-Davies initial state, for instance. Upper limits on the observed cosmic microwave background power asymmetry place stringent constraints on the duration of inflation in such models.

Interferometric Imaging of Geostationary Satellites: Signal-to-Noise Considerations

Science.gov (United States)

Jorgensen, A.; Schmitt, H.; Mozurkewich, D.; Armstrong, J.; Restaino, S.; Hindsley, R.

2011-09-01

Geostationary satellites are generally too small to image at high resolution with conventional single-dish telescopes. Obtaining many resolution elements across a typical geostationary satellite body requires a single-dish telescope with a diameter of 10’s of m or more, with a good adaptive optics system. An alternative is to use an optical/infrared interferometer consisting of multiple smaller telescopes in an array configuration. In this paper and companion papers1, 2 we discuss the performance of a common-mount 30-element interferometer. The instrument design is presented by Mozurkewich et al.,1 and imaging performance is presented by Schmitt et al.2 In this paper we discuss signal-to-noise ratio for both fringe-tracking and imaging. We conclude that the common-mount interferometer is sufficiently sensitive to track fringes on the majority of geostationary satellites. We also find that high-fidelity images can be obtained after a short integration time of a few minutes to a few tens of minutes.

Astrometric observations of Saturn's satellites from McDonald Observatory, 1972

Science.gov (United States)

Abbot, R. I.; Mulholland, J. D.; Shelus, P. J.

1975-01-01

Observations of Saturn's satellites have been reduced by means of secondary reference stars obtained by reduction of Palomar Sky Survey plates. This involved the use of 29 SAO stars and plate overlap technique to determine the coordinates of 59 fainter stars in the satellite field. Fourteen plate constants were determined for each of the two PSS plates. Comparison of two plate measurement and reduction techniques on the satellite measures appears to demonstrate the existence of a serious background gradient effect and the utility of microdensitometry to eliminate this error source in positional determinations of close satellites.

SPITZER'S MID-INFRARED VIEW ON AN OUTER-GALAXY INFRARED DARK CLOUD CANDIDATE TOWARD NGC 7538

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frieswijk, W. F.; Spaans, M.; Shipman, R. F.; Teyssier, D.; Carey, S. J.; Tielens, A. G. G. M.

2008-01-01

Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs) represent the earliest observed stages of clustered star formation, characterized by large column densities of cold and dense molecular material observed in silhouette against a bright background of mid-IR emission. Up to now, IRDCs were predominantly known toward the

CXBN: a blueprint for an improved measurement of the cosmological x-ray background

Science.gov (United States)

Simms, Lance M.; Jernigan, J. G.; Malphrus, Benjamin K.; McNeil, Roger; Brown, Kevin Z.; Rose, Tyler G.; Lim, Hyoung S.; Anderson, Steven; Kruth, Jeffrey A.; Doty, John P.; Wampler-Doty, Matthew; Cominsky, Lynn R.; Prasad, Kamal S.; Thomas, Eric T.; Combs, Michael S.; Kroll, Robert T.; Cahall, Benjamin J.; Turba, Tyler T.; Molton, Brandon L.; Powell, Margaret M.; Fitzpatrick, Jonathan F.; Graves, Daniel C.; Gaalema, Stephen D.; Sun, Shunming

2012-10-01

A precise measurement of the Cosmic X-ray Background (CXB) is crucial for constraining models of the evolution and composition of the universe. While several large, expensive satellites have measured the CXB as a secondary mission, there is still disagreement about normalization of its spectrum. The Cosmic X-ray Background NanoSat (CXBN) is a small, low-cost satellite whose primary goal is to measure the CXB over its two-year lifetime. Benefiting from a low instrument-induced background due to its small mass and size, CXBN will use a novel, pixelated Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detector with energy resolution strategy for scanning the sky and calibrating the data, and presents the expected results over the two-year mission lifetime.

New and Emerging Satellite Imaging Capabilities in Support of Safeguards

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, M.; Paquette, J.P.; Spyropoulos, N.; Rainville, L.; Schichor, P.; Hong, M.

2015-01-01

This abstract is focused on new and emerging commercial satellite imagery (CSI) capabilities. For more than a decade, experienced imagery analysts have been exploiting and analyzing CSI in support of the Department of Safeguards. As the remote sensing industry continues to evolve, additional CSI imagery types are becoming available that could enhance our ability to evaluate and verify States' declarations and to investigate the possible presence of undeclared activities. A newly available and promising CSI capability that may have a Safeguards application is Full Motion Video (FMV) imagery collection from satellites. For quite some time, FMV imagery has been collected from airborne platforms, but now FMV sensors are being deployed into space. Like its airborne counterpart, satellite FMV imagery could provide analysts with a great deal of information, including insight into the operational status of facilities and patterns of activity. From a Safeguards perspective, FMV imagery could help the Agency in the evaluation and verification of States' declared facilities and activities. There are advantages of FMV imaging capabilities that cannot be duplicated with other CSI capabilities, including the ability to loiter over areas of interest and the potential to revisit sites multiple times per day. Additional sensor capabilities applicable to the Safeguards mission include, but are not limited to, the following sensors: · Thermal Infrared imaging sensors will be launched in late 2014 to monitor operational status, e.g., heat from a transformer. · High resolution ShortWave Infrared sensors able to characterize materials that could support verification of Additional Protocol declarations under Article 2.a(v). · Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with individual sensors or specific sensor combinations. The Safeguards Symposium provides a forum to showcase and demonstrate safeguards applications for these emerging satellite imaging capabilities. (author)

X-ray Counterparts of Infrared Faint Radio Sources

Science.gov (United States)

Schartel, Norbert

2011-10-01

Infrared Faint Radio Sources (IFRS) are radio sources with extremely faint or even absent infrared emission in deep Spitzer Surveys. Models of their spectral energy distributions, the ratios of radio to infrared flux densities and their steep radio spectra strongly suggest that IFRS are AGN at high redshifts (2IFRS, but if confirmed, the increased AGN numbers at these redshifts will account for the unresolved part of the X-ray background. The identification of X-ray counterparts of IFRS is considered to be the smoking gun for this hypothesis. We propose to observe 8 IFRS using 30ks pointed observations. X-ray detections of IFRS with different ratios of radio-to-infrared fluxes, will constrain the class-specific SED.

Accurate beacon positioning method for satellite-to-ground optical communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qiang; Tong, Ling; Yu, Siyuan; Tan, Liying; Ma, Jing

2017-12-11

In satellite laser communication systems, accurate positioning of the beacon is essential for establishing a steady laser communication link. For satellite-to-ground optical communication, the main influencing factors on the acquisition of the beacon are background noise and atmospheric turbulence. In this paper, we consider the influence of background noise and atmospheric turbulence on the beacon in satellite-to-ground optical communication, and propose a new locating algorithm for the beacon, which takes the correlation coefficient obtained by curve fitting for image data as weights. By performing a long distance laser communication experiment (11.16 km), we verified the feasibility of this method. Both simulation and experiment showed that the new algorithm can accurately obtain the position of the centroid of beacon. Furthermore, for the distortion of the light spot through atmospheric turbulence, the locating accuracy of the new algorithm was 50% higher than that of the conventional gray centroid algorithm. This new approach will be beneficial for the design of satellite-to ground optical communication systems.

Mid-infrared emission from the local and extragalactic interstellar medium: the Isocam view

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran, Quang-Dan

1998-01-01

This research thesis is an attempt to identify the properties of different physical components (UIB, VSG, and so on) which can be observed by the camera embarked in the ISO satellite (ISOCAM), and to use these properties to understand the emission of galaxies in the middle infrared. In the first part, the author addresses dusts as they can be seen in the Galaxy interstellar medium. The objective is to obtain some elements of understanding on the different contributions in the middle infrared. This comprised the study of the impulse mechanism, the study of properties of non-identified infrared bands, and the discussion of very small grains visible in the H II regions. The second part reports the interpretation of the emission of galaxies in the middle infrared. This comprises the interpretation of the infrared emission of starburst galaxies, and the discussion of the emission of spiral galaxies and of the way this emission can be understood [fr

An artificial neural network ensemble model for estimating global solar radiation from Meteosat satellite images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Linares-Rodriguez, Alvaro; Ruiz-Arias, José Antonio; Pozo-Vazquez, David; Tovar-Pescador, Joaquin

2013-01-01

An optimized artificial neural network ensemble model is built to estimate daily global solar radiation over large areas. The model uses clear-sky estimates and satellite images as input variables. Unlike most studies using satellite imagery based on visible channels, our model also exploits all information within infrared channels of the Meteosat 9 satellite. A genetic algorithm is used to optimize selection of model inputs, for which twelve are selected – eleven 3-km Meteosat 9 channels and one clear-sky term. The model is validated in Andalusia (Spain) from January 2008 through December 2008. Measured data from 83 stations across the region are used, 65 for training and 18 independent ones for testing the model. At the latter stations, the ensemble model yields an overall root mean square error of 6.74% and correlation coefficient of 99%; the generated estimates are relatively accurate and errors spatially uniform. The model yields reliable results even on cloudy days, improving on current models based on satellite imagery. - Highlights: • Daily solar radiation data are generated using an artificial neural network ensemble. • Eleven Meteosat channels observations and a clear sky term are used as model inputs. • Model exploits all information within infrared Meteosat channels. • Measured data for a year from 83 ground stations are used. • The proposed approach has better performance than existing models on daily basis

NPP Visible Infrared Imager-Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Diffuse Attenuation Coefficient for Downwelling Irradiance (KD) Global Mapped Data

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is a multi-disciplinary instrument that is being flown on the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of...

Satellite air temperature estimation for monitoring the canopy layer heat island of Milan

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pichierri, Manuele; Bonafoni, Stefania; Biondi, Riccardo

2012-01-01

across the city center from June to September confirming that, in Milan, urban heating is not an occasional phenomenon. Furthermore, this study shows the utility of space missions to monitor the metropolis heat islands if they are able to provide nighttime observations when CLHI peaks are generally......In this work, satellite maps of the urban heat island of Milan are produced using satellite-based infrared sensor data. For this aim, we developed suitable algorithms employing satellite brightness temperatures for the direct air temperature estimation 2 m above the surface (canopy layer), showing...... 2007 and 2010 were processed. Analysis of the canopy layer heat island (CLHI) maps during summer months reveals an average heat island effect of 3–4K during nighttime (with some peaks around 5K) and a weak CLHI intensity during daytime. In addition, the satellite maps reveal a well defined island shape...

Evaluation of Satellite Rainfall Estimates for Drought and Flood Monitoring in Mozambique

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolien Toté

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Satellite derived rainfall products are useful for drought and flood early warning and overcome the problem of sparse, unevenly distributed and erratic rain gauge observations, provided their accuracy is well known. Mozambique is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events such as major droughts and floods and thus, an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different rainfall products is valuable. Three dekadal (10-day gridded satellite rainfall products (TAMSAT African Rainfall Climatology And Time-series (TARCAT v2.0, Famine Early Warning System NETwork (FEWS NET Rainfall Estimate (RFE v2.0, and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS are compared to independent gauge data (2001–2012. This is done using pairwise comparison statistics to evaluate the performance in estimating rainfall amounts and categorical statistics to assess rain-detection capabilities. The analysis was performed for different rainfall categories, over the seasonal cycle and for regions dominated by different weather systems. Overall, satellite products overestimate low and underestimate high dekadal rainfall values. The RFE and CHIRPS products perform as good, generally outperforming TARCAT on the majority of statistical measures of skill. TARCAT detects best the relative frequency of rainfall events, while RFE underestimates and CHIRPS overestimates the rainfall events frequency. Differences in products performance disappear with higher rainfall and all products achieve better results during the wet season. During the cyclone season, CHIRPS shows the best results, while RFE outperforms the other products for lower dekadal rainfall. Products blending thermal infrared and passive microwave imagery perform better than infrared only products and particularly when meteorological patterns are more complex, such as over the coastal, central and south regions of Mozambique, where precipitation is influenced by frontal systems.

Evaluation of satellite rainfall estimates for drought and flood monitoring in Mozambique

Science.gov (United States)

Tote, Carolien; Patricio, Domingos; Boogaard, Hendrik; van der Wijngaart, Raymond; Tarnavsky, Elena; Funk, Christopher C.

2015-01-01

Satellite derived rainfall products are useful for drought and flood early warning and overcome the problem of sparse, unevenly distributed and erratic rain gauge observations, provided their accuracy is well known. Mozambique is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events such as major droughts and floods and thus, an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different rainfall products is valuable. Three dekadal (10-day) gridded satellite rainfall products (TAMSAT African Rainfall Climatology And Time-series (TARCAT) v2.0, Famine Early Warning System NETwork (FEWS NET) Rainfall Estimate (RFE) v2.0, and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS)) are compared to independent gauge data (2001–2012). This is done using pairwise comparison statistics to evaluate the performance in estimating rainfall amounts and categorical statistics to assess rain-detection capabilities. The analysis was performed for different rainfall categories, over the seasonal cycle and for regions dominated by different weather systems. Overall, satellite products overestimate low and underestimate high dekadal rainfall values. The RFE and CHIRPS products perform as good, generally outperforming TARCAT on the majority of statistical measures of skill. TARCAT detects best the relative frequency of rainfall events, while RFE underestimates and CHIRPS overestimates the rainfall events frequency. Differences in products performance disappear with higher rainfall and all products achieve better results during the wet season. During the cyclone season, CHIRPS shows the best results, while RFE outperforms the other products for lower dekadal rainfall. Products blending thermal infrared and passive microwave imagery perform better than infrared only products and particularly when meteorological patterns are more complex, such as over the coastal, central and south regions of Mozambique, where precipitation is influenced by frontal systems.

Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) Satellite

Science.gov (United States)

2003-01-01

This is a close-up of the NASA-sponsored Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) Satellite. The SORCE mission, launched aboard a Pegasus rocket January 25, 2003, will provide state of the art measurements of incoming x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and total solar radiation. Critical to studies of the Sun and its effect on our Earth system and mankind, SORCE will provide measurements that specifically address long-term climate change, natural variability and enhanced climate prediction, and atmospheric ozone and UV-B radiation. Orbiting around the Earth accumulating solar data, SORCE measures the Sun's output with the use of state-of-the-art radiometers, spectrometers, photodiodes, detectors, and bolo meters engineered into instruments mounted on a satellite observatory. SORCE is carrying 4 instruments: The Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM); the Solar Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE); the Spectral Irradiance Monitor (SIM); and the XUV Photometer System (XPS).

History of British infrared astronomy since the Second World War

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jennings, R.E.

1986-01-01

In this review, the author describes the development of British infrared astronomy, from its beginnings around 1960 to the present time. The paper outlines the various techniques available and the different wavelength ranges which can be covered by these techniques e.g. balloons, mountain-based telescopes, the AAT in Australia, the 60-inch flux-collector on Tenerife, and the UKIRT telescope on Hawaii, and finally the IRAS satellite. The main groups involved in the British infrared work are UCL, Imperial College, and QMC, together with cooperative programmes with the Netherlands and the USA. The scientific results which have been obtained with these installations include studies of the relict radiation, HII regions, thermal radiation from dust and grains, and a dust shell around the star Vega, to mention but a few, interferometry, photometry and spectroscopy are also discussed, as in the long awaited development of infrared detector arrays. (UK)

Infrared galaxies evolution. From cosmological observations with ISO to a mid-infrared to sub-millimetric modeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dole, Herve

2000-01-01

This thesis deals with the analysis of the FIRBACK deep survey performed in the far infrared at λ=170 μm with the Infrared Space Observatory whose aim is the study of the galaxies contributing to the Cosmic Infrared Background, and with the modelling of galaxy evolution in the mid-infrared to submillimeter range. The FIRBACK survey covers 3. 89 Sq. Deg. in 3 high galactic latitude and low foreground emission fields (2 of which are in the northern sky). I first present the techniques of reduction, processing and calibration of the ISOPHOT cosmological data. I show that there is a good agreement between PHOT and DIRBE on extended emission, thanks to the derivation of the PHOT footprint. Final maps are created, and the survey is confusion limited at σc=45 mJy. I present then the techniques of source extraction and the simulations for photometry needed to build the final catalog of 106 sources between 180 mJy (4σ) and 2.4 Jy. The complementary catalog is made of 90 sources between 135 and 180 mJy. Galaxy counts show a large excess with respect to local counts or models (with and without evolution), only compatible with strong evolution scenarios. The Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) is resolved at 4 % at 170 μm. The identifications of the sources at other wavelengths suggest that most of the sources are local, but a non-negligible part lies above redshift 1. I have developed a phenomenological model of galaxy evolution in order to constrain galaxy evolution in the infrared and to have a better understanding of what the FIRBACK sources are. Using the local Luminosity Function (LF), and template spectra of starburst galaxies, it is possible to constrain the evolution of the LF using all the available data: deep source counts at 15, 170 and 850 μm and the CIB spectrum. I show that galaxy evolution is dominated by a high infrared luminosity population, peaking at L=2.0*10"1"1 Redshift distributions are in agreement with available observations. Predictions are

Computer-aided discovery of debris disk candidates: A case study using the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) catalog

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, T.; Pankratius, V.; Eckman, L.; Seager, S.

2018-04-01

Debris disks around stars other than the Sun have received significant attention in studies of exoplanets, specifically exoplanetary system formation. Since debris disks are major sources of infrared emissions, infrared survey data such as the Wide-Field Infrared Survey (WISE) catalog potentially harbors numerous debris disk candidates. However, it is currently challenging to perform disk candidate searches for over 747 million sources in the WISE catalog due to the high probability of false positives caused by interstellar matter, galaxies, and other background artifacts. Crowdsourcing techniques have thus started to harness citizen scientists for debris disk identification since humans can be easily trained to distinguish between desired artifacts and irrelevant noises. With a limited number of citizen scientists, however, increasing data volumes from large surveys will inevitably lead to analysis bottlenecks. To overcome this scalability problem and push the current limits of automated debris disk candidate identification, we present a novel approach that uses citizen science results as a seed to train machine learning based classification. In this paper, we detail a case study with a computer-aided discovery pipeline demonstrating such feasibility based on WISE catalog data and NASA's Disk Detective project. Our approach of debris disk candidates classification was shown to be robust under a wide range of image quality and features. Our hybrid approach of citizen science with algorithmic scalability can facilitate big data processing for future detections as envisioned in future missions such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).

Theoretical algorithms for satellite-derived sea surface temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Barton, I. J.; Zavody, A. M.; O'Brien, D. M.; Cutten, D. R.; Saunders, R. W.; Llewellyn-Jones, D. T.

1989-03-01

Reliable climate forecasting using numerical models of the ocean-atmosphere system requires accurate data sets of sea surface temperature (SST) and surface wind stress. Global sets of these data will be supplied by the instruments to fly on the ERS 1 satellite in 1990. One of these instruments, the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR), has been specifically designed to provide SST in cloud-free areas with an accuracy of 0.3 K. The expected capabilities of the ATSR can be assessed using transmission models of infrared radiative transfer through the atmosphere. The performances of several different models are compared by estimating the infrared brightness temperatures measured by the NOAA 9 AVHRR for three standard atmospheres. Of these, a computationally quick spectral band model is used to derive typical AVHRR and ATSR SST algorithms in the form of linear equations. These algorithms show that a low-noise 3.7-μm channel is required to give the best satellite-derived SST and that the design accuracy of the ATSR is likely to be achievable. The inclusion of extra water vapor information in the analysis did not improve the accuracy of multiwavelength SST algorithms, but some improvement was noted with the multiangle technique. Further modeling is required with atmospheric data that include both aerosol variations and abnormal vertical profiles of water vapor and temperature.

Estimating the marine signal in the near infrared for atmospheric correction of satellite ocean-color imagery over turbid waters

Science.gov (United States)

Bourdet, Alice; Frouin, Robert J.

2014-11-01

The classic atmospheric correction algorithm, routinely applied to second-generation ocean-color sensors such as SeaWiFS, MODIS, and MERIS, consists of (i) estimating the aerosol reflectance in the red and near infrared (NIR) where the ocean is considered black (i.e., totally absorbing), and (ii) extrapolating the estimated aerosol reflectance to shorter wavelengths. The marine reflectance is then retrieved by subtraction. Variants and improvements have been made over the years to deal with non-null reflectance in the red and near infrared, a general situation in estuaries and the coastal zone, but the solutions proposed so far still suffer some limitations, due to uncertainties in marine reflectance modeling in the near infrared or difficulty to extrapolate the aerosol signal to the blue when using observations in the shortwave infrared (SWIR), a spectral range far from the ocean-color wavelengths. To estimate the marine signal (i.e., the product of marine reflectance and atmospheric transmittance) in the near infrared, the proposed approach is to decompose the aerosol reflectance in the near infrared to shortwave infrared into principal components. Since aerosol scattering is smooth spectrally, a few components are generally sufficient to represent the perturbing signal, i.e., the aerosol reflectance in the near infrared can be determined from measurements in the shortwave infrared where the ocean is black. This gives access to the marine signal in the near infrared, which can then be used in the classic atmospheric correction algorithm. The methodology is evaluated theoretically from simulations of the top-of-atmosphere reflectance for a wide range of geophysical conditions and angular geometries and applied to actual MODIS imagery acquired over the Gulf of Mexico. The number of discarded pixels is reduced by over 80% using the PC modeling to determine the marine signal in the near infrared prior to applying the classic atmospheric correction algorithm.

FAR-INFRARED EXTINCTION MAPPING OF INFRARED DARK CLOUDS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lim, Wanggi [Department of Astronomy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States); Tan, Jonathan C. [Departments of Astronomy and Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 (United States)

2014-01-10

Progress in understanding star formation requires detailed observational constraints on the initial conditions, i.e., dense clumps and cores in giant molecular clouds that are on the verge of gravitational instability. Such structures have been studied by their extinction of near-infrared and, more recently, mid-infrared (MIR) background light. It has been somewhat more of a surprise to find that there are regions that appear as dark shadows at far-infrared (FIR) wavelengths as long as ∼100 μm! Here we develop analysis methods of FIR images from Spitzer-MIPS and Herschel-PACS that allow quantitative measurements of cloud mass surface density, Σ. The method builds on that developed for MIR extinction mapping by Butler and Tan, in particular involving a search for independently saturated, i.e., very opaque, regions that allow measurement of the foreground intensity. We focus on three massive starless core/clumps in the Infrared Dark Cloud (IRDC) G028.37+00.07, deriving mass surface density maps from 3.5 to 70 μm. A by-product of this analysis is the measurement of the spectral energy distribution of the diffuse foreground emission. The lower opacity at 70 μm allows us to probe to higher Σ values, up to ∼1 g cm{sup –2} in the densest parts of the core/clumps. Comparison of the Σ maps at different wavelengths constrains the shape of the MIR-FIR dust opacity law in IRDCs. We find that it is most consistent with the thick ice mantle models of Ossenkopf and Henning. There is tentative evidence for grain ice mantle growth as one goes from lower to higher Σ regions.

FAR-INFRARED EXTINCTION MAPPING OF INFRARED DARK CLOUDS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Wanggi; Tan, Jonathan C.

2014-01-01

Progress in understanding star formation requires detailed observational constraints on the initial conditions, i.e., dense clumps and cores in giant molecular clouds that are on the verge of gravitational instability. Such structures have been studied by their extinction of near-infrared and, more recently, mid-infrared (MIR) background light. It has been somewhat more of a surprise to find that there are regions that appear as dark shadows at far-infrared (FIR) wavelengths as long as ∼100 μm! Here we develop analysis methods of FIR images from Spitzer-MIPS and Herschel-PACS that allow quantitative measurements of cloud mass surface density, Σ. The method builds on that developed for MIR extinction mapping by Butler and Tan, in particular involving a search for independently saturated, i.e., very opaque, regions that allow measurement of the foreground intensity. We focus on three massive starless core/clumps in the Infrared Dark Cloud (IRDC) G028.37+00.07, deriving mass surface density maps from 3.5 to 70 μm. A by-product of this analysis is the measurement of the spectral energy distribution of the diffuse foreground emission. The lower opacity at 70 μm allows us to probe to higher Σ values, up to ∼1 g cm –2 in the densest parts of the core/clumps. Comparison of the Σ maps at different wavelengths constrains the shape of the MIR-FIR dust opacity law in IRDCs. We find that it is most consistent with the thick ice mantle models of Ossenkopf and Henning. There is tentative evidence for grain ice mantle growth as one goes from lower to higher Σ regions

From OLS to VIIRS, an overview of nighttime satellite aerosol retrievals using artificial light sources

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, J.; Miller, S. D.; Reid, J. S.; Hyer, E. J.; McHardy, T. M.

2015-12-01

Compared to abundant daytime satellite-based observations of atmospheric aerosol, observations at night are relatively scarce. In particular, conventional satellite passive imaging radiometers, which offer expansive swaths of spatial coverage compared to non-scanning lidar systems, lack sensitivity to most aerosol types via the available thermal infrared bands available at night. In this talk, we make the fundamental case for the importance of nighttime aerosol information in forecast models, and the need to mitigate the existing nocturnal gap. We review early attempts at estimating nighttime aerosol optical properties using the modulation of stable artificial surface lights. Initial algorithm development using DMSP Operational Linescan System (OLS) has graduated to refined techniques based on the Suomi-NPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Day/Night Band (DNB). We present examples of these retrievals for selected cases and compare the results to available surface-based point-source validation data.

Introductory survey for wireless infrared communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Munsif Ali Jatoi

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Wireless infrared communications can be defined as the propagation of light waves in free space using infrared radiation whose range is 400–700 nm. This range corresponds to frequencies of hundreds of terahertz, which is high for higher data rate applications. Wireless infrared is applied for higher data rates applications such as wireless computing, wireless video and wireless multimedia communication applications. Introduced by Gfeller, this field has grown with different link configurations, improved transmitter efficiency, increased receiver responsivity and various multiple access techniques for improved quality. Errors are caused because of background light, which causes degradation overall system performance. Error correction techniques are used to remove the errors caused during transmission. This study provides a brief account on field theory used for error correction in wireless infrared systems. The results are produced in terms of bit error rate and signal-to-noise ratio for various bit lengths to show the ability of encoding and decoding algorithms.

Advances in analysis of pre-earthquake thermal anomalies by analyzing IR satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Ouzounov, D.; Bryant, N.; Filizzola, C.; Pergola, N.; Taylor, P.; Tramutoli, V.

Presented work addresses the possible relationship between tectonic stress, electro-chemical and thermodynamic processes in the atmosphere and increasing infrared (IR) flux as part of a larger family of electromagnetic (EM) phenomena related to earthquake activity. Thermal infra-red (TIR) surveys performed by polar orbiting (NOAA/AVHRR, MODIS) and geosynchronous weather satellites (GOES, METEOSAT) seems to indicate the appearance (from days to weeks before the event) of "anomalous" space-time TIR transients associated with the place (epicentral area, linear structures and fault systems) and the time of occurrence of a number of major earthquakes with M>5 and focal depths no deeper than 50km. As Earth emitted in 8-14 microns range the TIR signal measured from satellite strongly vary depending on meteorological conditions and other factors (space-time changes in atmospheric transmittance, time/season, solar and satellite zenithal angles and etc) independent from seismic activity, a preliminary definition of "anomalous TIR signal" should be given. To provide reliable discrimination of thermal anomalous area from the natural events (seasonal changes, local morphology) new robust approach (RAT) has been recently proposed (and successfully applied in the field of the monitoring of the major environmental risks) that permits to give a statistically based definition of thermal info-red (TIR) anomaly and reduce of false events detection. New techniques also were specifically developed to assure the precise co-registration of all satellite scenes and permit accurate time-series analysis of satellite observations. As final results we present examples of most recent 2000/2004 worldwide strong earthquakes and the techniques used to capture the tracks of thermal emission mid-IR anomalies and methodology for practical future use of such phenomena in the early warning systems.

Satellite Sensor Requirements for Monitoring Essential Biodiversity Variables of Coastal Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Muller-Karger, Frank E.; Hestir, Erin; Ade, Christiana; Turpie, Kevin; Roberts, Dar A.; Siegel, David; Miller, Robert J.; Humm, David; Izenberg, Noam; Keller, Mary;

Environmental levels of microwave radiation around a satellite earth station

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Joyner, K.H.; Bangay, M.J.

1986-01-01

This paper discusses the background to claims of possible adverse health effects arising from exposure to environmental levels of microwave radiation around satellite earth stations. Results of a recent survey of the environmental levels of microwave radiation around two 32 metre diameter satellite communications antennas owned and operated by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) of Australia are presented. From the measurements obtained in this survey it can be concluded that the environmental levels of microwave radiation around the OTC and similar satellite facilities do not pose a health risk to persons in the vicinity

Assessing the Impact of Earth Radiation Pressure Acceleration on Low-Earth Orbit Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Vielberg, Kristin; Forootan, Ehsan; Lück, Christina; Kusche, Jürgen; Börger, Klaus

2017-04-01

The orbits of satellites are influenced by several external forces. The main non-gravitational forces besides thermospheric drag, acting on the surface of satellites, are accelerations due to the Earth and Solar Radiation Pres- sure (SRP and ERP, respectively). The sun radiates visible and infrared light reaching the satellite directly, which causes the SRP. Earth also emits and reflects the sunlight back into space, where it acts on satellites. This is known as ERP acceleration. The influence of ERP increases with decreasing distance to the Earth, and for low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites ERP must be taken into account in orbit and gravity computations. Estimating acceler- ations requires knowledge about energy emitted from the Earth, which can be derived from satellite remote sensing data, and also by considering the shape and surface material of a satellite. In this sensitivity study, we assess ERP accelerations based on different input albedo and emission fields and their modelling for the satellite missions Challenging Mini-Satellite Payload (CHAMP) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). As input fields, monthly 1°x1° products of Clouds and the Earth's Radiant En- ergy System (CERES), L3 are considered. Albedo and emission models are generated as latitude-dependent, as well as in terms of spherical harmonics. The impact of different albedo and emission models as well as the macro model and the altitude of satellites on ERP accelerations will be discussed.

USING OF THE MULTITEMPORAL THERMAL INFRARED SATELLITE IMAGERY FOR NATURAL AREAS MAPPING (CASE OF MENDELEEV VOLCANO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Y. Grishchenko

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In the paper authors examine the mountain group of Mendeleev volcano situated on the Kunashir island, Kuril archipelago, Russia. Ground observations were led to examine the vegetation cover of the area as well as its typical landscapes. The other type of used data is Landsat imagery. Images were combined into multitemporal thermal infrared and multispectral pictures, which were classified to reveal the heterogeneity of the study area. Ground observations and comparison of the classification results with landscape map derive that the multitemporal thermal infrared image classification result describes better the vegetation cover structure of the area and particularity of its typical landscapes distribution. It leads to the proposition that miltitemporal thermal infrared imagery can be used to refine landscape and vegetation cover contours. 

Experimental design for the evaluation of high-T(sub c) superconductive thermal bridges in a sensor satellite

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Elaine P.; Lee, Kasey M.

1994-01-01

Infrared sensor satellites, which consist of cryogenic infrared sensor detectors, electrical instrumentation, and data acquisition systems, are used to monitor the conditions of the earth's upper atmosphere in order to evaluate its present and future changes. Currently, the electrical connections (instrumentation), which act as thermal bridges between the cryogenic infrared sensor and the significantly warmer data acquisition unit of the sensor satellite system, constitute a significant portion of the heat load on the cryogen. As a part of extending the mission life of the sensor satellite system, the researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC) are evaluating the effectiveness of replacing the currently used manganin wires with high-temperature superconductive (HTS) materials as the electrical connections (thermal bridges). In conjunction with the study being conducted at NASA-LaRC, the proposed research is to design a space experiment to determine the thermal savings on a cryogenic subsystem when manganin leads are replaced by HTS leads printed onto a substrate with a low thermal conductivity, and to determine the thermal conductivities of HTS materials. The experiment is designed to compare manganin wires with two different types of superconductors on substrates by determining the heat loss by the thermal bridges and providing temperature measurements for the estimation of thermal conductivity. A conductive mathematical model has been developed and used as a key tool in the design process and subsequent analysis.

An Alternative Inter-Satellite Calibration of the UMD HIRS OLR Retrievals

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Franklin R.; Lee, Hai-Tien

2012-01-01

Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) is a fundamental component of Earth's energy balance and represents the heat energy in the thermal bands rejected to space by the planet. Determination of OLR from satellites has a long and storied history, but the observational record remains largely fragmented with gaps in satellite measurements over the past three decades. Perhaps the most semi-continuous set of retrievals comes from the University of Maryland (UMD) algorithm that uses four HIRS (High Resolution Infrared Sounder) channels on the NOAA polar orbiting satellites to estimate OLR. This data set shows great promise in helping to bridge the discontinuous ERBS (Earth Radiation Budget Satellite) and CERES (Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System) measurements. However, significant satellite inter-calibration biases persist with the present UMD data, principally outside the tropics. Difficulties relate to the combination of drift of the satellite equator crossing time through the diurnal cycle and changes in HIRS channel response function design. Here we show how an ad hoc recalibration of the UMD retrievals among the different satellites removes much of the remaining uncertainty due to diurnal drift of the satellite orbit. The adjusted HIRS data (using no other external information) show much better agreement with OLR from the European Center Interim Reanalysis (EC-Int), longer-term signals in the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment / Surface Radiation Budget (GEWEX/SRB) retrievals, and also agree well with ERBS and CERES OLR measurements. These results augur well for narrowing the uncertainties in multi-decadal estimates of this important climate variable.

Satellite network robust QoS-aware routing

CERN Document Server

Long, Fei

2014-01-01

Satellite Network Robust QoS-aware Routing presents a novel routing strategy for satellite networks. This strategy is useful for the design of multi-layered satellite networks as it can greatly reduce the number of time slots in one system cycle. The traffic prediction and engineering approaches make the system robust so that the traffic spikes can be handled effectively. The multi-QoS optimization routing algorithm can satisfy various potential user requirements. Clear and sufficient illustrations are also presented in the book. As the chapters cover the above topics independently, readers from different research backgrounds in constellation design, multi-QoS routing, and traffic engineering can benefit from the book.   Fei Long is a senior engineer at Beijing R&D Center of 54th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

Efficacy of six weeks infrared radiation therapy on chronic low back ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Infrared radiation therapy is a modality widely used in Physiotherapy for the management of pain. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of six weeks infrared radiation therapy on pain intensity and functional disability index in subjects suffering from non- specific low back pain. Methods: The ...

Photometric and Spectral Study of the Saturnian Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, Sarah F.

2005-01-01

Photometric and spectra analysis of data from the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) has yielded intriguing findings regarding the surface properties of several of the icy Saturnian satellites. Spectral cubes were obtained of these satellites with a wavelength distribution in the IR far more extensive than from any previous observations. Disk-integrated solar phase curves were constructed in several key IR wavelengths that are indicative of key properties of the surface of the body, such as macroscopic roughness, fluffiness (or the porosity of the surface), global albedo and scattering properties of surface particles. Polynomial fits to these phase curves indicate a linear albedo trend of the curvature of the phase functions. Rotational phase functions from Enceladus were found to exhibit a double-peaked sinusoidal curve, which shows larger amplitudes for bands corresponding to water ice and a linear amplitude-albedo trend. These functions indicate regions on the surface of the satellite of more recent geologic activity. In addition, recent images of Enceladus show tectonic features and an absence of impact craters on Southern latitudes which could be indicative of a younger surface. Investigations into the properties of these features using VIMS are underway.

Origin of the diffuse background gamma radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stecker, F.W.; Puget, J.L.

1974-05-01

Recent observations have now provided evidence for diffuse background gamma radiation extending to energies beyond 100 MeV. There is some evidence of isotropy and implied cosmological origin. Significant features in the spectrum of this background radiation were observed which provide evidence for its origin in nuclear processes in the early stages of the big-band cosmology and tie in these processes with galaxy formation theory. A crucial test of the theory may lie in future observations of the background radiation in the 100 MeV to 100 GeV energy range which may be made with large orbiting spark-chamber satellite detectors. A discussion of the theoretical interpretations of present data, their connection with baryon symmetric cosmology and galaxy formation theory, and the need for future observations are given. (U.S.)

High spatial resolution infrared camera as ISS external experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Eckehard, Lorenz; Frerker, Hap; Fitch, Robert Alan

High spatial resolution infrared camera as ISS external experiment for monitoring global climate changes uses ISS internal and external resources (eg. data storage). The optical experiment will consist of an infrared camera for monitoring global climate changes from the ISS. This technology was evaluated by the German small satellite mission BIRD and further developed in different ESA projects. Compared to BIRD the presended instrument uses proven sensor advanced technologies (ISS external) and ISS on board processing and storage capabili-ties (internal). The instrument will be equipped with a serial interfaces for TM/TC and several relay commands for the power supply. For data processing and storage a mass memory is re-quired. The access to actual attitude data is highly desired to produce geo referenced maps-if possible by an on board processing.

Multi-wavelength study of infrared galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marcillac, Delphine

2005-01-01

This thesis deals with a panchromatic study of luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs) detected at 15 microns by ISOCAM (camera aboard ISO) and at 24 microns by MIPS (camera aboard the recently launched Spitzer satellite). These galaxies are today considered to be the Rosetta Stone of galaxy evolution since they are found to be far more numerous at high redshift and it is thought that a large part of stars seen in the local universe are born in such phases. The first part of this thesis presents a new study dedicated to dust emission of distant LIRGs in the mid-infrared range. Their dust emission has been compared to those of a local sample of LIRGs in addition to the prediction of several spectral energy distributions (SEDs) built on data available in the local universe. It has been shown that distant and local LIRGs present similar mid infrared spectral energy distribution: similar PAH bumps are detected in both local and distant LIRGs, however distant LIRGs show evidence of a stronger silicate absorption at 10 microns associated silicate grains. It also shows that distant LIRG mid infrared emission can be used together with local SEDs in order to estimate the total infrared luminosity. The second part of this thesis is dedicated to the burst of star formation and to the recent star formation history of these galaxies, which is responsible for the dust emission. This study was done thanks to a combination of high resolution spectra (R=2000 in the rest frame) obtained at VLT/FORS2 and the stellar population synthesis models called GALAXEV (Bruzual and Charlot, 2003). It has been shown that the burst of star formation has a duration of about 0.1 Gyear. About 10 % of the stellar content is formed during this burst of star formation. (author) [fr

Characterizing Temporal and Spatial Changes in Land Surface Temperature across the Amazon Basin using Thermal and Infrared Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Cak, A. D.

2017-12-01

The Amazon Basin has faced innumerable pressures in recent years, including logging, mining and resource extraction, agricultural expansion, road building, and urbanization. These changes have drastically altered the landscape, transforming a predominantly forested environment into a mosaic of different types of land cover. The resulting fragmentation has caused dramatic and negative impacts on its structure and function, including on biodiversity and the transfer of water and energy to and from soil, vegetation, and the atmosphere (e.g., evapotranspiration). Because evapotranspiration from forested areas, which is affected by factors including temperature and water availability, plays a significant role in water dynamics in the Amazon Basin, measuring land surface temperature (LST) across the region can provide a dynamic assessment of hydrological, vegetation, and land use and land cover changes. It can also help to identify widespread urban development, which often has a higher LST signal relative to surrounding vegetation. Here, we discuss results from work to measure and identify drivers of change in LST across the entire Amazon Basin through analysis of past and current thermal and infrared satellite imagery. We leverage cloud computing resources in new ways to allow for more efficient analysis of imagery over the Amazon Basin across multiple years and multiple sensors. We also assess potential drivers of change in LST using spatial and multivariate statistical analyses with additional data sources of land cover, urban development, and demographics.

GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager: spectral response functions and radiometric biases with the NPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite evaluated for desert calibration sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Pearlman, Aaron; Pogorzala, David; Cao, Changyong

2013-11-01

The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), which will be launched in late 2015 on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R-series satellite, will be evaluated in terms of its data quality postlaunch through comparisons with other satellite sensors such as the recently launched Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite. The ABI has completed much of its prelaunch characterization and its developers have generated and released its channel spectral response functions (response versus wavelength). Using these responses and constraining a radiative transfer model with ground reflectance, aerosol, and water vapor measurements, we simulate observed top of atmosphere (TOA) reflectances for analogous visible and near infrared channels of the VIIRS and ABI sensors at the Sonoran Desert and White Sands National Monument sites and calculate the radiometric biases and their uncertainties. We also calculate sensor TOA reflectances using aircraft hyperspectral data from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer to validate the uncertainties in several of the ABI and VIIRS channels and discuss the potential for validating the others. Once on-orbit, calibration scientists can use these biases to ensure ABI data quality and consistency to support the numerical weather prediction community and other data users. They can also use the results for ABI or VIIRS anomaly detection and resolution.

Application of ultraviolet and infrared radiation in food

OpenAIRE

D Jafarpour; M Alizadeh; F Siamak

2018-01-01

BACKGROUND: There are many uses of radiation in the food industry. Radiation can be considered as one of the new processes and usage of it can offer new features of food. This process in most food doesn’t leave any physical or sensory changes. Therefore, in this review article, the application of ultraviolet and infrared radiation in food was studied. Methods: Search by the keywords “Ultraviolet Radiation Infrared Radiation Food” in databases Pubmed, Scopus and Web of Sci...

Handbook of satellite orbits from Kepler to GPS

CERN Document Server

Capderou, Michel

2014-01-01

Fifty years after Sputnik, artificial satellites have become indispensable monitors in many areas, such as economics, meteorology, telecommunications, navigation and remote sensing. The specific orbits are important for the proper functioning of the satellites. This book discusses the great variety of satellite orbits, both in shape (circular to highly elliptical) and properties (geostationary, Sun-synchronous, etc.). This volume starts with an introduction into geodesy. This is followed by a presentation of the fundamental equations of mechanics to explain and demonstrate the properties for all types of orbits. Numerous examples are included, obtained through IXION software developed by the author. The book also includes an exposition of the historical background that is necessary to help the reader understand the main stages of scientific thought from Kepler to GPS. This book is intended for researchers, teachers and students working in the field of satellite technology. Engineers, geographers and all those...

Estimates of the generation of available potential energy by infrared radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, A. R.; Nagle, R. L.

1984-01-01

Data from the National Meteorological Center and net outgoing infrared radiation (IR) data measured by NOAA satellites for January 1977 are used to compute estimates of the spectral and spatial contributions to the net generation of available potential energy in the Northern Hemisphere due to infrared radiation. Although these estimates are necessarily crude, the results obtained indicate that IR causes destruction of both zonal and eddy available potential energy. The contributions from midlatitudes to the zonal and eddy generation are about -5.0 W/sq m and about -0.6 W/sq m, respectively. The eddy generation is due almost entirely to stationary wavenumbers one and two. Comparison with earlier studies and computation of Newtonian cooling coefficients are discussed.

Measurements of the cosmic background radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weiss, R.

1980-01-01

Measurements of the attributes of the 2.7-K microwave background radiation (CBR) are reviewed, with emphasis on the analytic phase of CBR studies. Methods for the direct measurement of the CBR spectrum are discussed. Attention is given to receivers, antennas, absolute receiver calibration, atmospheric emission and absorption, the galactic background contribution, the analysis of LF measurements, and recent HF observations of the CBR spectrum. Measurements of the large-angular-scale intensity distribution of the CBR (the most convincing evidence that the radiation is of cosmological origin) are examined, along with limits on the linear polarization of the CBR. A description is given of the NASA-sponsored Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite mission. The results of the COBE mission will be a set of sky maps showing, in the wave number range from 1 to 10,000 kaysers, the galactic background radiation due to synchrotron emission from galactic cosmic rays, to diffuse thermal emission from H II regions, and to diffuse thermal emission from interstellar and interplanetary dust, as well as a residue consisting of the CBR and whatever other cosmological background might exist

GOODS-Herschel: identification of the individual galaxies responsible for the 80-290 μm cosmic infrared background

Science.gov (United States)

Leiton, R.; Elbaz, D.; Okumura, K.; Hwang, H. S.; Magdis, G.; Magnelli, B.; Valtchanov, I.; Dickinson, M.; Béthermin, M.; Schreiber, C.; Charmandaris, V.; Dole, H.; Juneau, S.; Le Borgne, D.; Pannella, M.; Pope, A.; Popesso, P.

2015-07-01

Aims: We propose a new method of pushing Herschel to its faintest detection limits using universal trends in the redshift evolution of the far infrared over 24 μm colours in the well-sampled GOODS-North field. An extension to other fields with less multi-wavelength information is presented. This method is applied here to raise the contribution of individually detected Herschel sources to the cosmic infrared background (CIRB) by a factor 5 close to its peak at 250 μm and more than 3 in the 350 and 500 μm bands. Methods: We produce realistic mock Herschel images of the deep PACS and SPIRE images of the GOODS-North field from the GOODS-Herschel key program and use them to quantify the confusion noise at the position of individual sources, i.e., estimate a "local confusion noise". Two methods are used to identify sources with reliable photometric accuracy extracted using 24 μm prior positions. The clean index (CI), previously defined but validated here with simulations, which measures the presence of bright 24 μm neighbours and the photometric accuracy index (PAI) directly extracted from the mock Herschel images. Results: Both methods converge to comparable depths and fractions of the CIRB resolved into sources individually detected with Herschel. After correction for completeness, thanks to our mock Herschel images, individually detected sources make up as much as 54% and 60% of the CIRB in the PACS bands down to 1.1 mJy at 100 μm and 2.2 mJy at 160 μm and 55, 33, and 13% of the CIRB in the SPIRE bands down to 2.5, 5, and 9 mJy at 250 μm, 350 μm, and 500 μm, respectively. The latter depths improve the detection limits of Herschel by factors of 5 at 250 μm, and 3 at 350 μm and 500 μm as compared to the standard confusion limit. Interestingly, the dominant contributors to the CIRB in all Herschel bands appear to be distant siblings of the Milky Way (z ~ 0.96 for λ< 300 μm) with a stellar mass of M⋆ ~ 9 × 1010M⊙.

Impact of Missing Passive Microwave Sensors on Multi-Satellite Precipitation Retrieval Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bin Yong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The impact of one or two missing passive microwave (PMW input sensors on the end product of multi-satellite precipitation products is an interesting but obscure issue for both algorithm developers and data users. On 28 January 2013, the Version-7 TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA products were reproduced and re-released by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center because the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager-Sounder-F16 (SSMIS-F16 input data were unintentionally disregarded in the prior retrieval. Thus, this study investigates the sensitivity of TMPA algorithm results to missing PMW sensors by intercomparing the “early” and “late” Version-7 TMPA real-time (TMPA-RT precipitation estimates (i.e., without and with AMSU-B, SSMIS-F16 sensors with an independent high-density gauge network of 200 tipping-bucket rain gauges over the Chinese Jinghe river basin (45,421 km2. The retrieval counts and retrieval frequency of various PMW and Infrared (IR sensors incorporated into the TMPA system were also analyzed to identify and diagnose the impacts of sensor availability on the TMPA-RT retrieval accuracy. Results show that the incorporation of AMSU-B and SSMIS-F16 has substantially reduced systematic errors. The improvement exhibits rather strong seasonal and topographic dependencies. Our analyses suggest that one or two single PMW sensors might play a key role in affecting the end product of current combined microwave-infrared precipitation estimates. This finding supports algorithm developers’ current endeavor in spatiotemporally incorporating as many PMW sensors as possible in the multi-satellite precipitation retrieval system called Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement mission (IMERG. This study also recommends users of satellite precipitation products to switch to the newest Version-7 TMPA datasets and

Concept and properties of an infrared hybrid single-beam spectrum and its application to eliminate solvent bands and other background interferences.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yujing; Wang, Hai-Shui; Morisawa, Yusuke; Ozaki, Yukihiro

2014-02-01

For infrared (IR) spectral measurements, if a quality single-beam background spectrum with desired intensity could be obtained, the contributions from solvent and other background components could be completely suppressed and their bands would not appear in a final transmittance/absorbance spectrum. In order to achieve this ideal but difficult goal, the concept of hybrid single-beam spectrum is introduced in this paper. The hybrid single-beam spectrum (φ h) is defined as a mixture of two single-beam spectra (φ b1 and φ b2) of the same sample but with different pathlengths (b1 and b2), namely, φ h = αφ b1+(1-α)φ b2, where α (0 ≤ α ≤ 1) is the component factor. The properties of the hybrid spectrum have been investigated. Under conditions of b2 > b1 ≥ 0.7 b2 and A max ≤ 0.60 (Amax is the maximum absorbance of b2 sample in the spectral range of interest), all the synthesized hybrid spectra are free from significant distortion regardless of the component factor. Therefore, the hybrid single-beam spectrum with desired intensity can be easily obtained simply by choosing an appropriate component factor. The proposed methodology has been demonstrated experimentally by the complete removal of the interference from the atmospheric water vapor and solvent. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vegetation extraction from high-resolution satellite imagery using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)

Science.gov (United States)

AlShamsi, Meera R.

2016-10-01

Over the past years, there has been various urban development all over the UAE. Dubai is one of the cities that experienced rapid growth in both development and population. That growth can have a negative effect on the surrounding environment. Hence, there has been a necessity to protect the environment from these fast pace changes. One of the major impacts this growth can have is on vegetation. As technology is evolving day by day, there is a possibility to monitor changes that are happening on different areas in the world using satellite imagery. The data from these imageries can be utilized to identify vegetation in different areas of an image through a process called vegetation detection. Being able to detect and monitor vegetation is very beneficial for municipal planning and management, and environment authorities. Through this, analysts can monitor vegetation growth in various areas and analyze these changes. By utilizing satellite imagery with the necessary data, different types of vegetation can be studied and analyzed, such as parks, farms, and artificial grass in sports fields. In this paper, vegetation features are detected and extracted through SAFIY system (i.e. the Smart Application for Feature extraction and 3D modeling using high resolution satellite ImagerY) by using high-resolution satellite imagery from DubaiSat-2 and DEIMOS-2 satellites, which provide panchromatic images of 1m resolution and spectral bands (red, green, blue and near infrared) of 4m resolution. SAFIY system is a joint collaboration between MBRSC and DEIMOS Space UK. It uses image-processing algorithms to extract different features (roads, water, vegetation, and buildings) to generate vector maps data. The process to extract green areas (vegetation) utilize spectral information (such as, the red and near infrared bands) from the satellite images. These detected vegetation features will be extracted as vector data in SAFIY system and can be updated and edited by end-users, such as

Astrometric observations of Saturn's satellites from McDonald Observatory, 1972. [using reference stars

Science.gov (United States)

Abbot, R. I.; Mulholland, J. D.; Shelus, P. J.

1974-01-01

Observations of Saturn's satellites were reduced by means of secondary reference stars obtained by reduction of Palomar Sky Survey (PSS) plates. This involved the use of 39 SAO stars and plate overlap technique to determine the coordinates of 59 fainter stars in the satellite field. Fourteen plate constants were determined for each of the two PSS plates. Comparison of two plate measurement and reduction techniques on the satellite measurements demonstrate the existence of a serious background gradient effect and the utility of microdensitometry to eliminate this error source in positional determinations of close satellites.

[The study of transpiration influence on plant infrared radiation character].

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Jun; Zhang, Shuan-Qin; Pan, Jia-Liang; Lian, Chang-Chun; Yang, Hui

2012-07-01

Studying vegetation infrared radiation character is the base of developing infrared camouflage and concealment technology of ground military target. Accurate fusion of target and background can be achieved by simulating formation mechanism of vegetation infrared radiation character. Leaf transpiration is characteristic physiological mechanism of vegetation and one of the main factors that influence its infrared radiation character. In the present paper, physical model of leaf energy balance is set up. Based on this model the influence of plant transpiration on leaf temperature is analyzed and calculated. The daily periodic variation of transpiration, leaf temperature and infrared radiation character of typical plants such as camphor tree and holly is actually measured with porometer and infrared thermal imaging system. By contrasting plant leaf with dryness leaf, experimental data indicates that plant transpiration can regulate leaf energy balance effectively and control leaf temperature in a reasonable range and suppress deep range variation of leaf infrared radiation character.

A method for combining passive microwave and infrared rainfall observations

Science.gov (United States)

Kummerow, Christian; Giglio, Louis

1995-01-01

Because passive microwave instruments are confined to polar-orbiting satellites, rainfall estimates must interpolate across long time periods, during which no measurements are available. In this paper the authors discuss a technique that allows one to partially overcome the sampling limitations by using frequent infrared observations from geosynchronous platforms. To accomplish this, the technique compares all coincident microwave and infrared observations. From each coincident pair, the infrared temperature threshold is selected that corresponds to an area equal to the raining area observed in the microwave image. The mean conditional rainfall rate as determined from the microwave image is then assigned to pixels in the infrared image that are colder than the selected threshold. The calibration is also applied to a fixed threshold of 235 K for comparison with established infrared techniques. Once a calibration is determined, it is applied to all infrared images. Monthly accumulations for both methods are then obtained by summing rainfall from all available infrared images. Two examples are used to evaluate the performance of the technique. The first consists of a one-month period (February 1988) over Darwin, Australia, where good validation data are available from radar and rain gauges. For this case it was found that the technique approximately doubled the rain inferred by the microwave method alone and produced exceptional agreement with the validation data. The second example involved comparisons with atoll rain gauges in the western Pacific for June 1989. Results here are overshadowed by the fact that the hourly infrared estimates from established techniques, by themselves, produced very good correlations with the rain gauges. The calibration technique was not able to improve upon these results.

Cloud detection method for Chinese moderate high resolution satellite imagery (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Zhong, Bo; Chen, Wuhan; Wu, Shanlong; Liu, Qinhuo

2016-10-01

Cloud detection of satellite imagery is very important for quantitative remote sensing research and remote sensing applications. However, many satellite sensors don't have enough bands for a quick, accurate, and simple detection of clouds. Particularly, the newly launched moderate to high spatial resolution satellite sensors of China, such as the charge-coupled device on-board the Chinese Huan Jing 1 (HJ-1/CCD) and the wide field of view (WFV) sensor on-board the Gao Fen 1 (GF-1), only have four available bands including blue, green, red, and near infrared bands, which are far from the requirements of most could detection methods. In order to solve this problem, an improved and automated cloud detection method for Chinese satellite sensors called OCM (Object oriented Cloud and cloud-shadow Matching method) is presented in this paper. It firstly modified the Automatic Cloud Cover Assessment (ACCA) method, which was developed for Landsat-7 data, to get an initial cloud map. The modified ACCA method is mainly based on threshold and different threshold setting produces different cloud map. Subsequently, a strict threshold is used to produce a cloud map with high confidence and large amount of cloud omission and a loose threshold is used to produce a cloud map with low confidence and large amount of commission. Secondly, a corresponding cloud-shadow map is also produced using the threshold of near-infrared band. Thirdly, the cloud maps and cloud-shadow map are transferred to cloud objects and cloud-shadow objects. Cloud and cloud-shadow are usually in pairs; consequently, the final cloud and cloud-shadow maps are made based on the relationship between cloud and cloud-shadow objects. OCM method was tested using almost 200 HJ-1/CCD images across China and the overall accuracy of cloud detection is close to 90%.

The Continuous Monitoring of Desert Dust using an Infrared-based Dust Detection and Retrieval Method

Science.gov (United States)

Duda, David P.; Minnis, Patrick; Trepte, Qing; Sun-Mack, Sunny

2006-01-01

Airborne dust and sand are significant aerosol sources that can impact the atmospheric and surface radiation budgets. Because airborne dust affects visibility and air quality, it is desirable to monitor the location and concentrations of this aerosol for transportation and public health. Although aerosol retrievals have been derived for many years using visible and near-infrared reflectance measurements from satellites, the detection and quantification of dust from these channels is problematic over bright surfaces, or when dust concentrations are large. In addition, aerosol retrievals from polar orbiting satellites lack the ability to monitor the progression and sources of dust storms. As a complement to current aerosol dust retrieval algorithms, multi-spectral thermal infrared (8-12 micron) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Meteosat-8 Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) are used in the development of a prototype dust detection method and dust property retrieval that can monitor the progress of Saharan dust fields continuously, both night and day. The dust detection method is incorporated into the processing of CERES (Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System) aerosol retrievals to produce dust property retrievals. Both MODIS (from Terra and Aqua) and SEVERI data are used to develop the method.

Sentinel-2: next generation satellites for optical land observation from space

Science.gov (United States)

Lautenschläger, G.; Gessner, R.; Gockel, W.; Haas, C.; Schweickert, G.; Bursch, S.; Welsch, M.; Sontag, H.

2013-10-01

The first Sentinel-2 satellites, which constitute the next generation of operational Earth observation satellites for optical land monitoring from space, are undergoing completion in the facilities at Astrium ready for launch end 2014. Sentinel-2 will feature a major breakthrough in the area of optical land observation since it will for the first time enable continuous and systematic acquisition of all land surfaces world-wide with the Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI), thus providing the basis for a truly operational service. Flying in the same orbital plane and spaced at 180°, the constellation of two satellites, designed for an in-orbit nominal operational lifetime of 7 years each, will acquire all land surfaces in only 5 days at the equator. In order to support emergency operations, the satellites can further be operated in an extended observation mode allowing to image any point on Earth even on a daily basis. MSI acquires images in 13 spectral channels from Visible-to-Near Infrared (VNIR) to Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) with a swath of almost 300 km on ground and a spatial resolution up to 10 m. The data ensure continuity to the existing data sets produced by the series of Landsat and SPOT satellites, and will further provide detailed spectral information to enable derivation of biophysical or geophysical products. Excellent geometric image quality performances are achieved with geolocation better than 16 m, thanks to an innovative instrument design in conjunction with a high-performance satellite AOCS subsystem centered around a 2-band GPS receiver, high-performance star trackers and a fiberoptic gyro. To cope with the high data volume on-board, data are compressed using a state-of-the-art wavelet compression scheme. Thanks to a powerful mission data handling system built around a newly developed very large solid-state mass memory based on flash technology, on-board compression losses will be kept to a minimum. The Sentinel-2 satellite design features a highly

Validation of Satellite Derived Cloud Properties Over the Southeastern Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Ayers, J.; Minnis, P.; Zuidema, P.; Sun-Mack, S.; Palikonda, R.; Nguyen, L.; Fairall, C.

2005-12-01

Satellite measurements of cloud properties and the radiation budget are essential for understanding meso- and large-scale processes that determine the variability in climate over the southeastern Pacific. Of particular interest in this region is the prevalent stratocumulus cloud deck. The stratocumulus albedos are directly related to cloud microphysical properties that need to be accurately characterized in Global Climate Models (GCMs) to properly estimate the Earth's radiation budget. Meteorological observations in this region are sparse causing large uncertainties in initialized model fields. Remote sensing from satellites can provide a wealth of information about the clouds in this region, but it is vital to validate the remotely sensed parameters and to understand their relationship to other parameters that are not directly observed by the satellites. The variety of measurements from the R/V Roger Revelle during the 2003 STRATUS cruise and from the R/V Ron Brown during EPIC 2001 and the 2004 STRATUS cruises are suitable for validating and improving the interpretation of the satellite derived cloud properties. In this study, satellite-derived cloud properties including coverage, height, optical depth, and liquid water path are compared with in situ measurements taken during the EPIC and STRATUS cruises. The remotely sensed values are derived from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) imager data, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data from the Terra and Aqua satellites, and from the Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The products from this study will include regional monthly cloud climatologies derived from the GOES data for the 2003 and 2004 cruises as well as micro and macro physical cloud property retrievals centered over the ship tracks from MODIS and VIRS.

Development of methods for inferring cloud thickness and cloud-base height from satellite radiance data

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, William L., Jr.; Minnis, Patrick; Alvarez, Joseph M.; Uttal, Taneil; Intrieri, Janet M.; Ackerman, Thomas P.; Clothiaux, Eugene

1993-01-01

Cloud-top height is a major factor determining the outgoing longwave flux at the top of the atmosphere. The downwelling radiation from the cloud strongly affects the cooling rate within the atmosphere and the longwave radiation incident at the surface. Thus, determination of cloud-base temperature is important for proper calculation of fluxes below the cloud. Cloud-base altitude is also an important factor in aircraft operations. Cloud-top height or temperature can be derived in a straightforward manner using satellite-based infrared data. Cloud-base temperature, however, is not observable from the satellite, but is related to the height, phase, and optical depth of the cloud in addition to other variables. This study uses surface and satellite data taken during the First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) Phase-2 Intensive Field Observation (IFO) period (13 Nov. - 7 Dec. 1991, to improve techniques for deriving cloud-base height from conventional satellite data.

Ground and satellite-based remote sensing of mineral dust using AERI spectra and MODIS thermal infrared window brightness temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Hansell, Richard Allen, Jr.

The radiative effects of dust aerosol on our climate system have yet to be fully understood and remain a topic of contemporary research. To investigate these effects, detection/retrieval methods for dust events over major dust outbreak and transport areas have been developed using satellite and ground-based approaches. To this end, both the shortwave and longwave surface radiative forcing of dust aerosol were investigated. The ground-based remote sensing approach uses the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer brightness temperature spectra to detect mineral dust events and to retrieve their properties. Taking advantage of the high spectral resolution of the AERI instrument, absorptive differences in prescribed thermal IR window sub-band channels were exploited to differentiate dust from cirrus clouds. AERI data collected during the UAE2 at Al-Ain UAE was employed for dust retrieval. Assuming a specified dust composition model a priori and using the light scattering programs of T-matrix and the finite difference time domain methods for oblate spheroids and hexagonal plates, respectively, dust optical depths have been retrieved and compared to those inferred from a collocated and coincident AERONET sun-photometer dataset. The retrieved optical depths were then used to determine the dust longwave surface forcing during the UAE2. Likewise, dust shortwave surface forcing is investigated employing a differential technique from previous field studies. The satellite-based approach uses MODIS thermal infrared brightness temperature window data for the simultaneous detection/separation of mineral dust and cirrus clouds. Based on the spectral variability of dust emissivity at the 3.75, 8.6, 11 and 12 mum wavelengths, the D*-parameter, BTD-slope and BTD3-11 tests are combined to identify dust and cirrus. MODIS data for the three dust-laden scenes have been analyzed to demonstrate the effectiveness of this detection/separation method. Detected daytime dust and cloud

A novel visual saliency detection method for infrared video sequences

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xin; Zhang, Yuzhen; Ning, Chen

2017-12-01

Infrared video applications such as target detection and recognition, moving target tracking, and so forth can benefit a lot from visual saliency detection, which is essentially a method to automatically localize the ;important; content in videos. In this paper, a novel visual saliency detection method for infrared video sequences is proposed. Specifically, for infrared video saliency detection, both the spatial saliency and temporal saliency are considered. For spatial saliency, we adopt a mutual consistency-guided spatial cues combination-based method to capture the regions with obvious luminance contrast and contour features. For temporal saliency, a multi-frame symmetric difference approach is proposed to discriminate salient moving regions of interest from background motions. Then, the spatial saliency and temporal saliency are combined to compute the spatiotemporal saliency using an adaptive fusion strategy. Besides, to highlight the spatiotemporal salient regions uniformly, a multi-scale fusion approach is embedded into the spatiotemporal saliency model. Finally, a Gestalt theory-inspired optimization algorithm is designed to further improve the reliability of the final saliency map. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms many state-of-the-art saliency detection approaches for infrared videos under various backgrounds.

Development of the infrared instrument for gas detection

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ching-Wei; Chen, Chia-Ray

2017-08-01

MWIR (Mid-Wave Infrared) spectroscopy shows a large potential in the current IR devices market, due to its multiple applications, such as gas detection, chemical analysis, industrial monitoring, combustion and flame characterization. It opens this technique to the fields of application, such as industrial monitoring and control, agriculture and environmental monitoring. However, a major barrier, which is the lack of affordable specific key elements such a MWIR light sources and low cost uncooled detectors, have held it back from its widespread use. In this paper an uncooled MWIR detector combined with image enhancement technique is reported. This investigation shows good results in gas leakage detection test. It also verify the functions of self-developed MWIR lens and optics. A good agreement in theoretical design and experiment give us the lessons learned for the potential application in infrared satellite technology. A brief discussions will also be presented in this paper.

Novel method of drizzle formation observation at large horizontal scales using multi-wavelength satellite imagery simulation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stepanov, I.; Russchenberg, H.W.J.

2014-01-01

The observations of on-board satellite imaging radiometers are representative of a far-reaching two-dimensional cloud top properties, however with a cutback in the capacity of profiling the cloud vertically. A combination of simulated radiances calculated at the top of the cloud in the near-infrared

Using infrared spectroscopy and satellite data to accurately monitor remote volcanoes and map their eruptive products

Science.gov (United States)

Ramsey, M. S.

2011-12-01

The ability to detect the onset of new activity at a remote volcano commonly relies on high temporal resolution thermal infrared (TIR) satellite-based observations. These observations from sensors such as AVHRR and MODIS are being used in innovative ways to produce trends of activity, which are critical for hazard response planning and scientific modeling. Such data are excellent for detection of new thermal features, volcanic plumes, and tracking changes over the hour time scale, for example. For some remote volcanoes, the lack of ground-based monitoring typically means that these sensors provide the first and only confirmation of renewed activity. However, what is lacking is the context of the higher spatial scale, which provides the volcanologist with meter-scale information on specific temperatures and changes in the composition and texture of the eruptive products. For the past eleven years, the joint US-Japanese ASTER instrument has been acquiring image-based data of volcanic eruptions around the world, including in the remote northern Pacific region. There have been more ASTER observations of Kamchatka volcanoes than any other location on the globe due mainly to an operational program put into place in 2004. Automated hot spot alarms from AVHRR data trigger ASTER acquisitions using the instrument's "rapid response" mode. Specifically for Kamchatka, this program has resulted in more than 700 additional ASTER images of the most thermally-active volcanoes (e.g., Shiveluch, Kliuchevskoi, Karymsky, Bezymianny). The scientific results from this program at these volcanoes will be highlighted. These results were strengthened by several field seasons used to map new products, collect samples for laboratory-based spectroscopy, and acquire TIR camera data. The fusion of ground, laboratory and space-based spectroscopy provided the most accurate interpretation of the eruptions and laid the ground work for future VSWIR/TIR sensors such as HyspIRI, which are a critically

Impact of the Assimilation of Hyperspectral Infrared Profiles on Advanced Weather and Research Model Simulations of a Non-Convective Wind Event

Science.gov (United States)

Berndt, Emily B.; Zavodsky, Bradley T; Jedlovec, Gary J.; Elmer, Nicholas J.

2013-01-01

Non-convective wind events commonly occur with passing extratropical cyclones and have significant societal and economic impacts. Since non-convective winds often occur in the absence of specific phenomena such as a thunderstorm, tornado, or hurricane, the public are less likely to heed high wind warnings and continue daily activities. Thus non-convective wind events result in as many fatalities as straight line thunderstorm winds. One physical explanation for non-convective winds includes tropopause folds. Improved model representation of stratospheric air and associated non-convective wind events could improve non-convective wind forecasts and associated warnings. In recent years, satellite data assimilation has improved skill in forecasting extratropical cyclones; however errors still remain in forecasting the position and strength of extratropical cyclones as well as the tropopause folding process. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of assimilating satellite temperature and moisture retrieved profiles from hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders (i.e. Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Cross-track Infrared and Microwave Sounding Suite (CrIMSS), and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)) on the model representation of the tropopause fold and an associated high wind event that impacted the Northeast United States on 09 February 2013. Model simulations using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting Model (ARW) were conducted on a 12-km grid with cycled data assimilation mimicking the operational North American Model (NAM). The results from the satellite assimilation run are compared to a control experiment (without hyperspectral IR retrievals), North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) reanalysis, and Rapid Refresh analyses.

Covariant and background independent functional RG flow for the effective average action

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Safari, Mahmoud; Vacca, Gian Paolo [Dipartimento di Fisica and INFN - Sezione di Bologna,via Irnerio 46, 40126 Bologna (Italy)

2016-11-23

We extend our prescription for the construction of a covariant and background-independent effective action for scalar quantum field theories to the case where momentum modes below a certain scale are suppressed by the presence of an infrared regulator. The key step is an appropriate choice of the infrared cutoff for which the Ward identity, capturing the information from single-field dependence of the ultraviolet action, continues to be exactly solvable, and therefore, in addition to covariance, manifest background independence of the effective action is guaranteed at any scale. A practical consequence is that in this framework one can adopt truncations dependent on the single total field. Furthermore we discuss the necessary and sufficient conditions for the preservation of symmetries along the renormalization group flow.

Solar panel thermal cycling testing by solar simulation and infrared radiation methods

Science.gov (United States)

Nuss, H. E.

1980-01-01

For the solar panels of the European Space Agency (ESA) satellites OTS/MAROTS and ECS/MARECS the thermal cycling tests were performed by using solar simulation methods. The performance data of two different solar simulators used and the thermal test results are described. The solar simulation thermal cycling tests for the ECS/MARECS solar panels were carried out with the aid of a rotatable multipanel test rig by which simultaneous testing of three solar panels was possible. As an alternative thermal test method, the capability of an infrared radiation method was studied and infrared simulation tests for the ultralight panel and the INTELSAT 5 solar panels were performed. The setup and the characteristics of the infrared radiation unit using a quartz lamp array of approx. 15 sq and LN2-cooled shutter and the thermal test results are presented. The irradiation uniformity, the solar panel temperature distribution, temperature changing rates for both test methods are compared. Results indicate the infrared simulation is an effective solar panel thermal testing method.

Tropospheric aerosol backscatter background mode at CO2 wavelengths

Science.gov (United States)

Rothermel, Jeffry; Bowdle, David A.; Menzies, Robert T.; Post, Madison J.; Vaughan, J. Michael

1989-01-01

A comparison is made between three climatologies of backscatter measurements in the troposphere and lower stratosphere at CO2 wavelengths. These were obtained from several locations using ground-based and airborne lidar systems. All three measurement sets show similar features, specifically, a high frequency of occurrence of low backscatter over a limited range of values in the middle and upper atmosphere (the 'background mode'). This background mode is important for the design and performance simulation of the prospective satellite sensors that rely on atmospheric aerosols as scattering targets.

Heat kernel expansion in the background field formalism

CERN Document Server

Barvinsky, Andrei

2015-01-01

Heat kernel expansion and background field formalism represent the combination of two calculational methods within the functional approach to quantum field theory. This approach implies construction of generating functionals for matrix elements and expectation values of physical observables. These are functionals of arbitrary external sources or the mean field of a generic configuration -- the background field. Exact calculation of quantum effects on a generic background is impossible. However, a special integral (proper time) representation for the Green's function of the wave operator -- the propagator of the theory -- and its expansion in the ultraviolet and infrared limits of respectively short and late proper time parameter allow one to construct approximations which are valid on generic background fields. Current progress of quantum field theory, its renormalization properties, model building in unification of fundamental physical interactions and QFT applications in high energy physics, gravitation and...

Infrared small target detection technology based on OpenCV

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lei; Huang, Zhijian

2013-09-01

Accurate and fast detection of infrared (IR) dim target has very important meaning for infrared precise guidance, early warning, video surveillance, etc. In this paper, some basic principles and the implementing flow charts of a series of algorithms for target detection are described. These algorithms are traditional two-frame difference method, improved three-frame difference method, background estimate and frame difference fusion method, and building background with neighborhood mean method. On the foundation of above works, an infrared target detection software platform which is developed by OpenCV and MFC is introduced. Three kinds of tracking algorithms are integrated in this software. In order to explain the software clearly, the framework and the function are described in this paper. At last, the experiments are performed for some real-life IR images. The whole algorithm implementing processes and results are analyzed, and those algorithms for detection targets are evaluated from the two aspects of subjective and objective. The results prove that the proposed method has satisfying detection effectiveness and robustness. Meanwhile, it has high detection efficiency and can be used for real-time detection.

Equatorial enhancement of the nighttime OH mesospheric infrared airglow

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker, D J; Thurgood, B K; Harrison, W K; Mlynczak, M G; Russell, J M

2007-01-01

Global measurements of the hydroxyl mesospheric airglow over an extended period of time have been made possible by the NASA SABER infrared sensor aboard the TIMED satellite which has been functioning since December of 2001. The orbital mission has continued over a significant portion of a solar cycle. Experimental data from SABER for several years have exhibited equatorial enhancements of the nighttime mesospheric OH (Δv=2) airglow layer consistent with the high average diurnal solar flux. The brightening of the OH airglow typically means more H+O 3 is being reacted. At both the spring and autumn seasonal equinoxes when the equatorial solar UV irradiance mean is greatest, the peak volume emission rate (VER) of the nighttime Meinel infrared airglow typically appears to be both significantly brighter plus lower in altitude by several kilometres at low latitudes compared with midlatitude findings

Near threshold behavior of photoelectron satellite intensities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shirley, D.A.; Becker, U.; Heimann, P.A.; Langer, B.

1987-09-01

The historical background and understanding of photoelectron satellite peaks is reviewed, using He(n), Ne(1s), Ne(2p), Ar(1s), and Ar(3s) as case studies. Threshold studies are emphasized. The classification of electron correlation effects as either ''intrinsic'' or ''dynamic'' is recommended. 30 refs., 7 figs

A Study on the Use of Commercial Satellite Imagery for Monitoring of Yongbyon Nuclear Activities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Jung Hyun; Kim, Min Soo [Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-10-15

It is particularly useful for the areas that are hard to access, such as the DPRK. On April 2009, North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors and USA disabling team at Yongbyon. Since then, there is not much left except for satellite imagery analysis. In this paper, we focused on the growing role and importance of commercial satellite imagery analysis for detecting and identifying nuclear activities at Yongbyon. For this, we examined monitoring capability of commercial satellite imagery status of commercial satellite imagery analysis to monitor the Yongbyon nuclear site. And we suggested several recommendations for enhancing the monitoring and analyzing capability. Current commercial satellite imagery has proven effective in monitoring for Yongbyon nuclear activities, especially change detection including the new construction activities. But identification and technical analysis of the operation status is still limited. In case of North Korea, operation status of 5 MWe reactor should be clearly identified to assess its plutonium production capability and to set up the negotiation strategy. To enhance the monitoring capability, we need much more thermal infrared imagery and radar imagery.

Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy Principles and Spectral Interpretation

CERN Document Server

Larkin, Peter

2011-01-01

Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy: Principles and Spectral Interpretation explains the background, core principles and tests the readers understanding of the important techniques of Infrared and Raman Spectroscopy. These techniques are used by chemists, environmental scientists, forensic scientists etc to identify unknown chemicals. In the case of an organic chemist these tools are part of an armory of techniques that enable them to conclusively prove what compound they have made, which is essential for those being used in medical applications. The book reviews basic principles, instrumentation

COBE DIRBE near-infrared polarimetry of the zodiacal light: Initial results

Science.gov (United States)

Berriman, G. B.; Boggess, N. W.; Hauser, M. G.; Kelsall, T.; Lisse, C. M.; Moseley, S. H.; Reach, W. T.; Silverberg, R. F.

1994-01-01

This Letter describes near-infrared polarimetry of the zodiacal light at 2.2 micrometers, measured with the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) aboard the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft. The polarization is due to scattering of sunlight. The polarization vector is perpendicular to the scattering plane, and its observed amplitude on the ecliptic equator at an elongation of 90 deg and ecliptic longitude of 10 deg declines from 12.0 +/- 0.4% at 1.25 micrometers to 8.0 +/- 0.6% at 3.5 micrometers (cf. 16% in the visible); the principal source of uncertainty is photometric noise due to stars. The observed near-infrared colors at this location are redder than Solar, but at 3.5 micrometers this is due at least in part to the thermal emission contribution from the interplanetary dust. Mie theory calculations show that both polarizations and colors are important in constraining models of interplanetary dust.

Exposure to space radiation of high-performance infrared multilayer filters and materials technology experiments (A0056)

Science.gov (United States)

Seeley, J. S.; Hunneman, R.; Whatley, A.; Lipscombe, D. R.

1984-01-01

Infrared multilayer interface filter which were used in satellite radiometers were examined. The ability of the filters to withstand the space environment in these applications is critical. An experiment on the LDEF subjects the filters to authoritative spectral measurements following space exposure to ascertain their suitability for spacecraft use and to permit an understanding of degradation mechanisms. The understanding of the effects of prolonged space exposure on spacecraft materials, surface finishes, and adhesive systems is important to the spacecraft designer. Materials technology experiments and experiment on infrared multilayer filters are discussed.

Human body region enhancement method based on Kinect infrared imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Lei; Fan, Yubo; Song, Xiaowei; Cai, Wenjing

2016-10-01

To effectively improve the low contrast of human body region in the infrared images, a combing method of several enhancement methods is utilized to enhance the human body region. Firstly, for the infrared images acquired by Kinect, in order to improve the overall contrast of the infrared images, an Optimal Contrast-Tone Mapping (OCTM) method with multi-iterations is applied to balance the contrast of low-luminosity infrared images. Secondly, to enhance the human body region better, a Level Set algorithm is employed to improve the contour edges of human body region. Finally, to further improve the human body region in infrared images, Laplacian Pyramid decomposition is adopted to enhance the contour-improved human body region. Meanwhile, the background area without human body region is processed by bilateral filtering to improve the overall effect. With theoretical analysis and experimental verification, the results show that the proposed method could effectively enhance the human body region of such infrared images.

Development of infrared Echelle spectrograph and mid-infrared heterodyne spectrometer on a small telescope at Haleakala, Hawaii for planetary observation

Science.gov (United States)

Sakanoi, Takeshi; Kasaba, Yasumasa; Kagitani, Masato; Nakagawa, Hiromu; Kuhn, Jeff; Okano, Shoichi

2014-08-01

We report the development of infrared Echelle spectrograph covering 1 - 4 micron and mid-infrared heterodyne spectrometer around 10 micron installed on the 60-cm telescope at the summit of Haleakala, Hawaii (alt.=3000m). It is essential to carry out continuous measurement of planetary atmosphere, such as the Jovian infrared aurora and the volcanoes on Jovian satellite Io, to understand its time and spatial variations. A compact and easy-to-use high resolution infrared spectrometer provide the good opportunity to investigate these objects continuously. We are developing an Echelle spectrograph called ESPRIT: Echelle Spectrograph for Planetary Research In Tohoku university. The main target of ESPRIT is to measure the Jovian H3+ fundamental line at 3.9 micron, and H2 nu=1 at 2.1 micron. The 256x256 pixel CRC463 InSb array is used. An appropriate Echelle grating is selected to optimize at 3.9 micron and 2.1 micron for the Jovian infrared auroral observations. The pixel scale corresponds to the atmospheric seeing (0.3 arcsec/pixel). This spectrograph is characterized by a long slit field-of-view of ~ 50 arcsec with a spectral resolution is over 20,000. In addition, we recently developed a heterodyne spectrometer called MILAHI on the 60 cm telescope. MILAHI is characterized by super high-resolving power (more than 1,500,000) covering from 7 - 13 microns. Its sensitivity is 2400 K at 9.6 micron with a MCT photo diode detector of which bandwidth of 3000 MHz. ESPRIT and MILAHI is planned to be installed on 60 cm telescope is planned in 2014.

Impact of the Assimilation of Hyperspectral Infrared Retrieved Profiles on Advanced Weather and Research Model Simulations of a Non-Convective Wind Event

Science.gov (United States)

Berndt, E. B.; Zavodsky, B. T.; Folmer, M. J.; Jedlovec, G. J.

2014-01-01

Non-convective wind events commonly occur with passing extratropical cyclones and have significant societal and economic impacts. Since non-convective winds often occur in the absence of specific phenomena such as a thunderstorm, tornado, or hurricane, the public are less likely to heed high wind warnings and continue daily activities. Thus non-convective wind events result in as many fatalities as straight line thunderstorm winds. One physical explanation for non-convective winds includes tropopause folds. Improved model representation of stratospheric air and associated non-convective wind events could improve non-convective wind forecasts and associated warnings. In recent years, satellite data assimilation has improved skill in forecasting extratropical cyclones; however errors still remain in forecasting the position and strength of extratropical cyclones as well as the tropopause folding process. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of assimilating satellite temperature and moisture retrieved profiles from hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders (i.e. Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Cross-track Infrared and Microwave Sounding Suite (CrIMSS), and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)) on the model representation of the tropopause fold and an associated high wind event that impacted the Northeast United States on 09 February 2013. Model simulations using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting Model (ARW) were conducted on a 12-km grid with cycled data assimilation mimicking the operational North American Model (NAM). The results from the satellite assimilation run are compared to a control experiment (without hyperspectral IR retrievals), 32-km North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) interpolated to a 12-km grid, and 13-km Rapid Refresh analyses.

Satellite Map of Port-au-Prince, Haiti-2010-Infrared

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Christopher J.; Sloan, Jeff

2010-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey produced 1:24,000-scale post-earthquake image base maps incorporating high- and medium-resolution remotely sensed imagery following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake near the capital city of Port au Prince, Haiti, on January 12, 2010. Commercial 2.4-meter multispectral QuickBird imagery was acquired by DigitalGlobe on January 15, 2010, following the initial earthquake. Ten-meter multispectral ALOS AVNIR-2 imagery was collected by the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) on January 12, 2010. These data were acquired under the Remote Sensing International Charter, a global team of space and satellite agencies that provide timely imagery in support of emergency response efforts worldwide. The images shown on this map were employed to support earthquake response efforts, specifically for use in determining ground deformation, damage assessment, and emergency management decisions. The raw, unprocessed imagery was geo-corrected, mosaicked, and reproduced onto a cartographic 1:24,000-scale base map. These maps are intended to provide a temporally current representation of post-earthquake ground conditions, which may be of use to decision makers and to the general public.

Pyroelectric Materials for Uncooled Infrared Detectors: Processing, Properties, and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Aggarwal, M. D.; Batra, A. K.; Guggilla, P.; Edwards, M. E.; Penn, B. G.; Currie, J. R., Jr.

2010-01-01

Uncooled pyroelectric detectors find applications in diverse and wide areas such as industrial production; automotive; aerospace applications for satellite-borne ozone sensors assembled with an infrared spectrometer; health care; space exploration; imaging systems for ships, cars, and aircraft; and military and security surveillance systems. These detectors are the prime candidates for NASA s thermal infrared detector requirements. In this Technical Memorandum, the physical phenomena underlying the operation and advantages of pyroelectric infrared detectors is introduced. A list and applications of important ferroelectrics is given, which is a subclass of pyroelectrics. The basic concepts of processing of important pyroelectrics in various forms are described: single crystal growth, ceramic processing, polymer-composites preparation, and thin- and thick-film fabrications. The present status of materials and their characteristics and detectors figures-of-merit are presented in detail. In the end, the unique techniques demonstrated for improving/enhancing the performance of pyroelectric detectors are illustrated. Emphasis is placed on recent advances and emerging technologies such as thin-film array devices and novel single crystal sensors.

Analysis of the SIAM Infrared Acquisition System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Varnado, S.G.

1974-02-01

This report describes and presents the results of an analysis of the performance of the infrared acquisition system for a Self-Initiated Antiaircraft Missile (SIAM). A description of the optical system is included, and models of target radiant intensity, atmospheric transmission, and background radiance are given. Acquisition probabilities are expressed in terms of the system signal-to-noise ratio. System performance against aircraft and helicopter targets is analyzed, and background discrimination techniques are discussed. 17 refs., 22 figs., 6 tabs.

Gigantic Jets and the Tropical Paradigm: A Satellite Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Lazarus, S. M.; Splitt, M. E.

2017-12-01

While not exclusively oceanic, gigantic jets (GJ) appear to have a preference for the tropical environment. In particular, a number of GJs have been observed in conjunction with tropical disturbances (i.e., weak tropical storms, depressions, and remnant lows). Given the remote aspect of TC convection and general lack of radar coverage, we explore this subset of events via analysis of their infrared and water vapor satellite presentations. The satellite perspective is relevant given that storm top mixing (dilution) of charge associated with storm-scale turbulence in this portion of the storm is thought to be connected to GJs. The thunderstorm overshoot, upper level divergence / outflow are examined in an effort to better understand the tropical paradigm. Specifically, an analysis of cloud top temperature, anvil expansion rates and asymmetries as well as placement of the GJ events with respect to the large (storm) scale circulation will be conducted.

Comparison of Hyperspectral and Multispectral Satellites for Discriminating Land Cover in Northern California

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, M. L.; Kilham, N. E.

2015-12-01

Land-cover maps are important science products needed for natural resource and ecosystem service management, biodiversity conservation planning, and assessing human-induced and natural drivers of land change. Most land-cover maps at regional to global scales are produced with remote sensing techniques applied to multispectral satellite imagery with 30-500 m pixel sizes (e.g., Landsat, MODIS). Hyperspectral, or imaging spectrometer, imagery measuring the visible to shortwave infrared regions (VSWIR) of the spectrum have shown impressive capacity to map plant species and coarser land-cover associations, yet techniques have not been widely tested at regional and greater spatial scales. The Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) mission is a VSWIR hyperspectral and thermal satellite being considered for development by NASA. The goal of this study was to assess multi-temporal, HyspIRI-like satellite imagery for improved land cover mapping relative to multispectral satellites. We mapped FAO Land Cover Classification System (LCCS) classes over 22,500 km2 in the San Francisco Bay Area, California using 30-m HyspIRI, Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 imagery simulated from data acquired by NASA's AVIRIS airborne sensor. Random Forests (RF) and Multiple-Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) classifiers were applied to the simulated images and accuracies were compared to those from real Landsat 8 images. The RF classifier was superior to MESMA, and multi-temporal data yielded higher accuracy than summer-only data. With RF, hyperspectral data had overall accuracy of 72.2% and 85.1% with full 20-class and reduced 12-class schemes, respectively. Multispectral imagery had lower accuracy. For example, simulated and real Landsat data had 7.5% and 4.6% lower accuracy than HyspIRI data with 12 classes, respectively. In summary, our results indicate increased mapping accuracy using HyspIRI multi-temporal imagery, particularly in discriminating different natural vegetation types, such as

MISTiC Winds, a Micro-Satellite Constellation Approach to High Resolution Observations of the Atmosphere using Infrared Sounding and 3D Winds Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Maschhoff, K. R.; Polizotti, J. J.; Aumann, H. H.; Susskind, J.

2017-12-01

MISTiCTM Winds is an approach to improve short-term weather forecasting based on a miniature high resolution, wide field, thermal emission spectrometry instrument that will provide global tropospheric vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and humidity at high (3-4 km) horizontal and vertical ( 1 km) spatial resolution. MISTiC's extraordinarily small size, payload mass of less than 15 kg, and minimal cooling requirements can be accommodated aboard a ESPA-Class (50 kg) micro-satellite. Low fabrication and launch costs enable a LEO sun-synchronous sounding constellation that would provide frequent IR vertical profiles and vertically resolved atmospheric motion vector wind observations in the troposphere. These observations are highly complementary to present and emerging environmental observing systems, and would provide a combination of high vertical and horizontal resolution not provided by any other environmental observing system currently in operation. The spectral measurements that would be provided by MISTiC Winds are similar to those of NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder. These new observations, when assimilated into high resolution numerical weather models, would revolutionize short-term and severe weather forecasting, save lives, and support key economic decisions in the energy, air transport, and agriculture arenas-at much lower cost than providing these observations from geostationary orbit. In addition, this observation capability would be a critical tool for the study of transport processes for water vapor, clouds, pollution, and aerosols. In this third year of a NASA Instrument incubator program, the compact infrared spectrometer has been integrated into an airborne version of the instrument for high-altitude flights on a NASA ER2. The purpose of these airborne tests is to examine the potential for improved capabilities for tracking atmospheric motion-vector wind tracer features, and determining their height using hyper-spectral sounding and

Power-Law Template for Infrared Point-Source Clustering

Science.gov (United States)

Addison, Graeme E; Dunkley, Joanna; Hajian, Amir; Viero, Marco; Bond, J. Richard; Das, Sudeep; Devlin, Mark J.; Halpern, Mark; Hincks, Adam D; Hlozek, Renee;

A global satellite assisted precipitation climatology

Science.gov (United States)

Funk, Christopher C.; Verdin, Andrew P.; Michaelsen, Joel C.; Pedreros, Diego; Husak, Gregory J.; Peterson, P.

2015-01-01

Accurate representations of mean climate conditions, especially in areas of complex terrain, are an important part of environmental monitoring systems. As high-resolution satellite monitoring information accumulates with the passage of time, it can be increasingly useful in efforts to better characterize the earth's mean climatology. Current state-of-the-science products rely on complex and sometimes unreliable relationships between elevation and station-based precipitation records, which can result in poor performance in food and water insecure regions with sparse observation networks. These vulnerable areas (like Ethiopia, Afghanistan, or Haiti) are often the critical regions for humanitarian drought monitoring. Here, we show that long period of record geo-synchronous and polar-orbiting satellite observations provide a unique new resource for producing high resolution (0.05°) global precipitation climatologies that perform reasonably well in data sparse regions. Traditionally, global climatologies have been produced by combining station observations and physiographic predictors like latitude, longitude, elevation, and slope. While such approaches can work well, especially in areas with reasonably dense observation networks, the fundamental relationship between physiographic variables and the target climate variables can often be indirect and spatially complex. Infrared and microwave satellite observations, on the other hand, directly monitor the earth's energy emissions. These emissions often correspond physically with the location and intensity of precipitation. We show that these relationships provide a good basis for building global climatologies. We also introduce a new geospatial modeling approach based on moving window regressions and inverse distance weighting interpolation. This approach combines satellite fields, gridded physiographic indicators, and in situ climate normals. The resulting global 0.05° monthly precipitation climatology, the Climate

Use of satellite ocean color observations to refine understanding of global geochemical cycles

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, J. J.; Dieterle, D. A.

1985-01-01

In October 1978, the first satellite-borne color sensor, the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), was launched aboard Nimbus-7 with four visible and two infrared bands, permitting a sensitivity about 60 times that of the Landsat-1 multispectral scanner. The CZCS radiance data can be utilized to estimate ocean chlorophyll concentrations by detecting shifts in sea color, particularly in oceanic waters. The obtained data can be used in studies regarding problems of overfishing, and, in addition, in investigations concerning the consequences of man's accelerated extraction of nitrogen from the atmosphere and addition of carbon to the atmosphere. The satellite data base is considered along with a simulation analysis, and ships providing ground-truth chlorophyll measurements in the ocean.

Photometric Study of Uranian Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Kesten, Philip R.

1998-01-01

The best summary of my work at NASA is expressed in the following abstract, submitted the Division for Planetary Science of the American Astronomical Society and to be presented at the annual meeting in Madison in October. We report photometric measurements of Uranian satellites Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel and Titania (10.4 Aug. 1995), and Neptune's satellite Triton (21.2 Sept. 1995) with the infrared camera (IRCAM) and standard J (1.13 - 1.42 microns), H (1.53 - 1.81 microns), and K (2.00 - 2.41 microns) filters at the 3.8-m UKIRT telescope on Mauna Kea. The individual images frames are 256 x 256 pixels with a platescale of .286 arcsec/pixel, resulting in a 1.22 arc min field of view. This summer brought the IR photometry measurements nearly to a close. As indicated by the abstract above, I will present this work at the annual DPS meeting in October. In anticipation of the opening of the new Carl Sagan Laboratory for Cosmochemisty, of which I will be a participating member, I also devoted a considerable fraction of the summer to learning the biochemistry which underlies the experiments to be conducted. To put the end of the summary close to the beginning, it was a most productive summer.

Characteristics of monsoon inversions over the Arabian Sea observed by satellite sounder and reanalysis data sets

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Dwivedi

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Monsoon inversion (MI over the Arabian Sea (AS is one of the important characteristics associated with the monsoon activity over Indian region during summer monsoon season. In the present study, we have used 5 years (2009–2013 of temperature and water vapour measurement data obtained from satellite sounder instrument, an Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI onboard MetOp satellite, in addition to ERA-Interim data, to study their characteristics. The lower atmospheric data over the AS have been examined first to identify the areas where MIs are predominant and occur with higher strength. Based on this information, a detailed study has been made to investigate their characteristics separately in the eastern AS (EAS and western AS (WAS to examine their contrasting features. The initiation and dissipation times of MIs, their percentage occurrence, strength, etc., has been examined using the huge database. The relation with monsoon activity (rainfall over Indian region during normal and poor monsoon years is also studied. WAS ΔT values are  ∼  2 K less than those over the EAS, ΔT being the temperature difference between 950 and 850 hPa. A much larger contrast between the WAS and EAS in ΔT is noticed in ERA-Interim data set vis-à-vis those observed by satellites. The possibility of detecting MI from another parameter, refractivity N, obtained directly from another satellite constellation of GPS Radio Occultation (RO (COSMIC, has also been examined. MI detected from IASI and Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS onboard the NOAA satellite have been compared to see how far the two data sets can be combined to study the MI characteristics. We suggest MI could also be included as one of the semipermanent features of southwest monsoon along with the presently accepted six parameters.

Distortion of the microwave background by dust

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowan-Robinson, M.

1981-01-01

The Woody and Richards distortion of the microwave background has a natural explanation within the framework of the isothermal density fluctuation picture. A pregalactic generation of ''stars'' makes light and metals. The latter are able to condense into dust grains at a redshift approximately 150-225, which then absorb the starlight and reradiate it in the infrared. At the present epoch we see this emission redshifted into the millimetre range of the spectrum

A Comparison of the Red Green Blue Air Mass Imagery and Hyperspectral Infrared Retrieved Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Berndt, E. B.; Folmer, Michael; Dunion, Jason

2014-01-01

The Red Green Blue (RGB) Air Mass imagery is derived from multiple channels or paired channel differences. Multiple channel products typically provide additional information than a single channel can provide alone. The RGB Air Mass imagery simplifies the interpretation of temperature and moisture characteristics of air masses surrounding synoptic and mesoscale features. Despite the ease of interpretation of multiple channel products, the combination of channels and channel differences means the resulting product does not represent a quantity or physical parameter such as brightness temperature in conventional single channel satellite imagery. Without a specific quantity to reference, forecasters are often confused as to what RGB products represent. Hyperspectral infrared retrieved profiles of temperature, moisture, and ozone can provide insight about the air mass represented on the RGB Air Mass product and provide confidence in the product and representation of air masses despite the lack of a quantity to reference for interpretation. This study focuses on RGB Air Mass analysis of Hurricane Sandy as it moved north along the U.S. East Coast, while transitioning to a hybrid extratropical storm. Soundings and total column ozone retrievals were analyzed using data from the Cross-track Infrared and Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder Suite (CrIMSS) on the Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership satellite and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Aqua satellite along with dropsondes that were collected from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Air Force research aircraft. By comparing these datasets to the RGB Air Mass, it is possible to capture quantitative information that could help in analyzing the synoptic environment enough to diagnose the onset of extratropical transition. This was done by identifying any stratospheric air intrusions (SAIs) that existed in the vicinity of Sandy as the wind

On the sensitivity of heterodyne detectors in far infrared astronomy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bueren, H.G. van

1976-01-01

The signal-to-noise ratio of astronomical heterodyne detection infrared spectrographs is considered, taking into account background, linewidth and seeing effects. A comparison with incoherent detector systems is presented. (author)

Estimations of natural variability between satellite measurements of trace species concentrations

Science.gov (United States)

Sheese, P.; Walker, K. A.; Boone, C. D.; Degenstein, D. A.; Kolonjari, F.; Plummer, D. A.; von Clarmann, T.

2017-12-01

In order to validate satellite measurements of atmospheric states, it is necessary to understand the range of random and systematic errors inherent in the measurements. On occasions where the measurements do not agree within those errors, a common "go-to" explanation is that the unexplained difference can be chalked up to "natural variability". However, the expected natural variability is often left ambiguous and rarely quantified. This study will look to quantify the expected natural variability of both O3 and NO2 between two satellite instruments: ACE-FTS (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment - Fourier Transform Spectrometer) and OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph and Infrared Imaging System). By sampling the CMAM30 (30-year specified dynamics simulation of the Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model) climate chemistry model throughout the upper troposphere and stratosphere at times and geolocations of coincident ACE-FTS and OSIRIS measurements at varying coincidence criteria, height-dependent expected values of O3 and NO2 variability will be estimated and reported on. The results could also be used to better optimize the coincidence criteria used in satellite measurement validation studies.

The Impact of the Assimilation of Hyperspectral Infrared Retrieved Profiles on Advanced Weather and Research Model Simulations of a Non-Convective Wind Event

Science.gov (United States)

Berndt, Emily; Zavodsky, Bradley; Jedlovec, Gary; Elmer, Nicholas

2013-01-01

Non-convective wind events commonly occur with passing extratropical cyclones and have significant societal and economic impacts. Since non-convective winds often occur in the absence of specific phenomena such as a thunderstorm, tornado, or hurricane, the public are less likely to heed high wind warnings and continue daily activities. Thus non-convective wind events result in as many fatalities as straight line thunderstorm winds. One physical explanation for non-convective winds includes tropopause folds. Improved model representation of stratospheric air and associated non-convective wind events could improve non-convective wind forecasts and associated warnings. In recent years, satellite data assimilation has improved skill in forecasting extratropical cyclones; however errors still remain in forecasting the position and strength of extratropical cyclones as well as the tropopause folding process. The goal of this study is to determine the impact of assimilating satellite temperature and moisture retrieved profiles from hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders (i.e. Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), Cross-track Infrared and Microwave Sounding Suite (CrIMSS), and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)) on the model representation of the tropopause fold and an associated high wind event that impacted the Northeast United States on 09 February 2013. Model simulations using the Advanced Research Weather Research and Forecasting Model (ARW) were conducted on a 12-km grid with cycled data assimilation mimicking the operational North American Model (NAM). The results from the satellite assimilation run are compared to a control experiment (without hyperspectral IR retrievals), Modern Era-Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis, and Rapid Refresh analyses.

Lageos orbit decay due to infrared radiation from earth

Science.gov (United States)

Rubincam, David Parry

1987-01-01

Infrared radiation from the earth may be the principal reason for the decay of Lageos' orbit. The radiation heats up the laser retroreflectors embedded in Lageos' aluminum surface. This creates a north-south temperature gradient on the satellite. The gradient in turn causes a force to be exerted on Lageos because of recoil from photons leaving its surface. The delayed heating of the retroreflectors due to their thermal inertia gives the force a net along-track component which always acts like drag. A simple thermal model for the retroreflectors indicates that this thermal drag accounts for about half the observed average along-track acceleration of -3.3 x 10 to the -10th power m/sec squared. The contribution from the aluminum surface to this effect is negligible. The infrared effect cannot explain the large observed fluctuations in drag which occur mainly when the orbit intersects the earth's shadow.

Establishing BRDF calibration capabilities through shortwave infrared

Science.gov (United States)

Georgiev, Georgi T.; Butler, James J.; Thome, Kurt; Cooksey, Catherine; Ding, Leibo

2017-09-01

Satellite instruments operating in the reflective solar wavelength region require accurate and precise determination of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDFs) of the laboratory and flight diffusers used in their pre-flight and on-orbit calibrations. This paper advances that initial work and presents a comparison of spectral Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and Directional Hemispherical Reflectance (DHR) of Spectralon*, a common material for laboratory and onorbit flight diffusers. A new measurement setup for BRDF measurements from 900 nm to 2500 nm located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is described. The GSFC setup employs an extended indium gallium arsenide detector, bandpass filters, and a supercontinuum light source. Comparisons of the GSFC BRDF measurements in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) with those made by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Spectral Tri-function Automated Reference Reflectometer (STARR) are presented. The Spectralon sample used in this study was 2 inch diameter, 99% white pressed and sintered Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) target. The NASA/NIST BRDF comparison measurements were made at an incident angle of 0° and viewing angle of 45° . Additional BRDF data not compared to NIST were measured at additional incident and viewing angle geometries and are not presented here. The total combined uncertainty for the measurement of BRDF in the SWIR range made by the GSFC scatterometer is less than 1% (k = 1). This study is in support of the calibration of the Radiation Budget Instrument (RBI) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suit (VIIRS) instruments of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and other current and future NASA remote sensing missions operating across the reflected solar wavelength region.

Upper limits of a cosmic infrared background flux as determined by X- and gamma-ray observations on M87

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlickeiser, R.; Cambridge Univ.; Harwit, M.; Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY

1982-01-01

Upper limits on the energy density of infrared photons in the radio lobe regions of M87 are derived using measurements of the X-ray and gamma-ray emission. The calculations are based on an inverse Compton scattering model initiated by radio-flux producing electrons. It is shown that the energy density of infrared photons in the radio lobe regions is similar than 2 eV cm -3 . (orig.)

Ultraviolet and infrared emission from lightning discharges observed at Aragats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chilingarian, A.; Karapetyan, T.; Pokhsraryan, D.; Bogomolov, V.; Garipov, G.; Panasyuk, M.; Svertilov, S.; Saleev, K.

2016-01-01

The ultraviolet and infrared optical sensors previously used at RELEC space missions were installed at the high altitude research station Aragats at 3200 m above the sea level. The spectral composition and temporal structure of the recorded optical signals and measurements of the electrostatic field and atmospheric discharges obtained by “fast” and “slow” field sensors have been compared. Measurements of lightning and related to them phenomena observed at the mountain altitude and on board of orbiting satellites are compared. (author)

Possible influence of cosmic ray Cerenkov photons on infrared interferometric search for non-solar planets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lerche, I.

1980-01-01

It is shown that the pervasive cosmic-ray protons in the vicinity of the Earth would produce infrared photons by Cerenkov radiation in the material walls, and mirrors, of an orbiting infrared interferometer designed to search for non-solar planets. The flux of such photons is at least comparable to the zodiacal infrared background radiation. It is found that for the worst possible conditions a minimum time of about six weeks is indicated for planetary detection using a fourth-harmonic noise analysis. It is suggested that direct laboratory measurement of a simulated cosmic-ray-induced Cerenkov flux be undertaken to settle the question of the background contaminant produced by this effect. (Auth.)

Contribution of infrared observations to the study of supernovae remnants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Douvion, Thomas

2000-01-01

This research thesis addresses the study of dust in young supernovae remnants observed in middle infrared, mainly by means of the ISOCAM instrument installed on the ISO satellite. The author first presents the supernovae physics and the studied young remnants, describes dusts and the main sites of formation and destruction, and outlines the difficulties and benefits of observations performed in the middle infrared. Then, the author reports acquired evidences related to the formation of dusts in supernovae, and the search for a millimetre emission by cold dust contained in regions which are not yet excited by the shock, in order to better assess the overall quantities created by supernovae. He reports the use of observations of dust and neon in Cassiopeia A to perform a diagnosis on the mixture of elements during the supernovae explosion [fr

Physics of the Cosmic Microwave Background and the Planck Mission

CERN Document Server

Kurki-Suonio, Hannu

2012-01-01

This lecture is a sketch of the physics of the cosmic microwave background. The observed anisotropy can be divided into four main contributions: variations in the temperature and gravitational potential of the primordial plasma, Doppler effect from its motion, and a net red/blueshift the photons accumulate from traveling through evolving gravitational potentials on their way from the primordial plasma to here. These variations are due to primordial perturbations, probably caused by quantum fluctuations in the very early universe. The ongoing Planck satellite mission to observe the cosmic microwave background is also described.

Texture orientation-based algorithm for detecting infrared maritime targets.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Bin; Dong, Lili; Zhao, Ming; Wu, Houde; Xu, Wenhai

2015-05-20

Infrared maritime target detection is a key technology for maritime target searching systems. However, in infrared maritime images (IMIs) taken under complicated sea conditions, background clutters, such as ocean waves, clouds or sea fog, usually have high intensity that can easily overwhelm the brightness of real targets, which is difficult for traditional target detection algorithms to deal with. To mitigate this problem, this paper proposes a novel target detection algorithm based on texture orientation. This algorithm first extracts suspected targets by analyzing the intersubband correlation between horizontal and vertical wavelet subbands of the original IMI on the first scale. Then the self-adaptive wavelet threshold denoising and local singularity analysis of the original IMI is combined to remove false alarms further. Experiments show that compared with traditional algorithms, this algorithm can suppress background clutter much better and realize better single-frame detection for infrared maritime targets. Besides, in order to guarantee accurate target extraction further, the pipeline-filtering algorithm is adopted to eliminate residual false alarms. The high practical value and applicability of this proposed strategy is backed strongly by experimental data acquired under different environmental conditions.

The Andromeda Optical and Infrared Disk Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Sick, J.; Courteau, S.; Cuillandre, J.-C.

2014-03-01

The Andromeda Optical and Infrared Disk Survey has mapped M31 in u* g' r' i' JKs wavelengths out to R = 40 kpc using the MegaCam and WIRCam wide-field cameras on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Our survey is uniquely designed to simultaneously resolve stars while also carefully reproducing the surface brightness of M31, allowing us to study M31's global structure in the context of both resolved stellar populations and spectral energy distributions. We use the Elixir-LSB method to calibrate the optical u* g' r' i' images by building real-time maps of the sky background with sky-target nodding. These maps are stable to μg ≲ 28.5 mag arcsec-2 and reveal warps in the outer M31 disk in surface brightness. The equivalent WIRCam mapping in the near-infrared uses a combination of sky-target nodding and image-to-image sky offset optimization to produce stable surface brightnesses. This study enables a detailed analysis of the systematics of spectral energy distribution fitting with near-infrared bands where asymptotic giant branch stars impose a significant, but ill-constrained, contribution to the near-infrared light of a galaxy. Here we present panchromatic surface brightness maps and initial results from our near-infrared resolved stellar catalog.

Moving object detection in video satellite image based on deep learning

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xueyang; Xiang, Junhua

2017-11-01

Moving object detection in video satellite image is studied. A detection algorithm based on deep learning is proposed. The small scale characteristics of remote sensing video objects are analyzed. Firstly, background subtraction algorithm of adaptive Gauss mixture model is used to generate region proposals. Then the objects in region proposals are classified via the deep convolutional neural network. Thus moving objects of interest are detected combined with prior information of sub-satellite point. The deep convolution neural network employs a 21-layer residual convolutional neural network, and trains the network parameters by transfer learning. Experimental results about video from Tiantuo-2 satellite demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Satellite-Enhanced Regional Downscaling for Applied Studies: Extreme Precipitation Events in Southeastern South America

Science.gov (United States)

Nunes, A.; Gomes, G.; Ivanov, V. Y.

2016-12-01

Frequently found in southeastern South America during the warm season from October through May, strong and localized precipitation maxima are usually associated with the presence of mesoscale convective complexes (MCCs) travelling across the region. Flashfloods and landslides can be caused by these extremes in precipitation, with damages to the local communities. Heavily populated, southeastern South America hosts many agricultural activities and hydroelectric production. It encompasses one of the most important river basins in South America, the La Plata River Basin. Therefore, insufficient precipitation is equally prejudicial to the region socio-economic activities. MCCs are originated in the warm season of many regions of the world, however South American MCCs are related to the most severe thunderstorms, and have significantly contributed to the precipitation regime. We used the hourly outputs of Satellite-enhanced Regional Downscaling for Applied Studies (SRDAS), developed at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, in the analysis of the dynamics and physical characteristics of MCCs in South America. SRDAS is the 25-km resolution downscaling of a global reanalysis available from January 1998 through December 2010. The Regional Spectral Model is the SRDAS atmospheric component and assimilates satellite-based precipitation estimates from the NOAA/Climate Prediction Center MORPHing technique global precipitation analyses. In this study, the SRDAS atmospheric and land-surface variables, global reanalysis products, infrared satellite imagery, and the physical retrievals from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), on board of the NASA's Aqua satellite, were used in the evaluation of the MCCs developed in southeastern South America from 2008 and 2010. Low-level circulations and vertical profiles were analyzed together to establish the relevance of the moisture transport in connection with the upper-troposphere dynamics to the development of those MCCs.

Effects of Atmospheric Water Vapor and Clouds on NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) Satellite Data.

Science.gov (United States)

1984-07-01

the effect of inadequate information about world food supplies. The impact of the Soviet grain buys of 1972 are a case in point. The last ten...First came TIROS-I ( Televison and Infrared Observational Satellite) in the early 1960’s. The TIROS Operational Satellite (TOS) or ESSA 5 (Environmental...these items impact on the calculated VIN. Other than water, most objects in a scene transmit very little visible solar radiation. The energy

Robust Small Target Co-Detection from Airborne Infrared Image Sequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, Jingli; Wen, Chenglin; Liu, Meiqin

2017-09-29

In this paper, a novel infrared target co-detection model combining the self-correlation features of backgrounds and the commonality features of targets in the spatio-temporal domain is proposed to detect small targets in a sequence of infrared images with complex backgrounds. Firstly, a dense target extraction model based on nonlinear weights is proposed, which can better suppress background of images and enhance small targets than weights of singular values. Secondly, a sparse target extraction model based on entry-wise weighted robust principal component analysis is proposed. The entry-wise weight adaptively incorporates structural prior in terms of local weighted entropy, thus, it can extract real targets accurately and suppress background clutters efficiently. Finally, the commonality of targets in the spatio-temporal domain are used to construct target refinement model for false alarms suppression and target confirmation. Since real targets could appear in both of the dense and sparse reconstruction maps of a single frame, and form trajectories after tracklet association of consecutive frames, the location correlation of the dense and sparse reconstruction maps for a single frame and tracklet association of the location correlation maps for successive frames have strong ability to discriminate between small targets and background clutters. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed small target co-detection method can not only suppress background clutters effectively, but also detect targets accurately even if with target-like interference.

Community Radiative Transfer Model for Inter-Satellites Calibration and Verification

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Q.; Nalli, N. R.; Ignatov, A.; Garrett, K.; Chen, Y.; Weng, F.; Boukabara, S. A.; van Delst, P. F.; Groff, D. N.; Collard, A.; Joseph, E.; Morris, V. R.; Minnett, P. J.

2014-12-01

Developed at the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation, the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) [1], operationally supports satellite radiance assimilation for weather forecasting. The CRTM also supports JPSS/NPP and GOES-R missions [2] for instrument calibration, validation, monitoring long-term trending, and satellite retrieved products [3]. The CRTM is used daily at the NOAA NCEP to quantify the biases and standard deviations between radiance simulations and satellite radiance measurements in a time series and angular dependency. The purposes of monitoring the data assimilation system are to ensure the proper performance of the assimilation system and to diagnose problems with the system for future improvements. The CRTM is a very useful tool for cross-sensor verifications. Using the double difference method, it can remove the biases caused by slight differences in spectral response and geometric angles between measurements of the two instruments. The CRTM is particularly useful to reduce the difference between instruments for climate studies [4]. In this study, we will carry out the assessment of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) [5] Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) data [6], Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) data, and data for Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) [7][8] thermal emissive bands. We use dedicated radiosondes and surface data acquired from NOAA Aerosols and Ocean Science Expeditions (AEROSE) [9]. The high quality radiosondes were launched when Suomi NPP flew over NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown situated in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. The atmospheric data include profiles of temperature, water vapor, and ozone, as well as total aerosol optical depths. The surface data includes air temperature and humidity at 2 meters, skin temperature (Marine Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer, M-AERI [10]), surface temperature, and surface wind vector. [1] Liu, Q., and F. Weng, 2006: JAS [2] Liu, Q

Sources of the Radio Background Considered

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singal, J.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U.; Stawarz, L.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U. /Jagiellonian U., Astron. Observ.; Lawrence, A.; /Edinburgh U., Inst. Astron. /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U.; Petrosian, V.; /KIPAC, Menlo Park /Stanford U., Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., Appl. Phys. Dept.

2011-08-22

We investigate possible origins of the extragalactic radio background reported by the ARCADE 2 collaboration. The surface brightness of the background is several times higher than that which would result from currently observed radio sources. We consider contributions to the background from diffuse synchrotron emission from clusters and the intergalactic medium, previously unrecognized flux from low surface brightness regions of radio sources, and faint point sources below the flux limit of existing surveys. By examining radio source counts available in the literature, we conclude that most of the radio background is produced by radio point sources that dominate at sub {mu}Jy fluxes. We show that a truly diffuse background produced by elections far from galaxies is ruled out because such energetic electrons would overproduce the observed X-ray/{gamma}-ray background through inverse Compton scattering of the other photon fields. Unrecognized flux from low surface brightness regions of extended radio sources, or moderate flux sources missed entirely by radio source count surveys, cannot explain the bulk of the observed background, but may contribute as much as 10%. We consider both radio supernovae and radio quiet quasars as candidate sources for the background, and show that both fail to produce it at the observed level because of insufficient number of objects and total flux, although radio quiet quasars contribute at the level of at least a few percent. We conclude that the most important population for production of the background is likely ordinary starforming galaxies above redshift 1 characterized by an evolving radio far-infrared correlation, which increases toward the radio loud with redshift.

Modelling Angular Dependencies in Land Surface Temperatures From the SEVIRI Instrument onboard the Geostationary Meteosat Second Generation Satellites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Mads Olander; Pinheiro, AC; Proud, Simon Richard

2010-01-01

on vegetation structure and viewing and illumination geometry. Despite this, these effects are not considered in current operational LST products from neither polar-orbiting nor geostationary satellites. In this paper, we simulate the angular dependence that can be expected when estimating LST with the viewing...... geometry of the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager sensor across the African continent and compare it to a normalized view geometry. We use the modified geometric projection model that estimates the scene thermal infrared radiance from a surface covered...

Action of radiation and serotin on DNA and satellite DNA of thermodynamic parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanaya, T.V.

1987-01-01

A study was made on the effect of X-rays on thermal denaturation of DNA and satellite DNA of cattle spleen against the background of 10 -3 M serotonin influence. The minimal dose at which the damage of satellite DNA is observed, is equal to 38 Gy; similar damage of DNA requires the double dose. Serotonin with 10 -3 M concentration doesn't change thermodynamic DNA characteristics, but its presence in the moment of irradiation even at 152 Gy dose reveals the clearly pronounced protection effect on satellite DNA damage

Validation of the CHIRPS Satellite Rainfall Estimates over Eastern of Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Dinku, T.; Funk, C. C.; Tadesse, T.; Ceccato, P.

2017-12-01

Long and temporally consistent rainfall time series are essential in climate analyses and applications. Rainfall data from station observations are inadequate over many parts of the world due to sparse or non-existent observation networks, or limited reporting of gauge observations. As a result, satellite rainfall estimates have been used as an alternative or as a supplement to station observations. However, many satellite-based rainfall products with long time series suffer from coarse spatial and temporal resolutions and inhomogeneities caused by variations in satellite inputs. There are some satellite rainfall products with reasonably consistent time series, but they are often limited to specific geographic areas. The Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation (CHIRP) and CHIRP combined with station observations (CHIRPS) are recently produced satellite-based rainfall products with relatively high spatial and temporal resolutions and quasi-global coverage. In this study, CHIRP and CHIRPS were evaluated over East Africa at daily, dekadal (10-day) and monthly time scales. The evaluation was done by comparing the satellite products with rain gauge data from about 1200 stations. The is unprecedented number of validation stations for this region covering. The results provide a unique region-wide understanding of how satellite products perform over different climatic/geographic (low lands, mountainous regions, and coastal) regions. The CHIRP and CHIRPS products were also compared with two similar satellite rainfall products: the African Rainfall Climatology version 2 (ARC2) and the latest release of the Tropical Applications of Meteorology using Satellite data (TAMSAT). The results show that both CHIRP and CHIRPS products are significantly better than ARC2 with higher skill and low or no bias. These products were also found to be slightly better than the latest version of the TAMSAT product. A comparison was also done between the latest release of the TAMSAT product

Detection and retrieval of multi-layered cloud properties using satellite data

Science.gov (United States)

Minnis, Patrick; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Chen, Yan; Yi, Helen; Huang, Jianping; Nguyen, Louis; Khaiyer, Mandana M.

2005-10-01

Four techniques for detecting multilayered clouds and retrieving the cloud properties using satellite data are explored to help address the need for better quantification of cloud vertical structure. A new technique was developed using multispectral imager data with secondary imager products (infrared brightness temperature differences, BTD). The other methods examined here use atmospheric sounding data (CO2-slicing, CO2), BTD, or microwave data. The CO2 and BTD methods are limited to optically thin cirrus over low clouds, while the MWR methods are limited to ocean areas only. This paper explores the use of the BTD and CO2 methods as applied to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer EOS (AMSR-E) data taken from the Aqua satellite over ocean surfaces. Cloud properties derived from MODIS data for the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Project are used to classify cloud phase and optical properties. The preliminary results focus on a MODIS image taken off the Uruguayan coast. The combined MW visible infrared (MVI) method is assumed to be the reference for detecting multilayered ice-over-water clouds. The BTD and CO2 techniques accurately match the MVI classifications in only 51 and 41% of the cases, respectively. Much additional study is need to determine the uncertainties in the MVI method and to analyze many more overlapped cloud scenes.

Infrared variation reduction by simultaneous background suppression and target contrast enhancement for deep convolutional neural network-based automatic target recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sungho

2017-06-01

Automatic target recognition (ATR) is a traditionally challenging problem in military applications because of the wide range of infrared (IR) image variations and the limited number of training images. IR variations are caused by various three-dimensional target poses, noncooperative weather conditions (fog and rain), and difficult target acquisition environments. Recently, deep convolutional neural network-based approaches for RGB images (RGB-CNN) showed breakthrough performance in computer vision problems, such as object detection and classification. The direct use of RGB-CNN to the IR ATR problem fails to work because of the IR database problems (limited database size and IR image variations). An IR variation-reduced deep CNN (IVR-CNN) to cope with the problems is presented. The problem of limited IR database size is solved by a commercial thermal simulator (OKTAL-SE). The second problem of IR variations is mitigated by the proposed shifted ramp function-based intensity transformation. This can suppress the background and enhance the target contrast simultaneously. The experimental results on the synthesized IR images generated by the thermal simulator (OKTAL-SE) validated the feasibility of IVR-CNN for military ATR applications.

Laboratory Reference Spectroscopy of Icy Satellite Candidate Surface Materials (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Dalton, J. B.; Jamieson, C. S.; Shirley, J. H.; Pitman, K. M.; Kariya, M.; Crandall, P.

2013-12-01

The bulk of our knowledge of icy satellite composition continues to be derived from ultraviolet, visible and infrared remote sensing observations. Interpretation of remote sensing observations relies on availability of laboratory reference spectra of candidate surface materials. These are compared directly to observations, or incorporated into models to generate synthetic spectra representing mixtures of the candidate materials. Spectral measurements for the study of icy satellites must be taken under appropriate conditions (cf. Dalton, 2010; also http://mos.seti.org/icyworldspectra.html for a database of compounds) of temperature (typically 50 to 150 K), pressure (from 10-9 to 10-3 Torr), viewing geometry, (i.e., reflectance), and optical depth (must manifest near infrared bands but avoid saturation in the mid-infrared fundamentals). The Planetary Ice Characterization Laboratory (PICL) is being developed at JPL to provide robust reference spectra for icy satellite surface materials. These include sulfate hydrates, hydrated and hydroxylated minerals, and both organic and inorganic volatile ices. Spectral measurements are performed using an Analytical Spectral Devices FR3 portable grating spectrometer from .35 to 2.5 microns, and a Thermo-Nicolet 6500 Fourier-Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectrometer from 1.25 to 20 microns. These are interfaced with the Basic Extraterrestrial Environment Simulation Testbed (BEEST), a vacuum chamber capable of pressures below 10-9 Torr with a closed loop liquid helium cryostat with custom heating element capable of temperatures from 30-800 Kelvins. To generate optical constants (real and imaginary index of refraction) for use in nonlinear mixing models (i.e., Hapke, 1981 and Shkuratov, 1999), samples are ground and sieved to six different size fractions or deposited at varying rates to provide a range of grain sizes for optical constants calculations based on subtractive Kramers-Kronig combined with Hapke forward modeling (Dalton and

Bias correction of daily satellite precipitation data using genetic algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Pratama, A. W.; Buono, A.; Hidayat, R.; Harsa, H.

2018-05-01

Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) was producted by blending Satellite-only Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation (CHIRP) with Stasion observations data. The blending process was aimed to reduce bias of CHIRP. However, Biases of CHIRPS on statistical moment and quantil values were high during wet season over Java Island. This paper presented a bias correction scheme to adjust statistical moment of CHIRP using observation precipitation data. The scheme combined Genetic Algorithm and Nonlinear Power Transformation, the results was evaluated based on different season and different elevation level. The experiment results revealed that the scheme robustly reduced bias on variance around 100% reduction and leaded to reduction of first, and second quantile biases. However, bias on third quantile only reduced during dry months. Based on different level of elevation, the performance of bias correction process is only significantly different on skewness indicators.

Testing the gravitational interaction in the field of the Earth via satellite laser ranging and the Laser Ranged Satellites Experiment (LARASE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucchesi, D M; Peron, R; Visco, M; Anselmo, L; Pardini, C; Bassan, M; Pucacco, G

2015-01-01

In this work, the Laser Ranged Satellites Experiment (LARASE) is presented. This is a research program that aims to perform new refined tests and measurements of gravitation in the field of the Earth in the weak field and slow motion (WFSM) limit of general relativity (GR). For this objective we use the free available data relative to geodetic passive satellite lasers tracked from a network of ground stations by means of the satellite laser ranging (SLR) technique. After a brief introduction to GR and its WFSM limit, which aims to contextualize the physical background of the tests and measurements that LARASE will carry out, we focus on the current limits of validation of GR and on current constraints on the alternative theories of gravity that have been obtained with the precise SLR measurements of the two LAGEOS satellites performed so far. Afterward, we present the scientific goals of LARASE in terms of upcoming measurements and tests of relativistic physics. Finally, we introduce our activities and we give a number of new results regarding the improvements to the modelling of both gravitational and non-gravitational perturbations to the orbit of the satellites. These activities are a needed prerequisite to improve the forthcoming new measurements of gravitation. An innovation with respect to the past is the specialization of the models to the LARES satellite, especially for what concerns the modelling of its spin evolution, the neutral drag perturbation and the impact of Earth's solid tides on the satellite orbit. (paper)

High Resolution Satellite Remote Sensing of the 2013-2014 Eruption of Sinabung Volcano, Sumatra, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Wessels, R. L.; Griswold, J. P.

2014-12-01

Satellite remote sensing provided timely observations of the volcanic unrest and several months-long eruption at Sinabung Volcano, Indonesia. Visible to thermal optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems provided frequent observations of Sinabung. High resolution image data with spatial resolutions from 0.5 to 1.5m offered detailed measurements of early summit deformation and subsequent lava dome and lava flow extrusion. The high resolution data were captured by commercial satellites such as WorldView-1 and -2 visible to near-infrared (VNIR) sensors and by CosmoSkyMed, Radarsat-2, and TerraSar-X SAR systems. Less frequent 90 to 100m spatial resolution night time thermal infrared (TIR) observations were provided by ASTER and Landsat-8. The combination of data from multiple sensors allowed us to construct a more complete timeline of volcanic activity than was available via only ground-based observations. This satellite observation timeline documents estimates of lava volume and effusion rates and major explosive and lava collapse events. Frequent, repeat volume estimates suggest at least three high effusion rate pulses of up to 20 m3/s occurred during the first three months of lava effusion with an average effusion rate of 6m3/s from January 2014 to August 2014. Many of these rates and events show some correlation to variations in the Real-time Seismic-Amplitude Measurement (RSAM) documented by the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geologic Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM).

Carbon Monoxide Distribution over Peninsular Malaysia from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)

Science.gov (United States)

Rajab, Jaso M.; MatJafri, M. Z.; Lim, H. S.; Abdullah, K.

2009-07-01

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) onboard NASA's Aqua satellite. It daily coverage of ˜70% of the planet represents a significant evolutionary advance in satellite traces gas remote sensing. AIRS, the part of a large international investment to upgrade the operational meteorological satellite systems, is first of the new generation of meteorological advanced sounders for operational and research use, Providing New Insights into Weather and Climate for the 21st Century. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a ubiquitous, an indoor and outdoor air pollutant, is not a significant greenhouse gas as it absorbs little infrared radiation from the Earth. However, it does have an influence on oxidization in the atmosphere through interaction with hydroxyl radicals (OH), which also react with methane, halocarbons and tropospheric ozone. It produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass burning, and that it has a role as a smog. The aim of this investigation is to study the (CO) carbon monoxide distribution over Peninsular Malaysia. The land use map of the Peninsular Malaysia was conducted by using CO total column amount, obtained from AIRS data, the map & data was processed and analyzed by using Photoshop & SigmaPlot 11.0 programs and compared for timing of various (day time) (28 August 2005 & 29 August 2007) for both direct comparison and the comparison using the same a priori profile, the CO concentrations in 28/8/2005 higher. The CO maps were generated using Kriging Interpolation technique. This interpolation technique produced high correlation coefficient, R2 and low root mean square error, RMS for CO. This study provided useful information for influence change of CO concentration on varies temperature.

Andromeda (M31) optical and infrared disk survey. I. Insights in wide-field near-IR surface photometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sick, Jonathan; Courteau, Stéphane; Cuillandre, Jean-Charles; McDonald, Michael; De Jong, Roelof; Tully, R. Brent

2014-01-01

We present wide-field near-infrared J and K s images of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) taken with WIRCam at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope as part of the Andromeda Optical and Infrared Disk Survey. This data set allows simultaneous observations of resolved stars and near-infrared (NIR) surface brightness across M31's entire bulge and disk (within R = 22 kpc), permitting a direct test of the stellar composition of near-infrared light in a nearby galaxy. Here we develop NIR observation and reduction methods to recover a uniform surface brightness map across the 3° × 1° disk of M31 with 27 WIRCam fields. Two sky-target nodding strategies are tested, and we find that strictly minimizing sky sampling latency cannot improve background subtraction accuracy to better than 2% of the background level due to spatio-temporal variations in the NIR skyglow. We fully describe our WIRCam reduction pipeline and advocate using flats built from night-sky images over a single night, rather than dome flats that do not capture the WIRCam illumination field. Contamination from scattered light and thermal background in sky flats has a negligible effect on the surface brightness shape compared to the stochastic differences in background shape between sky and galaxy disk fields, which are ∼0.3% of the background level. The most dramatic calibration step is the introduction of scalar sky offsets to each image that optimizes surface brightness continuity. Sky offsets reduce the mean surface brightness difference between observation blocks from 1% to <0.1% of the background level, though the absolute background level remains statistically uncertain to 0.15% of the background level. We present our WIRCam reduction pipeline and performance analysis to give specific recommendations for the improvement of NIR wide-field imaging methods.

Appraising city-scale pollution monitoring capabilities of multi-satellite datasets using portable pollutant monitors

Science.gov (United States)

Aliyu, Yahaya A.; Botai, Joel O.

2018-04-01

The retrieval characteristics for a city-scale satellite experiment was explored over a Nigerian city. The study evaluated carbon monoxide and aerosol contents in the city atmosphere. We utilized the MSA Altair 5× gas detector and CW-HAT200 particulate counter to investigate the city-scale monitoring capabilities of satellite pollution observing instruments; atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS), measurement of pollution in the troposphere (MOPITT), moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) and ozone monitoring instrument (OMI). To achieve this, we employed the Kriging interpolation technique to collocate the satellite pollutant estimations over 19 ground sample sites for the period of 2015-2016. The portable pollutant devices were validated using the WHO air filter sampling model. To determine the city-scale performance of the satellite datasets, performance indicators: correlation coefficient, model efficiency, reliability index and root mean square error, were adopted as measures. The comparative analysis revealed that MOPITT carbon monoxide (CO) and MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) estimates are the appropriate satellite measurements for ground equivalents in Zaria, Nigeria. Our findings were within the acceptable limits of similar studies that utilized reference stations. In conclusion, this study offers direction to Nigeria's air quality policy organizers about available alternative air pollution measurements for mitigating air quality effects within its limited resource environment.

Classification of Clouds and Deep Convection from GEOS-5 Using Satellite Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Putman, William; Suarez, Max

2010-01-01

With the increased resolution of global atmospheric models and the push toward global cloud resolving models, the resemblance of model output to satellite observations has become strikingly similar. As we progress with our adaptation of the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5) as a high resolution cloud system resolving model, evaluation of cloud properties and deep convection require in-depth analysis beyond a visual comparison. Outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) provides a sufficient comparison with infrared (IR) satellite imagery to isolate areas of deep convection. We have adopted a binning technique to generate a series of histograms for OLR which classify the presence and fraction of clear sky versus deep convection in the tropics that can be compared with a similar analyses of IR imagery from composite Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) observations. We will present initial results that have been used to evaluate the amount of deep convective parameterization required within the model as we move toward cloud system resolving resolutions of 10- to 1-km globally.

Evaluating changes in the elemental composition of micrometeorites during entry into the earth`s atmosphere

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Rudraswami, N.G.; ShyamPrasad, M.; Dey, S.; Plane, J.M.C.; Feng, W.; Taylor, S.

the cometary bodies based on Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data, although the IRAS evidence is not very clear to arrive at accurate estimates (Dermott et al. 1994; 1996). Similarly, cosmic background explorer (COBE) observation suggested trapping...

Cloud Masking and Surface Temperature Distribution in the Polar Regions Using AVHRR and other Satellite Data

Science.gov (United States)

Comiso, Joey C.

1995-01-01

Surface temperature is one of the key variables associated with weather and climate. Accurate measurements of surface air temperatures are routinely made in meteorological stations around the world. Also, satellite data have been used to produce synoptic global temperature distributions. However, not much attention has been paid on temperature distributions in the polar regions. In the polar regions, the number of stations is very sparse. Because of adverse weather conditions and general inaccessibility, surface field measurements are also limited. Furthermore, accurate retrievals from satellite data in the region have been difficult to make because of persistent cloudiness and ambiguities in the discrimination of clouds from snow or ice. Surface temperature observations are required in the polar regions for air-sea-ice interaction studies, especially in the calculation of heat, salinity, and humidity fluxes. They are also useful in identifying areas of melt or meltponding within the sea ice pack and the ice sheets and in the calculation of emissivities of these surfaces. Moreover, the polar regions are unique in that they are the sites of temperature extremes, the location of which is difficult to identify without a global monitoring system. Furthermore, the regions may provide an early signal to a potential climate change because such signal is expected to be amplified in the region due to feedback effects. In cloud free areas, the thermal channels from infrared systems provide surface temperatures at relatively good accuracies. Previous capabilities include the use of the Temperature Humidity Infrared Radiometer (THIR) onboard the Nimbus-7 satellite which was launched in 1978. Current capabilities include the use of the Advance Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) aboard NOAA satellites. Together, these two systems cover a span of 16 years of thermal infrared data. Techniques for retrieving surface temperatures with these sensors in the polar regions have

Satellite and ground-based sensors for the Urban Heat Island analysis in the city of Rome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fabrizi, Roberto; Bonafoni, Stefania; Biondi, Riccardo

2010-01-01

In this work, the trend of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) of Rome is analyzed by both ground-based weather stations and a satellite-based infrared sensor. First, we have developed a suitable algorithm employing satellite brightness temperatures for the estimation of the air temperature belonging...... and nighttime scenes taken between 2003 and 2006 have been processed. Analysis of the Canopy Layer Heat Island (CLHI) during summer months reveals a mean growth in magnitude of 3-4 K during nighttime and a negative or almost zero CLHI intensity during daytime, confirmed by the weather stations. © 2010...... by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Keyword: Thermal pollution,Summer months,Advanced-along track scanning radiometers,Urban heat island,Remote sensing,Canopy layer,Atmospheric temperature,Ground based sensors,Weather information services,Satellite remote sensing,Infra-red sensor,Weather stations...

An SDR based AIS receiver for satellites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Jesper Abildgaard; Mortensen, Hans Peter; Nielsen, Jens Frederik Dalsgaard

2011-01-01

For a few years now, there has been a high interest in monitoring the global ship traffic from space. A few satellite, capable of listening for ship borne AIS transponders have already been launched, and soon the AAUSAT3, carrying two different types of AIS receivers will also be launched. One...... of the AIS receivers onboard AAUSAT3 is an SDR based AIS receiver. This paper serves to describe the background of the AIS system, and how the SDR based receiver has been integrated into the AAUSAT3 satellite. Amongst some of the benefits of using an SDR based receiver is, that due to its versatility, new...... detection algorithms are easily deployed, and it is easily adapted the new proposed AIS transmission channels....

Saturn satellites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruskol, E.L.

1981-01-01

The characteristics of the Saturn satellites are discussed. The satellites close to Saturn - Janus, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea - rotate along the circular orbits. High reflectivity is attributed to them, and the density of the satellites is 1 g/cm 3 . Titan is one of the biggest Saturn satellites. Titan has atmosphere many times more powerful than that of Mars. The Titan atmosphere is a peculiar medium with a unique methane and hydrogen distribution in the whole Solar system. The external satellites - Hyperion, Japetus and Phoebe - are poorly investigated. Neither satellite substance density, nor their composition are known. The experimental data on the Saturn rings obtained on the ''Pioneer-11'' and ''Voyager-1'' satellites are presented [ru

Infrared and visible image fusion based on robust principal component analysis and compressed sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jun; Song, Minghui; Peng, Yuanxi

2018-03-01

Current infrared and visible image fusion methods do not achieve adequate information extraction, i.e., they cannot extract the target information from infrared images while retaining the background information from visible images. Moreover, most of them have high complexity and are time-consuming. This paper proposes an efficient image fusion framework for infrared and visible images on the basis of robust principal component analysis (RPCA) and compressed sensing (CS). The novel framework consists of three phases. First, RPCA decomposition is applied to the infrared and visible images to obtain their sparse and low-rank components, which represent the salient features and background information of the images, respectively. Second, the sparse and low-rank coefficients are fused by different strategies. On the one hand, the measurements of the sparse coefficients are obtained by the random Gaussian matrix, and they are then fused by the standard deviation (SD) based fusion rule. Next, the fused sparse component is obtained by reconstructing the result of the fused measurement using the fast continuous linearized augmented Lagrangian algorithm (FCLALM). On the other hand, the low-rank coefficients are fused using the max-absolute rule. Subsequently, the fused image is superposed by the fused sparse and low-rank components. For comparison, several popular fusion algorithms are tested experimentally. By comparing the fused results subjectively and objectively, we find that the proposed framework can extract the infrared targets while retaining the background information in the visible images. Thus, it exhibits state-of-the-art performance in terms of both fusion effects and timeliness.

A Land Product Characterization System for Comparative Analysis of Satellite Data and Products

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin Gallo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available A Land Product Characterization System (LPCS has been developed to provide land data and products to the community of individuals interested in validating space-based land products by comparing them with similar products available from other sensors or surface-based observations. The LPCS facilitates the application of global multi-satellite and in situ data for characterization and validation of higher-level, satellite-derived, land surface products (e.g., surface reflectance, normalized difference vegetation index, and land surface temperature. The LPCS includes data search, inventory, access, and analysis functions that will permit data to be easily identified, retrieved, co-registered, and compared statistically through a single interface. The system currently includes data and products available from Landsat 4 through 8, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS Terra and Aqua, Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP/Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS, and simulated data for the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-16 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI. In addition to the future inclusion of in situ data, higher-level land products from the European Space Agency (ESA Sentinel-2 and -3 series of satellites, and other high and medium resolution spatial sensors, will be included as available. When fully implemented, any of the sensor data or products included in the LPCS would be available for comparative analysis.

Near-infrared transillumination photography of intraocular tumours.

Science.gov (United States)

Krohn, Jørgen; Ulltang, Erlend; Kjersem, Bård

2013-10-01

To present a technique for near-infrared transillumination imaging of intraocular tumours based on the modifications of a conventional digital slit lamp camera system. The Haag-Streit Photo-Slit Lamp BX 900 (Haag-Streit AG) was used for transillumination photography by gently pressing the tip of the background illumination cable against the surface of the patient's eye. Thus the light from the flash unit was transmitted into the eye, leading to improved illumination and image resolution. The modification for near-infrared photography was done by replacing the original camera with a Canon EOS 30D (Canon Inc) converted by Advanced Camera Services Ltd. In this camera, the infrared blocking filter was exchanged for a 720 nm long-pass filter, so that the near-infrared part of the spectrum was recorded by the sensor. The technique was applied in eight patients: three with anterior choroidal melanoma, three with ciliary body melanoma and two with ocular pigment alterations. The good diagnostic quality of the photographs made it possible to evaluate the exact location and extent of the lesions in relation to pigmented intraocular landmarks such as the ora serrata and ciliary body. The photographic procedure did not lead to any complications. We recommend near-infrared transillumination photography as a supplementary diagnostic tool for the evaluation and documentation of anteriorly located intraocular tumours.

Sea and Freshwater Ice Concentration from VIIRS on Suomi NPP and the Future JPSS Satellites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yinghui Liu

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Information on ice is important for shipping, weather forecasting, and climate monitoring. Historically, ice cover has been detected and ice concentration has been measured using relatively low-resolution space-based passive microwave data. This study presents an algorithm to detect ice and estimate ice concentration in clear-sky areas over the ocean and inland lakes and rivers using high-resolution data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS onboard the Suomi National Polar Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP and on future Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS satellites, providing spatial detail that cannot be obtained with passive microwave data. A threshold method is employed with visible and infrared observations to identify ice, then a tie-point algorithm is used to determine the representative reflectance/temperature of pure ice, estimate the ice concentration, and refine the ice cover mask. The VIIRS ice concentration is validated using observations from Landsat 8. Results show that VIIRS has an overall bias of −0.3% compared to Landsat 8 ice concentration, with a precision (uncertainty of 9.5%. Biases and precision values for different ice concentration subranges from 0% to 100% can be larger.

Far infrared supplement: Catalog of infrared observations, second edition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gezari, D.Y.; Schmitz, M.; Mead, J.M.

1988-08-01

The Far Infrared Supplement: Catalog of Infrared Observations summarizes all infrared astronomical observations at far infrared wavelengths (5 to 1000 microns) published in the scientific literature from 1965 through 1986. The Supplement list contain 25 percent of the observations in the full Catalog of Infrared Observations (CIO), and essentially eliminates most visible stars from the listings. The Supplement is thus more compact than the main catalog, and is intended for easy reference during astronomical observations. The Far Infrared Supplement (2nd Edition) includes the Index of Infrared Source Positions and the Bibliography of Infrared Astronomy for the subset of far infrared observations listed

Ozone Satellite Data Synergy and Combination with Non-satellite Data in the AURORA project

Science.gov (United States)

Cortesi, U.; Tirelli, C.; Arola, A.; Dragani, R.; Keppens, A.; Loenen, E.; Masini, A.; Tsiakos, , C.; van der A, R.; Verberne, K.

2017-12-01

The geostationary satellite constellation composed of TEMPO (North America), SENTINEL-4 (Europe) and GEMS (Asia) missions is a major instance of space component in the fundamentally new paradigm aimed at integrating information on air quality from a wide variety of sources. Space-borne data on tropospheric composition from new generation satellites have a growing impact in this context because of their unprecedented quantity and quality, while merging with non-satellite measurements and other types of auxiliary data via state-of-the-art modelling capabilities remains essential to fit the purpose of highly accurate information made readily available at high temporal and spatial resolution, both in analysis and forecast mode. Proper and effective implementation of this paradigm poses severe challenges to science, technology and applications that must be addressed in a closely interconnected manner to pave the way to high quality products and innovative services. Novel ideas and tools built on these three pillars are currently under investigation in the AURORA (Advanced Ultraviolet Radiation and Ozone Retrieval for Applications) Horizon 2020 project of the European Commission. The primary goal of the project is the proof of concept of a synergistic approach to the exploitation of Sentinel-4 and -5 Ozone measurements in the UV, Visible and Thermal Infrared based on the combination of an innovative data fusion method and assimilation models. The scientific objective shares the same level of priority with the technological effort to realize a prototype data processor capable to manage the full data processing chain and with the development of two downstream applications for demonstration purposes. The presentation offers a first insight in mid-term results of the project, which is mostly based on the use of synthetic data from the atmospheric Sentinels. Specific focus is given to the role of satellite data synergy in integrated systems for air quality monitoring, in

MID- AND FAR-INFRARED PROPERTIES OF A COMPLETE SAMPLE OF LOCAL ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichikawa, Kohei; Ueda, Yoshihiro; Terashima, Yuichi; Oyabu, Shinki; Gandhi, Poshak; Nakagawa, Takao; Matsuta, Keiko

2012-01-01

We investigate the mid- (MIR) to far-infrared (FIR) properties of a nearly complete sample of local active galactic nuclei (AGNs) detected in the Swift/Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) all-sky hard X-ray (14-195 keV) survey, based on the cross correlation with the AKARI infrared survey catalogs complemented by those with Infrared Astronomical Satellite and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Out of 135 non-blazer AGNs in the Swift/BAT nine-month catalog, we obtain the MIR photometric data for 128 sources either in the 9, 12, 18, 22, and/or 25 μm band. We find good correlation between their hard X-ray and MIR luminosities over three orders of magnitude (42 λ (9, 18 μm) < 45), which is tighter than that with the FIR luminosities at 90 μm. This suggests that thermal emission from hot dusts irradiated by the AGN emission dominate the MIR fluxes. Both X-ray unabsorbed and absorbed AGNs follow the same correlation, implying isotropic infrared emission, as expected in clumpy dust tori rather than homogeneous ones. We find excess signals around 9 μm in the averaged infrared spectral energy distribution from heavy obscured 'new type' AGNs with small scattering fractions in the X-ray spectra. This could be attributed to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission feature, suggesting that their host galaxies have strong starburst activities.

a Semi-Empirical Topographic Correction Model for Multi-Source Satellite Images

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Sa; Tian, Xinpeng; Liu, Qiang; Wen, Jianguang; Ma, Yushuang; Song, Zhenwei

2018-04-01

Topographic correction of surface reflectance in rugged terrain areas is the prerequisite for the quantitative application of remote sensing in mountainous areas. Physics-based radiative transfer model can be applied to correct the topographic effect and accurately retrieve the reflectance of the slope surface from high quality satellite image such as Landsat8 OLI. However, as more and more images data available from various of sensors, some times we can not get the accurate sensor calibration parameters and atmosphere conditions which are needed in the physics-based topographic correction model. This paper proposed a semi-empirical atmosphere and topographic corrction model for muti-source satellite images without accurate calibration parameters.Based on this model we can get the topographic corrected surface reflectance from DN data, and we tested and verified this model with image data from Chinese satellite HJ and GF. The result shows that the correlation factor was reduced almost 85 % for near infrared bands and the classification overall accuracy of classification increased 14 % after correction for HJ. The reflectance difference of slope face the sun and face away the sun have reduced after correction.

A simple and efficient algorithm to estimate daily global solar radiation from geostationary satellite data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Ning; Qin, Jun; Yang, Kun; Sun, Jiulin

2011-01-01

Surface global solar radiation (GSR) is the primary renewable energy in nature. Geostationary satellite data are used to map GSR in many inversion algorithms in which ground GSR measurements merely serve to validate the satellite retrievals. In this study, a simple algorithm with artificial neural network (ANN) modeling is proposed to explore the non-linear physical relationship between ground daily GSR measurements and Multi-functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT) all-channel observations in an effort to fully exploit information contained in both data sets. Singular value decomposition is implemented to extract the principal signals from satellite data and a novel method is applied to enhance ANN performance at high altitude. A three-layer feed-forward ANN model is trained with one year of daily GSR measurements at ten ground sites. This trained ANN is then used to map continuous daily GSR for two years, and its performance is validated at all 83 ground sites in China. The evaluation result demonstrates that this algorithm can quickly and efficiently build the ANN model that estimates daily GSR from geostationary satellite data with good accuracy in both space and time. -- Highlights: → A simple and efficient algorithm to estimate GSR from geostationary satellite data. → ANN model fully exploits both the information from satellite and ground measurements. → Good performance of the ANN model is comparable to that of the classical models. → Surface elevation and infrared information enhance GSR inversion.

Robust satellite techniques for monitoring volcanic eruptions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pergola, N.; Pietrapertosa, C. [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Metodologie Avanzate, Tito Scalo, PZ (Italy); Lacava, T.; Tramutoli, V. [Potenza Universita' della Basilicata, Potenza (Italy). Dipt. di Ingegneria e Fisica dell' Ambiente

2001-04-01

Through this paper the robust approach to monitoring volcanic aerosols by satellite is applied to an extended set of events affecting Stromboli and Etna volcanoes to assess its performance in automated detection of eruptive clouds and in monitoring pre-eruptive emission activities. Using only NOAA/AVHRR data at hand (without any specific atmospheric model or ancillary ground-based measurements) the proposed method automatically discriminates meteorological from eruptive volcanic clouds and, in several cases, identified pre-eruptive anomalies in the emission rates not identified by traditional methods. The main merit of this approach is its effectiveness in recognising field anomalies also in the presence of a highly variable surface background as well as its intrinsic exportability not only on different geographic areas but also on different satellite instrumental packages. In particular, the possibility to extend the proposed method to the incoming new MSG/SEVIRI satellite package (which is going to fly next year) with its improved spectral (specific bands for SO{sub 2}) and temporal (up to 15 min) resolutions has been evaluated representing the natural continuation of this work.

Satellite remote sensing of river inundation area, stage, and discharge: a review

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Laurence C.

1997-08-01

The growing availability of multi-temporal satellite data has increased opportunities for monitoring large rivers from space. A variety of passive and active sensors operating in the visible and microwave range are currently operating, or planned, which can estimate inundation area and delineate flood boundaries. Radar altimeters show great promise for directly measuring stage variation in large rivers. It also appears to be possible to obtain estimates of river discharge from space, using ground measurements and satellite data to construct empirical curves that relate water surface area to discharge. Extrapolation of these curves to ungauged sites may be possible for the special case of braided rivers.Where clouds, trees and floating vegetation do not obscure the water surface, high-resolution visible/infrared sensors provide good delineation of inundated areas. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors can penetrate clouds and can also detect standing water through emergent aquatic plants and forest canopies. However, multiple frequencies and polarizations are required for optimal discrimination of various inundated vegetation cover types. Existing single-polarization, fixed-frequency SARs are not sufficient for mapping inundation area in all riverine environments. In the absence of a space-borne multi-parameter SAR, a synergistic approach using single-frequency, fixed-polarization SAR and visible/infrared data will provide the best results over densely vegetated river floodplains.

RESOLVING THE COSMIC FAR-INFRARED BACKGROUND AT 450 AND 850 μm WITH SCUBA-2

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Chian-Chou; Cowie, Lennox L.; Barger, Amy J.; Casey, Caitlin M.; Lee, Nicholas; Sanders, David B.; Williams, Jonathan P.; Wang, Wei-Hao

2013-01-01

We use the SCUBA-2 submillimeter camera mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope to obtain extremely deep number counts at 450 and 850 μm. We combine data on two cluster lensing fields, A1689 and A370, and three blank fields, CDF-N, CDF-S, and COSMOS, to measure the counts over a wide flux range at each wavelength. We use statistical fits to broken power law representations to determine the number counts. This allows us to probe to the deepest possible level in the data. At both wavelengths our results agree well with the literature in the flux range over which they have been measured, with the exception of the 850 μm counts in CDF-S, where we do not observe the counts deficit found by previous single-dish observations. At 450 μm, we detect significant counts down to ∼1 mJy, an unprecedented depth at this wavelength. By integrating the number counts above this flux limit, we measure 113.9 +49.7 -28.4 Jy deg –2 of the 450 μm extragalactic background light (EBL). The majority of this contribution is from sources with S 450 μ m between 1-10 mJy, and these sources are likely to be the ones that are analogous to the local luminous infrared galaxies. At 850 μm, we measure 37.3 +21.1 -12.9 Jy deg –2 of the EBL. Because of the large systematic uncertainties on the COBE measurements, the percentage of the EBL we resolve could range from 48%-153% (44%-178%) at 450 (850) μm. Based on high-resolution Submillimeter Array observations of around half of the 4 σ 850 μm sample in CDF-N, we find that 12.5 +12.1 -6.8 % of the sources are blends of multiple fainter sources. This is a low multiple fraction, and we find no significant difference between our original SCUBA-2 850 μm counts and the multiplicity-corrected counts

Resolving the Cosmic Far-infrared Background at 450 and 850 μm with SCUBA-2

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chian-Chou; Cowie, Lennox L.; Barger, Amy J.; Casey, Caitlin. M.; Lee, Nicholas; Sanders, David B.; Wang, Wei-Hao; Williams, Jonathan P.

2013-10-01

We use the SCUBA-2 submillimeter camera mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope to obtain extremely deep number counts at 450 and 850 μm. We combine data on two cluster lensing fields, A1689 and A370, and three blank fields, CDF-N, CDF-S, and COSMOS, to measure the counts over a wide flux range at each wavelength. We use statistical fits to broken power law representations to determine the number counts. This allows us to probe to the deepest possible level in the data. At both wavelengths our results agree well with the literature in the flux range over which they have been measured, with the exception of the 850 μm counts in CDF-S, where we do not observe the counts deficit found by previous single-dish observations. At 450 μm, we detect significant counts down to ~1 mJy, an unprecedented depth at this wavelength. By integrating the number counts above this flux limit, we measure 113.9^{+49.7}_{-28.4} Jy deg-2 of the 450 μm extragalactic background light (EBL). The majority of this contribution is from sources with S 450 μm between 1-10 mJy, and these sources are likely to be the ones that are analogous to the local luminous infrared galaxies. At 850 μm, we measure 37.3^{+21.1}_{-12.9} Jy deg-2 of the EBL. Because of the large systematic uncertainties on the COBE measurements, the percentage of the EBL we resolve could range from 48%-153% (44%-178%) at 450 (850) μm. Based on high-resolution Submillimeter Array observations of around half of the 4 σ 850 μm sample in CDF-N, we find that 12.5^{ +12.1}_{ -6.8}% of the sources are blends of multiple fainter sources. This is a low multiple fraction, and we find no significant difference between our original SCUBA-2 850 μm counts and the multiplicity-corrected counts.

Design of active feedback controller used in the infrared beam line of SSRF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yongli; Tong Yajun; Zhang Zhaohong; Chen Min; Jiang Jianguo; Gong Peirong

2014-01-01

Background: The infrared beam line consists of many kinds of optical components that are susceptible to the external mechanical vibration, which will be further amplified by the long optical paths to seriously destroy the stability of infrared beam position. Purpose: The active feedback controller is used to stabilize the infrared beam position disturbed by the external environment. Methods: The design of the active feedback controller used in the infrared beam line of SSRF was proposed in this paper firstly, which included its background, light-path layout and operating process. Subsequently, the selections of the crucial components such as detector and actuator were discussed in details. Finally, the correction compensator design and its experimental test were also presented. The correction compensator design was realized by utilizing the frequency response method, and tested in time domain, frequency domain and mathematical model simulation of the controlled object. Results: The experimental tests included time domain step response signal of the controller, the time domain signal and its relevant magnitude spectrum in frequency domain due to the light source simulation vibration. Conclusion: The results show that the maximum effective operating band is 250 Hz and the maximum steady error is 5 μm. (authors)

Tree Canopy Characterization for EO-1 Reflective and Thermal Infrared Validation Studies: Rochester, New York

Science.gov (United States)

Ballard, Jerrell R., Jr.; Smith, James A.

2002-01-01

The tree canopy characterization presented herein provided ground and tree canopy data for different types of tree canopies in support of EO-1 reflective and thermal infrared validation studies. These characterization efforts during August and September of 2001 included stem and trunk location surveys, tree structure geometry measurements, meteorology, and leaf area index (LAI) measurements. Measurements were also collected on thermal and reflective spectral properties of leaves, tree bark, leaf litter, soil, and grass. The data presented in this report were used to generate synthetic reflective and thermal infrared scenes and images that were used for the EO-1 Validation Program. The data also were used to evaluate whether the EO-1 ALI reflective channels can be combined with the Landsat-7 ETM+ thermal infrared channel to estimate canopy temperature, and also test the effects of separating the thermal and reflective measurements in time resulting from satellite formation flying.

A mid- to far-infrared variability study of the intermediate Seyfert galaxy, Mk 6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clement, R.; Sembay, S.; Coe, M.J.; Hanson, C.G.

1988-01-01

A mid- to far-infrared (MFIR) variability study of the intermediate Seyfert galaxy, Mk 6, is presented using data from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). We have analysed 25 observations of this source covering a period of about 1 month. Within the expected errors, the source shows no evidence for variability and this may be an indication that there is a strong contribution to the MFIR emission from thermal re-radiation by dust. This interpretation is consistent with previous studies which suggest that the bulk of the far-infrared (30 -100 μm) emission in Seyfert galaxies originates from cool (35 - 75 K) dust associated with star formation regions in the surrounding envelope of the active nucleus. The lack of variability at 12 and 25 μm can also be readily explained by dust emission. However, in this case, the dust temperatures required to produce emission at these wavelengths makes the narrow-line region a more feasible location for the dust grains. (author)

Larger Optics and Improved Calibration Techniques for Small Satellite Observations with the ERAU OSCOM System

Science.gov (United States)

Bilardi, S.; Barjatya, A.; Gasdia, F.

OSCOM, Optical tracking and Spectral characterization of CubeSats for Operational Missions, is a system capable of providing time-resolved satellite photometry using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and custom tracking and analysis software. This system has acquired photometry of objects as small as CubeSats using a Celestron 11” RASA and an inexpensive CMOS machine vision camera. For satellites with known shapes, these light curves can be used to verify a satellite’s attitude and the state of its deployed solar panels or antennae. While the OSCOM system can successfully track satellites and produce light curves, there is ongoing improvement towards increasing its automation while supporting additional mounts and telescopes. A newly acquired Celestron 14” Edge HD can be used with a Starizona Hyperstar to increase the SNR for small objects as well as extend beyond the limiting magnitude of the 11” RASA. OSCOM currently corrects instrumental brightness measurements for satellite range and observatory site average atmospheric extinction, but calibrated absolute brightness is required to determine information about satellites other than their spin rate, such as surface albedo. A calibration method that automatically detects and identifies background stars can use their catalog magnitudes to calibrate the brightness of the satellite in the image. We present a photometric light curve from both the 14” Edge HD and 11” RASA optical systems as well as plans for a calibration method that will perform background star photometry to efficiently determine calibrated satellite brightness in each frame.

Estimation of water content in the leaves of fruit trees using infra-red images

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muramatsu, N.; Hiraoka, K.

2006-01-01

A method was developed to evaluate water contents of fruit trees using infra-red photography. The irrigation of potted satsuma mandarin trees and grapevines was suppressed to induce water stress. During the drought treatment the leaf edges of basal parts of the shoots of grapevines became necrotic and the area of necrosis extended as the duration of stress increased. Necrosis was clearly distinguished from the viable areas on infra-red images. In satsuma mandarin, an abscission layer formed at the basal part of the petiole, then the leaves fell. Thus, detailed analysis was indispensable for detecting of the leaf water content. After obtaining infra-red images of satsuma mandarin leaves with or without water stress, a background treatment (subtraction of the background image) was performed on the images, then the average brightness of the leaf was determined using image analyzing software (Image Pro-plus). Coefficient correlation between the water status index using the infra-red camera and water content determined from dry weight and fresh weight of leaves was significant (r = 0.917 for adaxial surface data and r = 0.880 for abaxial surface data). These data indicate that infra-red photography is useful for detecting the degree of plant water stress

Monitoring vegetation recovery in fire-affected areas using temporal profiles of spectral signal from time series MODIS and LANDSAT satellite images

Science.gov (United States)

Georgopoulou, Danai; Koutsias, Nikos

2015-04-01

explore the strength and the use of these time series satellite data to characterize vegetation phenology as an a aid to monitor vegetation recovery in fire affected-areas. In a recent study we found that the original spectral channels, based on which these indices are estimated, are sensitive to external vegetation parameters such as the spectral reflectance of the background soil. In such cases, the influence of the soil in the reflectance values is different in the various spectral regions depending on its type. The use of such indices is also justified according to a recent study on the sensitivity of spectral reflectance values to different burn and vegetation ratios, who concluded that the Near Infrared (NIR) and Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) are the most important channels to estimate the percentage of burned area, whereas the NIR and red channels are the most important to estimate the percentage of vegetation in fire-affected areas. Additionally, it has been found that semi-burned classes are spectrally more consistent to their different fractions of scorched and non-scorched vegetation, than the original spectral channels based on which these indices are estimated.

Hunting for primordial non-Gaussianity in the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komatsu, Eiichiro

2010-01-01

Since the first limit on the (local) primordial non-Gaussianity parameter, f NL , was obtained from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) data in 2002, observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have been playing a central role in constraining the amplitudes of various forms of non-Gaussianity in primordial fluctuations. The current 68% limit from the 7-year data of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) is f NL = 32 ± 21, and the Planck satellite is expected to reduce the uncertainty by a factor of 4 in a few years from now. If f NL >> 1 is found by Planck with high statistical significance, all single-field models of inflation would be ruled out. Moreover, if the Planck satellite finds f NL ∼ 30, then it would be able to test a broad class of multi-field models using the 4-point function (trispectrum) test of τ NL ≥ (6f NL /5) 2 . In this paper, we review the methods (optimal estimator), results (WMAP 7-year) and challenges (secondary anisotropy, second-order effect and foreground) of measuring primordial non-Gaussianity from the CMB data, present a science case for the trispectrum and conclude with future prospects.

Experimental Evaluation of Camouflage Effectiveness in the Thermal Infrared

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jacobs, P.A.M.

1993-01-01

The detectability of a target ln the infrared spectral region ls determined by differences between the radiative stignatures of the target and the local background. This implies that both, the difference in surface temperature and emissivity ^T resp. ^€ and the distribution of these differences over

Search for Best Astronomical Observatory Sites in the MENA Region using Satellite Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abdelaziz, G; Guebsi, R; Flamant, C; Guessoum, N

2017-01-01

We perform a systematic search for astronomical observatory sites in the MENA (Middle-East and North Africa) region using space-based data for all the relevant factors, i.e. altitude (DEM), cloud fraction (CF), light pollution (NTL), precipitable water vapor (PWV), aerosol optical depth (AOD), relative humidity (RH), wind speed (WS), Richardson Number (RN), and diurnal temperature range (DTR). We look for the best locations overall even where altitudes are low (the threshold that we normally consider being 1,500 m) or where the combination of the afore-mentioned determining factors had previously excluded all locations in a given country. In this aim, we use the rich data that Earth-observing satellites provide, e.g. the Terra and Aqua multi-national NASA research satellites, with their MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instruments, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS), and other products from climate diagnostics archives (e.g. MERRA). We present preliminary results on the best locations for the region. (paper)

Search for Best Astronomical Observatory Sites in the MENA Region using Satellite Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Abdelaziz, G.; Guebsi, R.; Guessoum, N.; Flamant, C.

2017-06-01

We perform a systematic search for astronomical observatory sites in the MENA (Middle-East and North Africa) region using space-based data for all the relevant factors, i.e. altitude (DEM), cloud fraction (CF), light pollution (NTL), precipitable water vapor (PWV), aerosol optical depth (AOD), relative humidity (RH), wind speed (WS), Richardson Number (RN), and diurnal temperature range (DTR). We look for the best locations overall even where altitudes are low (the threshold that we normally consider being 1,500 m) or where the combination of the afore-mentioned determining factors had previously excluded all locations in a given country. In this aim, we use the rich data that Earth-observing satellites provide, e.g. the Terra and Aqua multi-national NASA research satellites, with their MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instruments, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS), and other products from climate diagnostics archives (e.g. MERRA). We present preliminary results on the best locations for the region.

Infrared laser diagnostics for ITER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hutchinson, D.P.; Richards, R.K.; Ma, C.H.

1995-01-01

Two infrared laser-based diagnostics are under development at ORNL for measurements on burning plasmas such as ITER. The primary effort is the development of a CO 2 laser Thomson scattering diagnostic for the measurement of the velocity distribution of confined fusion-product alpha particles. Key components of the system include a high-power, single-mode CO 2 pulsed laser, an efficient optics system for beam transport and a multichannel low-noise infrared heterodyne receiver. A successful proof-of-principle experiment has been performed on the Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) stellerator at ORNL utilizing scattering from electron plasma frequency satellites. The diagnostic system is currently being installed on Alcator C-Mod at MIT for measurements of the fast ion tail produced by ICRH heating. A second diagnostic under development at ORNL is an infrared polarimeter for Faraday rotation measurements in future fusion experiments. A preliminary feasibility study of a CO 2 laser tangential viewing polarimeter for measuring electron density profiles in ITER has been completed. For ITER plasma parameters and a polarimeter wavelength of 10.6 microm, a Faraday rotation of up to 26 degree is predicted. An electro-optic polarization modulation technique has been developed at ORNL. Laboratory tests of this polarimeter demonstrated a sensitivity of ≤ 0.01 degree. Because of the similarity in the expected Faraday rotation in ITER and Alcator C-Mod, a collaboration between ORNL and the MIT Plasma Fusion Center has been undertaken to test this polarimeter system on Alcator C-Mod. A 10.6 microm polarimeter for this measurement has been constructed and integrated into the existing C-Mod multichannel two-color interferometer. With present experimental parameters for C-Mod, the predicted Faraday rotation was on the order of 0.1 degree. Significant output signals were observed during preliminary tests. Further experiment and detailed analyses are under way

Validation of satellite data through the remote sensing techniques and the inclusion of them into agricultural education pilot programs

Science.gov (United States)

Papadavid, Georgios; Kountios, Georgios; Bournaris, T.; Michailidis, Anastasios; Hadjimitsis, Diofantos G.

2016-08-01

Nowadays, the remote sensing techniques have a significant role in all the fields of agricultural extensions as well as agricultural economics and education but they are used more specifically in hydrology. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the use of field spectroscopy for validation of the satellite data and how combination of remote sensing techniques and field spectroscopy can have more accurate results for irrigation purposes. For this reason vegetation indices are used which are mostly empirical equations describing vegetation parameters during the lifecycle of the crops. These numbers are generated by some combination of remote sensing bands and may have some relationship to the amount of vegetation in a given image pixel. Due to the fact that most of the commonly used vegetation indices are only concerned with red-near-infrared spectrum and can be divided to perpendicular and ratio based indices the specific goal of the research is to illustrate the effect of the atmosphere to those indices, in both categories. In this frame field spectroscopy is employed in order to derive the spectral signatures of different crops in red and infrared spectrum after a campaign of ground measurements. The main indices have been calculated using satellite images taken at interval dates during the whole lifecycle of the crops by using a GER 1500 spectro-radiomete. These indices was compared to those extracted from satellite images after applying an atmospheric correction algorithm -darkest pixel- to the satellite images at a pre-processing level so as the indices would be in comparable form to those of the ground measurements. Furthermore, there has been a research made concerning the perspectives of the inclusion of the above mentioned remote satellite techniques to agricultural education pilot programs.

Evaluation of the Precision of Satellite-Derived Sea Surface Temperature Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, F.; Cornillon, P. C.; Guan, L.

2016-02-01

A great deal of attention has been focused on the temporal accuracy of satellite-derived sea surface temperature (SST) fields with little attention being given to their spatial precision. Specifically, the primary measure of the quality of SST fields has been the bias and variance of selected values minus co-located (in space and time) in situ values. Contributing values, determined by the location of the in situ values and the necessity that the satellite-derived values be cloud free, are generally widely separated in space and time hence provide little information related to the pixel-to-pixel uncertainty in the retrievals. But the main contribution to the uncertainty in satellite-derived SST retrievals relates to atmospheric contamination and because the spatial scales of atmospheric features are, in general, large compared with the pixel separation of modern infra-red sensors, the pixel-to-pixel uncertainty is often smaller than the accuracy determined from in situ match-ups. This makes selection of satellite-derived datasets for the study of submesoscale processes, for which the spatial structure of the upper ocean is significant, problematic. In this presentation we present a methodology to characterize the spatial precision of satellite-derived SST fields. The method is based on an examination of the high wavenumber tail of the 2-D spectrum of SST fields in the Sargasso Sea, a low energy region of the ocean close to the track of the MV Oleander, a container ship making weekly roundtrips between New York and Bermuda, with engine intake temperatures sampled every 75 m along track. Important spectral characteristics are the point at which the satellite-derived spectra separate from the Oleander spectra and the spectral slope following separation. In this presentation a number of high resolution 375 m to 10 km SST datasets are evaluated based on this approach.

Satellite and Ground-Based Sensors for the Urban Heat Island Analysis in the City of Rome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Fabrizi

2010-05-01

Full Text Available In this work, the trend of the Urban Heat Island (UHI of Rome is analyzed by both ground-based weather stations and a satellite-based infrared sensor. First, we have developed a suitable algorithm employing satellite brightness temperatures for the estimation of the air temperature belonging to the layer of air closest to the surface. UHI spatial characteristics have been assessed using air temperatures measured by both weather stations and brightness temperature maps from the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR on board ENVISAT polar-orbiting satellite. In total, 634 daytime and nighttime scenes taken between 2003 and 2006 have been processed. Analysis of the Canopy Layer Heat Island (CLHI during summer months reveals a mean growth in magnitude of 3–4 K during nighttime and a negative or almost zero CLHI intensity during daytime, confirmed by the weather stations.

Infrared speckle observations of Io - an eruption in the Loki region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howell, R.R.; Mcginn, M.T.

1985-01-01

Speckle observations of Jupiter's satellite Io at a wavelength of 5 micrometers during July 1984 resolved the disk and showed emission from a hot spot in the Loki region. The hot spot contributed a flux approximately equal to 60 percent of that from the disk.Images reconstructed by means of the Knox-Thompson algorithm showed the spot moving across the disk as the satellite rotated. It was located at 301 deg + or - 6 deg west longitude, 10 deg + or - 6 deg north latitude, and had a radiance of (2.96 + or - 0.54) x 10 to the 22nd ergs/sec cm sr/A where A is the area of the spot. For an assumed temperature of 400 K, the area of the source would be 11,400 square kilometers. An active lava lake similar to that seen by Voyager may be the source of the infrared emission. 10 references

A unified approach to infrared aerosol remote sensing and type specification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Clarisse

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Atmospheric aerosols impact air quality and global climate. Space based measurements are the best way to observe their spatial and temporal distributions, and can also be used to gain better understanding of their chemical, physical and optical properties. Aerosol composition is the key parameter affecting the refractive index, which determines how much radiation is scattered and absorbed. Composition of aerosols is unfortunately not measured by state of the art satellite remote sounders. Here we use high resolution infrared measurements for aerosol type differentiation, exploiting, in that part of spectrum, the dependency of their refractive index on wavelength. We review existing detection methods and present a unified detection method based on linear discrimination analysis. We demonstrate this method on measurements of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI and five different aerosol types, namely volcanic ash, windblown sand, sulfuric acid droplets, ammonium sulfate and smoke particles. We compare these with traditional MODIS AOD measurements. The detection of the last three types is unprecedented in the infrared in nadir mode, but is very promising, especially for sulfuric acid droplets which are detected in the lower troposphere and up to 6 months after injection in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere.

Diurnal changes in ocean color sensed in satellite imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Arnone, Robert; Vandermuelen, Ryan; Soto, Inia; Ladner, Sherwin; Ondrusek, Michael; Yang, Haoping

2017-07-01

Measurements of diurnal changes in ocean color in turbid coastal regions in the Gulf of Mexico were characterized using above water spectral radiometry from a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (aerosol robotic network-WaveCIS CSI-06) site that can provide 8 to 10 observations per day. Satellite capability to detect diurnal changes in ocean color was characterized using hourly overlapping afternoon orbits of the visual infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership ocean color sensor and validated with in situ observations. The monthly cycle of diurnal changes was investigated for different water masses using VIIRS overlaps. Results showed the capability of satellite observations to monitor hourly color changes in coastal regions that can be impacted by vertical movement of optical layers, in response to tides, resuspension, and river plume dispersion. The spatial variability of VIIRS diurnal changes showed the occurrence and displacement of phytoplankton blooming and decaying processes. The diurnal change in ocean color was above 20%, which represents a 30% change in chlorophyll-a. Seasonal changes in diurnal ocean color for different water masses suggest differences in summer and winter responses to surface processes. The diurnal changes observed using satellite ocean color can be used to define the following: surface processes associated with biological activity, vertical changes in optical depth, and advection of water masses.

Infrared beam-steering using acoustically modulated surface plasmons over a graphene monolayer

KAUST Repository

Chen, Paiyen

2014-09-01

We model and design a graphene-based infrared beamformer based on the concept of leaky-wave (fast traveling wave) antennas. The excitation of infrared surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) over a \\'one-atom-thick\\' graphene monolayer is typically associated with intrinsically \\'slow light\\'. By modulating the graphene with elastic vibrations based on flexural waves, a dynamic diffraction grating can be formed on the graphene surface, converting propagating SPPs into fast surface waves, able to radiate directive infrared beams into the background medium. This scheme allows fast on-off switching of infrared emission and dynamic tuning of its radiation pattern, beam angle and frequency of operation, by simply varying the acoustic frequency that controls the effective grating period. We envision that this graphene beamformer may be integrated into reconfigurable transmitter/receiver modules, switches and detectors for THz and infrared wireless communication, sensing, imaging and actuation systems.

The Ĝ Infrared Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations with Large Energy Supplies. I. Background and Justification

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, J. T.; Mullan, B.; Sigurdsson, S.; Povich, M. S.

2014-09-01

We motivate the Ĝ infrared search for extraterrestrial civilizations with large energy supplies. We discuss some philosophical difficulties of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and how communication SETI circumvents them. We review "Dysonian SETI," the search for artifacts of alien civilizations, and find that it is highly complementary to traditional communication SETI; the two together might succeed where either one alone has not. We discuss the argument of Hart that spacefaring life in the Milky Way should be either galaxy-spanning or non-existent, and examine a portion of his argument that we call the "monocultural fallacy." We discuss some rebuttals to Hart that invoke sustainability and predict long Galaxy colonization timescales. We find that the maximum Galaxy colonization timescale is actually much shorter than previous work has found (energy supplies and argue that detectably large energy supplies can plausibly be expected to exist because life has the potential for exponential growth until checked by resources or other limitations, and intelligence implies the ability to overcome such limitations. As such, if Hart's thesis is correct, then searches for large alien civilizations in other galaxies may be fruitful; if it is incorrect, then searches for civilizations within the Milky Way are more likely to succeed than Hart argued. We review some past Dysonian SETI efforts and discuss the promise of new mid-infrared surveys, such as that of WISE.

In situ statistical observations of EMIC waves by Arase satellite

Science.gov (United States)

Nomura, R.; Matsuoka, A.; Teramoto, M.; Nose, M.; Yoshizumi, M.; Fujimoto, A.; Shinohara, M.; Tanaka, Y.

2017-12-01

We present in situ statistical survey of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves observed by Arase satellite from 3 March to 16 July 2017. We identified 64 events using the fluxgate magnetometer (MGF) on the satellite. The EMIC wave is the key phenomena to understand the loss dynamics of MeV-energy electrons in the radiation belt. We will show the radial and latitudinal dependence of the wave occurance rate and the wave parameters (frequency band, coherence, polarization, and ellipticity). Especially the EMIC waves observed at localized weak background magnetic field will be discussed for the wave excitation mechanism in the deep inner magnetosphere.

[Application of single-band brightness variance ratio to the interference dissociation of cloud for satellite data].

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Wei-ping; Liu, Wen-qing; Liu, Jian-guo; Lu, Yi-huai; Zhu, Jun; Qin, Min; Liu, Cheng

2006-11-01

In satellite remote-sensing detection, cloud as an interference plays a negative role in data retrieval. How to discern the cloud fields with high fidelity thus comes as a need to the following research. A new method rooting in atmospheric radiation characteristics of cloud layer, in the present paper, presents a sort of solution where single-band brightness variance ratio is used to detect the relative intensity of cloud clutter so as to delineate cloud field rapidly and exactly, and the formulae of brightness variance ratio of satellite image, image reflectance variance ratio, and brightness temperature variance ratio of thermal infrared image are also given to enable cloud elimination to produce data free from cloud interference. According to the variance of the penetrating capability for different spectra bands, an objective evaluation is done on cloud penetration of them with the factors that influence penetration effect. Finally, a multi-band data fusion task is completed using the image data of infrared penetration from cirrus nothus. Image data reconstruction is of good quality and exactitude to show the real data of visible band covered by cloud fields. Statistics indicates the consistency of waveband relativity with image data after the data fusion.

A COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND LENSING MASS MAP AND ITS CORRELATION WITH THE COSMIC INFRARED BACKGROUND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Holder, G. P.; De Haan, T.; Dobbs, M. A.; Dudley, J. [Department of Physics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T8 (Canada); Viero, M. P.; Bock, J. [California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Zahn, O. [Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, Department of Physics, University of California, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Aird, K. A. [University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Benson, B. A.; Bhattacharya, S.; Bleem, L. E.; Carlstrom, J. E.; Chang, C. L.; Crawford, T. M.; Crites, A. T. [Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Brodwin, M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO 64110 (United States); Cho, H-M. [NIST Quantum Devices Group, Boulder, CO 80305 (United States); Conley, A. [Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); George, E. M. [Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Halverson, N. W. [Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States); and others

2013-07-01

We use a temperature map of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) obtained using the South Pole Telescope at 150 GHz to construct a map of the gravitational convergence to z {approx} 1100, revealing the fluctuations in the projected mass density. This map shows individual features that are significant at the {approx}4{sigma} level, providing the first image of CMB lensing convergence. We cross-correlate this map with Herschel/SPIRE maps covering 90 deg{sup 2} at wavelengths of 500, 350, and 250 {mu}m. We show that these submillimeter (submm) wavelength maps are strongly correlated with the lensing convergence map, with detection significances in each of the three submm bands ranging from 6.7{sigma} to 8.8{sigma}. We fit the measurement of the cross power spectrum assuming a simple constant bias model and infer bias factors of b = 1.3-1.8, with a statistical uncertainty of 15%, depending on the assumed model for the redshift distribution of the dusty galaxies that are contributing to the Herschel/SPIRE maps.

Mapping temperature and radiant geothermal heat flux anomalies in the Yellowstone geothermal system using ASTER thermal infrared data

Science.gov (United States)

Vaughan, R. Greg; Lowenstern, Jacob B.; Keszthelyi, Laszlo P.; Jaworowski, Cheryl; Heasler, Henry

2012-01-01

The purpose of this work was to use satellite-based thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing data to measure, map, and monitor geothermal activity within the Yellowstone geothermal area to help meet the missions of both the U.S. Geological Survey Yellowstone Volcano Observatory and the Yellowstone National Park Geology Program. Specifically, the goals were to: 1) address the challenges of remotely characterizing the spatially and temporally dynamic thermal features in Yellowstone by using nighttime TIR data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and 2) estimate the temperature, geothermal radiant emittance, and radiant geothermal heat flux (GHF) for Yellowstone’s thermal areas (both Park wide and for individual thermal areas). ASTER TIR data (90-m pixels) acquired at night during January and February, 2010, were used to estimate surface temperature, radiant emittance, and radiant GHF from all of Yellowstone’s thermal features, produce thermal anomaly maps, and update field-based maps of thermal areas. A background subtraction technique was used to isolate the geothermal component of TIR radiance from thermal radiance due to insolation. A lower limit for the Yellowstone’s total radiant GHF was established at ~2.0 GW, which is ~30-45% of the heat flux estimated through geochemical (Cl-flux) methods. Additionally, about 5 km2 was added to the geodatabase of mapped thermal areas. This work provides a framework for future satellite-based thermal monitoring at Yellowstone as well as exploration of other volcanic / geothermal systems on a global scale.

Global High Resolution Sea Surface Flux Parameters From Multiple Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, H.; Reynolds, R. W.; Shi, L.; Bates, J. J.

2007-05-01

Advances in understanding the coupled air-sea system and modeling of the ocean and atmosphere demand increasingly higher resolution data, such as air-sea fluxes of up to 3 hourly and every 50 km. These observational requirements can only be met by utilizing multiple satellite observations. Generation of such high resolution products from multiple-satellite and in-situ observations on an operational basis has been started at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center. Here we describe a few products that are directly related to the computation of turbulent air-sea fluxes. Sea surface wind speed has been observed from in-situ instruments and multiple satellites, with long-term observations ranging from one satellite in the mid 1987 to six or more satellites since mid 2002. A blended product with a global 0.25° grid and four snapshots per day has been produced for July 1987 to present, using a near Gaussian 3-D (x, y, t) interpolation to minimize aliases. Wind direction has been observed from fewer satellites, thus for the blended high resolution vector winds and wind stresses, the directions are taken from the NCEP Re-analysis 2 (operationally run near real time) for climate consistency. The widely used Reynolds Optimum Interpolation SST analysis has been improved with higher resolutions (daily and 0.25°). The improvements use both infrared and microwave satellite data that are bias-corrected by in- situ observations for the period 1985 to present. The new versions provide very significant improvements in terms of resolving ocean features such as the meandering of the Gulf Stream, the Aghulas Current, the equatorial jets and other fronts. The Ta and Qa retrievals are based on measurements from the AMSU sounder onboard the NOAA satellites. Ta retrieval uses AMSU-A data, while Qa retrieval uses both AMSU-A and AMSU-B observations. The retrieval algorithms are developed using the neural network approach. Training

A global climatology of stratospheric gravity waves from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder observations

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffmann, Lars; Xue, Xianghui; Alexander, M. Joan

2014-05-01

We present the results of a new study that aims on the detection and classification of `hotspots' of stratospheric gravity waves on a global scale. The analysis is based on a nine-year record (2003 to 2011) of radiance measurements by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. We detect the presence of stratospheric gravity waves based on 4.3 micron brightness temperature variances. Our method is optimized for peak events, i.e., strong gravity wave events for which the local variance considerably exceeds background levels. We estimated the occurrence frequencies of these peak events for different seasons and time of day and used the results to find local maxima of gravity wave activity. In addition, we use AIRS radiances at 8.1 micron to simultaneously detect convective events, including deep convection in the tropics and mesoscale convective systems at mid latitudes. We classified the gravity waves according to their sources, based on seasonal occurrence frequencies for convection and by means of topographic data. Our study reproduces well-known hotspots of gravity waves, e.g., the mountain wave hotspots at the Andes and the Antarctic Peninsula or the convective hotspot during the thunderstorm season over the North American Great Plains. However, the high horizontal resolution of the AIRS observations also helped us to locate several smaller hotspots, which were partly unknown or poorly studied so far. Most of these smaller hotspots are found near orographic features like small mountain ranges, in coastal regions, in desert areas, or near isolated islands. This new study will help to select the most promising regions and seasons for future observational studies of gravity waves. Reference: Hoffmann, L., X. Xue, and M. J. Alexander, A global view of stratospheric gravity wave hotspots located with Atmospheric Infrared Sounder observations, J. Geophys. Res., 118, 416-434, doi:10.1029/2012JD018658, 2013.

Building technological capability within satellite programs in developing countries

Science.gov (United States)

Wood, Danielle; Weigel, Annalisa

2011-12-01

This paper explores the process of building technological capability in government-led satellite programs within developing countries. The key message is that these satellite programs can learn useful lessons from literature in the international development community. These lessons are relevant to emerging satellite programs that leverage international partnerships in order to establish local capability to design, build and operate satellites. Countries with such programs include Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. The paper first provides background knowledge about space activity in developing countries, and then explores the nuances of the lessons coming from the international development literature. Developing countries are concerned with satellite technology because satellites provide useful services in the areas of earth observation, communication, navigation and science. Most developing countries access satellite services through indirect means such as sharing data with foreign organizations. More countries, however, are seeking opportunities to develop satellite technology locally. There are objective, technically driven motivations for developing countries to invest in satellite technology, despite rich debate on this topic. The paper provides a framework to understand technical motivations for investment in satellite services, hardware, expertise and infrastructure in both short and long term. If a country decides to pursue such investments they face a common set of strategic decisions at the levels of their satellite program, their national context and their international relationships. Analysis of past projects shows that countries have chosen diverse strategies to address these strategic decisions and grow in technological capability. What is similar about the historical examples is that many countries choose to leverage international partnerships as part of their growth process. There are also historical examples from

Interpretation of Spectrometric Measurements of Active Geostationary Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Bedard, D.; Wade, G.

2014-09-01

Over 5000 visible near-infrared (VNIR) spectrometric measurements of active geostationary satellites have been collected with the National Research Council (NRC) 1.8m Plaskett telescope located at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory (DAO) in Victoria, Canada. The objective of this ongoing experiment is to study how reflectance spectroscopy can be used to reliably identify specific material types on the surface of artificial Earth-orbiting objects. Active geostationary satellites were selected as the main subjects for this experiment since their orientation is stable and can be estimated to a high-level of confidence throughout a night of observation. Furthermore, for most geostationary satellites, there is a wide variety of sources that can provide some level of information as to their external surface composition. Notwithstanding the high number of measurements that have been collected to date, it was assumed that the experimenters would have a much greater success rate in material identification given the choice experimental subjects. To date, only the presence of aluminum has been confidently identified in some of the reflectance spectra that have been collected. Two additional material types, namely photovoltaic cells and polyimide film, the first layer of multi-layer insulation (MLI), have also been possibly identified. However uncertainties in the reduced spectral measurements prevent any definitive conclusion with respect to these materials at this time. The surprising lack of results with respect to material identification have forced the experimenters to use other data interpretation methods to characterize the spectral scattering characteristics of the studied satellites. The results from this study have already led to improvements in the ways that reflectance spectra from spacecraft are collected and analysed. Equally important, the data interpretation techniques elaborated over the course of this experiment will also serve to increase the body of

GRACILE: a comprehensive climatology of atmospheric gravity wave parameters based on satellite limb soundings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Ern

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Gravity waves are one of the main drivers of atmospheric dynamics. The spatial resolution of most global atmospheric models, however, is too coarse to properly resolve the small scales of gravity waves, which range from tens to a few thousand kilometers horizontally, and from below 1 km to tens of kilometers vertically. Gravity wave source processes involve even smaller scales. Therefore, general circulation models (GCMs and chemistry climate models (CCMs usually parametrize the effect of gravity waves on the global circulation. These parametrizations are very simplified. For this reason, comparisons with global observations of gravity waves are needed for an improvement of parametrizations and an alleviation of model biases. We present a gravity wave climatology based on atmospheric infrared limb emissions observed by satellite (GRACILE. GRACILE is a global data set of gravity wave distributions observed in the stratosphere and the mesosphere by the infrared limb sounding satellite instruments High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS and Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER. Typical distributions (zonal averages and global maps of gravity wave vertical wavelengths and along-track horizontal wavenumbers are provided, as well as gravity wave temperature variances, potential energies and absolute momentum fluxes. This global data set captures the typical seasonal variations of these parameters, as well as their spatial variations. The GRACILE data set is suitable for scientific studies, and it can serve for comparison with other instruments (ground-based, airborne, or other satellite instruments and for comparison with gravity wave distributions, both resolved and parametrized, in GCMs and CCMs. The GRACILE data set is available as supplementary data at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.879658.

Observing System Simulations for Small Satellite Formations Estimating Bidirectional Reflectance

Science.gov (United States)

Nag, Sreeja; Gatebe, Charles K.; de Weck, Olivier

2015-01-01

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) gives the reflectance of a target as a function of illumination geometry and viewing geometry, hence carries information about the anisotropy of the surface. BRDF is needed in remote sensing for the correction of view and illumination angle effects (for example in image standardization and mosaicing), for deriving albedo, for land cover classification, for cloud detection, for atmospheric correction, and other applications. However, current spaceborne instruments provide sparse angular sampling of BRDF and airborne instruments are limited in the spatial and temporal coverage. To fill the gaps in angular coverage within spatial, spectral and temporal requirements, we propose a new measurement technique: Use of small satellites in formation flight, each satellite with a VNIR (visible and near infrared) imaging spectrometer, to make multi-spectral, near-simultaneous measurements of every ground spot in the swath at multiple angles. This paper describes an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) to evaluate the proposed concept and select the optimal formation architecture that minimizes BRDF uncertainties. The variables of the OSSE are identified; number of satellites, measurement spread in the view zenith and relative azimuth with respect to solar plane, solar zenith angle, BRDF models and wavelength of reflection. Analyzing the sensitivity of BRDF estimation errors to the variables allow simplification of the OSSE, to enable its use to rapidly evaluate formation architectures. A 6-satellite formation is shown to produce lower BRDF estimation errors, purely in terms of angular sampling as evaluated by the OSSE, than a single spacecraft with 9 forward-aft sensors. We demonstrate the ability to use OSSEs to design small satellite formations as complements to flagship mission data. The formations can fill angular sampling gaps and enable better BRDF products than currently possible.

Observing system simulations for small satellite formations estimating bidirectional reflectance

Science.gov (United States)

Nag, Sreeja; Gatebe, Charles K.; Weck, Olivier de

2015-12-01

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) gives the reflectance of a target as a function of illumination geometry and viewing geometry, hence carries information about the anisotropy of the surface. BRDF is needed in remote sensing for the correction of view and illumination angle effects (for example in image standardization and mosaicing), for deriving albedo, for land cover classification, for cloud detection, for atmospheric correction, and other applications. However, current spaceborne instruments provide sparse angular sampling of BRDF and airborne instruments are limited in the spatial and temporal coverage. To fill the gaps in angular coverage within spatial, spectral and temporal requirements, we propose a new measurement technique: use of small satellites in formation flight, each satellite with a VNIR (visible and near infrared) imaging spectrometer, to make multi-spectral, near-simultaneous measurements of every ground spot in the swath at multiple angles. This paper describes an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) to evaluate the proposed concept and select the optimal formation architecture that minimizes BRDF uncertainties. The variables of the OSSE are identified; number of satellites, measurement spread in the view zenith and relative azimuth with respect to solar plane, solar zenith angle, BRDF models and wavelength of reflection. Analyzing the sensitivity of BRDF estimation errors to the variables allow simplification of the OSSE, to enable its use to rapidly evaluate formation architectures. A 6-satellite formation is shown to produce lower BRDF estimation errors, purely in terms of angular sampling as evaluated by the OSSE, than a single spacecraft with 9 forward-aft sensors. We demonstrate the ability to use OSSEs to design small satellite formations as complements to flagship mission data. The formations can fill angular sampling gaps and enable better BRDF products than currently possible.

Evidence of a tropospheric aerosol backscatter background mode

Science.gov (United States)

Rothermel, Jeffry; Bowdle, David A.; Vaughan, J. Michael; Post, Madison J.

1989-01-01

Vertical profiles of atmospheric aerosol backscatter coefficients at 10.6 microns obtained with airborne and ground-based lidar are compared. Both sets of profiles show a high frequency of occurrence of low backscatter over a limited range of values in the middle and upper troposphere. It is suggested that this narrow range indicates a ubiquitous background mode for atmospheric backscatter around the globe. Implications of such a mode for global scale aerosol models and for the design of satellite-borne lidar-based sensors are discussed.

Feasibility of satellite quantum key distribution

OpenAIRE

Bonato, Cristian; Tomaello, Andrea; Da Deppo, Vania; Naletto, Giampiero; Villoresi, Paolo

2009-01-01

In this paper we present a novel analysis of the feasibility of quantum key distribution between a LEO satellite and a ground station. First of all, we study signal propagation through a turbulent atmosphere for uplinks and downlinks, discussing the contribution of beam spreading and beam wandering. Then we introduce a model for the background noise of the channel during night-time and day-time, calculating the signal-to-noise ratio for different configurations. We also discuss the expected e...

Estimation of walrus populations on sea ice with infrared imagery and aerial photography

Science.gov (United States)

Udevitz, M.S.; Burn, D.M.; Webber, M.A.

2008-01-01

Population sizes of ice-associated pinnipeds have often been estimated with visual or photographic aerial surveys, but these methods require relatively slow speeds and low altitudes, limiting the area they can cover. Recent developments in infrared imagery and its integration with digital photography could allow substantially larger areas to be surveyed and more accurate enumeration of individuals, thereby solving major problems with previous survey methods. We conducted a trial survey in April 2003 to estimate the number of Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) hauled out on sea ice around St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. The survey used high altitude infrared imagery to detect groups of walruses on strip transects. Low altitude digital photography was used to determine the number of walruses in a sample of detected groups and calibrate the infrared imagery for estimating the total number of walruses. We propose a survey design incorporating this approach with satellite radio telemetry to estimate the proportion of the population in the water and additional low-level flights to estimate the proportion of the hauled-out population in groups too small to be detected in the infrared imagery. We believe that this approach offers the potential for obtaining reliable population estimates for walruses and other ice-associated pinnipeds. ?? 2007 by the Society for Marine Mammalogy.

Polar2Grid 2.0: Reprojecting Satellite Data Made Easy

Science.gov (United States)

Hoese, D.; Strabala, K.

2015-12-01

Polar-orbiting multi-band meteorological sensors such as those on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite pose substantial challenges for taking imagery the last mile to forecast offices, scientific analysis environments, and the general public. To do this quickly and easily, the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin has created an open-source, modular application system, Polar2Grid. This bundled solution automates tools for converting various satellite products like those from VIIRS and MODIS into a variety of output formats, including GeoTIFFs, AWIPS compatible NetCDF files, and NinJo forecasting workstation compatible TIFF images. In addition to traditional visible and infrared imagery, Polar2Grid includes three perceptual enhancements for the VIIRS Day-Night Band (DNB), as well as providing the capability to create sharpened true color, sharpened false color, and user-defined RGB images. Polar2Grid performs conversions and projections in seconds on large swaths of data. Polar2Grid is currently providing VIIRS imagery over the Continental United States, as well as Alaska and Hawaii, from various Direct-Broadcast antennas to operational forecasters at the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) offices in their AWIPS terminals, within minutes of an overpass of the Suomi NPP satellite. Three years after Polar2Grid development started, the Polar2Grid team is now releasing version 2.0 of the software; supporting more sensors, generating more products, and providing all of its features in an easy to use command line interface.

Background Radiance Estimation for Gas Plume Quantification for Airborne Hyperspectral Thermal Imaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramzi Idoughi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Hyperspectral imaging in the long-wave infrared (LWIR is a mean that is proving its worth in the characterization of gaseous effluent. Indeed the spectral and spatial resolution of acquisition instruments is steadily decreasing, making the gases characterization increasingly easy in the LWIR domain. The majority of literature algorithms exploit the plume contribution to the radiance corresponding to the difference of radiance between the plume-present and plume-absent pixels. Nevertheless, the off-plume radiance is unobservable using a single image. In this paper, we propose a new method to retrieve trace gas concentration from airborne infrared hyperspectral data. More particularly the outlined method improves the existing background radiance estimation approach to deal with heterogeneous scenes corresponding to industrial scenes. It consists in performing a classification of the scene and then applying a principal components analysis based method to estimate the background radiance on each cluster stemming from the classification. In order to determine the contribution of the classification to the background radiance estimation, we compared the two approaches on synthetic data and Telops Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS Imaging Hyper-Cam LW airborne acquisition above ethylene release. We finally show ethylene retrieved concentration map and estimate flow rate of the ethylene release.

On the Nature of the Microwave Background at the Lagrange 2 Point. Part II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Borissova L.

2007-10-01

Full Text Available In this work the mathematical methods of General Relativity are used to answer the following questions: if a microwave background originates from the Earth, what would be its density and associated dipole measured at the altitude of a U2 aeroplane (25 km, the COBE satellite (900 km, and the 2nd Lagrange point (1.5 million km, the position of the WMAP and PLANCK satellites? The first problem is solved via Einstein’s equations for the electromagnetic field of the Earth. The second problem is solved using the geodesic equations for light-like particles (photons which are mediators for electromagnetic radiation. We have determined that a microwave background that originates at the Earth (the Earth microwave background decreases with altitude so that the density of the energy of such a background at the altitude of the COBE orbit (900 km is 0.68 times less than that at the altitude of a U2 aeroplane. The density of the energy of the background at the L2 point is only ~1E-7 of the value detected by a U2 aeroplane or at the COBE orbit. The dipole anisotropy of the Earth microwave background, due to the rapid motion of the Earth relative to the source of another field which isn’t connected to the Earth but is located in depths of the cosmos, doesn’t depend on altitute from the surface of the Earth. Such a dipole will be the same irrespective of the position at which measurements are taken.

Infrared and millimeter waves v.15 millimeter components and techniques, pt.VI

CERN Document Server

Button, Kenneth J

1986-01-01

Infrared and Millimeter Waves, Volume 15: Millimeter Components and Techniques, Part VI is concerned with millimeter-wave guided propagation and integrated circuits. This book covers low-noise receiver technology for near-millimeter wavelengths; dielectric image-line antennas; EHF satellite communications (SATCOM) terminal antennas; and semiconductor antennas for millimeter-wave integrated circuits. A scanning airborne radiometer for 30 and 90 GHz and a self-oscillating mixer are also described. This monograph is comprised of six chapters and begins with a discussion on the design of low-n

Science with Future Cosmic Microwave Background Observations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bernardis, P. de; Calvo, M.; Giordano, C.; Masi, S.; Nati, F.; Piacentini, F.; Schillaci, A. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Roma La Sapienza, P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma (Italy)

2009-10-15

After the successful measurements of many ground based, balloon-borne and satellite experiments, which started the era of 'Precision Cosmology', Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations are now focusing on two targets: the precision measurement of B-modes in the polarization field, and the measurement of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in distant clusters of galaxies. Polarization measurements represent the best way to probe the very early universe, and the energy scale of inflation. Fine-scale anisotropy measurements, possibly with spectral capabilities, can provide important information on dark matter and dark energy. Here we describe original approaches to these measurements.

Science with Future Cosmic Microwave Background Observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernardis, P. de; Calvo, M.; Giordano, C.; Masi, S.; Nati, F.; Piacentini, F.; Schillaci, A.

2009-01-01

After the successful measurements of many ground based, balloon-borne and satellite experiments, which started the era of 'Precision Cosmology', Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations are now focusing on two targets: the precision measurement of B-modes in the polarization field, and the measurement of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in distant clusters of galaxies. Polarization measurements represent the best way to probe the very early universe, and the energy scale of inflation. Fine-scale anisotropy measurements, possibly with spectral capabilities, can provide important information on dark matter and dark energy. Here we describe original approaches to these measurements.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE COMPARISON OF SATELLITE IMAGERS USING TUZ GÖLÜ AS A REFERENCE STANDARD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Özen

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Earth surfaces, such as deserts, salt lakes, and playas, have been widely used in the vicarious radiometric calibration of optical earth observation satellites. In 2009, the Infrared and Visible Optical Sensors (IVOS sub-group of the Committee of Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV designated eight LANDNET reference sites to focus international efforts, facilitate traceability and enable the establishment of measurement "best practices." With support from the European Space Agency (ESA, one of the LANDNET sites, the Tuz Gölü salt lake located in central Turkey, was selected to host a cross-comparison of measurement instrumentation and methodologies conducted by 11 different ground teams across the globe. This paper provides an overview of the preliminary results of the cross-comparison of the ground-based spectral measurements made during the CEOS Land Comparison 13-27 August, 2010 with the simultaneous satellite image data acquisitions of the same site.

PCA-based approach for subtracting thermal background emission in high-contrast imaging data

Science.gov (United States)

Hunziker, S.; Quanz, S. P.; Amara, A.; Meyer, M. R.

2018-03-01

Aims.Ground-based observations at thermal infrared wavelengths suffer from large background radiation due to the sky, telescope and warm surfaces in the instrument. This significantly limits the sensitivity of ground-based observations at wavelengths longer than 3 μm. The main purpose of this work is to analyse this background emission in infrared high-contrast imaging data as illustrative of the problem, show how it can be modelled and subtracted and demonstrate that it can improve the detection of faint sources, such as exoplanets. Methods: We used principal component analysis (PCA) to model and subtract the thermal background emission in three archival high-contrast angular differential imaging datasets in the M' and L' filter. We used an M' dataset of β Pic to describe in detail how the algorithm works and explain how it can be applied. The results of the background subtraction are compared to the results from a conventional mean background subtraction scheme applied to the same dataset. Finally, both methods for background subtraction are compared by performing complete data reductions. We analysed the results from the M' dataset of HD 100546 only qualitatively. For the M' band dataset of β Pic and the L' band dataset of HD 169142, which was obtained with an angular groove phase mask vortex vector coronagraph, we also calculated and analysed the achieved signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). Results: We show that applying PCA is an effective way to remove spatially and temporarily varying thermal background emission down to close to the background limit. The procedure also proves to be very successful at reconstructing the background that is hidden behind the point spread function. In the complete data reductions, we find at least qualitative improvements for HD 100546 and HD 169142, however, we fail to find a significant increase in S/N of β Pic b. We discuss these findings and argue that in particular datasets with strongly varying observing conditions or

Operational Estimation of Accumulated Precipitation using Satellite Observation, by Eumetsat Satellite Application facility in Support to Hydrology (H-SAF Consortium).

Science.gov (United States)

di Diodato, A.; de Leonibus, L.; Zauli, F.; Biron, D.; Melfi, D.

2009-04-01

Operational Estimation of Accumulated Precipitation using Satellite Observation, by Eumetsat Satellite Application facility in Support to Hydrology (H-SAF Consortium). Cap. Attilio DI DIODATO(*), T.Col. Luigi DE LEONIBUS(*), T.Col Francesco ZAULI(*), Cap. Daniele BIRON(*), Ten. Davide Melfi(*) Satellite Application Facilities (SAFs) are specialised development and processing centres of the EUMETSAT Distributed Ground Segment. SAFs process level 1b data from meteorological satellites (geostationary and polar ones) in conjunction with all other relevant sources of data and appropriate models to generate services and level 2 products. Each SAF is a consortium of EUMETSAT European partners lead by a host institute responsible for the management of the complete SAF project. The Meteorological Service of Italian Air Force is the host Institute for the Satellite Application Facility on Support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H-SAF). HSAF has the commitment to develop and to provide, operationally after 2010, products regarding precipitation, soil moisture and snow. HSAF is going to provide information on error structure of its products and validation of the products via their impacts into Hydrological models. To that purpose it has been structured a specific subgroups. Accumulated precipitation is computed by temporal integration of the instantaneous rain rate achieved by the blended LEO/MW and GEO/IR precipitation rate products generated by Rapid Update method available every 15 minutes. The algorithm provides four outputs, consisting in accumulated precipitation in 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours, delivered every 3 hours at the synoptic hours. These outputs are our precipitation background fields. Satellite estimates can cover most of the globe, however, they suffer from errors due to lack of a direct relationship between observation parameters and precipitation, the poor sampling and algorithm imperfections. For this reason the 3 hours accumulated precipitation is

Use of middle infrared radiation to estimate the leaf area index of a boreal forest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boyd, D.S. [Kingston Univ., Surrey (United Kingdom). Centre for Earth and Environmental Science Research, School of Geography; Wicks, T. E.; Curran, P.J. [Southampton Univ., Southampton, Hampshire (United Kingdom). Dept. of Geography

2000-06-01

Reflected radiation recorded by satellite sensors is a common procedure to estimate the leaf area index (LAI) of boreal forest. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), derived from measurements of visible and near infrared radiation were commonly used to estimate LAI. But research in tropical forest has shown that LAI is more closely related to radiation of middle infrared wavelengths than that of visible wavelengths. This research calculated a vegetation index (VI3) using radiation from vegetation recorded at near and middle infrared wavelengths. In the case of boreal forest, VI3 and LAI displayed a closer relationship than NDVI and LAI. Also, the use of VI3 explained approximately 76 per cent of the variation in field estimates of LAI, versus approximately 46 per cent for NDVI. The authors concluded that consideration should be given to information provided by middle infrared radiation to estimate the leaf area index of boreal forest. The research area was located in the Southern Study Area (SSA) of the BOReal Ecosystem-Atmospher Study (BOREAS), situated on the southern edge of the Canadian boreal forest, 40 km north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. 1 tab., 4 figs., 46 refs.

Infrared thermal imaging for automated detection of diabetic foot complications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Netten, Jaap J.; van Baal, Jeff G.; Liu, C.; van der Heijden, Ferdinand; Bus, Sicco A.

Background: Although thermal imaging can be a valuable technology in the prevention and management of diabetic foot disease, it is not yet widely used in clinical practice. Technological advancement in infrared imaging increases its application range. The aim was to explore the first steps in the

MIRIS observation of near-infrared diffuse Galactic light

Science.gov (United States)

Onishi, Yosuke; Sano, Kei; Matsuura, Shuji; Jeong, Woong-Seob; Pyo, Jeonghyun; Kim, Il-Jong; Seo, Hyun Jong; Han, Wonyong; Lee, DaeHee; Moon, Bongkon; Park, Wonkee; Park, Younsik; Kim, MinGyu; Matsumoto, Toshio; Matsuhara, Hideo; Nakagawa, Takao; Tsumura, Kohji; Shirahata, Mai; Arai, Toshiaki; Ienaka, Nobuyuki

2018-06-01

We report near-infrared (IR) observations of high Galactic latitude clouds to investigate diffuse Galactic light (DGL), which is starlight scattered by interstellar dust grains. The observations were performed at 1.1 and 1.6 μm with a wide-field camera instrument, the Multi-purpose Infra-Red Imaging System (MIRIS) onboard the Korean satellite STSAT-3. The DGL brightness is measured by correlating the near-IR images with a far-IR 100 μm map of interstellar dust thermal emission. The wide-field observation of DGL provides the most accurate DGL measurement achieved to-date. We also find a linear correlation between optical and near-IR DGL in the MBM32 field. To study interstellar dust properties in MBM32, we adopt recent dust models with and without μm-sized very large grains and predict the DGL spectra, taking into account the reddening effect of the interstellar radiation field. The result shows that the observed color of the near-IR DGL is closer to the model spectra without very large grains. This may imply that dust growth in the observed MBM32 field is not active owing to the low density of its interstellar medium.

The star formation history of the universe as viewed in the infrared

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magnelli, Benjamin

2009-01-01

This thesis is devoted to the estimation of the cosmic star formation history of the Universe through the study of spectral properties of galaxies observed by the Spitzer satellite in the mid-and-far- infrared. My work begins with the extraction of sources contained in the Spitzer images and with the creation of multi- wavelengths catalogs. Using those catalogs I study the spectral properties of infrared galaxies and their evolution with redshift. From the comparison of these properties with the predictions of standard spectral libraries, I show that galaxies situated beyond z∼1.3 present significant evolutions in their spectral properties. Based on these spectral properties, I estimate the cosmic star formation history of the Universe from z∼0 to z∼2.3. This history is characterized by a sharp increase of the star formation density of the Universe form z∼0 and z∼1, followed by a stabilisation phase up to z∼2. This star formation density is dominated between z∼0.8 and z∼2 by luminous infrared galaxies with high star formation rate. Finally, I study the presence of the 3.3 um PAH signature in the spectrum of distant galaxies (0.5 3. (author) [fr

A high-orbit collimating infrared earth simulator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Guoyu; Jiang Huilin; Fang Yang; Yu Huadong; Xu Xiping; Wang, Lingyun; Liu Xuli; Huang Lan; Yue Shixin; Peng Hui