OMI/Aura Surface Reflectance Climatology Level 3 Global 0.5deg Lat/Lon Grid V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The OMI Earth Surface Reflectance Climatology product, OMLER (Global 0.5deg Lat/Lon grid) which is based on Version 003 Level-1B top of atmosphere upwelling radiance...

Airborne hyperspectral observations of surface and cloud directional reflectivity using a commercial digital camera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ehrlich

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Spectral radiance measurements by a digital single-lens reflex camera were used to derive the directional reflectivity of clouds and different surfaces in the Arctic. The camera has been calibrated radiometrically and spectrally to provide accurate radiance measurements with high angular resolution. A comparison with spectral radiance measurements with the Spectral Modular Airborne Radiation measurement sysTem (SMART-Albedometer showed an agreement within the uncertainties of both instruments (6% for both. The directional reflectivity in terms of the hemispherical directional reflectance factor (HDRF was obtained for sea ice, ice-free ocean and clouds. The sea ice, with an albedo of ρ = 0.96 (at 530 nm wavelength, showed an almost isotropic HDRF, while sun glint was observed for the ocean HDRF (ρ = 0.12. For the cloud observations with ρ = 0.62, the cloudbow – a backscatter feature typically for scattering by liquid water droplets – was covered by the camera. For measurements above heterogeneous stratocumulus clouds, the required number of images to obtain a mean HDRF that clearly exhibits the cloudbow has been estimated at about 50 images (10 min flight time. A representation of the HDRF as a function of the scattering angle only reduces the image number to about 10 (2 min flight time.

The measured cloud and ocean HDRF have been compared to radiative transfer simulations. The ocean HDRF simulated with the observed surface wind speed of 9 m s⁻¹ agreed best with the measurements. For the cloud HDRF, the best agreement was obtained by a broad and weak cloudbow simulated with a cloud droplet effective radius of R_eff = 4 μm. This value agrees with the particle sizes derived from in situ measurements and retrieved from the spectral radiance of the SMART-Albedometer.

Using MODIS spectral information to classify sea ice scenes for CERES radiance-to-flux inversion

Science.gov (United States)

Corbett, J.; Su, W.; Liang, L.; Eitzen, Z.

2013-12-01

The Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites measure the shortwave (SW) radiance reflected from the Earth. In order to provide an estimate of the top-of-atmosphere reflected SW flux we need to know the anisotropy of the radiance reflected from the scene. Sea Ice scenes are particularly complex due to the wide range of surface conditions that comprise sea ice. For example, the anisotropy of snow-covered sea ice is quite different to that of sea ice with melt-ponds. To attempt to provide a consistent scene classification we have developed the Sea Ice Brightness Index (SIBI). The SIBI is defined as one minus the normalized difference between reflectances from the 0.469 micron and 0.858 micron bands from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. For brighter snow-covered sea ice scenes the SIBI value is close to 1.0. As the surface changes to bare ice, melt ponds, etc. the SIBI decreases. For open water the SIBI value is around 0.2-0.3. The SIBI exhibits no dependence on viewing zenith or solar zenith angle, allowing for consistent scene identification. To use the SIBI we classify clear-sky CERES field-of-views over sea ice into 3 groups; SIBI≥0.935, 0.935>SIBI≥0.85 and SIBISIBI based ADMs. Using the second metric, we see a reduction in the latitude/longitude binned mean RMS error between the ADM predicted radiance and the measured radiance from 8% to 7% in May and from 17% to 12% in July. These improvements suggest that using the SIBI to account for changes in the sea ice surface will lead to improved CERES flux retrievals.

GOSAT and OCO-2 Inter-comparison on Measured Spectral Radiance and Retrieved Carbon Dioxide

Science.gov (United States)

Kataoka, F.; Kuze, A.; Shiomi, K.; Suto, H.; Crisp, D.; Bruegge, C. J.; Schwandner, F. M.

2016-12-01

TANSO-FTS onboard GOSAT and grating spectrometer on OCO-2 use different measurement techniques to measure carbon dioxide (CO2) and molecular oxygen (O2). Both instruments observe sunlight reflected from the Earth's surface in almost the same spectral range. As a first step in cross calibrating these two instruments, we compared spectral radiance observations within the three short wave infrared (SWIR) spectral bands centered on the O2 A-band (O2A), the weak CO2 band near 1.6 microns (Weak-CO2) and 2.06 micons (Strong-CO2) bands at temporally coincident and spatially collocated points. In this work, we reconciled the different size of the footprints and evaluated at various types of surface targets such as ocean, desert and forest. For radiometric inter-comparisons, we consider long term instrument sensitivity degradation in orbit and differences in viewing geometry and associated differences in surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). Measured spectral radiances agree very well within 5% for all bands. This presentation will summarize these comparisons of GOSAT and OCO-2 spectral radiance observations and associated estimates of carbon dioxide and related parameters retrieved with the same algorithm at matchup points. We will also discuss instrument related uncertainties from various target observations.

Validation of a spectral correction procedure for sun and sky reflections in above-water reflectance measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Groetsch, Philipp M M; Gege, Peter; Simis, Stefan G H; Eleveld, Marieke A; Peters, Steef W M

2017-08-07

A three-component reflectance model (3C) is applied to above-water radiometric measurements to derive remote-sensing reflectance Rrs (λ). 3C provides a spectrally resolved offset Δ(λ) to correct for residual sun and sky radiance (Rayleigh- and aerosol-scattered) reflections on the water surface that were not represented by sky radiance measurements. 3C is validated with a data set of matching above- and below-water radiometric measurements collected in the Baltic Sea, and compared against a scalar offset correction Δ. Correction with Δ(λ) instead of Δ consistently reduced the (mean normalized root-mean-square) deviation between Rrs (λ) and reference reflectances to comparable levels for clear (Δ: 14.3 ± 2.5 %, Δ(λ): 8.2 ± 1.7 %), partly clouded (Δ: 15.4 ± 2.1 %, Δ(λ): 6.5 ± 1.4 %), and completely overcast (Δ: 10.8 ± 1.7 %, Δ(λ): 6.3 ± 1.8 %) sky conditions. The improvement was most pronounced under inhomogeneous sky conditions when measurements of sky radiance tend to be less representative of surface-reflected radiance. Accounting for both sun glint and sky reflections also relaxes constraints on measurement geometry, which was demonstrated based on a semi-continuous daytime data set recorded in a eutrophic freshwater lake in the Netherlands. Rrs (λ) that were derived throughout the day varied spectrally by less than 2 % relative standard deviation. Implications on measurement protocols are discussed. An open source software library for processing reflectance measurements was developed and is made publicly available.

The effects of downwelling radiance on MER surface spectra: the evil that atmospheres do

Science.gov (United States)

Wolff, M.; Ghosh, A.; Arvidson, R.; Christensen, P.; Guinness, E.; Ruff, S.; Seelos, F.; Smith, M.; Athena Science

2004-11-01

While it may not be surprising to some that downwelling radiation in the martian atmosphere may contribute a non-negligible fraction of the radiance for a given surface scene, others remain shocked and surprised (and often dismayed) to discover this fact; particularly with regard to mini-TES observations. Naturally, the relative amplitude of this sky ``contamination'' is often a complicated function of meteorological conditions, viewing geometry, surface properties, and (for the IR) surface temperature. Ideally, one would use a specialized observations to mimic the actual hemispherical-directional nature of the problem. Despite repeated attempts to obtain Pancam complete sky observations and mini-TES sky octants, such observations are not available in the MER observational database. As a result, one is left with the less-enviable, though certainly more computationally intensive, task of connecting point observations (radiance and derived meteorological parameters) to a hemispherical integral of downwelling radiance. Naturally, one must turn to a radiative transfer analysis, despite oft-repeated attempts to assert otherwise. In our presentation, we offer insight into the conditions under which one must worry about atmospheric removal, as well as semi-empirical approaches (based upon said radiative transfer efforts) for producing the correction factors from the available MER atmospheric observations. This work is proudly supported by the MER program through NASA/JPL Contract No. 1242889 (MJW), as well as the contracts for the co-authors.

Modeling forest defoliation using simulated BRDF and assessing its effect on reflectance and sensor reaching radiance

Science.gov (United States)

Rengarajan, Rajagopalan; Schott, John R.

2016-09-01

Remote sensing techniques such as change detection are widely used for mapping and monitoring forest cover to detect the declining health and vigor of forests. These techniques rely on the assumption that the biophysical variation in the forest introduces a corresponding variation in its reflectance. The biophysical variations are assessed by foresters, but these assessment techniques are expensive and cannot be performed frequently to identify a specific level of change in the forest, for example, infection due to gypsy moths that results in forest defoliation. Further, the interaction of atmosphere, sensor characteristics, and phenology that are inherent in the remotely sensed images makes it difficult to separate biophysical changes from observational effects. We have addressed these limitations by developing a method to model the spectral reflectance properties of forests with varying degrees of defoliation using the Digital Image and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) tool. This paper discusses the in-canopy radiative approach and the impact of defoliation on the reflectance and radiance observed by sensors such as Landsat. The results indicate that the relative variation in forest reflectance between a non-defoliated and a 30% defoliated deciduous forest can be as high as 10% in the NIR spectral band. A function can be fit to predict the level of defoliation from the relative variation in radiance. The modeling and analysis techniques can be extended to assess the impact of atmospheric factors and sensor characteristics relative to the biophysical changes as well as for assessing other biophysical variables in forests.

The Light-Field of Microbenthic Communities - Radiance Distribution and Microscale Optics of Sandy Coastal Sediments Rid A-1977-2009

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

KUHL, M.; JØRGENSEN, BB

1994-01-01

radiance distribution. Comparison of light fields in wet and dry quartz sand showed that the lower refractive index of air than of water caused a more forward-biased scattering in wet sand. Light penetration was therefore deeper and surface irradiance reflectance was lower in wet sand than in dry sand......The light field in coastal sediments was investigated at a spatial resolution of 0.2-0.5 mm by spectral measurements (450-850 nm) of field radiance and scalar irradiance using fiber-optic microprobes. Depth profiles of field radiance were measured with radiance microprobes at representative angles...... relative to vertically incident collimated light in rinsed quartz sand and in a coastal sandy sediment colonized by microalgae. Upwelling and downwelling components of irradiance and scalar irradiance were calculated from the radiance distributions. Calculated total scalar irradiance agreed well...

Testing the Two-Layer Model for Correcting Near Cloud Reflectance Enhancement Using LES SHDOM Simulated Radiances

Science.gov (United States)

Wen, Guoyong; Marshak, Alexander; Varnai, Tamas; Levy, Robert

2016-01-01

A transition zone exists between cloudy skies and clear sky; such that, clouds scatter solar radiation into clear-sky regions. From a satellite perspective, it appears that clouds enhance the radiation nearby. We seek a simple method to estimate this enhancement, since it is so computationally expensive to account for all three-dimensional (3-D) scattering processes. In previous studies, we developed a simple two-layer model (2LM) that estimated the radiation scattered via cloud-molecular interactions. Here we have developed a new model to account for cloud-surface interaction (CSI). We test the models by comparing to calculations provided by full 3-D radiative transfer simulations of realistic cloud scenes. For these scenes, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-like radiance fields were computed from the Spherical Harmonic Discrete Ordinate Method (SHDOM), based on a large number of cumulus fields simulated by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) large eddy simulation (LES) model. We find that the original 2LM model that estimates cloud-air molecule interactions accounts for 64 of the total reflectance enhancement and the new model (2LM+CSI) that also includes cloud-surface interactions accounts for nearly 80. We discuss the possibility of accounting for cloud-aerosol radiative interactions in 3-D cloud-induced reflectance enhancement, which may explain the remaining 20 of enhancements. Because these are simple models, these corrections can be applied to global satellite observations (e.g., MODIS) and help to reduce biases in aerosol and other clear-sky retrievals.

Improving the description of sunglint for accurate prediction of remotely sensed radiances

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ottaviani, Matteo [Light and Life Laboratory, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Stevens Institute of Technology, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030 (United States)], E-mail: mottavia@stevens.edu; Spurr, Robert [RT Solutions Inc., 9 Channing Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Stamnes, Knut; Li Wei [Light and Life Laboratory, Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Stevens Institute of Technology, Castle Point on Hudson, Hoboken, NJ 07030 (United States); Su Wenying [Science Systems and Applications Inc., 1 Enterprise Parkway, Hampton, VA 23666 (United States); Wiscombe, Warren [NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

2008-09-15

The bidirectional reflection distribution function (BRDF) of the ocean is a critical boundary condition for radiative transfer calculations in the coupled atmosphere-ocean system. Existing models express the extent of the glint-contaminated region and its contribution to the radiance essentially as a function of the wind speed. An accurate treatment of the glint contribution and its propagation in the atmosphere would improve current correction schemes and hence rescue a significant portion of data presently discarded as 'glint contaminated'. In current satellite imagery, a correction to the sensor-measured radiances is limited to the region at the edge of the glint, where the contribution is below a certain threshold. This correction assumes the sunglint radiance to be directly transmitted through the atmosphere. To quantify the error introduced by this approximation we employ a radiative transfer code that allows for a user-specified BRDF at the atmosphere-ocean interface and rigorously accounts for multiple scattering. We show that the errors incurred by ignoring multiple scattering are very significant and typically lie in the range 10-90%. Multiple reflections and shadowing at the surface can also be accounted for, and we illustrate the importance of such processes at grazing geometries.

Hyperspectral material identification on radiance data using single-atmosphere or multiple-atmosphere modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Mariano, Adrian V.; Grossmann, John M.

2010-11-01

Reflectance-domain methods convert hyperspectral data from radiance to reflectance using an atmospheric compensation model. Material detection and identification are performed by comparing the compensated data to target reflectance spectra. We introduce two radiance-domain approaches, Single atmosphere Adaptive Cosine Estimator (SACE) and Multiple atmosphere ACE (MACE) in which the target reflectance spectra are instead converted into sensor-reaching radiance using physics-based models. For SACE, known illumination and atmospheric conditions are incorporated in a single atmospheric model. For MACE the conditions are unknown so the algorithm uses many atmospheric models to cover the range of environmental variability, and it approximates the result using a subspace model. This approach is sometimes called the invariant method, and requires the choice of a subspace dimension for the model. We compare these two radiance-domain approaches to a Reflectance-domain ACE (RACE) approach on a HYDICE image featuring concealed materials. All three algorithms use the ACE detector, and all three techniques are able to detect most of the hidden materials in the imagery. For MACE we observe a strong dependence on the choice of the material subspace dimension. Increasing this value can lead to a decline in performance.

Assessment of a Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Correction of Above-Water and Satellite Water-Leaving Radiance in Coastal Waters

Science.gov (United States)

Hlaing, Soe; Gilerson, Alexander; Harmal, Tristan; Tonizzo, Alberto; Weidemann, Alan; Arnone, Robert; Ahmed, Samir

2012-01-01

Water-leaving radiances, retrieved from in situ or satellite measurements, need to be corrected for the bidirectional properties of the measured light in order to standardize the data and make them comparable with each other. The current operational algorithm for the correction of bidirectional effects from the satellite ocean color data is optimized for typical oceanic waters. However, versions of bidirectional reflectance correction algorithms specifically tuned for typical coastal waters and other case 2 conditions are particularly needed to improve the overall quality of those data. In order to analyze the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of case 2 waters, a dataset of typical remote sensing reflectances was generated through radiative transfer simulations for a large range of viewing and illumination geometries. Based on this simulated dataset, a case 2 water focused remote sensing reflectance model is proposed to correct above-water and satellite water-leaving radiance data for bidirectional effects. The proposed model is first validated with a one year time series of in situ above-water measurements acquired by collocated multispectral and hyperspectral radiometers, which have different viewing geometries installed at the Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory (LISCO). Match-ups and intercomparisons performed on these concurrent measurements show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the algorithm currently in use at all wavelengths, with average improvement of 2.4% over the spectral range. LISCO's time series data have also been used to evaluate improvements in match-up comparisons of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer satellite data when the proposed BRDF correction is used in lieu of the current algorithm. It is shown that the discrepancies between coincident in-situ sea-based and satellite data decreased by 3.15% with the use of the proposed algorithm.

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE: CHEMICAL-FREE CLEANING OF SEMICONDUCTORS BY THE RADIANCE PROCESS

Science.gov (United States)

The Radiance Process is a patented dry process for removing contaminants from surfaces. It uses light, usually from a pulsed laser and a gas inert to the surface, to entrain released contaminants. The focus of this effort is to assess the applicability of the Radiance Process t...

The Cross-Calibration of Spectral Radiances and Cross-Validation of CO2 Estimates from GOSAT and OCO-2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fumie Kataoka

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT launched in January 2009 has provided radiance spectra with a Fourier Transform Spectrometer for more than eight years. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2 launched in July 2014, collects radiance spectra using an imaging grating spectrometer. Both sensors observe sunlight reflected from Earth’s surface and retrieve atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 concentrations, but use different spectrometer technologies, observing geometries, and ground track repeat cycles. To demonstrate the effectiveness of satellite remote sensing for CO2 monitoring, the GOSAT and OCO-2 teams have worked together pre- and post-launch to cross-calibrate the instruments and cross-validate their retrieval algorithms and products. In this work, we first compare observed radiance spectra within three narrow bands centered at 0.76, 1.60 and 2.06 µm, at temporally coincident and spatially collocated points from September 2014 to March 2017. We reconciled the differences in observation footprints size, viewing geometry and associated differences in surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF. We conclude that the spectral radiances measured by the two instruments agree within 5% for all bands. Second, we estimated mean bias and standard deviation of column-averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction (XCO2 retrieved from GOSAT and OCO-2 from September 2014 to May 2016. GOSAT retrievals used Build 7.3 (V7.3 of the Atmospheric CO2 Observations from Space (ACOS algorithm while OCO-2 retrievals used Version 7 of the OCO-2 retrieval algorithm. The mean biases and standard deviations are −0.57 ± 3.33 ppm over land with high gain, −0.17 ± 1.48 ppm over ocean with high gain and −0.19 ± 2.79 ppm over land with medium gain. Finally, our study is complemented with an analysis of error sources: retrieved surface pressure (Psurf, aerosol optical depth (AOD, BRDF and surface albedo inhomogeneity. We found no change in XCO2

Modeling directional thermal radiance from a forest canopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McGuire, M.J.; Balick, L.K.; Smith, J.A.; Hutchison, B.A.

1989-01-01

Recent advances in remote sensing technology have increased interest in utilizing the thermal-infared region to gain additional information about surface features such as vegetation canopies. Studies have shown that sensor view angle, canopy structure, and percentage of canopy coverage can affect the response of a thermal sensor. These studies have been primarily of agricultural regions and there have been relatively few examples describing the thermal characteristics of forested regions. This paper describes an extension of an existing thermal vegetation canopy radiance model which has been modified to partially account for the geometrically rough structure of a forest canopy. Fourier series expansion of a canopy height profile is used to calculate improved view factors which partially account for the directional variations in canopy thermal radiance transfers. The original and updated radiance model predictions are compared with experimental data obtained over a deciduous (oak-hickory) forest site. The experimental observations are also used to document azimuthal and nadir directional radiance variations. Maximum angular variations in measured canopy temperatures were 4–6°C (azimuth) and 2.5°C (nadir). Maximum angular variations in simulated temperatures using the modified rough surface model was 4°C. The rough surface model appeared to be sensitive to large gaps in the canopy height profile, which influenced the resultant predicted temperature. (author)

Simulation of an oil film at the sea surface and its radiometric properties in the SWIR

Science.gov (United States)

Schwenger, Frédéric; Van Eijk, Alexander M. J.

2017-10-01

The knowledge of the optical contrast of an oil layer on the sea under various surface roughness conditions is of great interest for oil slick monitoring techniques. This paper presents a 3D simulation of a dynamic sea surface contaminated by a floating oil film. The simulation considers the damping influence of oil on the ocean waves and its physical properties. It calculates the radiance contrast of the sea surface polluted by the oil film in relation to a clean sea surface for the SWIR spectral band. Our computer simulation combines the 3D simulation of a maritime scene (open clear sea/clear sky) with an oil film at the sea surface. The basic geometry of a clean sea surface is modeled by a composition of smooth wind driven gravity waves. Oil on the sea surface attenuates the capillary and short gravity waves modulating the wave power density spectrum of these waves. The radiance of the maritime scene is calculated in the SWIR spectral band with the emitted sea surface radiance and the specularly reflected sky radiance as components. Wave hiding and shadowing, especially occurring at low viewing angles, are considered. The specular reflection of the sky radiance at the clean sea surface is modeled by an analytical statistical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of the sea surface. For oil at the sea surface, a specific BRDF is used influenced by the reduced surface roughness, i.e., the modulated wave density spectrum. The radiance contrast of an oil film in relation to the clean sea surface is calculated for different viewing angles, wind speeds, and oil types characterized by their specific physical properties.

Calculation of the radiance distribution at the boundary of an isotropically scattering slab

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Doosje, M; Hoenders, B.J; Rinzema, K.

The radiance arising from an anisotropically scattering illuminated stack of n slabs is calulated using the equation of radiative transfer. It appears to be unnecessary to calculate the radiance inside the material; including only the radiance at the boundary surfaces is sufficient to obtain the

Analysing the impact of reflectance distributions and well geometries on vertical surface daylight levels in atria for overcast skies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Du, Jiangtao; Sharples, Steve [School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, Crookesmoor Building, Conduit Road, Sheffield S10 1FL (United Kingdom)

2010-07-15

This study investigated the impacts of different diffuse reflectance distributions and well geometries on vertical daylight factors and vertical internally reflected components in atria. Two forms of reflectance distribution patterns of wall surface were examined: horizontal and vertical reflectance band variation. The square atrium models studied have a broader WI range of 0.25-2.0, which represent shallow, medium and high atria. Radiance, a powerful package based on backward ray tracing technique, was used for the simulations of vertical daylight levels. The results show that different reflectance distributions of square atrium walls do have an impact on the vertical daylight factors and vertical internally reflected components under overcast sky condition. The impact relates to the orientation of the band with different reflectance distributions on the wall. Compared with the vertical band surface, the horizontal band surface has a much more complicated effect. The horizontal distributions of the reflectances significantly affects the vertical daylight levels at the locations more than 30% atrium height on the wall. For an atrium with a height more than 1/2 the width, the effect tends to increase with the increasing well index. The vertical distributions of the reflectance, nevertheless, do not substantially take effect on the vertical daylight levels in atria except for some special reflectance distribution patterns. (author)

Physical Mechanism, Spectral Detection, and Potential Mitigation of 3D Cloud Effects on OCO-2 Radiances and Retrievals

Science.gov (United States)

Cochrane, S.; Schmidt, S.; Massie, S. T.; Iwabuchi, H.; Chen, H.

2017-12-01

Analysis of multiple partially cloudy scenes as observed by OCO-2 in nadir and target mode (published previously and reviewed here) revealed that XCO2 retrievals are systematically biased in presence of scattered clouds. The bias can only partially be removed by applying more stringent filtering, and it depends on the degree of scene inhomogeneity as quantified with collocated MODIS/Aqua imagery. The physical reason behind this effect was so far not well understood because in contrast to cloud-mediated biases in imagery-derived aerosol retrievals, passive gas absorption spectroscopy products do not depend on the absolute radiance level and should therefore be less sensitive to 3D cloud effects and surface albedo variability. However, preliminary evidence from 3D radiative transfer calculations suggested that clouds in the vicinity of an OCO-2 footprint not only offset the reflected radiance spectrum, but introduce a spectrally dependent perturbation that affects absorbing channels disproportionately, and therefore bias the spectroscopy products. To understand the nature of this effect for a variety of scenes, we developed the OCO-2 radiance simulator, which uses the available information on a scene (e.g., MODIS-derived surface albedo, cloud distribution, and other parameters) as the basis for 3D radiative transfer calculations that can predict the radiances observed by OCO-2. We present this new tool and show examples of its utility for a few specific scenes. More importantly, we draw conclusions about the physical mechanism behind this 3D cloud effect on radiances and ultimately OCO-2 retrievals, which involves not only the clouds themselves but also the surface. Harnessed with this understanding, we can now detect cloud vicinity effects in the OCO-2 spectra directly, without actually running the 3D radiance simulator. Potentially, it is even possible to mitigate these effects and thus increase data harvest in regions with ubiquitous cloud cover such as the Amazon

The delta-Sobolev approach for modeling solar spectral irradiance and radiance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiang, Xuwu.

1990-01-01

The development and evaluation of a solar radiation model is reported, which gives irradiance and radiance results at the bottom and top of an atmosphere of specified optical depth for each of 145 spectral intervals from 0.29 to 4.05 microns. Absorption by water vapor, aerosols, ozone, and uniformly mixed gases; scattering by molecules and aerosols; and non-Lambertian surface reflectance are included in the model. For solving the radiative transfer equation, an innovative delta-Sobolev method is developed. It applies a delta-function modification to the conventional Sobolev solutions in a way analogous to the delta-Eddington method. The irradiance solution by the delta-Sobolev method turns out to be mathematically identical to the delta-Eddington approximation. The radiance solution by the delta-Sobolov method provides a convenient way to obtain the directional distribution pattern of the radiation transfer field, a feature unable to be obtained by most commonly used approximation methods. Such radiance solutions are also especially useful in models for satellite remote sensing. The model is tested against the rigorous Dave model, which solves the radiation transfer problem by the spherical harmonic method, an accurate but very time consuming process. Good agreement between the current model results and those of Dave's model are observed. The advantages of the delta-Sobolev model are simplicity, reasonable accuracy and capability for implementation on a minicomputer or microcomputer

ChemCam passive reflectance spectroscopy of surface materials at the Curiosity landing site, Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Jeffrey R.; Bell, J. F.; Bender, S.; Blaney, D.; Cloutis, E.; DeFlores, L.; Ehlmann, B.; Gasnault, O.; Gondet, B.; Kinch, K.; Lemmon, M.; Le Mouélic, S.; Maurice, S.; Rice, M.; Wiens, R. C.

2015-03-01

The spectrometers on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ChemCam instrument were used in passive mode to record visible/near-infrared (400-840 nm) radiance from the martian surface. Using the onboard ChemCam calibration targets' housing as a reflectance standard, we developed methods to collect, calibrate, and reduce radiance observations to relative reflectance. Such measurements accurately reproduce the known reflectance spectra of other calibration targets on the rover, and represent the highest spatial resolution (0.65 mrad) and spectral sampling (rocks and soils match those from orbital observations and multispectral data from the MSL Mastcam camera. Preliminary analyses of the band depths, spectral slopes, and reflectance ratios of the more than 2000 spectra taken during the first year of MSL operations demonstrate at least six spectral classes of materials distinguished by variations in ferrous and ferric components. Initial comparisons of ChemCam spectra to laboratory spectra of minerals and Mars analog materials demonstrate similarities with palagonitic soils and indications of orthopyroxene in some dark rocks. Magnesium-rich "raised ridges" tend to exhibit distinct near-infrared slopes. The ferric absorption downturn typically found for martian materials at rocks and drill tailings, consistent with their more ferrous nature. Calcium-sulfate veins exhibit the highest relative reflectances observed, but are still relatively red owing to the effects of residual dust. Such dust is overall less prominent on rocks sampled within the "blast zone" immediately surrounding the landing site. These samples were likely affected by the landing thrusters, which partially removed the ubiquitous dust coatings. Increased dust coatings on the calibration targets during the first year of the mission were documented by the ChemCam passive measurements as well. Ongoing efforts to model and correct for this dust component should improve calibration of the relative reflectance

Evaluation of Daytime Evaporative Fraction from MODIS TOA Radiances Using FLUXNET Observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Peng

2014-06-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, the land surface temperature/vegetation index (LST/NDVI feature space has been widely used to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ETa or evaporative fraction (EF, defined as the ratio of latent heat flux to surface available energy. Traditionally, it is essential to pre-process satellite top of atmosphere (TOA radiances to obtain LST before estimating EF. However, pre-processing TOA radiances is a cumbersome task including corrections for atmospheric, adjacency and directional effects. Based on the contextual relationship between LST and NDVI, some studies proposed the direct use of TOA radiances instead of satellite retrieved LST products to estimate EF, and found that use of TOA radiances is applicable in some regional studies. The purpose of the present study is to test the robustness of the TOA radiances based EF estimation scheme over different climatic and surface conditions. Flux measurements from 16 FLUXNET (a global network of eddy covariance towers sites were used to validate the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro radiometer (MODIS TOA radiances estimated daytime EF. It is found that the EF estimates perform well across a wide variety of climate and biome types—Grasslands, crops, cropland/natural vegetation mosaic, closed shrublands, mixed forest, deciduous broadleaf forest, and savannas. The overall mean bias error (BIAS, mean absolute difference (MAD, root mean square difference (RMSD and correlation coefficient (R values for all the sites are 0.018, 0.147, 0.178 and 0.590, respectively, which are comparable with published results in the literature. We conclude that the direct use of measured TOA radiances instead of LST to estimate daytime EF can avoid complex atmospheric corrections associated with the satellite derived products, and would facilitate the relevant applications where minimum pre-processing is important.

From Intensity Profile to Surface Normal: Photometric Stereo for Unknown Light Sources and Isotropic Reflectances.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Feng; Matsushita, Yasuyuki; Sato, Imari; Okabe, Takahiro; Sato, Yoichi

2015-10-01

We propose an uncalibrated photometric stereo method that works with general and unknown isotropic reflectances. Our method uses a pixel intensity profile, which is a sequence of radiance intensities recorded at a pixel under unknown varying directional illumination. We show that for general isotropic materials and uniformly distributed light directions, the geodesic distance between intensity profiles is linearly related to the angular difference of their corresponding surface normals, and that the intensity distribution of the intensity profile reveals reflectance properties. Based on these observations, we develop two methods for surface normal estimation; one for a general setting that uses only the recorded intensity profiles, the other for the case where a BRDF database is available while the exact BRDF of the target scene is still unknown. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations are conducted using both synthetic and real-world scenes, which show the state-of-the-art accuracy of smaller than 10 degree without using reference data and 5 degree with reference data for all 100 materials in MERL database.

Assimilation of SAPHIR radiance: impact on hyperspectral radiances in 4D-VAR

Science.gov (United States)

Indira Rani, S.; Doherty, Amy; Atkinson, Nigel; Bell, William; Newman, Stuart; Renshaw, Richard; George, John P.; Rajagopal, E. N.

2016-04-01

Assimilation of a new observation dataset in an NWP system may affect the quality of an existing observation data set against the model background (short forecast), which in-turn influence the use of an existing observation in the NWP system. Effect of the use of one data set on the use of another data set can be quantified as positive, negative or neutral. Impact of the addition of new dataset is defined as positive if the number of assimilated observations of an existing type of observation increases, and bias and standard deviation decreases compared to the control (without the new dataset) experiment. Recently a new dataset, Megha Tropiques SAPHIR radiances, which provides atmospheric humidity information, is added in the Unified Model 4D-VAR assimilation system. In this paper we discuss the impact of SAPHIR on the assimilation of hyper-spectral radiances like AIRS, IASI and CrIS. Though SAPHIR is a Microwave instrument, its impact can be clearly seen in the use of hyper-spectral radiances in the 4D-VAR data assimilation systems in addition to other Microwave and InfraRed observation. SAPHIR assimilation decreased the standard deviation of the spectral channels of wave number from 650 -1600 cm-1 in all the three hyperspectral radiances. Similar impact on the hyperspectral radiances can be seen due to the assimilation of other Microwave radiances like from AMSR2 and SSMIS Imager.

Radiance limits of ceramic phosphors under high excitation fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Lenef, Alan; Kelso, John; Zheng, Yi; Tchoul, Maxim

2013-09-01

Ceramic phosphors, excited by high radiance pump sources, offer considerable potential for high radiance conversion. Interestingly, thermodynamic arguments suggest that the radiance of the luminescent spot can even exceed that of the incoming light source. In practice, however, thermal quenching and (non-thermal) optical saturation limit the maximum attainable radiance of the luminescent source. We present experimental data for Ce:YAG and Ce:GdYAG ceramics in which these limits have been investigated. High excitation fluxes are achieved using laser pumping. Optical pumping intensities exceeding 100W/mm2 have been shown to produce only modest efficiency depreciation at low overall pump powers because of the short Ce3+ lifetime, although additional limitations exist. When pump powers are higher, heat-transfer bottlenecks within the ceramic and heat-sink interfaces limit maximum pump intensities. We find that surface temperatures of these laser-pumped ceramics can reach well over 150°C, causing thermal-quenching losses. We also find that in some cases, the loss of quantum efficiency with increasing temperature can cause a thermal run-away effect, resulting in a rapid loss in converted light, possibly over-heating the sample or surrounding structures. While one can still obtain radiances on the order of many W/mm2/sr, temperature quenching effects ultimately limit converted light radiance. Finally, we use the diffusion-approximation radiation transport models and rate equation models to simulate some of these nonlinear optical pumping and heating effects in high-scattering ceramics.

Initial analyses of surface spectral radiance between observations and Line-By-Line calculations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brown, P.D.; Clough, S.A. [Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., Cambridge, MA (United States); Miller, N.E.; Shippert, T.R.; Turner, D.D. [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)] [and others

1996-04-01

The evaluation an improvement of radiative transfer calculations are essential to attain improved performance of general circulation models (GCMs) for climate change applications. A Quality Measurement Experiment (QME) is being conducted to analyze the spectral residuals between the downwelling longwave radiance measured by the University of Wisconsin Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) and spectral radiance calculated by the Line-By-Line Radiative Transfer Model (LBLRTM). The three critical components of this study are (1) the assessment of the quality of the high resolution AERI measurements, (2) the assessment of the ability to define the atmospheric state in the radiating column, and (3) the evaluation of the capability of LBLRTM. Validations have been performed on spectral radiance data, obtained from April 1994 through July 1994, through the analysis of the spectral interval and physical process. The results are archived as a function of time, enabling the retrieval of specific data and facilitating investigations and diurnal effects, seasonal effects, and longer-term trends. While the initial focus is restricted to clear-sky analyses, efforts are under way to include the effects of clouds and aerosols. Plans are well formulated for the extension of the current approach to the shortwave. An overview of the concept of the QME is described by Miller et al. (1994), and a detailed description of this study is provided by Clough et al. (1994).

Calculation of the angular radiance distribution for a coupled atmosphere and canopy

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Shunlin; Strahler, Alan H.

1993-01-01

The radiative transfer equations for a coupled atmosphere and canopy are solved numerically by an improved Gauss-Seidel iteration algorithm. The radiation field is decomposed into three components: unscattered sunlight, single scattering, and multiple scattering radiance for which the corresponding equations and boundary conditions are set up and their analytical or iterational solutions are explicitly derived. The classic Gauss-Seidel algorithm has been widely applied in atmospheric research. This is its first application for calculating the multiple scattering radiance of a coupled atmosphere and canopy. This algorithm enables us to obtain the internal radiation field as well as radiances at boundaries. Any form of bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) as a boundary condition can be easily incorporated into the iteration procedure. The hotspot effect of the canopy is accommodated by means of the modification of the extinction coefficients of upward single scattering radiation and unscattered sunlight using the formulation of Nilson and Kuusk. To reduce the computation for the case of large optical thickness, an improved iteration formula is derived to speed convergence. The upwelling radiances have been evaluated for different atmospheric conditions, leaf area index (LAI), leaf angle distribution (LAD), leaf size and so on. The formulation presented in this paper is also well suited to analyze the relative magnitude of multiple scattering radiance and single scattering radiance in both the visible and near infrared regions.

Using Neural Networks to Improve the Performance of Radiative Transfer Modeling Used for Geometry Dependent Surface Lambertian-Equivalent Reflectivity Calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Fasnacht, Zachary; Qin, Wenhan; Haffner, David P.; Loyola, Diego; Joiner, Joanna; Krotkov, Nickolay; Vasilkov, Alexander; Spurr, Robert

2017-01-01

Surface Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (LER) is important for trace gas retrievals in the direct calculation of cloud fractions and indirect calculation of the air mass factor. Current trace gas retrievals use climatological surface LER's. Surface properties that impact the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) as well as varying satellite viewing geometry can be important for retrieval of trace gases. Geometry Dependent LER (GLER) captures these effects with its calculation of sun normalized radiances (I/F) and can be used in current LER algorithms (Vasilkov et al. 2016). Pixel by pixel radiative transfer calculations are computationally expensive for large datasets. Modern satellite missions such as the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) produce very large datasets as they take measurements at much higher spatial and spectral resolutions. Look up table (LUT) interpolation improves the speed of radiative transfer calculations but complexity increases for non-linear functions. Neural networks perform fast calculations and can accurately predict both non-linear and linear functions with little effort.

Impact of AIRS radiance in the NCUM 4D-VAR assimilation system

Science.gov (United States)

Srinivas, Desamsetti; Indira Rani, S.; Mallick, Swapan; George, John P.; Sharma, Priti

2016-04-01

The hyperspectral radiances from Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS), on board NASA-AQUA satellite, have been processed through the Observation Processing System (OPS) and assimilated in the Variational Assimilation (VAR) System of NCMRWF Unified Model (NCUM). Numerical experiments are conducted in order to study the impact of the AIRS radiance in the NCUM analysis and forecast system. NCMRWF receives AIRS radiance from EUMETCAST through MOSDAC. AIRS is a grating spectrometer having 2378 channels covering the thermal infrared spectrum between 3 and 15 μm. Out of 2378 channels, 324 channels are selected for assimilation according to the peaking of weighting function and meteorological importance. According to the surface type and day-night conditions, some of the channels are not assimilated in the VAR. Observation Simulation Experiments (OSEs) are conducted for a period of 15 days to see the impact of AIRS radiances in NCUM. Statistical parameters like bias and RMSE are calculated to see the real impact of AIRS radiances in the assimilation system. Assimilation of AIRS in the NCUM system reduced the bias and RMSE in the radiances from instruments onboard other satellites. The impact of AIRS is clearly seen in the hyperspectral radiances like IASI and CrIS and also in infrared (HIRS) and microwave (AMSU, ATMS, etc.) sensors.

Estimating the Augmented Reflectance Ratio of the Ocean Surface When Whitecaps Appear

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhantang Xu

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The presence of foam influences the accuracy of satellite-derived water-leaving radiance. A model has been developed to estimate the augmented reflectance ratio (A(λ,U due to differences in the fraction of whitecap coverage (w on the ocean surface. A(λ,U can be calculated from the product of w and ρ(λ,U, where ρ(λ,U is the augmented ratio of the reflectance of background water (Rb(λ caused by the presence of whitecaps. Our results showed that the average A(400~700,U in the visible region was approximately 1.3% at U = 9 m∙s−1, 2.2% at U = 10 m∙s−1, 4.4% at U = 12 m∙s−1, 7.4% at U = 14 m∙s−1, 19% at U = 19 m∙s−1 and 37.9% at U = 24 m∙s−1, making it is necessary to consider the augmented reflectance ratio for remote sensing applications. By estimating remote sensing augmented reflectance using A(λ,U, it was found that the result was in good agreement with previous studies conducted in other areas with U from 9 to 12 m∙s−1. Since Rb(λ is temporally and spatially variable, our model considered the variation of Rb(λ, whereas existing models have assumed that Rb(λ is constant. Therefore, the proposed model is more suitable for estimating the augmented reflectance ratio due to whitecaps.

A comparison of measured and calculated upwelling radiance over water as a function of sensor altitude

Science.gov (United States)

Coney, T. A.; Salzman, J. A.

1979-01-01

The present paper compares remote sensing data measured over water at altitudes ranging from 30 m to 15.2 km to data calculated for corresponding altitudes using surface measurements and an atmospheric radiative transfer model. The data were acquired on June 22, 1978 in Lake Erie and it was found that suspended solids and chlorophyll concentrations were 0.59 + or - 0.02 mg/liter and 2.42 + or - 0.03 micro gram/liter respectively throughout the duration of the experiment. Calculated and measured nadir radiances for altitudes of 152 m and 12.5 km agree to within 16% and 14% respectively. It is noted that the model offered a poor simulation of the variation in measured radiance with look angle. Finally, it is concluded that an accurate assessment of the source of error will require the inclusion in the analysis of the contributions made by the sea state and specular sky reflectance

Comparison of full-sky polarization and radiance observations to radiative transfer simulations which employ AERONET products.

Science.gov (United States)

Pust, Nathan J; Dahlberg, Andrew R; Thomas, Michael J; Shaw, Joseph A

2011-09-12

Visible-band and near infrared polarization and radiance images measured with a ground-based full-sky polarimeter are compared against a successive orders of scattering (SOS) radiative transfer model for 2009 summer cloud-free days in Bozeman, Montana, USA. The polarimeter measures radiance and polarization in 10-nm bands centered at 450 nm, 490 nm, 530 nm, 630 nm, and 700 nm. AERONET products are used to represent aerosols in the SOS model, while MISR satellite BRF products are used for the surface reflectance. While model results generally agree well with observation, the simulated degree of polarization is typically higher than observed data. Potential sources of this difference may include cloud contamination and/or underestimation of the AERONET-retrieved aerosol real refractive index. Problems with the retrieved parameters are not unexpected given the low aerosol optical depth range (0.025 to 0.17 at 500 nm) during the study and the corresponding difficulties that these conditions pose to the AERONET inversion algorithm.

Remote sensing reflectance and inherent optical properties of oceanic waters derived from above-water measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Zhongping; Carder, Kendall L.; Steward, Robert G.; Peacock, Thomas G.; Davis, Curtiss O.; Mueller, James L.

1997-02-01

Remote-sensing reflectance and inherent optical properties of oceanic properties of oceanic waters are important parameters for ocean optics. Due to surface reflectance, Rrs or water-leaving radiance is difficult to measure from above the surface. It usually is derived by correcting for the reflected skylight in the measured above-water upwelling radiance using a theoretical Fresnel reflectance value. As it is difficult to determine the reflected skylight, there are errors in the Q and E derived Rrs, and the errors may get bigger for high chl_a coastal waters. For better correction of the reflected skylight,w e propose the following derivation procedure: partition the skylight into Rayleigh and aerosol contributions, remove the Rayleigh contribution using the Fresnel reflectance, and correct the aerosol contribution using an optimization algorithm. During the process, Rrs and in-water inherent optical properties are derived at the same time. For measurements of 45 sites made in the Gulf of Mexico and Arabian Sea with chl_a concentrations ranging from 0.07 to 49 mg/m3, the derived Rrs and inherent optical property values were compared with those from in-water measurements. These results indicate that for the waters studied, the proposed algorithm performs quite well in deriving Rrs and in- water inherent optical properties from above-surface measurements for clear and turbid waters.

Hemispherical reflectance model for passive images in an outdoor environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Charles C; Thai, Bea; Yamaoka, Neil; Aboutalib, Omar

2015-05-01

We present a hemispherical reflectance model for simulating passive images in an outdoor environment where illumination is provided by natural sources such as the sun and the clouds. While the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) accurately produces radiance from any objects after the illumination, using the BRDF in calculating radiance requires double integration. Replacing the BRDF by hemispherical reflectance under the natural sources transforms the double integration into a multiplication. This reduces both storage space and computation time. We present the formalism for the radiance of the scene using hemispherical reflectance instead of BRDF. This enables us to generate passive images in an outdoor environment taking advantage of the computational and storage efficiencies. We show some examples for illustration.

Platform and Environmental Effects on Above- and In-Water Determinations of Water-Leaving Radiances

Science.gov (United States)

Hooker, Stanford B.; Morel, Andre; McClain, Charles R. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

A comparison of above- and in-water spectral measurements in Case-1 conditions showed the uncertainty in above-water determinations of water-leaving radiances depended on the pointing angle of the above-water instruments with respect to the side of the ship. Two above-water methods were used to create a diagnostic variable to quantify the presence of superstructure reflections which degraded the above-water intracomparisons of water-leaving radiances by 10.9-33.4% (for far-to-near viewing distances, respectively). The primary conclusions of the above- and in-water intercomparison of water-leaving radiances were as follows: a) the SeaWiFS 5% radiometric objective was achieved with the above-water approach, but reliably with only one method and only for about half the data; b) a decrease in water-leaving radiance values was seen in the presence of swell, although, wave crests were radiometrically brighter than the troughs; and c) standard band ratios used in ocean color algorithms remained severely affected, because of the relatively low signal and, thus, proportionally significant contamination at the 555nm wavelength.

Bioluminescence in a complex coastal environment: 1. Temporal dynamics of nighttime water-leaving radiance

Science.gov (United States)

Moline, Mark A.; Oliver, Matthew J.; Mobley, Curtis D.; Sundman, Lydia; Bensky, Thomas; Bergmann, Trisha; Bissett, W. Paul; Case, James; Raymond, Erika H.; Schofield, Oscar M. E.

2007-11-01

Nighttime water-leaving radiance is a function of the depth-dependent distribution of both the in situ bioluminescence emissions and the absorption and scattering properties of the water. The vertical distributions of these parameters were used as inputs for a modified one-dimensional radiative transfer model to solve for spectral bioluminescence water-leaving radiance from prescribed depths of the water column. Variation in the water-leaving radiance was consistent with local episodic physical forcing events, with tidal forcing, terrestrial runoff, particulate accumulation, and biological responses influencing the shorter timescale dynamics. There was a >90 nm shift in the peak water-leaving radiance from blue (˜474 nm) to green as light propagated to the surface. In addition to clues in ecosystem responses to physical forcing, the temporal dynamics in intensity and spectral quality of water-leaving radiance provide suitable ranges for assessing detection. This may provide the information needed to estimate the depth of internal light sources in the ocean, which is discussed in part 2 of this paper.

Investigating Bidirectional Reflectance in the Los Angeles Megacity Using CLARS Multiangle and Hyperspectral Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Z. C.; Natraj, V.; Pongetti, T.; Shia, R. L.; Sander, S. P.; Yung, Y. L.

2017-12-01

The surface reflectance is a key ingredient in the remote sensing of surface and atmospheric properties from space. The determination of atmospheric composition, including greenhouse gas (GHG) and aerosol concentrations, from reflected sunlight requires accurate knowledge of the contribution from the underlying surface. Over megacity areas, such as the Los Angeles (LA) basin, which are major sources of GHGs and anthropogenic aerosols, the quantification of surface reflectance is challenging due to the associated complex land use types. In this study, we investigate the bidirectional reflectance in the Los Angeles megacity area using multiangle and hyperspectral radiance measurements from the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS). The CLARS facility is located near the top of Mt. Wilson, at an altitude of 1670 m a.s.l., overlooking the LA megacity area with an FTS operating since 2011 to continuously monitor the GHGs and near-surface aerosols in the basin. The CLARS-FTS offers continuous high-resolution spectral measurements in the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared spectral regions. The CLARS measurements mimic the off-nadir viewing of a low-Earth orbiting instrument, such as GOSAT and OCO-2, but with daily viewing capability. Eight surface targets with different land use types, including urban parks, industrial and residential areas, are selected in this study. The surface reflectance for specific solar incident and viewing angles is calculated by dividing, for non-absorbing spectral channels on clear days (such that gas and aerosol extinction can be ignored), the observed radiance reflected from surface targets by the observed irradiance. The non-linear Rahman-Pinty-Verstraete (RPV) model is used to model the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) by fitting the multiangle and hyperspectral measurements. By evaluating the retrieved RPV parameters, we find that the RPV model provides a good representation of the

CLARA-SAL: a global 28 yr timeseries of Earth's black-sky surface albedo

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Riihelä

2013-04-01

Full Text Available We present a novel 28 yr dataset of Earth's black-sky surface albedo, derived from AVHRR instruments. The dataset is created using algorithms to separately derive the surface albedo for different land use areas globally. Snow, sea ice, open water and vegetation are all treated independently. The product features corrections for the atmospheric effect in satellite-observed surface radiances, a BRDF correction for the anisotropic reflectance properties of natural surfaces, and a novel topography correction of geolocation and radiometric accuracy of surface reflectance observations over mountainous areas. The dataset is based on a homogenized AVHRR radiance timeseries. The product is validated against quality-controlled in situ observations of clear-sky surface albedo at various BSRN sites around the world. Snow and ice albedo retrieval validation is given particular attention using BSRN sites over Antarctica, Greenland Climate Network stations on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS, as well as sea ice albedo data from the SHEBA and Tara expeditions. The product quality is found to be comparable to other previous long-term surface albedo datasets from AVHRR.

High-radiance LDP source for mask inspection and beam line applications (Conference Presentation)

Science.gov (United States)

Teramoto, Yusuke; Santos, Bárbara; Mertens, Guido; Kops, Ralf; Kops, Margarete; von Wezyk, Alexander; Bergmann, Klaus; Yabuta, Hironobu; Nagano, Akihisa; Ashizawa, Noritaka; Taniguchi, Yuta; Yamatani, Daiki; Shirai, Takahiro; Kasama, Kunihiko

2017-04-01

High-throughput actinic mask inspection tools are needed as EUVL begins to enter into volume production phase. One of the key technologies to realize such inspection tools is a high-radiance EUV source of which radiance is supposed to be as high as 100 W/mm2/sr. Ushio is developing laser-assisted discharge-produced plasma (LDP) sources. Ushio's LDP source is able to provide sufficient radiance as well as cleanliness, stability and reliability. Radiance behind the debris mitigation system was confirmed to be 120 W/mm2/sr at 9 kHz and peak radiance at the plasma was increased to over 200 W/mm2/sr in the recent development which supports high-throughput, high-precision mask inspection in the current and future technology nodes. One of the unique features of Ushio's LDP source is cleanliness. Cleanliness evaluation using both grazing-incidence Ru mirrors and normal-incidence Mo/Si mirrors showed no considerable damage to the mirrors other than smooth sputtering of the surface at the pace of a few nm per Gpulse. In order to prove the system reliability, several long-term tests were performed. Data recorded during the tests was analyzed to assess two-dimensional radiance stability. In addition, several operating parameters were monitored to figure out which contributes to the radiance stability. The latest model that features a large opening angle was recently developed so that the tool can utilize a large number of debris-free photons behind the debris shield. The model was designed both for beam line application and high-throughput mask inspection application. At the time of publication, the first product is supposed to be in use at the customer site.

Rayleigh radiance computations for satellite remote sensing: accounting for the effect of sensor spectral response function.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Menghua

2016-05-30

To understand and assess the effect of the sensor spectral response function (SRF) on the accuracy of the top of the atmosphere (TOA) Rayleigh-scattering radiance computation, new TOA Rayleigh radiance lookup tables (LUTs) over global oceans and inland waters have been generated. The new Rayleigh LUTs include spectral coverage of 335-2555 nm, all possible solar-sensor geometries, and surface wind speeds of 0-30 m/s. Using the new Rayleigh LUTs, the sensor SRF effect on the accuracy of the TOA Rayleigh radiance computation has been evaluated for spectral bands of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1, showing some important uncertainties for VIIRS-SNPP particularly for large solar- and/or sensor-zenith angles as well as for large Rayleigh optical thicknesses (i.e., short wavelengths) and bands with broad spectral bandwidths. To accurately account for the sensor SRF effect, a new correction algorithm has been developed for VIIRS spectral bands, which improves the TOA Rayleigh radiance accuracy to ~0.01% even for the large solar-zenith angles of 70°-80°, compared with the error of ~0.7% without applying the correction for the VIIRS-SNPP 410 nm band. The same methodology that accounts for the sensor SRF effect on the Rayleigh radiance computation can be used for other satellite sensors. In addition, with the new Rayleigh LUTs, the effect of surface atmospheric pressure variation on the TOA Rayleigh radiance computation can be calculated precisely, and no specific atmospheric pressure correction algorithm is needed. There are some other important applications and advantages to using the new Rayleigh LUTs for satellite remote sensing, including an efficient and accurate TOA Rayleigh radiance computation for hyperspectral satellite remote sensing, detector-based TOA Rayleigh radiance computation, Rayleigh radiance calculations for high altitude

Roughness-reflectance relationship of bare desert terrain: An empirical study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shoshany, M.

1993-01-01

A study of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) in relation to surface roughness properties was conducted in arid land near Fowlers Gap Research Station, New South Wales, Australia. Such empirical study is necessary for investigating the possibility of determining terrain geomorphological parameters from bidirectional reflectance data. A new apparatus was developed to take accurate hemispherical directions radiance measurements (HDRM). A digitizer for three-dimensional in situ roughness measurements was also developed. More than 70 hemispherical data sets were collected for various illumination conditions and surface types of desert stony pavements and rocky terrain slopes. In general, it was found that most of the surfaces exhibited an anisotropic reflection, combining a major component of backscattering. The BRDF of different surface types in relation to their roughness properties as determined by the field digitizer were then examined. Results showed that sites that are considered to differ significantly from a geomorphological point of view would not necessarily form a different BRDF

A climatology of visible surface reflectance spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zoogman, Peter; Liu, Xiong; Chance, Kelly; Sun, Qingsong; Schaaf, Crystal; Mahr, Tobias; Wagner, Thomas

2016-01-01

We present a high spectral resolution climatology of visible surface reflectance as a function of wavelength for use in satellite measurements of ozone and other atmospheric species. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution (TEMPO) instrument is planned to measure backscattered solar radiation in the 290–740 nm range, including the ultraviolet and visible Chappuis ozone bands. Observation in the weak Chappuis band takes advantage of the relative transparency of the atmosphere in the visible to achieve sensitivity to near-surface ozone. However, due to the weakness of the ozone absorption features this measurement is more sensitive to errors in visible surface reflectance, which is highly variable. We utilize reflectance measurements of individual plant, man-made, and other surface types to calculate the primary modes of variability of visible surface reflectance at a high spectral resolution, comparable to that of TEMPO (0.6 nm). Using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Bidirection Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)/albedo product and our derived primary modes we construct a high spatial resolution climatology of wavelength-dependent surface reflectance over all viewing scenes and geometries. The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment–2 (GOME-2) Lambertian Equivalent Reflectance (LER) product provides complementary information over water and snow scenes. Preliminary results using this approach in multispectral ultraviolet+visible ozone retrievals from the GOME-2 instrument show significant improvement to the fitting residuals over vegetated scenes. - Highlights: • Our goals was visible surface reflectance for satellite trace gas measurements. • Captured the range of surface reflectance spectra through EOF analysis. • Used satellite surface reflectance products for each given scene to anchor EOFs. • Generated a climatology of time/geometry dependent surface reflectance spectra. • Demonstrated potential to

Error Budget for a Calibration Demonstration System for the Reflected Solar Instrument for the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory

Science.gov (United States)

Thome, Kurtis; McCorkel, Joel; McAndrew, Brendan

2013-01-01

A goal of the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission is to observe highaccuracy, long-term climate change trends over decadal time scales. The key to such a goal is to improving the accuracy of SI traceable absolute calibration across infrared and reflected solar wavelengths allowing climate change to be separated from the limit of natural variability. The advances required to reach on-orbit absolute accuracy to allow climate change observations to survive data gaps exist at NIST in the laboratory, but still need demonstration that the advances can move successfully from to NASA and/or instrument vendor capabilities for spaceborne instruments. The current work describes the radiometric calibration error budget for the Solar, Lunar for Absolute Reflectance Imaging Spectroradiometer (SOLARIS) which is the calibration demonstration system (CDS) for the reflected solar portion of CLARREO. The goal of the CDS is to allow the testing and evaluation of calibration approaches, alternate design and/or implementation approaches and components for the CLARREO mission. SOLARIS also provides a test-bed for detector technologies, non-linearity determination and uncertainties, and application of future technology developments and suggested spacecraft instrument design modifications. The resulting SI-traceable error budget for reflectance retrieval using solar irradiance as a reference and methods for laboratory-based, absolute calibration suitable for climatequality data collections is given. Key components in the error budget are geometry differences between the solar and earth views, knowledge of attenuator behavior when viewing the sun, and sensor behavior such as detector linearity and noise behavior. Methods for demonstrating this error budget are also presented.

Direct Reflectance Measurements from Drones: Sensor Absolute Radiometric Calibration and System Tests for Forest Reflectance Characterization

Science.gov (United States)

Hakala, Teemu; Scott, Barry; Theocharous, Theo; Näsi, Roope; Suomalainen, Juha; Greenwell, Claire; Fox, Nigel

2018-01-01

Drone-based remote sensing has evolved rapidly in recent years. Miniaturized hyperspectral imaging sensors are becoming more common as they provide more abundant information of the object compared to traditional cameras. Reflectance is a physically defined object property and therefore often preferred output of the remote sensing data capture to be used in the further processes. Absolute calibration of the sensor provides a possibility for physical modelling of the imaging process and enables efficient procedures for reflectance correction. Our objective is to develop a method for direct reflectance measurements for drone-based remote sensing. It is based on an imaging spectrometer and irradiance spectrometer. This approach is highly attractive for many practical applications as it does not require in situ reflectance panels for converting the sensor radiance to ground reflectance factors. We performed SI-traceable spectral and radiance calibration of a tuneable Fabry-Pérot Interferometer -based (FPI) hyperspectral camera at the National Physical Laboratory NPL (Teddington, UK). The camera represents novel technology by collecting 2D format hyperspectral image cubes using time sequential spectral scanning principle. The radiance accuracy of different channels varied between ±4% when evaluated using independent test data, and linearity of the camera response was on average 0.9994. The spectral response calibration showed side peaks on several channels that were due to the multiple orders of interference of the FPI. The drone-based direct reflectance measurement system showed promising results with imagery collected over Wytham Forest (Oxford, UK). PMID:29751560

Direct Reflectance Measurements from Drones: Sensor Absolute Radiometric Calibration and System Tests for Forest Reflectance Characterization.

Science.gov (United States)

Hakala, Teemu; Markelin, Lauri; Honkavaara, Eija; Scott, Barry; Theocharous, Theo; Nevalainen, Olli; Näsi, Roope; Suomalainen, Juha; Viljanen, Niko; Greenwell, Claire; Fox, Nigel

2018-05-03

Drone-based remote sensing has evolved rapidly in recent years. Miniaturized hyperspectral imaging sensors are becoming more common as they provide more abundant information of the object compared to traditional cameras. Reflectance is a physically defined object property and therefore often preferred output of the remote sensing data capture to be used in the further processes. Absolute calibration of the sensor provides a possibility for physical modelling of the imaging process and enables efficient procedures for reflectance correction. Our objective is to develop a method for direct reflectance measurements for drone-based remote sensing. It is based on an imaging spectrometer and irradiance spectrometer. This approach is highly attractive for many practical applications as it does not require in situ reflectance panels for converting the sensor radiance to ground reflectance factors. We performed SI-traceable spectral and radiance calibration of a tuneable Fabry-Pérot Interferometer -based (FPI) hyperspectral camera at the National Physical Laboratory NPL (Teddington, UK). The camera represents novel technology by collecting 2D format hyperspectral image cubes using time sequential spectral scanning principle. The radiance accuracy of different channels varied between ±4% when evaluated using independent test data, and linearity of the camera response was on average 0.9994. The spectral response calibration showed side peaks on several channels that were due to the multiple orders of interference of the FPI. The drone-based direct reflectance measurement system showed promising results with imagery collected over Wytham Forest (Oxford, UK).

Construction of a Matched Global Cloud and Radiance Product from LEO/GEO and EPIC Observations to Estimate Daytime Earth Radiation Budget from DSCOVR

Science.gov (United States)

Duda, D. P.; Khlopenkov, K. V.; Palikonda, R.; Khaiyer, M. M.; Minnis, P.; Su, W.; Sun-Mack, S.

2016-12-01

With the launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), new estimates of the daytime Earth radiation budget can computed from a combination of measurements from the two Earth-observing sensors onboard the spacecraft, the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR). Although these instruments can provide accurate top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance measurements, they lack sufficient resolution to provide details on small-scale surface and cloud properties. Previous studies have shown that these properties have a strong influence on the anisotropy of the radiation at the TOA, and ignoring such effects can result in large TOA-flux errors. To overcome these effects, high-resolution scene identification is needed for accurate Earth radiation budget estimation. Selected radiance and cloud property data measured and derived from several low earth orbit (LEO, including NASA Terra and Aqua MODIS, NOAA AVHRR) and geosynchronous (GEO, including GOES (east and west), METEOSAT, INSAT-3D, MTSAT-2, and HIMAWARI-8) satellite imagers were collected to create hourly 5-km resolution global composites of data necessary to compute angular distribution models (ADM) for reflected shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) radiation. The satellite data provide an independent source of radiance measurements and scene identification information necessary to construct ADMs that are used to determine the daytime Earth radiation budget. To optimize spatial matching between EPIC measurements and the high-resolution composite cloud properties, LEO/GEO retrievals within the EPIC fields of view (FOV) are convolved to the EPIC point spread function (PSF) in a similar manner to the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product. Examples of the merged LEO/GEO/EPIC product will be presented, describing the chosen radiance and cloud properties and

Construction of a Matched Global Cloud and Radiance Product from LEO/GEO and EPIC Observations to Estimate Daytime Earth Radiation Budget from DSCOVR

Science.gov (United States)

Duda, David P.; Khlopenkov, Konstantin V.; Thiemann, Mandana; Palikonda, Rabindra; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Minnis, Patrick; Su, Wenying

2016-01-01

With the launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR), new estimates of the daytime Earth radiation budget can be computed from a combination of measurements from the two Earth-observing sensors onboard the spacecraft, the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR). Although these instruments can provide accurate top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance measurements, they lack sufficient resolution to provide details on small-scale surface and cloud properties. Previous studies have shown that these properties have a strong influence on the anisotropy of the radiation at the TOA, and ignoring such effects can result in large TOA-flux errors. To overcome these effects, high-resolution scene identification is needed for accurate Earth radiation budget estimation. Selected radiance and cloud property data measured and derived from several low earth orbit (LEO, including NASA Terra and Aqua MODIS, NOAA AVHRR) and geosynchronous (GEO, including GOES (east and west), METEOSAT, INSAT-3D, MTSAT-2, and HIMAWARI-8) satellite imagers were collected to create hourly 5-km resolution global composites of data necessary to compute angular distribution models (ADM) for reflected shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) radiation. The satellite data provide an independent source of radiance measurements and scene identification information necessary to construct ADMs that are used to determine the daytime Earth radiation budget. To optimize spatial matching between EPIC measurements and the high-resolution composite cloud properties, LEO/GEO retrievals within the EPIC fields of view (FOV) are convolved to the EPIC point spread function (PSF) in a similar manner to the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Single Scanner Footprint TOA/Surface Fluxes and Clouds (SSF) product. Examples of the merged LEO/GEO/EPIC product will be presented, describing the chosen radiance and cloud properties and

Correcting Bidirectional Effects in Remote Sensing Reflectance from Coastal Waters

Science.gov (United States)

Stamnes, K. H.; Fan, Y.; Li, W.; Voss, K. J.; Gatebe, C. K.

2016-02-01

Understanding bidirectional effects including sunglint is important for GEO-CAPE for several reasons: (i) correct interpretation of ocean color data; (ii) comparing consistency of spectral radiance data derived from space observations with a single instrument for a variety of illumination and viewing conditions; (iii) merging data collected by different instruments operating simultaneously. We present a new neural network (NN) method to correct bidirectional effects in water-leaving radiance for both Case 1 and Case 2 waters. We also discuss a new BRDF and 2D sun-glint model that was validated by comparing simulated surface reflectances with Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) data. Finally, we present an extension of our marine bio-optical model to the UV range that accounts for the seasonal dependence of the inherent optical properties (IOPs).

Service Oriented Gridded Atmospheric Radiances (SOAR)

Science.gov (United States)

Halem, M.; Goldberg, M. D.; Tilmes, C.; Zhou, L.; Shen, S.; Yesha, Y.

2005-12-01

We are developing a scalable web service tool that can provide complex griding services on-demand for atmospheric radiance data sets from multiple temperature and moisture sounding sensors on the NASA and NOAA polar orbiting satellites collected over the past three decades. This server-to-server middle ware tool will provide the framework for transforming user requests for an arbitrary spatial/temporal/spectral gridded radiance data set from one or more instruments into an action to invoke a griding process from a set of scientifically validated application programs that have been developed to perform such functions. The invoked web service agents will access, subset, concatenate, convolve, perform statistical and physically based griding operations and present the data as specified level 3 gridded fields for analysis and visualization in multiple formats. Examples of the griding operations consist of spatial-temporal radiance averaging accounting for the field of view instrument response function, first footprint in grid bin, selecting min/max brightness temperatures within a grid element, ratios of channels, filtering, convolving high resolution spectral radiances to match broader band spectral radiances, limb adjustments, calculating variances of radiances falling in grid box and creating visual displays of these fields. The gridded web services tool will support both human input through a WWW GUI as well as a direct computer request through a W3C SOAP/XML web service interface. It will generate regional and global gridded data sets on demand. A second effort will demonstrate the ability to locate, access, subset and grid radiance data for any time period and resolution from remote archives of NOAA and NASA data. The system will queue the work flow requests, stage processing and delivery of arbitrary gridded data sets in a data base and notify the users when the request is completed. This tool will greatly expand satellite sounding data utilization by

Predicting Top-of-Atmosphere Thermal Radiance Using MERRA-2 Atmospheric Data with Deep Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tania Kleynhans

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Image data from space-borne thermal infrared (IR sensors are used for a variety of applications, however they are often limited by their temporal resolution (i.e., repeat coverage. To potentially increase the temporal availability of thermal image data, a study was performed to determine the extent to which thermal image data can be simulated from available atmospheric and surface data. The work conducted here explored the use of Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2 developed by The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA to predict top-of-atmosphere (TOA thermal IR radiance globally at time scales finer than available satellite data. For this case study, TOA radiance data was derived for band 31 (10.97 μ m of the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS sensor. Two approaches have been followed, namely an atmospheric radiative transfer forward modeling approach and a supervised learning approach. The first approach uses forward modeling to predict TOA radiance from the available surface and atmospheric data. The second approach applied four different supervised learning algorithms to the atmospheric data. The algorithms included a linear least squares regression model, a non-linear support vector regression (SVR model, a multi-layer perceptron (MLP, and a convolutional neural network (CNN. This research found that the multi-layer perceptron model produced the lowest overall error rates with an root mean square error (RMSE of 1.36 W/m 2 ·sr· μ m when compared to actual Terra/MODIS band 31 image data. These studies found that for radiances above 6 W/m 2 ·sr· μ m, the forward modeling approach could predict TOA radiance to within 12 percent, and the best supervised learning approach can predict TOA to within 11 percent.

Modeling bidirectional radiance measurements collected by the advanced solid-state array spectroradiometer (ASAS) over Oregon transect conifer forests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abuelgasim, A.A.; Strahler, A.H.

1994-01-01

A geometric-optical model of the bidirectional reflectance of a forest canopy, developed by Li and Strahler, fits observed directional radiance measurements with good accuracy. This model treats the forest cover as a scene of discrete, three-dimensional objects (trees) that are illuminated and viewed from different positions in the hemisphere. The shapes of the objects, their count densities and patterns of placement, are the driving variables, and they condition the mixture of sunlit and shaded objects and background that are observed from a particular viewing direction, given a direction of illumination. This mixture, in turn, controls the brightness apparent to an observer or a radiometric instrument. The Advanced Solid-State Array Spectroradiometer (ASAS) was used to validate this model. This aircraft sensor presently acquires images in 29 spectral bands in the range (465–871 nm) and is pointable fore-and-aft, allowing directional measurements of radiance as a target is approached and imaged at view angles ranging ± 45° from nadir. Through atmospheric correction, ASAS radiances were reduced to bidirectional reflectance factors (BRFs). These were compared to corresponding BRF values computed from the Li-Strahler model using, wherever possible, ground measured component BRFs for calibration. The comparisons showed a good match between the modeled and measured reflectance factors for four of the five Oregon Transect Sites. Thus, the geometric-optical approach provides a realistic model for the bidirectional reflectance distribution function of such natural vegetation canopies. Further modifications are suggested to improve the predicted BRFs and yield still better results. (author)

Effects of Surface BRDF on the OMI Cloud and NO2 Retrievals: A New Approach Based on Geometry-Dependent Lambertian Equivalent Reflectivity (GLER) Derived from MODIS

Science.gov (United States)

Vasilkov, Alexander; Qin, Wenhan; Krotkov, Nickolay; Lamsal, Lok; Spurr, Robert; Haffner, David; Joiner, Joanna; Yang, Eun-Su; Marchenko, Sergey

2017-01-01

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) cloud and NO2 algorithms use a monthly gridded surface reflectivity climatology that does not depend upon the observation geometry. In reality, reflection of incoming direct and diffuse solar light from land or ocean surfaces is sensitive to the sun sensor geometry. This dependence is described by the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). To account for the BRDF, we propose to use a new concept of geometry-dependent Lambertian equivalent reflectivity (GLER). Implementation within the existing OMI cloud and NO2 retrieval infrastructure requires changes only to the input surface reflectivity database. GLER is calculated using a vector radiative transfer model with high spatial resolution BRDF information from MODIS over land and the Cox Munk slope distribution over ocean with a contribution from water-leaving radiance. We compare GLER and climatological LER at 466 nm, which is used in the OMI O2-O2cloud algorithm to derive effective cloud fractions. A detailed comparison of the cloud fractions and pressures derived with climatological and GLERs is carried out. GLER and corresponding retrieved cloud products are then used as input to the OMI NO2 algorithm. We find that replacing the climatological OMI-based LERs with GLERs can increase NO2 vertical columns by up to 50 % in highly polluted areas; the differences include both BRDF effects and biases between the MODIS and OMI-based surface reflectance data sets. Only minor changes to NO2 columns (within 5 %) are found over unpolluted and overcast areas.

The differential equation of an arbitrary reflecting surface

Science.gov (United States)

Melka, Richard F.; Berrettini, Vincent D.; Yousif, Hashim A.

2018-05-01

A differential equation describing the reflection of a light ray incident upon an arbitrary reflecting surface is obtained using the law of reflection. The derived equation is written in terms of a parameter and the value of this parameter determines the nature of the reflecting surface. Under various parametric constraints, the solution of the differential equation leads to the various conic surfaces but is not generally solvable. In addition, the dynamics of the light reflections from the conic surfaces are executed in the Mathematica software. Our derivation is the converse of the traditional approach and our analysis assumes a relation between the object distance and the image distance. This leads to the differential equation of the reflecting surface.

Predicting Clear-Sky Reflectance Over Snow/Ice in Polar Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yan; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Arduini, Robert F.; Hong, Gang; Minnis, Patrick

2015-01-01

Satellite remote sensing of clouds requires an accurate estimate of the clear-sky radiances for a given scene to detect clouds and aerosols and to retrieve their microphysical properties. Knowing the spatial and angular variability of clear-sky albedo is essential for predicting clear-sky radiance at solar wavelengths. The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Project uses the nearinfrared (NIR; 1.24, 1.6 or 2.13 micrometers), visible (VIS; 0.63 micrometers) and vegetation (VEG; 0.86 micrometers) channels available on the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to help identify clouds and retrieve their properties in both snow-free and snow-covered conditions. Thus, it is critical to have reliable distributions of clear-sky albedo for all of these channels. In CERES Edition 4 (Ed4), the 1.24-micrometer channel is used to retrieve cloud optical depth over snow/ice-covered surfaces. Thus, it is especially critical to accurately predict the 1.24-micrometer clear-sky albedo alpha and reflectance rho for a given location and time. Snow albedo and reflectance patterns are very complex due to surface texture, particle shapes and sizes, melt water, and vegetation protrusions from the snow surface. To minimize those effects, this study focuses on the permanent snow cover of Antarctica where vegetation is absent and melt water is minimal. Clear-sky albedos are determined as a function of solar zenith angle (SZA) from observations over all scenes determined to be cloud-free to produce a normalized directional albedo model (DRM). The DRM is used to develop alpha(SZA=0 degrees) on 10 foot grid for each season. These values provide the basis for predicting r at any location and set of viewing & illumination conditions. This paper examines the accuracy of this approach for two theoretical snow surface reflectance models.

OSOAA: A Vector Radiative Transfer Model of Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean System for a Rough Sea Surface Application to the Estimates of the Directional Variations of the Water Leaving Reflectance to Better Process Multi-angular Satellite Sensors Data Over the Ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Chami, Malik; LaFrance, Bruno; Fougnie, Bertrand; Chowdhary, Jacek; Harmel, Tristan; Waquet, Fabien

2015-01-01

In this study, we present a radiative transfer model, so-called OSOAA, that is able to predict the radiance and degree of polarization within the coupled atmosphere-ocean system in the presence of a rough sea surface. The OSOAA model solves the radiative transfer equation using the successive orders of scattering method. Comparisons with another operational radiative transfer model showed a satisfactory agreement within 0.8%. The OSOAA model has been designed with a graphical user interface to make it user friendly for the community. The radiance and degree of polarization are provided at any level, from the top of atmosphere to the ocean bottom. An application of the OSOAA model is carried out to quantify the directional variations of the water leaving reflectance and degree of polarization for phytoplankton and mineral-like dominated waters. The difference between the water leaving reflectance at a given geometry and that obtained for the nadir direction could reach 40%, thus questioning the Lambertian assumption of the sea surface that is used by inverse satellite algorithms dedicated to multi-angular sensors. It is shown as well that the directional features of the water leaving reflectance are weakly dependent on wind speed. The quantification of the directional variations of the water leaving reflectance obtained in this study should help to correctly exploit the satellite data that will be acquired by the current or forthcoming multi-angular satellite sensors.

Processing OMEGA/Mars Express hyperspectral imagery from radiance-at-sensor to surface reflectance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bakker, W.H.; Ruitenbeek, F.J.A. van; Werff, H.M.A. van der; Zegers, T.E.; Oosthoek, J.H.P.; Marsh, S.H.; Meer, F.D. van der

2014-01-01

OMEGA/Mars Express hyperspectral imagery is an excellent source of data for exploring the surface composition of the planet Mars. Compared to terrestrial hyperspectral imagery, the data are challenging to work with; scene-specific transmission models are lacking, spectral features are shallow making

Super-radiance in Nuclear Physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auerbach, N

2015-01-01

The theory of the super-radiant mechanism as applied to various phenomena in nuclear physics is presented. The connection between super-radiance and the notion of doorway is presented. The statistics of resonance widths in a many-body Fermi system with open channels is discussed. Depending on the strength of the coupling to the continuum such systems show deviations from the standard Porter-Thomas distribution. The deviations result from the process of increasing interaction of the intrinsic states via the common decay channels. In the limit of very strong coupling this leads to super-radiance. (paper)

Disk and circumsolar radiances in the presence of ice clouds

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Haapanala

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The impact of ice clouds on solar disk and circumsolar radiances is investigated using a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model. The monochromatic direct and diffuse radiances are simulated at angles of 0 to 8° from the center of the sun. Input data for the model are derived from measurements conducted during the 2010 Small Particles in Cirrus (SPARTICUS campaign together with state-of-the-art databases of optical properties of ice crystals and aerosols. For selected cases, the simulated radiances are compared with ground-based radiance measurements obtained by the Sun and Aureole Measurements (SAM instrument. First, the sensitivity of the radiances to the ice cloud properties and aerosol optical thickness is addressed. The angular dependence of the disk and circumsolar radiances is found to be most sensitive to assumptions about ice crystal roughness (or, more generally, non-ideal features of ice crystals and size distribution, with ice crystal habit playing a somewhat smaller role. Second, in comparisons with SAM data, the ice cloud optical thickness is adjusted for each case so that the simulated radiances agree closely (i.e., within 3 % with the measured disk radiances. Circumsolar radiances at angles larger than ≈ 3° are systematically underestimated when assuming smooth ice crystals, whereas the agreement with the measurements is better when rough ice crystals are assumed. Our results suggest that it may well be possible to infer the particle roughness directly from ground-based SAM measurements. In addition, the results show the necessity of correcting the ground-based measurements of direct radiation for the presence of diffuse radiation in the instrument's field of view, in particular in the presence of ice clouds.

Simultaneous determination of aerosol optical thickness and water-leaving radiance from multispectral measurements in coastal waters

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Chong; Nakajima, Teruyuki

2018-03-01

Retrieval of aerosol optical properties and water-leaving radiance over ocean is challenging since the latter mostly accounts for ˜ 10 % of the satellite-observed signal and can be easily influenced by the atmospheric scattering. Such an effort would be more difficult in turbid coastal waters due to the existence of optically complex oceanic substances or high aerosol loading. In an effort to solve such problems, we present an optimization approach for the simultaneous determination of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and normalized water-leaving radiance (nLw) from multispectral satellite measurements. In this algorithm, a coupled atmosphere-ocean radiative transfer model combined with a comprehensive bio-optical oceanic module is used to jointly simulate the satellite-observed reflectance at the top of atmosphere and water-leaving radiance just above the ocean surface. Then, an optimal estimation method is adopted to retrieve AOT and nLw iteratively. The algorithm is validated using Aerosol Robotic Network - Ocean Color (AERONET-OC) products selected from eight OC sites distributed over different waters, consisting of observations that covered glint and non-glint conditions from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. Results show a good consistency between retrieved and in situ measurements at each site. It is demonstrated that more accurate AOTs are determined based on the simultaneous retrieval method, particularly in shorter wavelengths and sunglint conditions, where the averaged percentage difference (APD) of retrieved AOT is generally reduced by approximate 10 % in visible bands compared with those derived from the standard atmospheric correction (AC) scheme, since all the spectral measurements can be used jointly to increase the information content in the inversion of AOT, and the wind speed is also simultaneously retrieved to compensate the specular reflectance error estimated from the rough ocean surface model. For the

RADIANCE DOMAIN COMPOSITING FOR HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.R. Renu

2013-02-01

Full Text Available High dynamic range imaging aims at creating an image with a range of intensity variations larger than the range supported by a camera sensor. Most commonly used methods combine multiple exposure low dynamic range (LDR images, to obtain the high dynamic range (HDR image. Available methods typically neglect the noise term while finding appropriate weighting functions to estimate the camera response function as well as the radiance map. We look at the HDR imaging problem in a denoising frame work and aim at reconstructing a low noise radiance map from noisy low dynamic range images, which is tone mapped to get the LDR equivalent of the HDR image. We propose a maximum aposteriori probability (MAP based reconstruction of the HDR image using Gibb’s prior to model the radiance map, with total variation (TV as the prior to avoid unnecessary smoothing of the radiance field. To make the computation with TV prior efficient, we extend the majorize-minimize method of upper bounding the total variation by a quadratic function to our case which has a nonlinear term arising from the camera response function. A theoretical justification for doing radiance domain denoising as opposed to image domain denoising is also provided.

Measuring Light Reflectance of BGO Crystal Surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Janecek, Martin; Moses, William W.

2008-10-01

A scintillating crystal's surface reflectance has to be well understood in order to accurately predict and optimize the crystal's light collection through Monte Carlo simulations. In this paper, we measure the inner surface reflectance properties for BGO. The measurements include BGO crystals with a mechanically polished surface, rough-cut surface, and chemically etched surface, and with various reflectors attached, both air-coupled and with coupling compound. The measurements are performed with a laser aimed at the center of a hemispherical shaped BGO crystal. The hemispherical shape eliminates any non-perpendicular angles for light entering and exiting the crystal. The reflected light is collected with an array of photodiodes. The laser can be set at an arbitrary angle, and the photodiode array is rotated to fully cover 2pi of solid angle. The current produced in the photodiodes is readout with a digital multimeter connected through a multiplexer. The two rows of photodiodes achieve 5-degree by 4-degree resolution, and the current measurement has a dynamic range of 105:1. The acquired data was not described by the commonly assumed linear combination of specular and diffuse (Lambertian) distributions, except for a very few surfaces. Surface roughness proved to be the most important parameter when choosing crystal setup. The reflector choice was of less importance and of almost no consequence for rough-cut surfaces. Pure specular reflection distribution for all incidence angles was measured for polished surfaces with VM2000 film, while the most Lambertian distribution for any surface finish was measured for titanium dioxide paint. The distributions acquired in this paper will be used to create more accurate Monte Carlo models for light reflection distribution within BGO crystals.

All-sky radiance simulation of Megha-Tropiques SAPHIR microwave ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

used as input to the RTTOV model to simulate cloud-affected SAPHIR radiances. ... All-sky radiance simulation; Megha tropiques; microwave SAPHIR sensor; radiative transfer; data ... versions of these non-linear processes (Ohring and.

Accounting for the Effects of Surface BRDF on Satellite Cloud and Trace-Gas Retrievals: A New Approach Based on Geometry-Dependent Lambertian-Equivalent Reflectivity Applied to OMI Algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Vasilkov, Alexander; Qin, Wenhan; Krotkov, Nickolay; Lamsal, Lok; Spurr, Robert; Haffner, David; Joiner, Joanna; Yang, Eun-Su; Marchenko, Sergey

2017-01-01

Most satellite nadir ultraviolet and visible cloud, aerosol, and trace-gas algorithms make use of climatological surface reflectivity databases. For example, cloud and NO2 retrievals for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) use monthly gridded surface reflectivity climatologies that do not depend upon the observation geometry. In reality, reflection of incoming direct and diffuse solar light from land or ocean surfaces is sensitive to the sun-sensor geometry. This dependence is described by the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). To account for the BRDF, we propose to use a new concept of geometry-dependent Lambertian equivalent reflectivity (LER). Implementation within the existing OMI cloud and NO2 retrieval infrastructure requires changes only to the input surface reflectivity database. The geometry-dependent LER is calculated using a vector radiative transfer model with high spatial resolution BRDF information from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) over land and the Cox-Munk slope distribution over ocean with a contribution from water-leaving radiance. We compare the geometry-dependent and climatological LERs for two wavelengths, 354 and 466 nm, that are used in OMI cloud algorithms to derive cloud fractions. A detailed comparison of the cloud fractions and pressures derived with climatological and geometry-dependent LERs is carried out. Geometry-dependent LER and corresponding retrieved cloud products are then used as inputs to our OMI NO2 algorithm. We find that replacing the climatological OMI-based LERs with geometry-dependent LERs can increase NO2 vertical columns by up to 50% in highly polluted areas; the differences include both BRDF effects and biases between the MODIS and OMI-based surface reflectance data sets. Only minor changes to NO2 columns (within 5 %) are found over unpolluted and overcast areas.

Accounting for the effects of surface BRDF on satellite cloud and trace-gas retrievals: a new approach based on geometry-dependent Lambertian equivalent reflectivity applied to OMI algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Vasilkov, Alexander; Qin, Wenhan; Krotkov, Nickolay; Lamsal, Lok; Spurr, Robert; Haffner, David; Joiner, Joanna; Yang, Eun-Su; Marchenko, Sergey

2017-01-01

Most satellite nadir ultraviolet and visible cloud, aerosol, and trace-gas algorithms make use of climatological surface reflectivity databases. For example, cloud and NO2 retrievals for the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) use monthly gridded surface reflectivity climatologies that do not depend upon the observation geometry. In reality, reflection of incoming direct and diffuse solar light from land or ocean surfaces is sensitive to the sun-sensor geometry. This dependence is described by the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). To account for the BRDF, we propose to use a new concept of geometry-dependent Lambertian equivalent reflectivity (LER). Implementation within the existing OMI cloud and NO2 retrieval infrastructure requires changes only to the input surface reflectivity database. The geometry-dependent LER is calculated using a vector radiative transfer model with high spatial resolution BRDF information from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) over land and the Cox-Munk slope distribution over ocean with a contribution from water-leaving radiance. We compare the geometry-dependent and climatological LERs for two wavelengths, 354 and 466 nm, that are used in OMI cloud algorithms to derive cloud fractions. A detailed comparison of the cloud fractions and pressures derived with climatological and geometry-dependent LERs is carried out. Geometry-dependent LER and corresponding retrieved cloud products are then used as inputs to our OMI NO2 algorithm. We find that replacing the climatological OMI-based LERs with geometry-dependent LERs can increase NO2 vertical columns by up to 50 % in highly polluted areas; the differences include both BRDF effects and biases between the MODIS and OMI-based surface reflectance data sets. Only minor changes to NO2 columns (within 5 %) are found over unpolluted and overcast areas.

New stratospheric UV/visible radiance measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. J. Marceau

1994-01-01

Full Text Available A stratospheric balloon was launched on 12 October 1986 from the "CNES" base at Aire sur l'Adour (France to record twilight radiance in the stratosphere. The near-UV and visible radiances were continuously monitored by a photometer during sunrise. Some observations are presented for different viewing azimuthal planes and viewing elevation angles. They show the influence of aerosols layers and clouds which can be also seen on related photographs. The results as a whole may be used for testing some radiative models, especially for twilight conditions.

Seasonal Surface Spectral Emissivity Derived from Terra MODIS Data

Science.gov (United States)

Sun-Mack, Sunny; Chen, Yan; Minnis, Patrick; Young, DavidF.; Smith, William J., Jr.

2004-01-01

The CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) Project is measuring broadband shortwave and longwave radiances and deriving cloud properties form various images to produce a combined global radiation and cloud property data set. In this paper, simultaneous data from Terra MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) taken at 3.7, 8.5, 11.0, and 12.0 m are used to derive the skin temperature and the surface emissivities at the same wavelengths. The methodology uses separate measurements of clear sky temperature in each channel determined by scene classification during the daytime and at night. The relationships between the various channels at night are used during the day when solar reflectance affects the 3.7- m radiances. A set of simultaneous equations is then solved to derive the emissivities. Global monthly emissivity maps are derived from Terra MODIS data while numerical weather analyses provide soundings for correcting the observed radiances for atmospheric absorption. These maps are used by CERES and other cloud retrieval algorithms.

A neural network method to correct bidirectional effects in water-leaving radiance

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Yongzhen; Li, Wei; Voss, Kenneth J.; Gatebe, Charles K.; Stamnes, Knut

2017-02-01

The standard method to convert the measured water-leaving radiances from the observation direction to the nadir direction developed by Morel and coworkers requires knowledge of the chlorophyll concentration (CHL). Also, the standard method was developed for open ocean water, which makes it unsuitable for turbid coastal waters. We introduce a neural network method to convert the water-leaving radiance (or the corresponding remote sensing reflectance) from the observation direction to the nadir direction. This method does not require any prior knowledge of the water constituents or the inherent optical properties (IOPs). This method is fast, accurate and can be easily adapted to different remote sensing instruments. Validation using NuRADS measurements in different types of water shows that this method is suitable for both open ocean and coastal waters. In open ocean or chlorophyll-dominated waters, our neural network method produces corrections similar to those of the standard method. In turbid coastal waters, especially sediment-dominated waters, a significant improvement was obtained compared to the standard method.

A new approach to the retrieval of surface properties from earthshine measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Spurr, R.J.D. E-mail: rspurr@cfa.harvard.edu

2004-01-01

Instruments such as the MODIS and MISR radiometers on EOS AM-1, and POLDER on ADEOS have been deployed for the remote sensing retrieval of surface properties. Typically, retrieval algorithms use linear combinations of semi-empirical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) kernels to model surface reflectance. The retrieval proceeds in two steps; first, an atmospheric correction relates surface BRDF to top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectances, then regression is used to establish the linear coefficients used in the kernel combination. BRDF kernels may also depend on a number of physical or empirical non-linear parameters (e.g. ocean wind speed for a specular BRDF); such parameters are usually assumed known. A major source of error in this retrieval comes from lack of knowledge of planetary boundary layer (PBL) aerosol properties. In this paper, we present a different approach to surface property retrieval. For the radiative transfer simulations, we use the discrete ordinate LIDORT model, which has the capability to generate simultaneous fields of radiances and weighting functions in a multiply scattering multi-layer atmosphere. Surface-atmosphere coupling due to multiple scattering and reflection effects is treated in full; the use of an atmospheric correction is not required. Further, it is shown that sensitivities of TOA reflectances to both linear and non-linear surface BRDF parameters may be established directly by explicit analytic differentiation of the discrete ordinate radiative transfer equations. Surface properties may thus be retrieved directly and conveniently from satellite measurements using standard non-linear fitting methods. In the fitting for BRDF parameters, lower-boundary aerosol properties can either be retrieved as auxiliary parameters, or they can be regarded as forward model parameter errors. We present examples of simulated radiances and surface/aerosol weighting functions for combinations of multi-angle measurements at several

A new approach to the retrieval of surface properties from earthshine measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spurr, R.J.D.

2004-01-01

Instruments such as the MODIS and MISR radiometers on EOS AM-1, and POLDER on ADEOS have been deployed for the remote sensing retrieval of surface properties. Typically, retrieval algorithms use linear combinations of semi-empirical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) kernels to model surface reflectance. The retrieval proceeds in two steps; first, an atmospheric correction relates surface BRDF to top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectances, then regression is used to establish the linear coefficients used in the kernel combination. BRDF kernels may also depend on a number of physical or empirical non-linear parameters (e.g. ocean wind speed for a specular BRDF); such parameters are usually assumed known. A major source of error in this retrieval comes from lack of knowledge of planetary boundary layer (PBL) aerosol properties. In this paper, we present a different approach to surface property retrieval. For the radiative transfer simulations, we use the discrete ordinate LIDORT model, which has the capability to generate simultaneous fields of radiances and weighting functions in a multiply scattering multi-layer atmosphere. Surface-atmosphere coupling due to multiple scattering and reflection effects is treated in full; the use of an atmospheric correction is not required. Further, it is shown that sensitivities of TOA reflectances to both linear and non-linear surface BRDF parameters may be established directly by explicit analytic differentiation of the discrete ordinate radiative transfer equations. Surface properties may thus be retrieved directly and conveniently from satellite measurements using standard non-linear fitting methods. In the fitting for BRDF parameters, lower-boundary aerosol properties can either be retrieved as auxiliary parameters, or they can be regarded as forward model parameter errors. We present examples of simulated radiances and surface/aerosol weighting functions for combinations of multi-angle measurements at several

The DMSP/MFR total ozone and radiance data base

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellis, J.S.; Lovill, J.E.; Luther, F.M.; Sullivan, T.J.; Taylor, S.S.; Weichel, R.L.

1992-01-01

The radiance measurements by the multichannel filter radiometer (MFR), a scanning instrument carried on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Block 5D series of satellites (flight models F1, F2, F3 and F4), were used to calculate the total column ozone globally for the period March 1977 through February 1980. These data were then calibrated and mapped to earth coordinates at LLNL. Total column ozone was derived from these calibrated radiance data and placed both the ozone and calibrated radiance data into a computer data base called SOAC (Satellite Ozone Analysis Center) using the FRAMIS database manager. The uncalibrated radiance data tapes were initially sent on to the National Climate Center, Asheville, North Carolina and then to the Satellite Data Services Branch /EDS/NOAA in Suitland, Maryland where they were archived. Copies of the data base containing the total ozone and the calibrated radiance data reside both at LLNL and at the National Space Science Data Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. This report describes the entries into the data base in sufficient detail so that the data base might be useful to others. The characteristics of the MFR sensor are briefly discussed and a complete index to the data base tapes is given

NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget: Integrated Data Product With Reprocessed Radiance, Cloud, and Meteorology Inputs, and New Surface Albedo Treatment

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, Stephen J.; Stackhouse, Paul W., Jr.; Gupta, Shashi K.; Mikovitz, J. Colleen; Zhang, Taiping

2016-01-01

The NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) project produces shortwave and longwave surface and top of atmosphere radiative fluxes for the 1983-near present time period. Spatial resolution is 1 degree. The current release 3.0 (available at gewex-srb.larc.nasa.gov) uses the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) DX product for pixel level radiance and cloud information. This product is subsampled to 30 km. ISCCP is currently recalibrating and recomputing their entire data series, to be released as the H product, at 10km resolution. The ninefold increase in pixel number will allow SRB a higher resolution gridded product (e.g. 0.5 degree), as well as the production of pixel-level fluxes. In addition to the input data improvements, several important algorithm improvements have been made. Most notable has been the adaptation of Angular Distribution Models (ADMs) from CERES to improve the initial calculation of shortwave TOA fluxes, from which the surface flux calculations follow. Other key input improvements include a detailed aerosol history using the Max Planck Institut Aerosol Climatology (MAC), temperature and moisture profiles from HIRS, and new topography, surface type, and snow/ice. Here we present results for the improved GEWEX Shortwave and Longwave algorithm (GSW and GLW) with new ISCCP data, the various other improved input data sets and the incorporation of many additional internal SRB model improvements. As of the time of abstract submission, results from 2007 have been produced with ISCCP H availability the limiting factor. More SRB data will be produced as ISCCP reprocessing continues. The SRB data produced will be released as part of the Release 4.0 Integrated Product, recognizing the interdependence of the radiative fluxes with other GEWEX products providing estimates of the Earth's global water and energy cycle (I.e., ISCCP, SeaFlux, LandFlux, NVAP, etc.).

Sand Dune Ridge Alignment Effects on Surface BRF over the Libya-4 CEOS Calibration Site

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yves M. Govaerts

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The Libya-4 desert area, located in the Great Sand Sea, is one of the most important bright desert CEOS pseudo-invariant calibration sites by its size and radiometric stability. This site is intensively used for radiometer drift monitoring, sensor intercalibration and as an absolute calibration reference based on simulated radiances traceable to the SI standard. The Libya-4 morphology is composed of oriented sand dunes shaped by dominant winds. The effects of sand dune spatial organization on the surface bidirectional reflectance factor is analyzed in this paper using Raytran, a 3D radiative transfer model. The topography is characterized with the 30 m resolution ASTER digital elevation model. Four different regions-of-interest sizes, ranging from 10 km up to 100 km, are analyzed. Results show that sand dunes generate more backscattering than forward scattering at the surface. The mean surface reflectance averaged over different viewing and illumination angles is pretty much independent of the size of the selected area, though the standard deviation differs. Sun azimuth position has an effect on the surface reflectance field, which is more pronounced for high Sun zenith angles. Such 3D azimuthal effects should be taken into account to decrease the simulated radiance uncertainty over Libya-4 below 3% for wavelengths larger than 600 nm.

The Accuracy of RADIANCE Software in Modelling Overcast Sky Condition

OpenAIRE

Baharuddin

2013-01-01

A validation study of the sky models of RADIANCE simulation software against the overcast sky condition has been carried out in order to test the accuracy of sky model of RADIANCE for modeling the overcast sky condition in Hong Kong. Two sets of data have been analysed. Firstly, data collected from a set of experiments using a physical scale model. In this experiment, the illuminance of four points inside the model was measured under real sky conditions. Secondly, the RADIANCE simulation has ...

The Solar Ultraviolet Environment at the Ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Mobley, Curtis D; Diffey, Brian L

2018-05-01

Atmospheric and oceanic radiative transfer models were used to compute spectral radiances between 285 and 400 nm onto horizontal and vertical plane surfaces over water. The calculations kept track of the contributions by the sun's direct beam, by diffuse-sky radiance, by radiance reflected from the sea surface and by water-leaving radiance. Clear, hazy and cloudy sky conditions were simulated for a range of solar zenith angles, wind speeds and atmospheric ozone concentrations. The radiances were used to estimate erythemal exposures due to the sun and sky, as well as from radiation reflected by the sea surface and backscattered from the water column. Diffuse-sky irradiance is usually greater than direct-sun irradiance at wavelengths below 330 nm, and reflected and water-leaving irradiance accounts for 10 at depths down to two meters and >6 down to 5 m. © 2018 The American Society of Photobiology.

X-Ray Reflectivity from the Surface of a Liquid Crystal:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pershan, P.S.; Als-Nielsen, Jens Aage

1984-01-01

X-ray reflectivity from the surface of a nematic liquid crystal is interpreted as the coherent superposition of Fresnel reflection from the surface and Bragg reflection from smectic order induced by the surface. Angular dependence of the Fresnel effect yields information on surface structure....... Measurement of the intensity of diffuse critical scattering relative to the Fresnel reflection yields the absolute value of the critical part of the density-density correlation function....

Interstitial diffuse radiance spectroscopy of gold nanocages and nanorods in bulk muscle tissues.

Science.gov (United States)

Grabtchak, Serge; Montgomery, Logan G; Pang, Bo; Wang, Yi; Zhang, Chao; Li, Zhiyuan; Xia, Younan; Whelan, William M

2015-01-01

Radiance spectroscopy was applied to the interstitial detection of localized inclusions containing Au nanocages or nanorods with various concentrations embedded in porcine muscle phantoms. The radiance was quantified using a perturbation approach, which enabled the separation of contributions from the porcine phantom and the localized inclusion, with the inclusion serving as a perturbation probe of photon distributions in the turbid medium. Positioning the inclusion at various places in the phantom allowed for tracking of photons that originated from a light source, passed through the inclusion's location, and reached a detector. The inclusions with high extinction coefficients were able to absorb nearly all photons in the range of 650-900 nm, leading to a spectrally flat radiance signal. This signal could be converted to the relative density of photons incident on the inclusion. Finally, the experimentally measured quantities were expressed via the relative perturbation and arranged into the classical Beer-Lambert law that allowed one to extract the extinction coefficients of various types of Au nanoparticles in both the transmission and back reflection geometries. It was shown that the spatial variation of perturbation could be described as 1/r dependence, where r is the distance between the inclusion and the detector. Due to a larger absorption cross section, Au nanocages produced greater perturbations than Au nanorods of equal particle concentration, indicating a better suitability of Au nanocages as contrast agents for optical measurements in turbid media. Individual measurements from different inclusions were combined into detectability maps.

Effects of Nighttime Light Radiance on the Sleep of the General Population

Science.gov (United States)

Ohayon, Maurice M.; Milesi, Cristina

2015-01-01

The objectives of this study is to verify if the exposure to greater nighttime radiance is associated with changes in the sleep/wake schedule and with greater sleep disturbances. Methods: The target population was the adults (18 years and older) living in California, USA. This represents 24 million of inhabitants. A total of 3,104 subjects participated in the survey (participation rate 85.6%). The participants were interviewed by telephone using the Sleep-EVAL system. The interviews covered several topics including sleeping habits, sleep quality, sleep disturbances, physical symptoms related to menopause. Chronic insomnia was defined as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep for at least 3 months. Global nighttime light emissions have been collected by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) sensors. We extracted the radiance calibrated nighttime lights corresponding to the date of the interviews for a three by three window centered on each coordinate corresponding to an interview address. Results: Dissatisfaction with sleep quantity and/or quality was associated with an increased nighttime radiance (p=0.02). Similarly, excessive sleepiness accompanied with impaired functioning was significantly associated with an increased nighttime radiance (p (is) less than 0.0001). The association remained significant after controlling for age, gender and use of a night lamp in the bedroom. Confusional arousals were also significantly associated with an increased nighttime radiance (p (is) less than 0.0001). Bedtime hour was linearly increasing with the intensity of nighttime radiance: the later the bedtime, the greater the nighttime radiance (p (is) less than 0.0001). Similarly, wakeup time became progressively later as the nighttime radiance increased (p (is) less than 0.0001). Both associations remained significant after controlling for age, gender and use of a night lamp in the bedroom. Circadian Rhythm Disorders were the

Simultaneous measurement of spectral sky radiance by a non-scanning multidirectional spectroradiometer (MUDIS)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riechelmann, Stefan; Schrempf, Michael; Seckmeyer, Gunther

2013-01-01

We present a novel non-scanning multidirectional spectroradiometer (MUDIS) measuring the spectral sky radiance as a function of zenith and azimuth angle with a high spectral and temporal resolution. The instrument is based on a hyperspectral imager and measures spectral sky radiance in the wavelength range of 250–600 nm at 113 different directions simultaneously. MUDIS has been intercalibrated with a sky scanning CCD spectroradiometer (SCCD). Sky radiance measurements have been performed with both instruments under cloudless and overcast sky. The spectral actinic irradiance derived from those measurements agrees within 8% for wavelengths higher than 320 nm. The bias between synchronous MUDIS and SCCD sky radiance measurements during cloudless and overcast sky is below 5% for 320 and 500 nm with a 1σ standard deviation of less than 10%. MUDIS enables us to perform more than 220 000 spectral sky radiance measurements instead of approximately 6000 SCCD spectral sky radiance measurements per day and to measure spatial variations of spectral sky radiance simultaneously. (paper)

ASTER L2 Surface Reflectance SWIR and ASTER L2 Surface Reflectance VNIR V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The ASTER L2 Surface Reflectance is a multi-file product that contains atmospherically corrected data for both the Visible Near-Infrared (VNIR) and Shortwave...

Sensitive detection of aerosol effect on simulated IASI spectral radiance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quan, X.; Huang, H.-L.; Zhang, L.; Weisz, E.; Cao, X.

2013-01-01

Guided by radiative transfer modeling of the effects of dust (aerosol) on satellite thermal infrared radiance by many different imaging radiometers, in this article, we present the aerosol-effected satellite radiative signal changes in the top of atmosphere (TOA). The simulation of TOA radiance for Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) is performed by using the RTTOV fast radiative transfer model. The model computation is carried out with setting representative geographical atmospheric models and typical default aerosol climatological models under clear sky condition. The radiative differences (in units of equivalent black body brightness temperature differences (BTDs)) between simulated radiances without consideration of the impact of aerosol (Aerosol-free) and with various aerosol models (Aerosol-modified) are calculated for the whole IASI spectrum between 3.62 and 15.5 μm. The comparisons of BTDs are performed through 11 aerosol models in 5 classified atmospheric models. The results show that the Desert aerosol model has the most significant impact on IASI spectral simulated radiances than the other aerosol models (Continental, Urban, Maritime types and so on) in Mid-latitude Summer, contributing to the mineral aerosol components contained. The value of BTDs could reach up to 1 K at peak points. The atmospheric window spectral region between 900 and 1100 cm −1 (9.09–11.11 μm) is concentrated after the investigation for the largest values of aerosol-affected radiance differences. BTDs in IASI spectral region between 645 and 1200 cm −1 occupies the largest oscillation and the major part of the whole spectrum. The IASI highest window peak-points channels (such as 9.4 and 10.2 μm) are obtained finally, which are the most sensitive ones to the simulated IASI radiance. -- Highlights: ► Sensitive study of aerosol effect on simulated IASI spectral radiance is performed. ► The aerosol components have influenced IASI spectral regions

MOPITT Level 1 Radiances V007

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MOPITT Level 1 data product consists of the geolocated, calibrated earth scene radiances, associated instrument engineering data summaries, and inflight...

An Incremental Weighted Least Squares Approach to Surface Lights Fields

Science.gov (United States)

Coombe, Greg; Lastra, Anselmo

An Image-Based Rendering (IBR) approach to appearance modelling enables the capture of a wide variety of real physical surfaces with complex reflectance behaviour. The challenges with this approach are handling the large amount of data, rendering the data efficiently, and previewing the model as it is being constructed. In this paper, we introduce the Incremental Weighted Least Squares approach to the representation and rendering of spatially and directionally varying illumination. Each surface patch consists of a set of Weighted Least Squares (WLS) node centers, which are low-degree polynomial representations of the anisotropic exitant radiance. During rendering, the representations are combined in a non-linear fashion to generate a full reconstruction of the exitant radiance. The rendering algorithm is fast, efficient, and implemented entirely on the GPU. The construction algorithm is incremental, which means that images are processed as they arrive instead of in the traditional batch fashion. This human-in-the-loop process enables the user to preview the model as it is being constructed and to adapt to over-sampling and under-sampling of the surface appearance.

X-ray reflectivity and surface roughness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ocko, B.M.

1988-01-01

Since the advent of high brightness synchrotron radiation sources there has been a phenomenal growth in the use of x-rays as a probe of surface structure. The technique of x-ray reflectivity is particularly relevant to electrochemists since it is capable of probing the structure normal to an electrode surface in situ. In this paper the theoretical framework for x-ray reflectivity is reviewed and the results from previous non-electrochemistry measurements are summarized. These measurements are from the liquid/air interface (CCl 4 ), the metal crystal vacuum interface (Au(100)), and from the liquid/solid interface(liquid crystal/silicon). 34 refs., 5 figs

Measurements of downwelling far-infrared radiance during the RHUBC-II campaign at Cerro Toco, Chile and comparisons with line-by-line radiative transfer calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Mast, Jeffrey C.; Mlynczak, Martin G.; Cageao, Richard P.; Kratz, David P.; Latvakoski, Harri; Johnson, David G.; Turner, David D.; Mlawer, Eli J.

2017-09-01

Downwelling radiances at the Earth's surface measured by the Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) instrument in an environment with integrated precipitable water (IPW) as low as 0.03 cm are compared with calculated spectra in the far-infrared and mid-infrared. FIRST (a Fourier transform spectrometer) was deployed from August through October 2009 at 5.38 km MSL on Cerro Toco, a mountain in the Atacama Desert of Chile. There FIRST took part in the Radiative Heating in Unexplored Bands Campaign Part 2 (RHUBC-II), the goal of which is the assessment of water vapor spectroscopy. Radiosonde water vapor and temperature vertical profiles are input into the Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) Line-by-Line Radiative Transfer Model (LBLRTM) to compute modeled radiances. The LBLRTM minus FIRST residual spectrum is calculated to assess agreement. Uncertainties (1-σ) in both the measured and modeled radiances are also determined. Measured and modeled radiances nearly all agree to within combined (total) uncertainties. Features exceeding uncertainties can be corrected into the combined uncertainty by increasing water vapor and model continuum absorption, however this may not be necessary due to 1-σ uncertainties (68% confidence). Furthermore, the uncertainty in the measurement-model residual is very large and no additional information on the adequacy of current water vapor spectral line or continuum absorption parameters may be derived. Similar future experiments in similarly cold and dry environments will require absolute accuracy of 0.1% of a 273 K blackbody in radiance and water vapor accuracy of ∼3% in the profile layers contributing to downwelling radiance at the surface.

Computation of Mach reflection from rigid and yielding surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buckingham, A.C.; Wilson, S.S.

1976-01-01

The present discussion centers on a theoretical description of one aspect of the irregular or Mach reflection from solid surfaces. The discussion is restricted to analytical considerations and some preliminary results using model approximations to the surface interaction phenomena. Currently, full numerical simulations of the irregular reflection surface interaction dynamics have not been obtained since the method is still under development. Discussion of the numerical method is, therefore, restricted to some special procedures for the gas-solid surface boundary dynamics. The discussion is divided into an introductory section briefly describing a particular Mach reflection process. Subsequently, some of the considerations on boundary conditions are submitted for numerical treatment of the gas-solid interface. Analysis and discussion of a yielding solid surface subjected to impulsive loading from an intense gas shock wave follows. This is used as a guide for the development of the numerical procedure. Mach reflection processes are then briefly reviewed with special attention for similitude and singular perturbation features

Simulation Tool for GNSS Ocean Surface Reflections

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Høeg, Per; von Benzon, Hans-Henrik; Durgonics, Tibor

2015-01-01

GNSS coherent and incoherent reflected signals have the potential of deriving large scale parameters of ocean surfaces, as barotropic variability, eddy currents and fronts, Rossby waves, coastal upwelling, mean ocean surfaceheights, and patterns of the general ocean circulation. In the reflection...... zone the measurements may deriveparameters as sea surface roughness, winds, waves, heights and tilts from the spectral measurements. Previous measurements from the top of mountains and airplanes have shown such results leading.The coming satellite missions, CYGNSS, COSMIC-2, and GEROS...

General theory of three-dimensional radiance measurements with optical microprobes RID A-1977-2009

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

FukshanskyKazarinova, N.; Fukshansky, L.; Kuhl, M.

1997-01-01

Measurements of the radiance distribution and fluence rate within turbid samples with fiber-optic radiance microprobes contain a large variable instrumental error caused by the nonuniform directional sensitivity of the microprobes. A general theory of three-dimensional radiance measurements...

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.

Coupled Retrieval of Aerosol Properties and Surface Reflection Using the Airborne Multi-angle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI)

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, F.; van Harten, G.; Kalashnikova, O. V.; Diner, D. J.; Seidel, F. C.; Garay, M. J.; Dubovik, O.

2016-12-01

The Airborne Multi-angle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI) [1] has been flying aboard the NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft since October 2010. In step-and-stare operation mode, AirMSPI acquires radiance and polarization data at 355, 380, 445, 470*, 555, 660*, 865*, and 935 nm (* denotes polarimetric bands). The imaged area covers about 10 km by 10 km and is observed from 9 view angles between ±67° off of nadir. We have developed an efficient and flexible code that uses the information content of AirMSPI data for a coupled retrieval of aerosol properties and surface reflection. The retrieval was built based on the multi-pixel optimization concept [2], with the use of a hybrid radiative transfer model [3] that combines the Markov Chain [4] and adding/doubling methods [5]. The convergence and robustness of our algorithm is ensured by applying constraints on (a) the spectral variation of the Bidirectional Polarization Distribution Function (BPDF) and angular shape of the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF); (b) the spectral variation of aerosol optical properties; and (c) the spatial variation of aerosol parameters across neighboring image pixels. Our retrieval approach has been tested using over 20 AirMSPI datasets having low to moderately high aerosol loadings ( 0.02550-nmSpace Sci. Rev. 16, 527 (1974).

Retrieving background surface reflectance of Himawari-8/AHI using BRDF modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Sungwon; Seo, Minji; Lee, Kyeong-sang; Han, Kyung-soo

2017-04-01

In these days, remote sensing is more important than past. And retrieving surface reflectance in remote sensing is also important. So there are many ways to retrieve surface reflectance by my countries with polar orbit and geostationary satellite. We studied Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) which is used to retrieve surface reflectance. In BRDF equation, we calculate surface reflectance using BRD components and angular data. BRD components are to calculate 3 of scatterings, isotropic geometric and volumetric scattering. To make Background Surface Reflectance (BSR) of Himawari-8/AHI. We used 5 bands (band1, band2, band3, band4, band5) with BRDF. And we made 5 BSR for 5 channels. For validation, we compare BSR with Top of canopy (TOC) reflectance of AHI. As a result, bias are from -0.00223 to 0.008328 and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) are from 0.045 to 0.049. We think BSR can be used to replace TOC reflectance in remote sensing to improve weakness of TOC reflectance.

Impact of Assimilation of Conventional and Satellite Radiance GTS Observations on Simulation of Mesoscale Convective System Over Southeast India Using WRF-3DVar

Science.gov (United States)

Madhulatha, A.; Rajeevan, M.; Bhowmik, S. K. Roy; Das, A. K.

2018-01-01

The primary goal of present study is to investigate the impact of assimilation of conventional and satellite radiance observations in simulating the mesoscale convective system (MCS) formed over south east India. An assimilation methodology based on Weather Research and Forecasting model three dimensional variational data assimilation is considered. Few numerical experiments are carried out to examine the individual and combined impact of conventional and non-conventional (satellite radiance) observations. After the successful inclusion of additional observations, strong analysis increments of temperature and moisture fields are noticed and contributed to significant improvement in model's initial fields. The resulting model simulations are able to successfully reproduce the prominent synoptic features responsible for the initiation of MCS. Among all the experiments, the final experiment in which both conventional and satellite radiance observations assimilated has showed considerable impact on the prediction of MCS. The location, genesis, intensity, propagation and development of rain bands associated with the MCS are simulated reasonably well. The biases of simulated temperature, moisture and wind fields at surface and different pressure levels are reduced. Thermodynamic, dynamic and vertical structure of convective cells associated with the passage of MCS are well captured. Spatial distribution of rainfall is fairly reproduced and comparable to TRMM observations. It is demonstrated that incorporation of conventional and satellite radiance observations improved the local and synoptic representation of temperature, moisture fields from surface to different levels of atmosphere. This study highlights the importance of assimilation of conventional and satellite radiances in improving the models initial conditions and simulation of MCS.

Retrieving SW fluxes from geostationary narrowband radiances for the NASA-CERES SYN1deg product

Science.gov (United States)

Wrenn, F. J., IV; Doelling, D. R.; Liang, L.

2017-12-01

The CERES mission was designed to measure the natural variability of the net TOA flux over long time scales relevant to climate monitoring. To achieve this goal, CERES provides the level-3 SSF1deg, SYN1deg, and EBAF monthly 1° by 1° regional TOA flux. The single satellite (Terra or Aqua) SSF1deg 24-hour shortwave flux is based on one daytime measurements and assumes constant meteorology to model the diurnal change in albedo. To accurately describe regions with a prominent diurnal signal, the SYN1deg Edition4 dataset employs hourly geostationary (GEO) measurements. This improves upon Edition3, which used 3-hourly GEO measurements and with temporal interpolation. The EBAF product combines the temporal stability of the SSF1deg product with the diurnal information from SYN1deg and removes the CERES instrument calibration bias by constraining the net flux balance to the ocean heat storage term. The SYN-1deg product retrieves hourly SW fluxes from GEO measurements. Over regions with large diurnal cycles, such as maritime stratus and land afternoon convective locations, the GEO derived SW fluxes will capture the diurnal flux not observed with Terra or Aqua sun-synchronous satellites. Obtaining fluxes from geostationary satellite radiance is a multistep process. First, most GEO visible imagers lack calibration and must be calibrated to MODIS and VIIRS. Second, the GEO imager visible channel radiances are converted to broadband radiances using empirical and theoretical models. The lack of coincident, collocated, and co-angled GEO and CERES measurements makes building an empirical model difficult. The narrowband to broadband models are a function of surface and cloud conditions, which are difficult to identify due to the inconsistent cloud retrievals between the 16 GEO imagers used in the CERES record. Third, the GEO derived broadband radiances are passed through the CERES angular distribution model (ADM) to convert the radiances to fluxes. Lastly, the GEO derived

Polarization optics of the Brewster's dark patch visible on water surfaces versus solar height and sky conditions: theory, computer modeling, photography, and painting.

Science.gov (United States)

Takács, Péter; Barta, András; Pye, David; Horváth, Gábor

2017-10-20

When the sun is near the horizon, a circular band with approximately vertically polarized skylight is formed at 90° from the sun, and this skylight is only weakly reflected from the region of the water surface around the Brewster's angle (53° from the nadir). Thus, at low solar heights under a clear sky, an extended dark patch is visible on the water surface when one looks toward the north or south quarter perpendicular to the solar vertical. In this work, we study the radiance distribution of this so-called Brewster's dark patch (BDP) in still water as functions of the solar height and sky conditions. We calculate the pattern of reflectivity R of a water surface for a clear sky and obtain from this idealized situation the shape of the BDP. From three full-sky polarimetric pictures taken about a clear, a partly cloudy, and an overcast sky, we determine the R pattern and compose from that synthetic color pictures showing how the radiance distribution of skylight reflected at the water surface and the BDPs would look under these sky conditions. We also present photographs taken without a linearly polarizing filter about the BDP. Finally, we show a 19th century painting on which a river is seen with a dark region of the water surface, which can be interpreted as an artistic illustration of the BDP.

On the reflection point where light reflects to a known destination on quadratic surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Gonçalves, Nuno

2010-01-15

We address the problem of determining the reflection point on a specular surface where a light ray that travels from a source to a target is reflected. The specular surfaces considered are those expressed by a quadratic equation. So far, there is no closed form explicit equation for the general solution of this determination of the reflection point, and the usual approach is to use the Snell law or the Fermat principle whose equations are derived in multidimensional nonlinear minimizations. We prove in this Letter that one can impose a set of three restrictions to the reflection point that can impose a set of three restrictions that culminates in a very elegant formalism of searching the reflection point in a unidimensional curve in space. This curve is the intersection of two quadratic equations. Some applications of this framework are also discussed.

RADIANCE AND PHOTON NOISE: Imaging in geometrical optics, physical optics, quantum optics and radiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Barrett, Harrison H; Myers, Kyle J; Caucci, Luca

2014-08-17

A fundamental way of describing a photon-limited imaging system is in terms of a Poisson random process in spatial, angular and wavelength variables. The mean of this random process is the spectral radiance. The principle of conservation of radiance then allows a full characterization of the noise in the image (conditional on viewing a specified object). To elucidate these connections, we first review the definitions and basic properties of radiance as defined in terms of geometrical optics, radiology, physical optics and quantum optics. The propagation and conservation laws for radiance in each of these domains are reviewed. Then we distinguish four categories of imaging detectors that all respond in some way to the incident radiance, including the new category of photon-processing detectors. The relation between the radiance and the statistical properties of the detector output is discussed and related to task-based measures of image quality and the information content of a single detected photon.

Determining the Optimum Tilt Angle and Orientation for Solar Energy Collection Based on Measured Solar Radiance Data

OpenAIRE

Li, Danny H. W.; Lam, Tony N. T.

2007-01-01

A prior requirement to the design of any solar-based conversion systems is the knowledge of optimum orientation and tilt surface at which peak solar energy can be collected. In many parts of the world, however, the solar radiation data for the surfaces of interest are not always available. This paper presents a numerical approach to calculate the solar radiation on sloped planes by integrating the measured sky radiance distributions. The annual total solar yield at different sloped surfaces ...

IASI Radiance Data Assimilation in Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, K.; Hyoung-Wook, C.; Jo, Y.

2016-12-01

Korea institute of Atmospheric Prediction Systems (KIAPS) is developing NWP model with data assimilation systems. Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) system, one of the data assimilation systems, has been developed for KIAPS Integrated Model (KIM) based on cubed-sphere grid and has successfully assimilated real data. LETKF data assimilation system has been extended to 4D- LETKF which considers time-evolving error covariance within assimilation window and IASI radiance data assimilation using KPOP (KIAPS package for observation processing) with RTTOV (Radiative Transfer for TOVS). The LETKF system is implementing semi operational prediction including conventional (sonde, aircraft) observation and AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A) radiance data from April. Recently, the semi operational prediction system updated radiance observations including GPS-RO, AMV, IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) data at July. A set of simulation of KIM with ne30np4 and 50 vertical levels (of top 0.3hPa) were carried out for short range forecast (10days) within semi operation prediction LETKF system with ensemble forecast 50 members. In order to only IASI impact, our experiments used only conventional and IAIS radiance data to same semi operational prediction set. We carried out sensitivity test for IAIS thinning method (3D and 4D). IASI observation number was increased by temporal (4D) thinning and the improvement of IASI radiance data impact on the forecast skill of model will expect.

An assessment of radiance in Landsat TM middle and thermal infrared wavebands for the detection of tropical forest regeneration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boyd, D.S.; Foody, G.M.; Curran, P.J.; Lucas, R.M.; Honzak, M.

1996-01-01

It has been postulated that tropical forests regenerating after deforestation constitute an unmeasured terrestrial sink of atmospheric carbon, and that the strength of this sink is a function of regeneration stage. Such regeneration stages can be characterized by biophysical properties, such as leaf and wood biomass, which influence the radiance emitted and/or reflected from the forest canopy. Remotely sensed data can therefore be used to estimate these biophysical properties and thereby determine the forest regenerative stage. Studies conducted on temperate forests have related biophysical properties successfully with red and near-infrared radiance, particularly within the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). However, only weak correlations have generally been observed for tropical forests and it is suggested here that the relationship between forest biophysical properties and middle and thermal infrared radiance may be stronger than that between those properties and visible and near-infrared radiance.An assessment of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data revealed that radiance acquired in middle and thermal infrared wavebands contained significant information for the detection of regeneration stages in Amazonian tropical forests. It was demonstrated that tropical forest regeneration stages were most separable using middle infrared and thermal infrared wavebands and that the correlation with regeneration stage was stronger with middle infrared, thermal infrared or combinations of these wavebands than they were with visible, near infrared or combinations of these wavebands. For example, correlation coefficients increased from — 0·26 (insignificant at 95 per cent confidence level) when using the NDVI, to up to 0·93 (significant at 99 per cent confidence level) for a vegetation index containing data acquired in the middle and thermal infrared wavebands. These results point to the value of using data acquired in middle and thermal infrared wavebands for the

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.

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.;

MOPITT Beta Level 1 Radiances V107

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MOPITT Beta Level 1 data product consists of the geolocated, calibrated earth scene radiances, associated instrument engineering data summaries, and inflight...

Market analysis, energy savings potential, and future development requirements for Radiance. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-10-01

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Conservation and Renewable Energy (CE), Building Equipment Division has funded the development of a sophisticated computer rendering program called Radiance at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories (LBL). The project review study included: (1) Surveys of the lighting profession to determine how designers would use an improved, user-friendly Radiance, (2) Elucidation of features, including how Radiance could be used to save energy, which could be incorporated into Radiance to facilitate its more widespread use, (3) Outline of a development plan and determination of what costs the DOE might incur if it were to proceed with the development of an improved version, and (4) Weighing the anticipated development costs against anticipated energy-saving benefits.

Use of reflective surfaces on roadway embankment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Anders Stuhr; Doré, Guy

2007-01-01

adherence characteristics for roadway use. In Kangerlussuaq Airport, western Greenland, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been used to compare the variation of the frost table underneath a normal black asphalt surface and a more reflective surface (white paint). The GPR results have shown a clear...

Remote measurement of surface roughness, surface reflectance, and body reflectance with LiDAR.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaolu; Liang, Yu

2015-10-20

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) intensity data are attracting increasing attention because of the great potential for use of such data in a variety of remote sensing applications. To fully investigate the data potential for target classification and identification, we carried out a series of experiments with typical urban building materials and employed our reconstructed built-in-lab LiDAR system. Received intensity data were analyzed on the basis of the derived bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model and the established integration method. With an improved fitting algorithm, parameters involved in the BRDF model can be obtained to depict the surface characteristics. One of these parameters related to surface roughness was converted to a most used roughness parameter, the arithmetical mean deviation of the roughness profile (Ra), which can be used to validate the feasibility of the BRDF model in surface characterizations and performance evaluations.

Theory of equidistant three-dimensional radiance measurements with optical microprobes RID A-1977-2009

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

FukshanskyKazarinova, N.; Fukshansky, L.; Kuhl, Morten

1996-01-01

Fiber-optic radiance microprobes, increasingly applied for measurements of internal light fields in living tissues, provide three-dimensional radiance distribution solids and radiant energy fluence rates at different depths of turbid samples. These data are, however, distorted because of an inher...... of application is presented. The limitations of this theory and the prospects for this approach are discussed....... of an inherent feature of optical fibers: nonuniform angular sensitivity. Because of this property a radiance microprobe during a single measurement partly underestimates light from the envisaged direction and partly senses light from other directions. A theory of three-dimensional equidistant radiance...

Glue Film Thickness Measurements by Spectral Reflectance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marshall, B.R.

2010-01-01

Spectral reflectance was used to determine the thickness of thin glue layers in a study of the effect of the glue on radiance and reflectance measurements of shocked-tin substrates attached to lithium fluoride windows. Measurements based on profilometry of the components were found to be inaccurate due to flatness variations and deformation of the tin substrate under pressure during the gluing process. The accuracy of the spectral reflectance measurements were estimated to be ±0.5 (micro)m, which was sufficient to demonstrate a convincing correlation between glue thickness and shock-generated light.

Glue Film Thickness Measurements by Spectral Reflectance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

B. R. Marshall

2010-09-20

Spectral reflectance was used to determine the thickness of thin glue layers in a study of the effect of the glue on radiance and reflectance measurements of shocked-tin substrates attached to lithium fluoride windows. Measurements based on profilometry of the components were found to be inaccurate due to flatness variations and deformation of the tin substrate under pressure during the gluing process. The accuracy of the spectral reflectance measurements were estimated to be ±0.5 μm, which was sufficient to demonstrate a convincing correlation between glue thickness and shock-generated light.

Critical reflection activation analysis - a new near-surface probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunn, J.M.F.; Trohidou, K.N.

1988-09-01

We propose a new surface analytic technique, Critical Reflection Activation Analysis (CRAA). This technique allows accurate depth profiling of impurities ≤ 100A beneath a surface. The depth profile of the impurity is simply related to the induced activity as a function of the angle of reflection. We argue that the technique is practical and estimate its accuracy. (author)

A net decrease in the Earth's cloud, aerosol, and surface 340 nm reflectivity during the past 33 yr (1979–2011

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Herman

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Measured upwelling radiances from Nimbus-7 SBUV (Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet and seven NOAA SBUV/2 instruments have been used to calculate the 340 nm Lambertian equivalent reflectivity (LER of the Earth from 1979 to 2011 after applying a common calibration. The 340 nm LER is highly correlated with cloud and aerosol cover because of the low surface reflectivity of the land and oceans (typically 2 to 6 RU, reflectivity units, where 1 RU = 0.01 = 1.0% relative to the much higher reflectivity of clouds plus nonabsorbing aerosols (typically 10 to 90 RU. Because of the nearly constant seasonal and long-term 340 nm surface reflectivity in areas without snow and ice, the 340 nm LER can be used to estimate changes in cloud plus aerosol amount associated with seasonal and interannual variability and decadal climate change. The annual motion of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ, episodic El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO, and latitude-dependent seasonal cycles are apparent in the LER time series. LER trend estimates from 5° zonal average and from 2° × 5° , latitude × longitude, time series show that there has been a global net decrease in 340 nm cloud plus aerosol reflectivity. The decrease in cos2(latitude weighted average LER from 60° S to 60° N is 0.79 ± 0.03 RU over 33 yr, corresponding to a 3.6 ± 0.2% decrease in LER. Applying a 3.6% cloud reflectivity perturbation to the shortwave energy balance partitioning given by Trenberth et al. (2009 corresponds to an increase of 2.7 W m−2 of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface and an increase of 1.4% or 2.3 W m−2 absorbed by the surface, which is partially offset by increased longwave cooling to space. Most of the decreases in LER occur over land, with the largest decreases occurring over the US (−0.97 RU decade−1, Brazil (−0.9 RU decade−1, and central Europe (−1.35 RU decade−1. There are reflectivity increases near the west coast of Peru and Chile (0.8 ± 0.1 RU

Functional Form of the Radiometric Equation for the SNPP VIIRS Reflective Solar Bands: An Initial Study

Science.gov (United States)

Lei, Ning; Xiong, Xiaoxiong

2016-01-01

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite is a passive scanning radiometer and an imager, observing radiative energy from the Earth in 22 spectral bands from 0.41 to 12 microns which include 14 reflective solar bands (RSBs). Extending the formula used by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instruments, currently the VIIRS determines the sensor aperture spectral radiance through a quadratic polynomial of its detector digital count. It has been known that for the RSBs the quadratic polynomial is not adequate in the design specified spectral radiance region and using a quadratic polynomial could drastically increase the errors in the polynomial coefficients, leading to possible large errors in the determined aperture spectral radiance. In addition, it is very desirable to be able to extend the radiance calculation formula to correctly retrieve the aperture spectral radiance with the level beyond the design specified range. In order to more accurately determine the aperture spectral radiance from the observed digital count, we examine a few polynomials of the detector digital count to calculate the sensor aperture spectral radiance.

Observations and Modeling of Atmospheric Radiance Structure

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wintersteiner, Peter

2001-01-01

The overall purpose of the work that we have undertaken is to provide new capabilities for observing and modeling structured radiance in the atmosphere, particularly the non-LTE regions of the atmosphere...

Quality Assessment of Landsat Surface Reflectance Products Using MODIS Data

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Min; Huang, Chengquan; Channan, Saurabh; Vermote, Eric; Masek, Jeffrey G.; Townshend, John R.

2012-01-01

Surface reflectance adjusted for atmospheric effects is a primary input for land cover change detection and for developing many higher level surface geophysical parameters. With the development of automated atmospheric correction algorithms, it is now feasible to produce large quantities of surface reflectance products using Landsat images. Validation of these products requires in situ measurements, which either do not exist or are difficult to obtain for most Landsat images. The surface reflectance products derived using data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), however, have been validated more comprehensively. Because the MODIS on the Terra platform and the Landsat 7 are only half an hour apart following the same orbit, and each of the 6 Landsat spectral bands overlaps with a MODIS band, good agreements between MODIS and Landsat surface reflectance values can be considered indicators of the reliability of the Landsat products, while disagreements may suggest potential quality problems that need to be further investigated. Here we develop a system called Landsat-MODIS Consistency Checking System (LMCCS). This system automatically matches Landsat data with MODIS observations acquired on the same date over the same locations and uses them to calculate a set of agreement metrics. To maximize its portability, Java and open-source libraries were used in developing this system, and object-oriented programming (OOP) principles were followed to make it more flexible for future expansion. As a highly automated system designed to run as a stand-alone package or as a component of other Landsat data processing systems, this system can be used to assess the quality of essentially every Landsat surface reflectance image where spatially and temporally matching MODIS data are available. The effectiveness of this system was demonstrated using it to assess preliminary surface reflectance products derived using the Global Land Survey (GLS) Landsat

Estimation of spectral distribution of sky radiance using a commercial digital camera.

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Masanori; Iwabuchi, Hironobu; Murata, Isao

2016-01-10

Methods for estimating spectral distribution of sky radiance from images captured by a digital camera and for accurately estimating spectral responses of the camera are proposed. Spectral distribution of sky radiance is represented as a polynomial of the wavelength, with coefficients obtained from digital RGB counts by linear transformation. The spectral distribution of radiance as measured is consistent with that obtained by spectrometer and radiative transfer simulation for wavelengths of 430-680 nm, with standard deviation below 1%. Preliminary applications suggest this method is useful for detecting clouds and studying the relation between irradiance at the ground and cloud distribution.

Reflection of illumination laser from gas metal arc weld pool surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Xiaoji; Zhang, YuMing

2009-01-01

The weld pool is the core of the welding process where complex welding phenomena originate. Skilled welders acquire their process feedback primarily from the weld pool. Observation and measurement of the three-dimensional weld pool surface thus play a fundamental role in understanding and future control of complex welding processes. To this end, a laser line is projected onto the weld pool surface in pulsed gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and an imaging plane is used to intercept its reflection from the weld pool surface. Resultant images of the reflected laser are analyzed and it is found that the weld pool surface in GMAW does specularly reflect the projected laser as in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). Hence, the weld pool surface in GMAW is also specular and it is in principle possible that it may be observed and measured by projecting a laser pattern and then intercepting and imaging the reflection from it. Due to high frequencies of surface fluctuations, GMAW requires a relatively short time to image the reflected laser

Effect of reflective surfaces on a greenhouse lettuce crop

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Warman, P.R.; Mayhew, W.J.

1979-01-01

The Canadian greenhouse industry is an important segment of horticultural production, providing employment for thousands of people. Continuing increases in the costs of conventional fuel supplies, however, has placed the industry in some jeopardy since the cost of heating during the winter months is also escalating. In response to this problem the Brace Research Institute has developed a single roofed greenhouse designed to capture and store the sun's energy, and to increase the amount of downward solar radiation inside the greenhouse through the use of specularly-reflecting back and side walls. The research investigated the effect of a reflective surface on plant growth, development, and nutritional uptake during fall and the early months of winter. The inside walls of the greenhouse were lined with aluminized polyester to act as a reflective surface and flat black roofing felt paper to provide a non-reflecting surface. Grand Rapids Forcing lettuce was planted from seed into a peat-vermiculite bed and total solar radiation was monitored on the horizontal. Over the duration of the experiment, the reflective side of the greenhouse received more than twice as much solar radiation as the non-reflective side leading to significantly larger plant yields on the reflective side. There were no significant differences in the uptake of the plant macronutrients, N, P, K, Ca, and Mg.

Spectral and Spatial UV Sky Radiance Measurements at a Seaside Resort Under Clear Sky and Slightly Overcast Conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandmann, Henner; Stick, Carsten

2014-01-01

Spatial measurements of the diffusely scattered sky radiance at a seaside resort under clear sky and slightly overcast conditions have been used to calculate the sky radiance distribution across the upper hemisphere. The measurements were done in the summer season when solar UV radiation is highest. The selected wavelengths were 307, 350 and 550 nm representing the UVB, UVA and VIS band. Absolute values of radiance differ considerably between the wavelengths. Normalizing the measured values by use of direct solar radiance made the spatial distributions of unequal sky radiance comparable. The results convey a spatial impression of the different distributions of the radiance at the three wavelengths. Relative scattered radiance intensity is one order of magnitude greater in UVB than in VIS, whereas in UVA lies roughly in between. Under slightly overcast conditions scattered radiance is increased at all three wavelengths by about one order of magnitude. These measurements taken at the seaside underline the importance of diffuse scattered radiance. The effect of shading parts of the sky can be estimated from the distribution of sky radiance. This knowledge might be useful for sun seekers and in the treatment of people staying at the seaside for therapeutic purposes. © 2013 The American Society of Photobiology.

Tunable natural nano-arrays : controlling surface properties and light reflectance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watson, J.A.; Myhra, S.; Cribb, B.W.; Hope, G.A.; Watson, G.S.

2005-01-01

A sudden transition or impedance mismatch from one optical medium to another can result in unwanted reflections from the surface plane. Modification of a surface by creation of a gradual change in refractive index over a significant portion of a wavelength range will result in a reduction in reflection. Multi-layered thin film coatings based on this phenomenon are widely used on a number of different surfaces (e.g. solar cells, lenses, display screens etc.) to suppress undesired reflections and/or increase light transmittance. An alternative surface modification to the multi-layered stack coating (gradient index coating) is to produce a surface with structures having a period and heights shorter than the light wavelength. These structures act like a pseudo-gradient index coating and can be described by the effective medium theory. In this study we report on nano-structures (a natural pseudo-gradient index coating) which we have found on certain species of cicada wings demonstrating their reflective effectiveness using manipulative atomic force microscopy. (author). 2 refs., 5 figs

SO2 frost - UV-visible reflectivity and Io surface coverage

Science.gov (United States)

Nash, D. B.; Fanale, F. P.; Nelson, R. M.

1980-01-01

The reflectance spectrum in the range 0.24-0.85 microns of SO2 frost is measured in light of the discovery of SO2 gas in the atmosphere of Io and the possible discovery of the frost on its surface. Frost deposits up to 1.5 mm thick were grown in vacuum at 130 K and bi-directional reflectance spectra were obtained. Typical SO2 frost is found to exhibit very low reflectivity (2-5%) at 0.30 microns, rising steeply at 0.32 microns to attain a maximum reflectivity (75-80%) at 4.0 microns and uniformly high reflectivity throughout the visible and near infrared. Comparison with the full disk spectrum of Io reveals that no more than 20% of the surface can be covered with optically thick SO2 frost. Combinations of surface materials including SO2 frost which can produce the observed spectrum are indicated.

Nonuniformity correction of infrared cameras by reading radiance temperatures with a spatially nonhomogeneous radiation source

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gutschwager, Berndt; Hollandt, Jörg

2017-01-01

We present a novel method of nonuniformity correction (NUC) of infrared cameras and focal plane arrays (FPA) in a wide optical spectral range by reading radiance temperatures and by applying a radiation source with an unknown and spatially nonhomogeneous radiance temperature distribution. The benefit of this novel method is that it works with the display and the calculation of radiance temperatures, it can be applied to radiation sources of arbitrary spatial radiance temperature distribution, and it only requires sufficient temporal stability of this distribution during the measurement process. In contrast to this method, an initially presented method described the calculation of NUC correction with the reading of monitored radiance values. Both methods are based on the recording of several (at least three) images of a radiation source and a purposeful row- and line-shift of these sequent images in relation to the first primary image. The mathematical procedure is explained in detail. Its numerical verification with a source of a predefined nonhomogeneous radiance temperature distribution and a thermal imager of a predefined nonuniform FPA responsivity is presented. (paper)

User's guide: Nimbus-7 Earth radiation budget narrow-field-of-view products. Scene radiance tape products, sorting into angular bins products, and maximum likelihood cloud estimation products

Science.gov (United States)

Kyle, H. Lee; Hucek, Richard R.; Groveman, Brian; Frey, Richard

1990-01-01

The archived Earth radiation budget (ERB) products produced from the Nimbus-7 ERB narrow field-of-view scanner are described. The principal products are broadband outgoing longwave radiation (4.5 to 50 microns), reflected solar radiation (0.2 to 4.8 microns), and the net radiation. Daily and monthly averages are presented on a fixed global equal area (500 sq km), grid for the period May 1979 to May 1980. Two independent algorithms are used to estimate the outgoing fluxes from the observed radiances. The algorithms are described and the results compared. The products are divided into three subsets: the Scene Radiance Tapes (SRT) contain the calibrated radiances; the Sorting into Angular Bins (SAB) tape contains the SAB produced shortwave, longwave, and net radiation products; and the Maximum Likelihood Cloud Estimation (MLCE) tapes contain the MLCE products. The tape formats are described in detail.

Noninvasive assessment of articular cartilage surface damage using reflected polarized light microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Huynh, Ruby N.; Nehmetallah, George; Raub, Christopher B.

2017-06-01

Articular surface damage occurs to cartilage during normal aging, osteoarthritis, and in trauma. A noninvasive assessment of cartilage microstructural alterations is useful for studies involving cartilage explants. This study evaluates polarized reflectance microscopy as a tool to assess surface damage to cartilage explants caused by mechanical scraping and enzymatic degradation. Adult bovine articular cartilage explants were scraped, incubated in collagenase, or underwent scrape and collagenase treatments. In an additional experiment, cartilage explants were subject to scrapes at graduated levels of severity. Polarized reflectance parameters were compared with India ink surface staining, features of histological sections, changes in explant wet weight and thickness, and chondrocyte viability. The polarized reflectance signal was sensitive to surface scrape damage and revealed individual scrape features consistent with India ink marks. Following surface treatments, the reflectance contrast parameter was elevated and correlated with image area fraction of India ink. After extensive scraping, polarized reflectance contrast and chondrocyte viability were lower than that from untreated explants. As part of this work, a mathematical model was developed and confirmed the trend in the reflectance signal due to changes in surface scattering and subsurface birefringence. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of polarized reflectance microscopy to sensitively assess surface microstructural alterations in articular cartilage explants.

MOPITT Level 1 Radiances HDF file V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MOPITT Level 1 data product consists of the geolocated, calibrated earth scene radiances, associated instrument engineering data summaries, and inflight...

Calculation of Reflectance and Transmittance of Coating With Optically Rough Surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Depsy, A.; Shawky, A.M.

2011-01-01

For ideal surfaces, components of the reflected beam are related to the components of the incident beam by Fresnel reflection equation. The surfaces encountered in engineering applications deviate from ideal as a result of roughness, oxidization and contamination; hence the Radiative properties of these real surfaces differ greatly from those predicted by electromagnetic theory. In regard to problems of radiative heat transfer; the roughness of surfaces may be divided into two categories: (1) small surface irregularities such that the incident radiation cannot undergo more than a single reflection, (2) deep cavities in which the incident radiation undergoes multi-reflection. The normally incident radiation from rough surface having small irregularities is reflected partly specularly and partly diffusely [1]. Kubelka-Munk theory (K-M) [2] describes optical characteristics (e.g. reflectance, transmittance and absorbance) by a variety of light scattering media including paints, textiles and papers, and It is widely used in various industrial applications. Moder developments in radiative transfer theory (RTT) enable the derivation of (K-M) parameters from first principles [3]. Kubelka and Munk proposed a theory based on a model of two light fluxes travelling in the forward and backward directions. Subsequently a number of authors refined the theory and compared it with experimental data [4]. Several authors attempted to relate the Kubelka- Munk coefficients to the transport coefficients [5,6

Technology for detecting spectral radiance by a snapshot multi-imaging spectroradiometer

Science.gov (United States)

Zuber, Ralf; Stührmann, Ansgar; Gugg-Helminger, Anton; Seckmeyer, Gunther

2017-12-01

Technologies to determine spectral sky radiance distributions have evolved in recent years and have enabled new applications in remote sensing, for sky radiance measurements, in biological/diagnostic applications and luminance measurements. Most classical spectral imaging radiance technologies are based on mechanical and/or spectral scans. However, these methods require scanning time in which the spectral radiance distribution might change. To overcome this limitation, different so-called snapshot spectral imaging technologies have been developed that enable spectral and spatial non-scanning measurements. We present a new setup based on a facet mirror that is already used in imaging slicing spectrometers. By duplicating the input image instead of slicing it and using a specially designed entrance slit, we are able to select nearly 200 (14 × 14) channels within the field of view (FOV) for detecting spectral radiance in different directions. In addition, a megapixel image of the FOV is captured by an additional RGB camera. This image can be mapped onto the snapshot spectral image. In this paper, the mechanical setup, technical design considerations and first measurement results of a prototype are presented. For a proof of concept, the device is radiometrically calibrated and a 10 mm × 10 mm test pattern measured within a spectral range of 380 nm-800 nm with an optical bandwidth of 10 nm (full width at half maximum or FWHM). To show its potential in the UV spectral region, zenith sky radiance measurements in the UV of a clear sky were performed. Hence, the prototype was equipped with an entrance optic with a FOV of 0.5° and modified to obtain a radiometrically calibrated spectral range of 280 nm-470 nm with a FWHM of 3 nm. The measurement results have been compared to modeled data processed by UVSPEC, which showed deviations of less than 30%. This is far from being ideal, but an acceptable result with respect to available state

Reflectance of Antarctic surfaces from multispectral radiometers: The correction of atmospheric effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zibordi, G.; Maracci, G.

1993-01-01

Monitoring reflectance of polar icecaps has relevance in climate studies. In fact, climate changes produce variations in the morphology of ice and snow covers, which are detectable as surface reflectance change. Surface reflectance can be retrieved from remotely sensed data. However, absolute values independent of atmospheric turbidity and surface altitude can only be obtained after removing masking effects of the atmosphere. An atmospheric correction model, accounting for surface and sensor altitudes above sea level, is described and validated through data detected over Antarctic surfaces with a Barnes Modular Multispectral Radiometer having bands overlapping those of the Landsat Thematic Mapper. The model is also applied in a sensitivity analysis to investigate error induced in reflectance obtained from satellite data by indeterminacy in optical parameters of atmospheric constituents. Results show that indeterminacy in the atmospheric water vapor optical thickness is the main source of nonaccuracy in the retrieval of surface reflectance from data remotely sensed over Antarctic regions

Why is the Ratio of Reflectivity Effective for Chlorophyll Estimation in the Lake Water?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazuo Oki

2010-07-01

Full Text Available The reasons why it is effective to estimate the chlorophyll-a concentration with the ratio of spectral radiance reflectance at the red light region and near infrared regions were shown in theory using a two-flow model. It was found that all of the backscattering coefficients can consequently be ignored by using the ratio of spectral radiance reflectance, which is the ratio of the upward radiance to the downward irradiance, at the red light and near infrared regions. In other words, the ratio can be expressed by using only absorption coefficients, which are more stable for measurement than backscattering coefficients. In addition, the band selection is crucial for producing the band ratio when the chlorophyll-a concentration is estimated without the effects of backscattering. I conclude that the two wavelengths selected must be close, but one must be within the absorption range of chlorophyll-a, and the other must be outside of the absorption range of chlorophyll-a, in order to accurately estimate the chlorophyll-a concentration.

On automatic visual inspection of reflective surfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kulmann, Lionel

1995-01-01

surfaces, providing new and exciting applications subject to automated visual inspection. Several contextual features have been surveyed along with introduction of novel methods to perform data-dependent enhancement of local surface appearance . Morphological methods have been described and utilized......This thesis descrbes different methods to perform automatic visual inspection of reflective manufactured products, with the aim of increasing productivity, reduce cost and improve the quality level of the production. We investigate two different systems performing automatic visual inspection....... The first is the inspection of highly reflective aluminum sheets, used by the Danish company Bang & Olufsen, as a part of the exterior design and general appearance of their audio and video products. The second is the inspection of IBM hard disk read/write heads for defects during manufacturing. We have...

Quantitative Spectral Radiance Measurements in the HYMETS Arc Jet

Science.gov (United States)

Danehy, Paul M.; Hires, Drew V.; Johansen, Craig T.; Bathel, Brett F.; Jones, Stephen B.; Gragg, Jeffrey G.; Splinter, Scott C.

2012-01-01

Calibrated spectral radiance measurements of gaseous emission spectra have been obtained from the HYMETS (Hypersonic Materials Environmental Test System) 400 kW arc-heated wind tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center. A fiber-optic coupled spectrometer collected natural luminosity from the flow. Spectral radiance measurements are reported between 340 and 1000 nm. Both Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) samples were placed in the flow. Test gases studied included a mostly-N2 atmosphere (95% nitrogen, 5% argon), a simulated Earth Air atmosphere (75% nitrogen, 20% oxygen, 5% argon) and a simulated Martian atmosphere (71% carbon dioxide, 24% nitrogen, 5% argon). The bulk enthalpy of the flow was varied as was the location of the measurement. For the intermediate flow enthalpy tested (20 MJ/kg), emission from the Mars simulant gas was about 10 times higher than the Air flow and 15 times higher than the mostly-N2 atmosphere. Shock standoff distances were estimated from the spectral radiance measurements. Within-run, run-to-run and day-to-day repeatability of the emission were studied, with significant variations (15-100%) noted.

Geometrical considerations in analyzing isotropic or anisotropic surface reflections.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonot, Lionel; Obein, Gael

2007-05-10

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) represents the evolution of the reflectance with the directions of incidence and observation. Today BRDF measurements are increasingly applied and have become important to the study of the appearance of surfaces. The representation and the analysis of BRDF data are discussed, and the distortions caused by the traditional representation of the BRDF in a Fourier plane are pointed out and illustrated for two theoretical cases: an isotropic surface and a brushed surface. These considerations will help characterize either the specular peak width of an isotropic rough surface or the main directions of the light scattered by an anisotropic rough surface without misinterpretations. Finally, what is believed to be a new space is suggested for the representation of the BRDF, which avoids the geometrical deformations and in numerous cases is more convenient for BRDF analysis.

Reflectance spectroscopy and asteroid surface mineralogy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaffey, M.J.; Bell, J.F.; Cruikshank, D.P.

1989-01-01

Information available from reflectance spectroscopy on the surface mineralogy of asteroids is discussed. Current spectral interpretive procedures used in the investigations of asteroid mineralogy are described. Present understanding of the nature and history of asteroids is discussed together with some still unresolved issues such as the source of ordinary chondrites. 100 refs

DETERMINING REFLECTANCE SPECTRA OF SURFACES AND CLOUDS ON EXOPLANETS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cowan, Nicolas B.; Strait, Talia E., E-mail: n-cowan@northwestern.edu [Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), Northwestern University, 2131 Tech Dr., IL 60208 (United States)

2013-03-01

Planned missions will spatially resolve temperate terrestrial planets from their host star. Although reflected light from such a planet encodes information about its surface, it has not been shown how to establish surface characteristics of a planet without assuming known surfaces to begin with. We present a reanalysis of disk-integrated, time-resolved, multiband photometry of Earth obtained by the Deep Impact spacecraft as part of the EPOXI Mission of Opportunity. We extract reflectance spectra of clouds, ocean, and land without a priori knowledge of the numbers or colors of these surfaces. We show that the inverse problem of extracting surface spectra from such data is a novel and extreme instance of spectral unmixing, a well-studied problem in remote sensing. Principal component analysis is used to determine an appropriate number of model surfaces with which to interpret the data. Shrink-wrapping a simplex to the color excursions of the planet yields a conservative estimate of the planet's endmember spectra. The resulting surface maps are unphysical, however, requiring negative or larger-than-unity surface coverage at certain locations. Our ''rotational unmixing'' supersedes the endmember analysis by simultaneously solving for the surface spectra and their geographical distributions on the planet, under the assumption of diffuse reflection and known viewing geometry. We use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo to determine best-fit parameters and their uncertainties. The resulting albedo spectra are similar to clouds, ocean, and land seen through a Rayleigh-scattering atmosphere. This study suggests that future direct-imaging efforts could identify and map unknown surfaces and clouds on exoplanets.

Equivalent Sensor Radiance Generation and Remote Sensing from Model Parameters. Part 1; Equivalent Sensor Radiance Formulation

Science.gov (United States)

Wind, Galina; DaSilva, Arlindo M.; Norris, Peter M.; Platnick, Steven E.

2013-01-01

In this paper we describe a general procedure for calculating equivalent sensor radiances from variables output from a global atmospheric forecast model. In order to take proper account of the discrepancies between model resolution and sensor footprint the algorithm takes explicit account of the model subgrid variability, in particular its description of the probably density function of total water (vapor and cloud condensate.) The equivalent sensor radiances are then substituted into an operational remote sensing algorithm processing chain to produce a variety of remote sensing products that would normally be produced from actual sensor output. This output can then be used for a wide variety of purposes such as model parameter verification, remote sensing algorithm validation, testing of new retrieval methods and future sensor studies. We show a specific implementation using the GEOS-5 model, the MODIS instrument and the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS) Data Collection 5.1 operational remote sensing cloud algorithm processing chain (including the cloud mask, cloud top properties and cloud optical and microphysical properties products.) We focus on clouds and cloud/aerosol interactions, because they are very important to model development and improvement.

MODIS/Terra Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 1km V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MODIS/Terra Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 1km (MOD021KM) contains calibrated and geolocated at-aperture radiances for 36 discrete bands located in the 0.4...

Reflection properties of road surfaces. Contribution to OECD Scientific Expert Group AC4 on Road Surface Characteristics.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schreuder, D.A.

1983-01-01

Photometric characteristics of road surfaces are dealt with. Representation of reflection properties in public lighting; quality criteria of road lighting installations; classification of road surfaces; the relation between reflection characteristics and other properties of road pavements in public

Carbon dioxide /V2/ radiance results using a new nonequilibrium model

Science.gov (United States)

Sharma, R. D.; Nadile, R. M.

1981-01-01

It was observed during the SPIRE experiment (Spectral Infrared Rocket Experiment) that the 15 micron limb radiance stays constant from 95 to 110 km despite the fact that CO2 concentration over this altitude range decreases by a factor of 20. The results of a 15 micron CO2 radiance model are presented which explain the observed anomaly. It is shown that CO2 deactivation by oxygen is the predominant factor in 15 micron emission above 95 km.

HYTHIRM Radiance Modeling and Image Analyses in Support of STS-119, STS-125 and STS-128 Space Shuttle Hypersonic Re-entries

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, David M.; Spisz, Thomas S.; Taylor, Jeff C.; Zalameda, Joseph N.; Horvath, Thomas J.; Tomek, Deborah M.; Tietjen, Alan B.; Tack, Steve; Bush, Brett C.

2010-01-01

We provide the first geometrically accurate (i.e., 3-D) temperature maps of the entire windward surface of the Space Shuttle during hypersonic reentry. To accomplish this task we began with estimated surface temperatures derived from CFD models at integral high Mach numbers and used them, the Shuttle's surface properties and reasonable estimates of the sensor-to-target geometry to predict the emitted spectral radiance from the surface (in units of W sr-1 m-2 nm-1). These data were converted to sensor counts using properties of the sensor (e.g. aperture, spectral band, and various efficiencies), the expected background, and the atmosphere transmission to inform the optimal settings for the near-infrared and midwave IR cameras on the Cast Glance aircraft. Once these data were collected, calibrated, edited, registered and co-added we formed both 2-D maps of the scene in the above units and 3-D maps of the bottom surface in temperature that could be compared with not only the initial inputs but also thermocouple data from the Shuttle itself. The 3-D temperature mapping process was based on the initial radiance modeling process. Here temperatures were guessed for each node in a well-resolved 3-D framework, a radiance model was produced and compared to the processed imagery, and corrections to the temperature were estimated until the iterative process converged. This process did very well in characterizing the temperature structure of the large asymmetric boundary layer transition the covered much of the starboard bottom surface of STS-119 Discovery. Both internally estimated accuracies and differences with CFD models and thermocouple measurements are at most a few percent. The technique did less well characterizing the temperature structure of the turbulent wedge behind the trip due to limitations in understanding the true sensor resolution. (Note: Those less inclined to read the entire paper are encouraged to read an Executive Summary provided at the end.)

CAMEX-3 ATMOSPHERIC EMITTED RADIANCE INTERFEROMETER (AERI) V1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) was used to make atmospheric temperature and moisture retrievals. AERI provides absolutely calibrated...

Reflection properties of hydrogen ions at helium irradiated tungsten surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doi, K; Tawada, Y; Kato, S; Sasao, M; Kenmotsu, T; Wada, M; Lee, H T; Ueda, Y; Tanaka, N; Kisaki, M; Nishiura, M; Matsumoto, Y; Yamaoka, H

2016-01-01

Nanostructured W surfaces prepared by He bombardment exhibit characteristic angular distributions of hydrogen ion reflection upon injection of 1 keV H + beam. A magnetic momentum analyzer that can move in the vacuum chamber has measured the angular dependence of the intensity and the energy of reflected ions. Broader angular distributions were observed for He-irradiated tungsten samples compared with that of the intrinsic polycrystalline W. Both intensity and energy of reflected ions decreased in the following order: the polycrystalline W, the He-bubble containing W, and the fuzz W. Classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulations based on Atomic Collision in Amorphous Target code suggests that lower atom density near the surface can make the reflection coefficients lower due to increasing number of collisions. (paper)

Radiometric calibration of a polarization-sensitive sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad, S.P.; Markham, B.L.

1992-01-01

The radiometric accuracy of a sensor is adversely affected by scene polarization if its optical system is sensitive to polarization. Tests performed on the reflective bands of the NS001 Thematic Mapper simulator, an aircraft multispectral scanner, show that it is very sensitive to the polarization state of the incoming radiations. For 100 percent linearly polarized light, errors in the measured intensity vary from -40 to +40 percent, depending on the scan angle and spectral band. To estimate polarization-induced errors in the intensity measured at aircraft level, the intensity and polarization of the atmospheric radiances were simulated using a realistic earth-atmosphere radiative transfer model. For the polarization of atmospheric radiances in the solar meridian plane over a vegetated target, intensity errors may range from -10 to + 10 percent. The polarization-induced errors are highest in the shortest NS001 spectral band (0.450-0.525 microns) because of large atmospheric polarizations contributed by Rayleigh particles and small diluting effects caused by the small contributions of weakly polarized radiations coming from aerosols and the surface. Depending on the illumination and view angles, the errors in derived surface reflectance due to the radiance errors can be very large. In particular, for large off-nadir view angles in the forward scattered direction when the sun is low, the relative errors in the derived surface reflectance can be as large as 4 to 5 times the relative error in the radiances. Polarization sensitivity errors cannot be neglected for the shorter wavelengths when the surface reflectance contribution to atmospheric radiances is very small. 40 refs

Internal reflection spectroscopic analysis of sulphide mineral surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaoma, J.

1989-01-01

To establish the reason for flotation of sulfide minerals in the absence of any conventional collector, internal reflection spectroscopic analysis (IRS) of their surfaces was conducted. sulfur, sulfates, thiosulfates, and hydrocarbonates have been detected on the surface of as-grand sulfide minerals. On sodium sulfide-treated surfaces, both sulfur and polysulfide have also been found to be present. From these findings, the flotation of sulfide minerals without collectors is discussed. (author). 26 refs

High quality broadband spatial reflections of slow Rayleigh surface acoustic waves modulated by a graded grooved surface

KAUST Repository

Xu, Yanlong

2015-01-21

We report high quality broadband spatial reflections of Rayleigh surface acoustic waves (SAWs) through a graded grooved surface. High quality means that no wave is allowed to transmit and the incident wave is nearly all reflected to the input side. The graded grooved surface is structured by drilling one dimensional array of graded grooves with increased depths on a flat surface. We investigate SAW dispersion relations, wave field distribution at several typical SAW wavelengths, and time evolution of a Gaussian pulse through the graded grooved surface. Results show that the input broadband Rayleigh SAWs can be slowed, spatially enhanced and stopped, and finally reflected to the input side. The study suggests that engraving the flat surface can be used as an efficient and economical way to manipulate Rayleigh SAWs, which has potential application in novel SAW devices such as filters, reflectors, sensors, energy harvesters, and diodes.

A Microwave Radiance Assimilation Study for a Tundra Snowpack

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Edward; Durand, Michael; Margulis, Steve; England, Anthony

2010-01-01

Recent studies have begun exploring the assimilation of microwave radiances for the modeling and retrieval of snow properties. At a point scale, and for short durations (i week), radiance assimilation (RA) results are encouraging. However, in order to determine how practical RA might be for snow retrievals when applied over longer durations, larger spatial scales, and/or different snow types, we must expand the scope of the tests. In this paper we use coincident microwave radiance measurements and station data from a tundra site on the North Slope of Alaska. The field data are from the 3rd Radio-brightness Energy Balance Experiment (REBEX-3) carried out in 1994-95 by the University of Michigan. This dataset will provide a test of RA over months instead of one week, and for a very different type of snow than previous snow RA studies. We will address the following questions: flow well can a snowpack physical model (SM), forced with local weather, match measured conditions for a tundra snowpack?; How well can a microwave emission model, driven by the snowpack model, match measured microwave brightnesses for a tundra snowpack?; How well does RA increase or decrease the fidelity of estimates of snow depth and temperatures for a tundra snowpack?

Surface composition of Mercury from reflectance spectrophotometry

Science.gov (United States)

Vilas, Faith

1988-01-01

The controversies surrounding the existing spectra of Mercury are discussed together with the various implications for interpretations of Mercury's surface composition. Special attention is given to the basic procedure used for reducing reflectance spectrophotometry data, the factors that must be accounted for in the reduction of these data, and the methodology for defining the portion of the surface contributing the greatest amount of light to an individual spectrum. The application of these methodologies to Mercury's spectra is presented.

Spectral curves of surface reflectance in some Antarctic regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lupi, A.; Tomasi, C.; Orsini, A.; Cacciari, A.; Vitale, V.; Georgiadis, T.; Casacchia, R.; Salvatori, R.; Salvi, S.

2001-01-01

Four surface reflectance models of solar radiation were determined by examining several sets of field measurements taken for clear-sky conditions at various sites in Antarctica. Each model consists of the mean spectral curve of surface reflectance in the 0.25-2.7 μm wavelength range and of the dependence curve of total abedo on the solar elevation angle h, within the range from 5 0 to 55 0 . The TNB (Terra Nova Bay) model refers to a rocky terrain where granites are predominant; the NIS (Nansen Ice Sheet) model to a glacier surface made uneven by sastrugi and streaked by irregular fractures; the HAP (High Altitude Plateau) model to a flat ice surface covered by fresh snow and scored by light sastrugi; and the RIS (Ross Ice Shelf) model to an area covered by the sea ice pack presenting many discontinuities in the reflectance features, due to melt water lakes, puddles, refrozen ice and snow pots. The reflectance curve obtained for the TNB model presents gradually increasing values as wavelength increases through the visible spectral range and almost constant values at infrared wavelengths, giving a total albedo value equal to 0.264 at = 30 0 , which increases by about 80% through the lower range of h and decreases by 12% through the upper range. The reflectance curves of the NIS, HAP and RIS models are all peaked at visible wavelengths and exhibit decreasing values throughout the infrared spectral range, giving values of total albedo equal to 0.464, 0.738 and 0.426 at h 30 0 , respectively. These values were estimated to increase by 8-14% as h decreases from 30 0 to 5 0 and to decrease by 2-4% only as h increases from 30 0 to 55 0

Model for the angular distribution of sky radiance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hooper, F C; Brunger, A P

1979-08-01

A flexible mathematical model is introduced which describes the radiance of the dome of the sky under various conditions. This three-component continuous distribution (TCCD) model is compounded by the superposition of three separate terms, the isotropic, circumsolar and horizon brightening terms, each representing the contribution of a particular sky characteristic. In use a particular sky condition is characterized by the values of the coefficients of each of these three terms, defining the distribution of the total diffuse component. The TCCD model has been demonstrated to fit both the normalized clear sky data and the normalized overcast sky data with an RMS error of about ten percent of the man overall sky radiance. By extension the model could describe variable or partly clouded sky conditions. The model can aid in improving the prediction of solar collector performance.

Comparisons of Reflectance Targets at the Above Water Radiometry Workshop on Long Island Sound, August 4 - 6, 2010

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, B.; Fargion, G. S.; Saunders, R. D.; Ondrusek, M. E.

2012-12-01

On August 4-5, 2010, members from the satellite remote sensing community participated in a workshop off the coast of Long Island, New York. The participant's objective was to interpret and implement recently published protocols for measuring normalized, water-leaving spectral radiances by above-water in situ radiometry and compare the results. Each research team applied the protocols to the measurement of the water's surface and three reflectance standard targets supplied by NIST - a white and a gray diffuse reflectance target and a blue ground-glass target. The reflectance values of the water's surface and the test targets were derived and analyzed by each team. We report on the workshop detailing the methods for comparison of the participant's results of the test targets. The workshop served as a preparation for the vigorous validation activities that occurred following the launch of the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Above water, in situ, radiometric measurements using uncalibrated radiometers and standard diffuse reflectance targets are one method used by researchers to validate the VIIRS data products. The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) office provided support to NIST for this work (NA12AANEG0230).

AIRS-CloudSat cloud mask, radar reflectivities, and cloud classification matchups V3.2

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This is AIRS-CloudSat collocated subset, in NetCDF 4 format. These data contain collocated: AIRS Level 1b radiances spectra, CloudSat radar reflectivities, and MODIS...

A comparison of measured radiances from AIRS and HIRS across different cloud types

Science.gov (United States)

Schreier, M. M.; Kahn, B. H.; Staten, P.

2015-12-01

The observation of Earth's atmosphere with passive remote sensing instruments is ongoing for decades and resulting in a long-term global dataset. Two prominent examples are operational satellite platforms from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) or research platforms like NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS). The observed spectral ranges of these observations are often similar among the different platforms, but have large differences when it comes to resolution, accuracy and quality control. Our approach is to combine different kinds of instruments at the pixel-scale to improve the characterization of infrared radiances. We focus on data from the High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) and compare the observations to radiances from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on Aqua. The high spectral resolution of AIRS is used to characterize and possibly recalibrate the observed radiances from HIRS. Our approach is unique in that we use additional information from other passive instruments on the same platforms including the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We will present comparisons of radiances from HIRS and AIRS within different types of clouds that are determined from the imagers. In this way, we can analyze and select the most homogeneous conditions for radiance comparisons and a possible re-calibration of HIRS. We hope to achieve a cloud-type-dependent calibration and quality control for HIRS, which can be extrapolated into the past via inter-calibration of the different HIRS instruments beyond the time of AIRS.

Interstitial diffuse radiance spectroscopy of gold nanocages and nanorods in bulk muscle tissues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grabtchak S

2015-02-01

converted to the relative density of photons incident on the inclusion. Finally, the experimentally measured quantities were expressed via the relative perturbation and arranged into the classical Beer–Lambert law that allowed one to extract the extinction coefficients of various types of Au nanoparticles in both the transmission and back reflection geometries. It was shown that the spatial variation of perturbation could be described as 1/r dependence, where r is the distance between the inclusion and the detector. Due to a larger absorption cross section, Au nanocages produced greater perturbations than Au nanorods of equal particle concentration, indicating a better suitability of Au nanocages as contrast agents for optical measurements in turbid media. Individual measurements from different inclusions were combined into detectability maps.Keywords: gold nanocages, gold nanorods, turbid media, porcine muscles, diffuse radiance spectroscopy, Beer–Lambert law, perturbation

Optimum combinations of visible and near-infrared reflectances for estimating the fraction of photosynthetically available radiation absorbed by plants

Science.gov (United States)

Podaire, Alain; Deschamps, Pierre-Yves; Frouin, R.; Asrar, Ghassem

1991-01-01

A useful parameter to estimate terrestrial primary productivity, that can be sensed from space, is the daily averaged fraction of Photosynthetically Available Radiation (PAR) absorbed by plants. To evaluate this parameter, investigators have relied on the fact that the relative amount of radiation reflected by a vegetated surface in the visible and near infrared depends on the fraction of the surface covered by the vegetation and therefore, correlates with absorbed PAR. They have used vegetation indices, namely normalized difference and simple ratio, to derive absorbed PAR. The problem with normalized difference and simple ratio is first, they are non linear functions of radiance or reflectance and therefore, cannot be readily applied to heterogeneous targets, second, they are used in generally nonlinear relationships, which make time integrals of the indices not proportional to primary productivity, and third, the relationships depend strongly on the type of canopy and background. To remove these limitations, linear combinations of visible and near infrared reflectances at optimum (one or two) viewing zenith angles are proposed.

Interference effects in plasom excitation by particles reflected near a metal surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Denton, C.D.; Gervasoni, J.L.; Barrachina, R.O.; Arista, N.R.; Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza

1993-01-01

Using the dielectric formalism and the specular reflection model, we evaluate the probability of surface and bulk plasmon excitation by particles reflected in the proximity of a metal surface. We obtain a strong oscillatory behaviour as a function of the penetration distance. (author)

Model and measurements of linear mixing in thermal IR ground leaving radiance spectra

Science.gov (United States)

Balick, Lee; Clodius, William; Jeffery, Christopher; Theiler, James; McCabe, Matthew; Gillespie, Alan; Mushkin, Amit; Danilina, Iryna

2007-10-01

Hyperspectral thermal IR remote sensing is an effective tool for the detection and identification of gas plumes and solid materials. Virtually all remotely sensed thermal IR pixels are mixtures of different materials and temperatures. As sensors improve and hyperspectral thermal IR remote sensing becomes more quantitative, the concept of homogeneous pixels becomes inadequate. The contributions of the constituents to the pixel spectral ground leaving radiance are weighted by their spectral emissivities and their temperature, or more correctly, temperature distributions, because real pixels are rarely thermally homogeneous. Planck's Law defines a relationship between temperature and radiance that is strongly wavelength dependent, even for blackbodies. Spectral ground leaving radiance (GLR) from mixed pixels is temperature and wavelength dependent and the relationship between observed radiance spectra from mixed pixels and library emissivity spectra of mixtures of 'pure' materials is indirect. A simple model of linear mixing of subpixel radiance as a function of material type, the temperature distribution of each material and the abundance of the material within a pixel is presented. The model indicates that, qualitatively and given normal environmental temperature variability, spectral features remain observable in mixtures as long as the material occupies more than roughly 10% of the pixel. Field measurements of known targets made on the ground and by an airborne sensor are presented here and serve as a reality check on the model. Target spectral GLR from mixtures as a function of temperature distribution and abundance within the pixel at day and night are presented and compare well qualitatively with model output.

BOREAS RSS-19 1996 CASI At-Sensor Radiance and Reflectance Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — CASI images from the Chieftain Navaho aircraft collected in order to observe the seasonal change in the radiometric reflectance properties of the boreal forest...

BOREAS RSS-19 1996 CASI At-Sensor Radiance and Reflectance Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ABSTRACT: CASI images from the Chieftain Navaho aircraft collected in order to observe the seasonal change in the radiometric reflectance properties of the boreal...

BOREAS RSS-19 1994 CASI At-Sensor Radiance and Reflectance Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — CASI images from the Chieftain Navaho aircraft taken in order to observe the seasonal change in the radiometric reflectance properties of the boreal forest...

Snowpack modeling in the context of radiance assimilation for snow water equivalent mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Durand, M. T.; Kim, R. S.; Li, D.; Dumont, M.; Margulis, S. A.

2017-12-01

Data assimilation is often touted as a means of overcoming deficiences in both snowpack modeling and snowpack remote sensing. Direct assimilation of microwave radiances, rather than assimilating microwave retrievals, has shown promise, in this context. This is especially the case for deep mountain snow, which is often assumed to be infeasible to measure with microwave measurements, due to saturation issues. We first demonstrate that the typical way of understanding saturation has often been misunderstood. We show that deep snow leads to a complex microwave signature, but not to saturation per se, because of snowpack stratigraphy. This explains why radiance assimilation requires detailed snowpack models that adequatley stratgigraphy to function accurately. We examine this with two case studies. First, we show how the CROCUS predictions of snowpack stratigraphy allows for assimilation of airborne passive microwave measurements over three 1km2 CLPX Intensive Study Areas. Snowpack modeling and particle filter analysis is performed at 120 m spatial resolution. When run without the benefit of radiance assimilation, CROCUS does not fully capture spatial patterns in the data (R2=0.44; RMSE=26 cm). Assimlilation of microwave radiances for a single flight recovers the spatial pattern of snow depth (R2=0.85; RMSE = 13 cm). This is despite the presence of deep snow; measured depths range from 150 to 325 cm. Adequate results are obtained even for partial forest cover, and bias in precipitation forcing. The results are severely degraded if a three-layer snow model is used, however. The importance of modeling snowpack stratigraphy is highlighted. Second, we compare this study to a recent analysis assimilating spaceborne radiances for a 511 km2 sub-watershed of the Kern River, in the Sierra Nevada. Here, the daily Level 2A AMSR-E footprints (88 km2) are assimilated into a model running at 90 m spatial resolution. The three-layer model is specially adapted to predict "effective

BOREAS RSS-19 1994 CASI At-Sensor Radiance and Reflectance Images

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — ABSTRACT: CASI images from the Chieftain Navaho aircraft taken in order to observe the seasonal change in the radiometric reflectance properties of the boreal forest...

Sky-Radiance Models for Monte Carlo Radiative Transfer Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, I.; Dalimonte, D.; Santos, J. P.

2012-04-01

Photon-tracing can be initialized through sky-radiance (Lsky) distribution models when executing Monte Carlo simulations for ocean color studies. To be effective, the Lsky model should: 1) properly represent sky-radiance features of interest; 2) require low computing time; and 3) depend on a limited number of input parameters. The present study verifies the satisfiability of these prerequisite by comparing results from different Lsky formulations. Specifically, two Lsky models were considered as reference cases because of their different approach among solutions presented in the literature. The first model, developed by the Harrisson and Coombes (HC), is based on a parametric expression where the sun geometry is the unique input. The HC model is one of the sky-radiance analytical distribution applied in state-of-art simulations for ocean optics. The coefficients of the HC model were set upon broad-band field measurements and the result is a model that requires a few implementation steps. The second model, implemented by Zibordi and Voss (ZV), is based on physical expressions that accounts for the optical thickness of permanent gases, aerosol, ozone and water vapour at specific wavelengths. Inter-comparisons between normalized ^LskyZV and ^LskyHC (i.e., with unitary scalar irradiance) are discussed by means of individual polar maps and percent difference between sky-radiance distributions. Sky-radiance cross-sections are presented as well. Considered cases include different sun zenith values and wavelengths (i.e., λ=413, 490 and 665 nm, corresponding to selected center-bands of the MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer MERIS). Results have shown a significant convergence between ^LskyHC and ^LskyZV at 665 nm. Differences between models increase with the sun zenith and mostly with wavelength. For Instance, relative differences up to 50% between ^ L skyHC and ^ LskyZV can be observed in the antisolar region for λ=665 nm and θ*=45°. The effects of these

Computer screen photo-excited surface plasmon resonance imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Filippini, Daniel; Winquist, Fredrik; Lundström, Ingemar

2008-09-12

Angle and spectra resolved surface plasmon resonance (SPR) images of gold and silver thin films with protein deposits is demonstrated using a regular computer screen as light source and a web camera as detector. The screen provides multiple-angle illumination, p-polarized light and controlled spectral radiances to excite surface plasmons in a Kretchmann configuration. A model of the SPR reflectances incorporating the particularities of the source and detector explain the observed signals and the generation of distinctive SPR landscapes is demonstrated. The sensitivity and resolution of the method, determined in air and solution, are 0.145 nm pixel(-1), 0.523 nm, 5.13x10(-3) RIU degree(-1) and 6.014x10(-4) RIU, respectively, encouraging results at this proof of concept stage and considering the ubiquity of the instrumentation.

Radiance intensity enhanced by thin inhomogeneous lossy films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ben-Abdallah, Philippe; Ni Bo

2004-01-01

Basically, the classical radiative transfer theory assumes that the coherent component of the radiation field is equal to zero and heuristic considerations about energy conservation are used in the phenomenological derivation of the RTE. Here a self-consistent theory is presented to investigate radiative transport in the presence of diffraction processes within thin inhomogeneous films. The problem of linear optics about the transport of scalar radiation within film is solved, a new definition of the radiance is introduced in agreement with earlier definitions and a corresponding radiative transfer equation is derived. The influence of spatial variations of the bulk properties on the propagating mode is described in detail. It is analytically predicted that, unlike homogeneous media, an inhomogeneous film can enhance the radiance intensity in spite of the diffraction and the local extinction. From a practical point of view, the results of this work should be useful to perform the optimal design for many thermoelectric devices such as the new generations of photovoltaiec cells

A Monte Carlo reflectance model for soil surfaces with three-dimensional structure

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, K. D.; Smith, J. A.

1985-01-01

A Monte Carlo soil reflectance model has been developed to study the effect of macroscopic surface irregularities larger than the wavelength of incident flux. The model treats incoherent multiple scattering from Lambertian facets distributed on a periodic surface. Resulting bidirectional reflectance distribution functions are non-Lambertian and compare well with experimental trends reported in the literature. Examples showing the coupling of the Monte Carlo soil model to an adding bidirectional canopy of reflectance model are also given.

Applications of Sunphotometry to Aerosol Extinction and Surface Anisotropy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsay, S.

2002-09-30

Support cost-sharing of a newly developed sunphotometer in field deployment for aerosol studies. This is a cost-sharing research to deploy a newly developed sun-sky-surface photometer for studying aerosol extinction and surface anisotropy at the ARM SGP, TWP, and NSA-AAO CART sites and in many field campaigns. Atmospheric aerosols affect the radiative energy balance of the Earth, both directly by perturbing the incoming/outgoing radiation fields and indirectly by influencing the properties/processes of clouds and reactive greenhouse gases. The surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) also plays a crucial role in the radiative energy balance, since the BRDF is required to determine (i) the spectral and spectrally-averaged surface albedo, and (ii) the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) angular distribution of radiance field. Therefore, the CART sites provide an excellent, albeit unique, opportunity to collect long-term climatic data in characterizing aerosol properties and various types of surface anisotropy.

Backscattered EM-wave manipulation using low cost 1-bit reflective surface at W-band

Science.gov (United States)

Taher Al-Nuaimi, Mustafa K.; Hong, Wei; He, Yejun

2018-04-01

The design of low cost 1-bit reflective (non-absorptive) surfaces for manipulation of backscattered EM-waves and radar cross section (RCS) reduction at W-band is presented in this article. The presented surface is designed based on the reflection phase cancellation principle. The unit cell used to compose the proposed surface has an obelus (division symbol of short wire and two disks above and below) like shape printed on a grounded dielectric material. Using this unit cell, surfaces that can efficiently manipulate the backscattered RCS pattern by using the proposed obelus-shaped unit cell (as ‘0’ element) and its mirrored unit cell (as ‘1’ element) in one surface with a 180°  ±  35° reflection phase difference between their reflection phases are designed. The proposed surfaces can generate various kinds of backscattered RCS patterns, such as single, three, or four lobes or even a low-level (reduced RCS) diffused reflection pattern when those two unit cells are distributed randomly across the surface aperture. For experimental characterization purposes, a 50  ×  50 mm2 surface is fabricated and measured.

On lamps, walls, and eyes: The spectral radiance field and the evaluation of light pollution indoors

Science.gov (United States)

Bará, Salvador; Escofet, Jaume

2018-01-01

Light plays a key role in the regulation of different physiological processes, through several visual and non-visual retinal phototransduction channels whose basic features are being unveiled by recent research. The growing body of evidence on the significance of these effects has sparked a renewed interest in the determination of the light field at the entrance pupil of the eye in indoor spaces. Since photic interactions are strongly wavelength-dependent, a significant effort is being devoted to assess the relative merits of the spectra of the different types of light sources available for use at home and in the workplace. The spectral content of the light reaching the observer eyes in indoor spaces, however, does not depend exclusively on the sources: it is partially modulated by the spectral reflectance of the walls and surrounding surfaces, through the multiple reflections of the light beams along all possible paths from the source to the observer. This modulation can modify significantly the non-visual photic inputs that would be produced by the lamps alone, and opens the way for controlling-to a certain extent-the subject's exposure to different regions of the optical spectrum. In this work we evaluate the expected magnitude of this effect and we show that, for factorizable sources, the spectral modulation can be conveniently described in terms of a set of effective filter-like functions that provide useful insights for lighting design and light pollution assessment. The radiance field also provides a suitable bridge between indoor and outdoor light pollution studies.

Analytical properties of the radiance in atmospheric radiative transfer theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otto, Sebastian

2014-01-01

It is demonstrated mathematically strictly that state density functions, as the radiance (specific intensity), exist to describe certain state properties of transported photons on microscopic and the state of the radiation field on macroscopic scale, which have independent physical meanings. Analytical properties as boundedness, continuity, differentiability and integrability of these functions to describe the photon transport are discussed. It is shown that the density functions may be derived based on the assumption of photons as real particles of non-zero and finite size, independently of usual electrodynamics, and certain historically postulated functional relationships between them were proved, that is, these functions can be derived mathematically strictly and consistently within the framework of the theory of the phenomenological radiative transfer if one takes the theory seriously by really assuming photons as particles. In this sense these functions may be treated as fundamental physical quantities within the scope of this theory, if one considers the possibility of the existence of photons. -- Highlights: • Proof of existence of the radiance within the scope of the theory of atmospheric radiative transfer. • Proof of relations between the photon number and photon energy density function and the radiance. • Strictly mathematical derivation of the analytical properties of these state density functions

Measured and Modeled Downwelling Far-Infrared Radiances in Very Dry Environments and Calibration Requirements for Future Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Mast, J. C.; Mlynczak, M. G.; Cageao, R.; Kratz, D. P.; Latvakoski, H.; Johnson, D. G.; Mlawer, E. J.; Turner, D. D.

2016-12-01

Downwelling radiances measured by the Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of the Troposphere (FIRST) instrument in an environment with integrated precipitable water as low as 0.03 cm are compared with calculated spectra in the far-infrared and mid-infrared. In its current ground-based configuration FIRST was deployed to 5.38 km on Cerro Toco, a mountain in the Atacama Desert of Chile, from August to October 2009. There FIRST took part in the Radiative Heating in Unexplored Bands Campaign Part 2. Water vapor and temperature profiles from an optimal-estimation-based physical retrieval algorithm (using simultaneous radiosonde and multichannel 183 GHz microwave radiometer measurements) are input to the AER Line-by-Line Radiative Transfer Model (LBLRTM) to compute radiances for comparison with FIRST. The AER v3.4 line parameter database is used. The low water vapor amounts and relatively cold atmosphere result in extremely small far-IR radiances (1.5 mW/m2/sr/cm-1) with corresponding brightness temperatures of 120 K. The residual LBLRTM minus FIRST is calculated to assess agreement between the measured and modeled spectra. Uncertainties in both the measured and modeled radiances are accounted for in the comparison. A goal of the deployment and subsequent analysis is the assessment of water vapor spectroscopy in the far-infrared and mid-infrared. While agreement is found between measured and modeled radiances within the combined uncertainties across all spectra, uncertainties in the measured water vapor profiles and from the laboratory calibration exceed those associated with water vapor spectroscopy in this very low radiance environment. Consequently, no improvement in water vapor spectroscopy is afforded by these measurements. However, we use these results to place requirements on instrument calibration accuracy and water vapor profile accuracy for future campaigns to similarly dry environments. Instrument calibration uncertainty needs to be at 2% (1-sigma) of measured radiance

Assessment of biases in MODIS surface reflectance due to Lambertian approximation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cook, Robert B [ORNL; SanthanaVannan, Suresh K [ORNL

2010-08-01

Using MODIS data and the AERONET-based Surface Reflectance Validation Network (ASRVN), this work studies errors of MODIS atmospheric correction caused by the Lambertian approximation. On one hand, this approximation greatly simplifies the radiative transfer model, reduces the size of the look-up tables, and makes operational algorithm faster. On the other hand, uncompensated atmospheric scattering caused by Lambertian model systematically biases the results. For example, for a typical bowl-shaped bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), the derived reflectance is underestimated at high solar or view zenith angles, where BRDF is high, and is overestimated at low zenith angles where BRDF is low. The magnitude of biases grows with the amount of scattering in the atmosphere, i.e., at shorter wavelengths and at higher aerosol concentration. The slope of regression of Lambertian surface reflectance vs. ASRVN bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) is about 0.85 in the red and 0.6 in the green bands. This error propagates into the MODIS BRDF/albedo algorithm, slightly reducing the magnitude of overall reflectance and anisotropy of BRDF. This results in a small negative bias of spectral surface albedo. An assessment for the GSFC (Greenbelt, USA) validation site shows the albedo reduction by 0.004 in the near infrared, 0.005 in the red, and 0.008 in the green MODIS bands.

Preparation of surface conductive and highly reflective silvered polyimide films by surface modification and in situ self-metallization technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Zhanpeng; Wu Dezhen; Qi Shengli; Zhang Teng; Jin Riguang

2005-01-01

Double surface conductive and reflective flexible silvered polyimide films have been prepared by alkali hydroxylation of polyimide film surface and incorporation of silver ions through subsequent ion exchange. Thermal curing of silver(I) polyamate precursor leads to re-cycloimidization of modified surface with concomitant silver reduction, yielding a reflective and conductive silver surface approaching that of native metal. The reflective and conductive surface evolves only when the cure temperature rises to 300 deg. C. The metallized films usually retain the essential mechanical properties of the parent films. Films were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy and tapping mode atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM demonstrates that the diameter of close-packed silver particles of the silver layers was about 50-150 nm. TEM shows that thickness of silver layer on the polyimide film surface is about 400-600 nm

Implementation of solar-reflective surfaces: Materials and utility programs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bretz, S.; Akbari, H.; Rosenfeld, A.; Taha, H.

1992-06-01

This report focuses on implementation issues for using solar-reflective surfaces to cool urban heat islands, with specific examples for Sacramento, California. Advantages of solar-reflective surfaces for reducing energy use are: (1) they are cost-effective if albedo is increased during routine maintenance; (2) the energy savings coincide with peak demand for power; (3) there are positive effects on environmental quality; and (4) the white materials have a long service life. Important considerations when choosing materials for mitigating heat islands are identified as albedo, emissivity, durability, cost, pollution and appearance. There is a potential for increasing urban albedo in Sacramento by an additional 18%. Of residential roofs, we estimate that asphalt shingle and modified bitumen cover the largest area, and that built-up roofing and modified bitumen cover the largest area of commercial buildings. For all of these roof types, albedo may be increased at the time of re-roofing without any additional cost. When a roof is repaired, a solar-reflective roof coating may be applied to significantly increase albedo and extend the life of the root Although a coating may be cost-effective if applied to a new roof following installation or to an older roof following repair, it is not cost-effective if the coating is applied only to save energy. Solar-reflective pavement may be cost-effective if the albedo change is included in the routine resurfacing schedule. Cost-effective options for producing light-colored pavement may include: (1) asphalt concrete, if white aggregate is locally available; (2) concrete overlays; and (3) newly developed white binders and aggregate. Another option may be hot-rolled asphalt, with white chippings. Utilities could promote solar-reflective surfaces through advertisement, educational programs and cost-sharing of road resurfacing.

Surface reflectance of Antarctic bryophytes and protection from UV and visible light

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, S.A.; Wasley, J.; Turnbull, J.

2000-01-01

Full text: As well as determining the amount of solar radiation available for photosynthesis, the surface reflectance and absorptance characteristics of plants are their first defence against damaging effects of solar radiation. The solar spectrum can be damaging to plants in many ways. At shorter wavelengths, UV-B (280-320 nm) radiation can cause lesions in nucleic acid and proteins. Excess levels of visible radiation (400-750) can cause photoinhibition whilst high absorbtance of longer wavelengths (>750) leads to increases in temperature that can be detrimental in some environments. The adaptation of surface reflectance properties of vascular plants to particular environments are well known in some ecosystems. For example in desert ecosystems pubescent leaf surfaces that increase reflectance are common and have been demonstrated to be important to protection from photoinhibition. The epidermal characteristics of some plants are also known to change in absorptance, due to the accumulation of specific compounds. For example flavonoids which are effective screens against UV-B radiation, increase upon exposure to UV-B radiation. In this study we surveyed the natural variability in surface reflectance in mosses growing in continental Antarctica. Antarctica is experiencing large increases in incident UV-B radiation due to reductions in concentrations of stratospheric ozone. Additionally over the summer months (November January), when moss is exposed to direct sunlight, levels of visible solar radiation are also high, increasing the likelihood of photoinhibitory damage in moss. Our aim in this study is to describe the natural variability in the surface reflectance characteristics of moss, such that we have a baseline with which to assess future changes in response to changes in global climate, and imposed experimental treatments, and also to develop hypotheses with respect to how mosses have adapted to the cold and arid antarctic environment. Variability in surface

Developmental prosopagnosia and super-recognition: no special role for surface reflectance processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Richard; Chatterjee, Garga; Nakayama, Ken

2012-01-01

Face recognition by normal subjects depends in roughly equal proportions on shape and surface reflectance cues, while object recognition depends predominantly on shape cues. It is possible that developmental prosopagnosics are deficient not in their ability to recognize faces per se, but rather in their ability to use reflectance cues. Similarly, super-recognizers' exceptional ability with face recognition may be a result of superior surface reflectance perception and memory. We tested this possibility by administering tests of face perception and face recognition in which only shape or reflectance cues are available to developmental prosopagnosics, super-recognizers, and control subjects. Face recognition ability and the relative use of shape and pigmentation were unrelated in all the tests. Subjects who were better at using shape or reflectance cues were also better at using the other type of cue. These results do not support the proposal that variation in surface reflectance perception ability is the underlying cause of variation in face recognition ability. Instead, these findings support the idea that face recognition ability is related to neural circuits using representations that integrate shape and pigmentation information. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nanoscale silver-assisted wet etching of crystalline silicon for anti-reflection surface textures.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Rui; Wang, Shuling; Chuwongin, Santhad; Zhou, Weidong

2013-01-01

We report here an electro-less metal-assisted chemical etching (MacEtch) process as light management surface-texturing technique for single crystalline Si photovoltaics. Random Silver nanostructures were formed on top of the Si surface based on the thin film evaporation and annealing process. Significant reflection reduction was obtained from the fabricated Si sample, with approximately 2% reflection over a wide spectra range (300 to 1050 nm). The work demonstrates the potential of MacEtch process for anti-reflection surface texture fabrication of large area, high efficiency, and low cost thin film solar cell.

Airborne observations of far-infrared upwelling radiance in the Arctic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Q. Libois

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The first airborne measurements of the Far-InfraRed Radiometer (FIRR were performed in April 2015 during the panarctic NETCARE campaign. Vertical profiles of spectral upwelling radiance in the range 8–50 µm were measured in clear and cloudy conditions from the surface up to 6 km. The clear sky profiles highlight the strong dependence of radiative fluxes to the temperature inversion typical of the Arctic. Measurements acquired for total column water vapour from 1.5 to 10.5 mm also underline the sensitivity of the far-infrared greenhouse effect to specific humidity. The cloudy cases show that optically thin ice clouds increase the cooling rate of the atmosphere, making them important pieces of the Arctic energy balance. One such cloud exhibited a very complex spatial structure, characterized by large horizontal heterogeneities at the kilometre scale. This emphasizes the difficulty of obtaining representative cloud observations with airborne measurements but also points out how challenging it is to model polar clouds radiative effects. These radiance measurements were successfully compared to simulations, suggesting that state-of-the-art radiative transfer models are suited to study the cold and dry Arctic atmosphere. Although FIRR in situ performances compare well to its laboratory performances, complementary simulations show that upgrading the FIRR radiometric resolution would greatly increase its sensitivity to atmospheric and cloud properties. Improved instrument temperature stability in flight and expected technological progress should help meet this objective. The campaign overall highlights the potential for airborne far-infrared radiometry and constitutes a relevant reference for future similar studies dedicated to the Arctic and for the development of spaceborne instruments.

Weighted least-square approach for simultaneous measurement of multiple reflective surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Shouhong; Bills, Richard E.; Freischlad, Klaus

2007-09-01

Phase shifting interferometry (PSI) is a highly accurate method for measuring the nanometer-scale relative surface height of a semi-reflective test surface. PSI is effectively used in conjunction with Fizeau interferometers for optical testing, hard disk inspection, and semiconductor wafer flatness. However, commonly-used PSI algorithms are unable to produce an accurate phase measurement if more than one reflective surface is present in the Fizeau interferometer test cavity. Examples of test parts that fall into this category include lithography mask blanks and their protective pellicles, and plane parallel optical beam splitters. The plane parallel surfaces of these parts generate multiple interferograms that are superimposed in the recording plane of the Fizeau interferometer. When using wavelength shifting in PSI the phase shifting speed of each interferogram is proportional to the optical path difference (OPD) between the two reflective surfaces. The proposed method is able to differentiate each underlying interferogram from each other in an optimal manner. In this paper, we present a method for simultaneously measuring the multiple test surfaces of all underlying interferograms from these superimposed interferograms through the use of a weighted least-square fitting technique. The theoretical analysis of weighted least-square technique and the measurement results will be described in this paper.

Photosynthetically-active radiation: sky radiance distributions under clear and overcast conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grant, R.H.; Heisler, G.M.; Gao, W.

1996-01-01

The photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), defined as the wavelength band of 0.400 μm to 0.700 μm, represents most of the visible solar radiation. Although the proportion of global irradiance that originates from diffuse sky radiation is higher for PAR than for all solar shortwave radiation, it is often assumed that the PAR diffuse sky radiation is distributed identically to that of all shortwave solar radiation. This assumption has not been tested. PAR sky radiance measurements were made in a rural area over a wide range of solar zenith angles. The distribution of PAR sky radiance was modeled using physically-based, non-linear equations.For clear skies, the normalized sky radiance distribution (N) was best modeled using the scattering angle (ψ) and the zenith position in the sky (Θ) as N (Θ, ψ) = 0.0361 [6.3 + (1 + cos 2 Θ / (1 - cos ψ)] [1-e -0.31 sec ( Θ]. The angle Ψ is defined by cos ψ = cos Θ cos Θ * + sin Θ sin Θ * cos Φ, where solar zenith angle is Θ* and the difference in azimuth between the sun and the position in the sky is Φ. Modeling of the overcast sky depended on the visibility of the solar disk. The translucent middle/high cloud overcast conditions (cloud base greater than 300 m above ground level) were best modeled as: N(Θ∗, ψ) = 0.149 + 0.084Θ∗ + 1.305e −2.5ψ while the translucent low cloud overcast conditions (cloud base less than 300 m above ground level) were best modeled as: N(Θ∗, ψ) = 0.080 + 0.058Θ∗ + 0.652e −2.1ψ . The obscured overcast sky condition (solar disk obscured) was best modeled as: N(Θ) = 0.441 [1 + 4.6cos Θ] /[1 + 4.6]. The unit of N for all equations is π Sr −1 , so that integration of each function over the sky hemisphere yields 1.0.These equations can be applied directly to the sky diffuse irradiance on the horizontal, I diff , to provide radiance distributions for the sky. Estimates of actual sky radiance distribution can be estimated from N a (Θ, ψ) = I diff N(Θ, �

Unmanned aerial system nadir reflectance and MODIS nadir BRDF-adjusted surface reflectances intercompared over Greenland

Science.gov (United States)

Faulkner Burkhart, John; Kylling, Arve; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Wang, Zhuosen; Bogren, Wiley; Storvold, Rune; Solbø, Stian; Pedersen, Christina A.; Gerland, Sebastian

2017-07-01

Albedo is a fundamental parameter in earth sciences, and many analyses utilize the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF)/albedo (MCD43) algorithms. While derivative albedo products have been evaluated over Greenland, we present a novel, direct comparison with nadir surface reflectance collected from an unmanned aerial system (UAS). The UAS was flown from Summit, Greenland, on 210 km transects coincident with the MODIS sensor overpass on board the Aqua and Terra satellites on 5 and 6 August 2010. Clear-sky acquisitions were available from the overpasses within 2 h of the UAS flights. The UAS was equipped with upward- and downward-looking spectrometers (300-920 nm) with a spectral resolution of 10 nm, allowing for direct integration into the MODIS bands 1, 3, and 4. The data provide a unique opportunity to directly compare UAS nadir reflectance with the MODIS nadir BRDF-adjusted surface reflectance (NBAR) products. The data show UAS measurements are slightly higher than the MODIS NBARs for all bands but agree within their stated uncertainties. Differences in variability are observed as expected due to different footprints of the platforms. The UAS data demonstrate potentially large sub-pixel variability of MODIS reflectance products and the potential to explore this variability using the UAS as a platform. It is also found that, even at the low elevations flown typically by a UAS, reflectance measurements may be influenced by haze if present at and/or below the flight altitude of the UAS. This impact could explain some differences between data from the two platforms and should be considered in any use of airborne platforms.

Biomimetic approaches to create anti-reflection glass surfaces for solar cells using self-organizing techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Achtelik, J.; Sievers, W.; Lindner, J.K.N.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Nanostructured glass surfaces with theoretically near-to-zero reflectivity in the UVNIR region. ► Simple fabrication process using self-organization during reactive ion etching proposed. ► Prediction of optical reflectivity from AFM measured surface morphology. -- Abstract: Aiming to diminish the reflection losses of glass covered light harvesting devices, the optical reflectivity of nanostructured glass surfaces is studied theoretically and experimentally. The work is inspired by the nanoscale roughness of insect eyes, which is tried to be replicated on a technical glass surface. To this end, the reflectivity of glass surfaces with topographies represented by linear, parabolic and Fermi-shaped glass/air fill factor profiles is calculated for normal incidence. It is shown that using the latter ones, an almost complete suppression of reflections can be achieved. A simple, self-organization technique to create such Fermi-shaped filling factor profiles in glass experimentally is also presented

Biomimetic approaches to create anti-reflection glass surfaces for solar cells using self-organizing techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Achtelik, J.; Sievers, W. [University of Paderborn, Department of Physics, 33098 Paderborn (Germany); Center of Optoelectronics and Photonics Paderborn CeOPP, 33098 Paderborn (Germany); Lindner, J.K.N., E-mail: lindner@physik.uni-paderborn.de [University of Paderborn, Department of Physics, 33098 Paderborn (Germany); Center of Optoelectronics and Photonics Paderborn CeOPP, 33098 Paderborn (Germany)

2013-05-15

Highlights: ► Nanostructured glass surfaces with theoretically near-to-zero reflectivity in the UVNIR region. ► Simple fabrication process using self-organization during reactive ion etching proposed. ► Prediction of optical reflectivity from AFM measured surface morphology. -- Abstract: Aiming to diminish the reflection losses of glass covered light harvesting devices, the optical reflectivity of nanostructured glass surfaces is studied theoretically and experimentally. The work is inspired by the nanoscale roughness of insect eyes, which is tried to be replicated on a technical glass surface. To this end, the reflectivity of glass surfaces with topographies represented by linear, parabolic and Fermi-shaped glass/air fill factor profiles is calculated for normal incidence. It is shown that using the latter ones, an almost complete suppression of reflections can be achieved. A simple, self-organization technique to create such Fermi-shaped filling factor profiles in glass experimentally is also presented.

Repulsive Casimir-Polder potential by a negative reflecting surface

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Qi-Zhang

2015-07-01

We present a scheme to generate an all-range long repulsive Casimir-Polder potential between a perfect negative reflecting surface and a ground-state atom. The repulsive potential is stable and does not decay with time. The Casimir-Polder potential is proportional to z-2 at short atom-surface distances and to z-4 at long atom-surface distances. Because of these advantages, this potential can help in building quantum reflectors, quantum levitating devices, and waveguides for matter waves.

Adapting a regularized canopy reflectance model (REGFLEC) for the retrieval challenges of dryland agricultural systems

KAUST Repository

Houborg, Rasmus

2016-08-20

A regularized canopy reflectance model (REGFLEC) is applied over a dryland irrigated agricultural system in Saudi Arabia for the purpose of retrieving leaf area index (LAI) and leaf chlorophyll content (Chll). To improve the robustness of the retrieved properties, REGFLEC was modified to 1) correct for aerosol and adjacency effects, 2) consider foliar dust effects on modeled canopy reflectances, 3) include spectral information in the red-edge wavelength region, and 4) exploit empirical LAI estimates in the model inversion. Using multi-spectral RapidEye imagery allowed Chll to be retrieved with a Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) of 7.9 μg cm− 2 (16%), based upon in-situ measurements conducted in fields of alfalfa, Rhodes grass and maize over the course of a growing season. LAI and Chll compensation effects on canopy reflectance were largely avoided by informing the inversion process with ancillary LAI inputs established empirically on the basis of a statistical machine learning technique. As a result, LAI was reproduced with good accuracy, with an overall MAD of 0.42 m2 m− 2 (12.5%). Results highlighted the considerable challenges associated with the translation of at-sensor radiance observations to surface bidirectional reflectances in dryland environments, where issues such as high aerosol loadings and large spatial gradients in surface reflectance from bright desert soils to dark vegetated fields are often present. Indeed, surface reflectances in the visible bands were reduced by up to 60% after correction for such adjacency effects. In addition, dust deposition on leaves required explicit modification of the reflectance sub-model to account for its influence. By implementing these model refinements, REGFLEC demonstrated its utility for within-field characterization of vegetation conditions over the challenging landscapes typical of dryland agricultural regions, offering a means through which improvements can be made in the management of these globally

Observation of Tidal Effects on LWIR Radiance Above the Mesopause

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wintersteiner, Peter

2007-01-01

An examination of CO2 infrared limb radiance, directly measured by the SABER instrument aboard the TIMED satellite, reveals unusual structure in the region just above the mesopause, at tangent heights...

Measurement of integrated coefficients of ultracold neutron reflection from solid surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Golikov, V.V.; Kulagin, E.N.; Nikitenko, Yu.V.

1985-01-01

The method of measurement of the integrated coefficients of ultracold neutrons (UCN) reflection from solid surfaces is reported. A simple formula is suggested which expresses the integrated coefficients of UCN reflection from a given sample through the measured counting rate of the detector with and without strong absorber (polyethelene). The parameters are determined describing anisotropic and inhomogeneity properties of UCN reflection from Al, Mg, Pb, Zn, Mo, stainless steel, T and V are measured. The thickness of oxide layers is determined within the 5-10A accuracy limits from the experimental coefficients of UCN reflection from metals having on their surfaces the oxides with boundary velocity larger than that for the metal. It has been determined that the density of 5000 A layer of heavy ice freezed on aluminium is 0.83 +- 0.05 from the crystal ice density

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

Observation of Tidal Effects on LWIR Radiance Above the Mesopause

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wintersteiner, Peter

2007-01-01

..., and season The local-time dependence, in particular, suggests a role for atmospheric tides using a tidal model, Global Scale Wave Model, and our non-GTE ARC rode, we modeled the 15 Om radiance...

Snow Radiance Data Assimilation over High Mountain Asia Using the NASA Land Information System and a Well-Trained Support Vector Machine

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Y.; Forman, B. A.; Yoon, Y.; Kumar, S.

2017-12-01

High Mountain Asia (HMA) has been progressively losing ice and snow in recent decades, which could negatively impact regional water supply and native ecosystems. One goal of this study is to characterize the spatiotemporal variability of snow (and ice) across the HMA region. In addition, modeled snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates will be enhanced through the assimilation of passive microwave brightness temperatures (TB) collected by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) as part of a radiance assimilation system. The radiance assimilation framework includes the NASA Land Information System (LIS) in conjunction with a well-trained support vector machine (SVM) that acts as the observation operator. The Noah Land Surface Model with multi-parameterization options (Noah-MP) is used as the prior model for simulating snow dynamics. Noah-MP is forced by meteorological fields from the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) atmospheric reanalysis for the periods 01 Sep. 2002 to 01 Sep. 2011. The radiance assimilation system requires two separate phases: 1) training and 2) assimilation. During the training phase, a nonlinear SVM is generated for three different AMSR-E frequencies - 10.65, 18.7, and 36.5 GHz - at both vertical and horizontal polarization. The trained SVM is then used to predict TB during the assimilation phase. An ensemble Kalman filter will be used to condition the model on AMSR-E brightness temperatures not used during SVM training. The performance of the Noah-MP (with and without radiance assimilation) will be assessed via comparison to in-situ measurements, remotely-sensing geophysical retrievals, and other reanalysis products.

Observation of Tidal Effects on LWIR Radiance Above the Mesopause

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Wintersteiner, Peter

2007-01-01

An examination of CO2 infrared limb radiance, directly measured by the SABER instrument aboard the TIMED satellite, reveals unusual structure in the region just above the mesopause, at tangent heights of -95-110 km...

a New Technique Based on Mini-Uas for Estimating Water and Bottom Radiance Contributions in Optically Shallow Waters

Science.gov (United States)

Montes-Hugo, M. A.; Barrado, C.; Pastor, E.

2015-08-01

The mapping of nearshore bathymetry based on spaceborne radiometers is commonly used for QC ocean colour products in littoral waters. However, the accuracy of these estimates is relatively poor with respect to those derived from Lidar systems due in part to the large uncertainties of bottom depth retrievals caused by changes on bottom reflectivity. Here, we present a method based on mini unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS) images for discriminating bottom-reflected and water radiance components by taking advantage of shadows created by different structures sitting on the bottom boundary. Aerial surveys were done with a drone Draganfly X4P during October 1 2013 in optically shallow waters of the Saint Lawrence Estuary, and during low tide. Colour images with a spatial resolution of 3 mm were obtained with an Olympus EPM-1 camera at 10 m height. Preliminary results showed an increase of the relative difference between bright and dark pixels (dP) toward the red wavelengths of the camera's receiver. This is suggesting that dP values can be potentially used as a quantitative proxy of bottom reflectivity after removing artefacts related to Fresnel reflection and bottom adjacency effects.

Optical Estimation of the 3D Shape of a Solar Illuminated, Reflecting Satellite Surface

Science.gov (United States)

Antolin, J.; Yu, Z.; Prasad, S.

2016-09-01

The spatial distribution of the polarized component of the power reflected by a macroscopically smooth but microscopically roughened curved surface under highly directional illumination, as characterized by an appropriate bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), carries information about the three-dimensional (3D) shape of the surface. This information can be exploited to recover the surface shape locally under rather general conditions whenever power reflectance data for at least two different illumination or observation directions can be obtained. We present here two different parametric approaches for surface reconstruction, amounting to the recovery of the surface parameters that are either the global parameters of the family to which the surface is known a priori to belong or the coefficients of a low-order polynomial that can be employed to characterize a smoothly varying surface locally over the observed patch.

Potential of remote sensing of cirrus optical thickness by airborne spectral radiance measurements at different sideward viewing angles

Science.gov (United States)

Wolf, Kevin; Ehrlich, André; Hüneke, Tilman; Pfeilsticker, Klaus; Werner, Frank; Wirth, Martin; Wendisch, Manfred

2017-03-01

Spectral radiance measurements collected in nadir and sideward viewing directions by two airborne passive solar remote sensing instruments, the Spectral Modular Airborne Radiation measurement sysTem (SMART) and the Differential Optical Absorption Spectrometer (mini-DOAS), are used to compare the remote sensing results of cirrus optical thickness τ. The comparison is based on a sensitivity study using radiative transfer simulations (RTS) and on data obtained during three airborne field campaigns: the North Atlantic Rainfall VALidation (NARVAL) mission, the Mid-Latitude Cirrus Experiment (ML-CIRRUS) and the Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interactions and Dynamics of Convective Cloud Systems (ACRIDICON) campaign. Radiative transfer simulations are used to quantify the sensitivity of measured upward radiance I with respect to τ, ice crystal effective radius reff, viewing angle of the sensor θV, spectral surface albedo α, and ice crystal shape. From the calculations it is concluded that sideward viewing measurements are generally better suited than radiance data from the nadir direction to retrieve τ of optically thin cirrus, especially at wavelengths larger than λ = 900 nm. Using sideward instead of nadir-directed spectral radiance measurements significantly improves the sensitivity and accuracy in retrieving τ, in particular for optically thin cirrus of τ ≤ 2. The comparison of retrievals of τ based on nadir and sideward viewing radiance measurements from SMART, mini-DOAS and independent estimates of τ from an additional active remote sensing instrument, the Water Vapor Lidar Experiment in Space (WALES), shows general agreement within the range of measurement uncertainties. For the selected example a mean τ of 0.54 ± 0.2 is derived from SMART, and 0.49 ± 0.2 by mini-DOAS nadir channels, while WALES obtained a mean value of τ = 0.32 ± 0.02 at 532 nm wavelength, respectively. The mean of τ derived from the sideward viewing mini

Reflectance variability of surface coatings reveals characteristic eigenvalue spectra

Science.gov (United States)

Medina, José M.; Díaz, José A.; Barros, Rui

2012-10-01

We have examined the trial-to-trial variability of the reflectance spectra of surface coatings containing effect pigments. Principal component analysis of reflectances was done at each detection angle separately. A method for classification of principal components is applied based on the eigenvalue spectra. It was found that the eigenvalue spectra follow characteristic power laws and depend on the detection angle. Three different subsets of principal components were examined to separate the relevant spectral features related to the pigments from other noise sources. Reconstruction of the reflectance spectra by taking only the first subset indicated that reflectance variability was higher at near-specular reflection, suggesting a correlation with the trial-to-trial deposition of effect pigments. Reconstruction by using the second subset indicates that variability was higher at short wavelengths. Finally, reconstruction by using only the third subset indicates that reflectance variability was not totally random as a function of the wavelength. The methods employed can be useful in the evaluation of color variability in industrial paint application processes.

Critical coupling of surface plasmons in graphene attenuated total reflection geometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cuevas, Mauro, E-mail: cuevas@df.uba.ar [Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and Facultad de Ingeniería y Tecnología Informática, Universidad de Belgrano, Villanueva 1324, C1426BMJ, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Grupo de Electromagnetismo Aplicado, Departamento de Física, FCEN, Universidad de Buenos Aires and IFIBA, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón I, C1428EHA, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

2016-12-09

We study the optical response of an attenuated total reflection (ATR) structure in Otto configuration with graphene sheet, paying especial attention to the occurrence of total absorption. Our results show that due to excitation of surface plasmons on the graphene sheet, two different conditions of total absorption may occur. At these conditions, the energy loss of the surface plasmon by radiation is equal to its energy loss by absorption into the graphene sheet. We give necessary conditions on ATR parameters for the existence of total absorption. - Highlights: • Attenuated total reflection (ATR) structure with graphene sheet. • Surface plasmons and power matched condition. • Necessary conditions on ATR parameters for the existence of total absorption.

Critical coupling of surface plasmons in graphene attenuated total reflection geometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuevas, Mauro

2016-01-01

We study the optical response of an attenuated total reflection (ATR) structure in Otto configuration with graphene sheet, paying especial attention to the occurrence of total absorption. Our results show that due to excitation of surface plasmons on the graphene sheet, two different conditions of total absorption may occur. At these conditions, the energy loss of the surface plasmon by radiation is equal to its energy loss by absorption into the graphene sheet. We give necessary conditions on ATR parameters for the existence of total absorption. - Highlights: • Attenuated total reflection (ATR) structure with graphene sheet. • Surface plasmons and power matched condition. • Necessary conditions on ATR parameters for the existence of total absorption.

Manifestation of surface phonons in far infrared reflectivity of diamond-type semiconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perez-Sanchez, F.L.; Perez-Rodriguez, F. [Instituto de Fisica, Universidad Autonoma de Puebla, Apdo. Post. J-48, Puebla, Pue. 72570 (Mexico)

2004-11-01

The coupling of surface phonons with light at (001) surfaces of diamond-structure crystals and its manifestation in far-infrared anisotropy spectra are theoretically studied. We apply the adiabatic bond charge model to describe short-range mechanical interactions together with long-range Coulomb forces and radiation fields, and we solve the corresponding system of coupled equations for the electromagnetic field and the lattice vibrations. We calculate far-infrared normal reflectance spectra of (001) surfaces of semi-infinite diamond-type crystals. In particular, we analyse reflectance spectra for the Si(001) (2 x 1) surface, which exhibit a resonance structure associated with the excitation of surface phonon modes. (copyright 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Copper-assisted, anti-reflection etching of silicon surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Toor, Fatima; Branz, Howard

2014-08-26

A method (300) for etching a silicon surface (116) to reduce reflectivity. The method (300) includes electroless deposition of copper nanoparticles about 20 nanometers in size on the silicon surface (116), with a particle-to-particle spacing of 3 to 8 nanometers. The method (300) includes positioning (310) the substrate (112) with a silicon surface (116) into a vessel (122). The vessel (122) is filled (340) with a volume of an etching solution (124) so as to cover the silicon surface (116). The etching solution (124) includes an oxidant-etchant solution (146), e.g., an aqueous solution of hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide. The silicon surface (116) is etched (350) by agitating the etching solution (124) with, for example, ultrasonic agitation, and the etching may include heating (360) the etching solution (124) and directing light (365) onto the silicon surface (116). During the etching, copper nanoparticles enhance or drive the etching process.

Anti-reflection textured structures by wet etching and island lithography for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chao, Bo-Kai [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Cheng, Hsin-Hung [Department of Marine Engineering, Taipei College of Maritime Technology, Taipei 11174, Taiwan (China); Nien, Li-Wei; Chen, Miin-Jang [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Nagao, Tadaaki [Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044 (Japan); Li, Jia-Han [Department of Engineering Science and Ocean Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China); Hsueh, Chun-Hway, E-mail: hsuehc@ntu.edu.tw [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (China)

2015-12-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • We fabricated textured SERS substrate with a high surface area and low reflectance. • Large surface area of substrate contains more gold nanodroplets to absorb analytes. • Low reflectance of textured SERS substrate enabled multiple reflections of incident laser light. • We obtained strong SERS enhancement from nanopillar-on-pyramid SERS substrate. - Abstract: A high surface area and low reflection textured surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate with plasmonic gold nanodroplets fabricated by wet etching and island lithography was reported in the present study. Specifically, four textured substrates, planar, pyramid, nanopillar, and nanopillar-on-pyramid, were fabricated. The fabricated structures were simulated using the finite-difference time-domain method and the results agreed with the reflection and dark-field scattering measurements. Although the SERS signals varied in different measured regions because of the random nanostructure, the SERS substrates with nanopillar-on-pyramid structure always have the stronger enhancement factor than the SERS substrates with only pyramids or nanopillars. Based on the atomic force microscope and reflection measurements, the nanopillar-on-pyramid structure provided a large surface area and multiple reflections for SERS enhancement, which was about 3 orders of magnitude larger than that of the planar substrate. Our results can be applied to fabricate the inexpensive, large surface area, and high SERS enhancement substrates.

High Angular Resolution Measurements of the Anisotropy of Reflectance of Sea Ice and Snow

Science.gov (United States)

Goyens, C.; Marty, S.; Leymarie, E.; Antoine, D.; Babin, M.; Bélanger, S.

2018-01-01

We introduce a new method to determine the anisotropy of reflectance of sea ice and snow at spatial scales from 1 m2 to 80 m2 using a multispectral circular fish-eye radiance camera (CE600). The CE600 allows measuring radiance simultaneously in all directions of a hemisphere at a 1° angular resolution. The spectral characteristics of the reflectance and its dependency on illumination conditions obtained from the camera are compared to those obtained with a hyperspectral field spectroradiometer manufactured by Analytical Spectral Device, Inc. (ASD). Results confirm the potential of the CE600, with the suggested measurement setup and data processing, to measure commensurable sea ice and snow hemispherical-directional reflectance factor, HDRF, values. Compared to the ASD, the reflectance anisotropy measured with the CE600 provides much higher resolution in terms of directional reflectance (N = 16,020). The hyperangular resolution allows detecting features that were overlooked using the ASD due to its limited number of measurement angles (N = 25). This data set of HDRF further documents variations in the anisotropy of the reflectance of snow and ice with the geometry of observation and illumination conditions and its spectral and spatial scale dependency. Finally, in order to reproduce the hyperangular CE600 reflectance measurements over the entire 400-900 nm spectral range, a regression-based method is proposed to combine the ASD and CE600 measurements. Results confirm that both instruments may be used in synergy to construct a hyperangular and hyperspectral snow and ice reflectance anisotropy data set.

Accounting for surface reflectance anisotropy in satellite retrievals of tropospheric NO₂

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhou, Yipin; Brunner, D.; Spurr, R.J.D.; Boersma, K.F.; Sneep, M.; Popp, C.; Buchmann, B.

2010-01-01

Surface reflectance is a key parameter in satellite trace gas retrievals in the UV/visible range and in particular for the retrieval of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) vertical tropospheric columns (VTCs). Current operational retrievals rely on coarse-resolution reflectance data and do not account for the

Clinical effects of an oral supplement rich in antioxidants on skin radiance in women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dumoulin M

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Marion Dumoulin, David Gaudout, Benoit Lemaire Activ’Inside, Libourne, France Background: Environmental factors impact the skin aging resulting in decrease of skin radiance. Nutrition and particularly antioxidants could help to fight against skin degradation.Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of an oral supplement rich in specific antioxidants, SkinAx2TM, on the improvement of the skin radiance in women.Methods: The open-label clinical study enrolled 35 women, aged 40–70, with facial dull complexion. Subjects were supplemented orally with a daily dosage of 150 mg of an antioxidant-rich formulation containing superoxide dismutase-rich melon concentrate, grape seed extract rich in monomers of flavanols, vitamin C, and zinc for 8 weeks. Each subject served as her own control. The C.L.B.T.™ test has been used to evaluate facial skin coloring (C, luminosity (L, brightness (B, and transparency (T involved in skin radiance. Facial skin imperfections have been assessed by clinical assessment. Firmness has been evaluated by clinical assessment and cutometer measurement. Finally, an auto-questionnaire has been carried out in order to evaluate the satisfaction of the subjects concerning different parameters involved in skin radiance and the global efficacy of the supplement.Results: Skin “red pink” and “olive” colors were significantly improved after supplementation (P<0.0001. Luminosity was increased by 25.9% (P<0.0001 whereas brightness and transparency were not affected by the supplementation. Facial skin imperfections were significantly reduced after the antioxidant-rich formulation intake (global reduction: –18.0%; P<0.0001. Indeed, dark circles, redness, and spots significantly diminished after oral treatment. Firmness and elasticity have been shown to be improved. Subjects were globally satisfied by the product (82.4% and have found improvements on their facial skin. Furthermore, 64.7% reported to look

Real-time defect detection on highly reflective curved surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Rosati, G.; Boschetti, G.; Biondi, A.; Rossi, A.

2009-03-01

This paper presents an automated defect detection system for coated plastic components for the automotive industry. This research activity came up as an evolution of a previous study which employed a non-flat mirror to illuminate and inspect high reflective curved surfaces. According to this method, the rays emitted from a light source are conveyed on the surface under investigation by means of a suitably curved mirror. After the reflection on the surface, the light rays are collected by a CCD camera, in which the coating defects appear as shadows of various shapes and dimensions. In this paper we present an evolution of the above-mentioned method, introducing a simplified mirror set-up in order to reduce the costs and the complexity of the defect detection system. In fact, a set of plane mirrors is employed instead of the curved one. Moreover, the inspection of multiple bend radius parts is investigated. A prototype of the machine vision system has been developed in order to test this simplified method. This device is made up of a light projector, a set of plane mirrors for light rays reflection, a conveyor belt for handling components, a CCD camera and a desktop PC which performs image acquisition and processing. Like in the previous system, the defects are identified as shadows inside a high brightness image. At the end of the paper, first experimental results are presented.

Constrained energy minimization applied to apparent reflectance and single-scattering albedo spectra: a comparison

Science.gov (United States)

Resmini, Ronald G.; Graver, William R.; Kappus, Mary E.; Anderson, Mark E.

1996-11-01

Constrained energy minimization (CEM) has been applied to the mapping of the quantitative areal distribution of the mineral alunite in an approximately 1.8 km2 area of the Cuprite mining district, Nevada. CEM is a powerful technique for rapid quantitative mineral mapping which requires only the spectrum of the mineral to be mapped. A priori knowledge of background spectral signatures is not required. Our investigation applies CEM to calibrated radiance data converted to apparent reflectance (AR) and to single scattering albedo (SSA) spectra. The radiance data were acquired by the 210 channel, 0.4 micrometers to 2.5 micrometers airborne Hyperspectral Digital Imagery Collection Experiment sensor. CEM applied to AR spectra assumes linear mixing of the spectra of the materials exposed at the surface. This assumption is likely invalid as surface materials, which are often mixtures of particulates of different substances, are more properly modeled as intimate mixtures and thus spectral mixing analyses must take account of nonlinear effects. One technique for approximating nonlinear mixing requires the conversion of AR spectra to SSA spectra. The results of CEM applied to SSA spectra are compared to those of CEM applied to AR spectra. The occurrence of alunite is similar though not identical to mineral maps produced with both the SSA and AR spectra. Alunite is slightly more widespread based on processing with the SSA spectra. Further, fractional abundances derived from the SSA spectra are, in general, higher than those derived from AR spectra. Implications for the interpretation of quantitative mineral mapping with hyperspectral remote sensing data are discussed.

The effect of surface texture on total reflection of neutrons and X-rays from modified interfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Goldar, A.; Roser, S.J.; Hughes, A.

2002-01-01

X-ray and neutron scattering from macroscopically rough surfaces and interfaces is considered and a new method of analysis based on the variation of the shape of the total reflection edge in the reflectivity profile is proposed. It was shown that in the limit that the correlation length and the h......X-ray and neutron scattering from macroscopically rough surfaces and interfaces is considered and a new method of analysis based on the variation of the shape of the total reflection edge in the reflectivity profile is proposed. It was shown that in the limit that the correlation length...... and the height of the surface roughness are larger than the wavelength (at least 100 times bigger) of the incoming beam, the total reflection edge in the reflection profile becomes rounded. This technique allows direct analysis of the variation of the reflectivity pro le in terms of the structure of the surface...

Mercury's Surface Magnetic Field Determined from Proton-Reflection Magnetometry

Science.gov (United States)

Winslow, Reka M.; Johnson, Catherine L.; Anderson, Brian J.; Gershman, Daniel J.; Raines, Jim M.; Lillis, Robert J.; Korth, Haje; Slavin, James A.; Solomon, Sean C.; Zurbuchen, Thomas H.;

Simulation of at-sensor radiance over land for proposed thermal ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Satellite level at-sensor radiance corresponding to all four infrared channels of. INSAT-3D Imager payload is .... its heritage traces back to LOWTRAN. MOD-. TRAN includes all ... over tropical region (SeeBor dataset) are car- ried out with the ...

Reflection of slow hydrogen and helium ions from solid surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akkerman, A.F.

1978-01-01

Some characteristics of the proton and helium ion flux (E < 10 keV), reflected from solid surfaces are presented. A 'condensed walk' scheme, previously used for electron transport calculations, was adapted. Results obtained either by the scheme or by a more detailed 'consequent' scheme agreed closely. The presented data permit calculations of the mean energy of reflected particles and other values for various energy and angular distributions of incident particles. (author)

Long-term stability of TES satellite radiance measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. C. Connor

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The utilization of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES Level 2 (L2 retrieval products for the purpose of assessing long term changes in atmospheric trace gas composition requires knowledge of the overall radiometric stability of the Level 1B (L1B radiances. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the stability of the radiometric calibration of the TES instrument by analyzing the difference between measured and calculated brightness temperatures in selected window regions of the spectrum. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO profiles for temperature and water vapor and the Real-Time Global Sea Surface Temperature (RTGSST are used as input to the Optimal Spectral Sampling (OSS radiative transfer model to calculate the simulated spectra. The TES reference measurements selected cover a 4-year period of time from mid 2005 through mid 2009 with the selection criteria being; observation latitudes greater than −30° and less than 30°, over ocean, Global Survey mode (nadir view and retrieved cloud optical depth of less than or equal to 0.01. The TES cloud optical depth retrievals are used only for screening purposes and no effects of clouds on the radiances are included in the forward model. This initial screening results in over 55 000 potential reference spectra spanning the four year period. Presented is a trend analysis of the time series of the residuals (observation minus calculations in the TES 2B1, 1B2, 2A1, and 1A1 bands, with the standard deviation of the residuals being approximately equal to 0.6 K for bands 2B1, 1B2, 2A1, and 0.9 K for band 1A1. The analysis demonstrates that the trend in the residuals is not significantly different from zero over the 4-year period. This is one method used to demonstrate that the relative radiometric calibration is stable over time, which is very important for any longer term analysis of TES retrieved products (L2, particularly well-mixed species such as carbon dioxide and methane.

Normalization and calibration of geostationary satellite radiances for the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project

Science.gov (United States)

Desormeaux, Yves; Rossow, William B.; Brest, Christopher L.; Campbell, G. G.

1993-01-01

Procedures are described for normalizing the radiometric calibration of image radiances obtained from geostationary weather satellites that contributed data to the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project. The key step is comparison of coincident and collocated measurements made by each satellite and the concurrent AVHRR on the 'afternoon' NOAA polar-orbiting weather satellite at the same viewing geometry. The results of this comparison allow transfer of the AVHRR absolute calibration, which has been established over the whole series, to the radiometers on the geostationary satellites. Results are given for Meteosat-2, 3, and 4, for GOES-5, 6, and 7, for GMS-2, 3, and 4 and for Insat-1B. The relative stability of the calibrations of these radiance data is estimated to be within +/- 3 percent; the uncertainty of the absolute calibrations is estimated to be less than 10 percent. The remaining uncertainties are at least two times smaller than for the original radiance data.

Radiance Research Particle Soot/Absorption Photometer Instrument Handbook

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Springston, S. R. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

2016-03-01

Radiance Research PSAPs as described in this Handbook are deployed in the second ARM Mobile Facility (AMF2) Aerosol Observing System (AOS), the third ARM Mobile Facility (AMF3) AOS, ENA AOS and Mobile Aerosol Observing System (MAOS)-A. An earlier version of the PSAP is currently operated in the ARM Aerial Facility and at SGP. The older SGP instrument is covered in a separate Handbook.

Multi-sensor Cloud Retrieval Simulator and Remote Sensing from Model Parameters . Pt. 1; Synthetic Sensor Radiance Formulation; [Synthetic Sensor Radiance Formulation

Science.gov (United States)

Wind, G.; DaSilva, A. M.; Norris, P. M.; Platnick, S.

2013-01-01

In this paper we describe a general procedure for calculating synthetic sensor radiances from variable output from a global atmospheric forecast model. In order to take proper account of the discrepancies between model resolution and sensor footprint, the algorithm takes explicit account of the model subgrid variability, in particular its description of the probability density function of total water (vapor and cloud condensate.) The simulated sensor radiances are then substituted into an operational remote sensing algorithm processing chain to produce a variety of remote sensing products that would normally be produced from actual sensor output. This output can then be used for a wide variety of purposes such as model parameter verification, remote sensing algorithm validation, testing of new retrieval methods and future sensor studies.We show a specific implementation using the GEOS-5 model, the MODIS instrument and the MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS) Data Collection 5.1 operational remote sensing cloud algorithm processing chain (including the cloud mask, cloud top properties and cloud optical and microphysical properties products). We focus on clouds because they are very important to model development and improvement.

NUCAPS: NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System Cloud-Cleared Radiances (CCR)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset consists of Cloud-Cleared Radiances (CCRs) from the NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS). NUCAPS was developed by the NOAA/NESDIS...

Surface roughness and gloss study of prints: application of specular reflection at near infrared

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silfsten, P; Dutta, R; Pääkkönen, P; Peiponen, K-E; Tåg, C-M; Gane, P A C

2012-01-01

Absolute reflectance data were measured with a spectrophotometer in the visible and near infrared (NIR) spectral range. The specular reflectance data in the NIR were used for the assessment of the surface roughness of magenta, yellow, cyan and black prints on paper. In addition, surface roughness data obtained from the prints with a mechanical diamond stylus, an optical profiling system and the spectrophotometer are compared with each other. The surface roughness obtained with the aid of the spectrophotometer data suggests a smoother surface than when measured with the diamond stylus and the optical profiling system. The gloss of the prints can be obtained from the absolute specular reflectance spectra in the spectral region of visible light. It is shown that specular reflection data at a fixed wavelength in the NIR are useful also in the interpretation of gloss in the visible spectral range, but using an unconventional grazing angle of incidence. (paper)

A comparison of reflectance properties on polymer micro-structured functional surface

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Regi, Francesco; Li, Dongya; Nielsen, Jannik Boll

In this study, a functional micro-structure surface [1] has been developed as a combination of arrays of micro ridges. The scope of the surface is to achieve specific directional optical properties: that is, under constrained lighting, maximizing the reflectance from a certain viewing direction, ...

Surface spectral emissivity derived from MODIS data

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yan; Sun-Mack, Sunny; Minnis, Patrick; Smith, William L.; Young, David F.

2003-04-01

Surface emissivity is essential for many remote sensing applications including the retrieval of the surface skin temperature from satellite-based infrared measurements, determining thresholds for cloud detection and for estimating the emission of longwave radiation from the surface, an important component of the energy budget of the surface-atmosphere interface. In this paper, data from the Terra MODIS (MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) taken at 3.7, 8.5, 10.8, 12.0 micron are used to simultaneously derive the skin temperature and the surface emissivities at the same wavelengths. The methodology uses separate measurements of the clear-sky temperatures that are determined by the CERES (Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System) scene classification in each channel during the daytime and at night. The relationships between the various channels at night are used during the day when solar reflectance affects the 3.7 micron data. A set of simultaneous equations is then solved to derive the emissivities. Global results are derived from MODIS. Numerical weather analyses are used to provide soundings for correcting the observed radiances for atmospheric absorption. These results are verified and will be available for remote sensing applications.

Quantification of the optical surface reflection and surface roughness of articular cartilage using optical coherence tomography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saarakkala, Simo; Wang Shuzhe; Huang Yanping; Zheng Yongping [Department of Health Technology and Informatics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong (China)], E-mail: simo.saarakkala@uku.fi, E-mail: ypzheng@ieee.org

2009-11-21

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a promising new technique for characterizing the structural changes of articular cartilage in osteoarthritis (OA). The calculation of quantitative parameters from the OCT signal is an important step to develop OCT as an effective diagnostic technique. In this study, two novel parameters for the quantification of optical surface reflection and surface roughness from OCT measurements are introduced: optical surface reflection coefficient (ORC), describing the amount of a ratio of the optical reflection from cartilage surface with respect to that from a reference material, and OCT roughness index (ORI) indicating the smoothness of the cartilage surface. The sensitivity of ORC and ORI to detect changes in bovine articular cartilage samples after enzymatic degradations of collagen and proteoglycans using collagenase and trypsin enzymes, respectively, was tested in vitro. A significant decrease (p < 0.001) in ORC as well as a significant increase (p < 0.001) in ORI was observed after collagenase digestion. After trypsin digestion, no significant changes in ORC or ORI were observed. To conclude, the new parameters introduced were demonstrated to be feasible and sensitive to detect typical OA-like degenerative changes in the collagen network. From the clinical point of view, the quantification of OCT measurements is of great interest since OCT probes have been already miniaturized and applied in patient studies during arthroscopy or open knee surgery in vivo. Further studies are still necessary to demonstrate the clinical capability of the introduced parameters for naturally occurring early OA changes in the cartilage.

Examining Dense Data Usage near the Regions with Severe Storms in All-Sky Microwave Radiance Data Assimilation and Impacts on GEOS Hurricane Analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Min-Jeong; Jin, Jianjun; McCarty, Will; El Akkraoui, Amal; Todling, Ricardo; Gelaro, Ron

2018-01-01

Many numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers assimilate radiances affected by clouds and precipitation from microwave sensors, with the expectation that these data can provide critical constraints on meteorological parameters in dynamically sensitive regions to make significant impacts on forecast accuracy for precipitation. The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center assimilates all-sky microwave radiance data from various microwave sensors such as all-sky GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) radiance in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) atmospheric data assimilation system (ADAS), which includes the GEOS atmospheric model, the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) atmospheric analysis system, and the Goddard Aerosol Assimilation System (GAAS). So far, most of NWP centers apply same large data thinning distances, that are used in clear-sky radiance data to avoid correlated observation errors, to all-sky microwave radiance data. For example, NASA GMAO is applying 145 km thinning distances for most of satellite radiance data including microwave radiance data in which all-sky approach is implemented. Even with these coarse observation data usage in all-sky assimilation approach, noticeable positive impacts from all-sky microwave data on hurricane track forecasts were identified in GEOS-5 system. The motivation of this study is based on the dynamic thinning distance method developed in our all-sky framework to use of denser data in cloudy and precipitating regions due to relatively small spatial correlations of observation errors. To investigate the benefits of all-sky microwave radiance on hurricane forecasts, several hurricane cases selected between 2016-2017 are examined. The dynamic thinning distance method is utilized in our all-sky approach to understand the sources and mechanisms to explain the benefits of all-sky microwave radiance data from various microwave radiance sensors like Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit

Mechanisms for the reflection of light atoms from crystal surfaces at kilovolt energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hou, M.; Robinson, M.T.

1978-01-01

The computer program MARLOWE was used to investigate the backscattering of protons from the (110) surface of a nickel crystal. Grazing incidence was considered so that anisotropic effects originated mainly from the surface region. The contribution of aligned scattering was studied by comparing the results with similar calculations for an amorphous target. Energy distributions of backscattered particles were investigated for incident energies ranging from 0.1 to 5 keV. The structure of these distributions was explained by making calculations for several target thickness. Specular reflection was found to depend on the structure of the first few atomic planes only. The (110) rows in the surface plane were responsible for focusing into surface semichannels. Focusing in these semichannels was found to be the strongest under total reflection conditions (below about 1.3 keV) while the scattering intensity from surface rows increased with increasing incident energy. The orientation of the plane of incidence was found to have large influence on the relative contributions of the reflection mechanisms involved. (orig.) [de

Comparing MODIS-Terra and GOES surface albedo for New York City NY, Baltimore MD and Washington DC for 2005

Science.gov (United States)

Mubenga, K.; Hoff, R.; McCann, K.; Chu, A.; Prados, A.

2006-05-01

The NOAA GOES Aerosol and Smoke Product (GASP) is a product displaying the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over the United States. The GASP retrieval involves discriminating the upwelling radiance from the atmosphere from that of the variable underlying surface. Unlike other sensors with more visible and near- infrared spectral channels such as MODIS, the sensors on GOES 8 through 12 only have one visible and a several far infrared channels. The GASP algorithm uses the detection of the second-darkest pixel from the visible channel over a 28-day period as the reference from which a radiance look-up table gives the corresponding AOD. GASP is reliable in capturing the AOD during large events. As an example, GASP was able to precisely show the Alaska and British Columbia smoke plume advecting from Alaska to the northeastern U.S. during the summer of 2004. Knapp et al. (2005) has shown that the AOD retrieval for GOES- 8 is within +/-0.13 of AERONET ground data with a coefficient of correlation of 0.72. Prados (this meeting) will update that study. However, GASP may not be as reliable when it comes to observing smaller AOD events in the northeast where the surface brightness is relatively high. The presence of large cities, such as New York, increases the surface albedo and produces a bright background against which it may be difficult to deduce the AOD. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on the Earth Observing System Terra and Aqua platforms provides an independent measurement of the surface albedo at a resolution greater than available on GOES. In this research, the MODIS and GOES surface albedo product for New York, Washington and Baltimore are compared in order to see how we can improve the AOD retrieval in urban areas for air quality applications. Ref: K. Knapp et al. 2005. Toward aerosol optical depth retrievals over land from GOES visible radiances: determining surface reflectance. Int.Journal of Remote Sensing 26, 4097-4116

Retrieval and Validation of aerosol optical properties from AHI measurements: impact of surface reflectance assumption

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, H.; Choi, M.; Kim, J.; Go, S.; Chan, P.; Kasai, Y.

2017-12-01

This study attempts to retrieve the aerosol optical properties (AOPs) based on the spectral matching method, with using three visible and one near infrared channels (470, 510, 640, 860nm). This method requires the preparation of look-up table (LUT) approach based on the radiative transfer modeling. Cloud detection is one of the most important processes for guaranteed quality of AOPs. Since the AHI has several infrared channels, which are very advantageous for cloud detection, clouds can be removed by using brightness temperature difference (BTD) and spatial variability test. The Yonsei Aerosol Retrieval (YAER) algorithm is basically utilized on a dark surface, therefore a bright surface (e.g., desert, snow) should be removed first. Then we consider the characteristics of the reflectance of land and ocean surface using three visible channels. The known surface reflectivity problem in high latitude area can be solved in this algorithm by selecting appropriate channels through improving tests. On the other hand, we retrieved the AOPs by obtaining the visible surface reflectance using NIR to normalized difference vegetation index short wave infrared (NDVIswir) relationship. ESR tends to underestimate urban and cropland area, we improved the visible surface reflectance considering urban effect. In this version, ocean surface reflectance is using the new cox and munk method which considers ocean bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF). Input of this method has wind speed, chlorophyll, salinity and so on. Based on validation results with the sun-photometer measurement in AErosol Robotic NETwork (AERONET), we confirm that the quality of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from the YAER algorithm is comparable to the product from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) retrieval algorithm. Our future update includes a consideration of improvement land surface reflectance by hybrid approach, and non-spherical aerosols. This will improve the quality of YAER

Solar flux incident on an orbiting surface after reflection from a planet

Science.gov (United States)

Modest, M. F.

1980-01-01

Algorithms describing the solar radiation impinging on an infinitesimal surface after reflection from a gray and diffuse planet are derived. The following conditions apply: only radiation from the sunny half of the planet is taken into account; the radiation must fall on the top of the orbiting surface, and radiation must come from that part of the planet that can be seen from the orbiting body. A simple approximate formula is presented which displays excellent accuracy for all significant situations, with an error which is always less than 5% of the maximum possible reflected flux. Attention is also given to solar albedo flux on a surface directly facing the planet, the influence of solar position on albedo flux, and to solar albedo flux as a function of the surface-planet tilt angle.

Intercomparison of integrated IASI and AATSR calibrated radiances at 11 and 12 μm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. J. Parker

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The mission objectives of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI are driven by the needs of the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP and climate monitoring communities. These objectives rely upon the IASI instrument being able to measure top of atmosphere radiances accurately. This paper presents a technique and first results for the validation of the radiometric calibration of radiances for IASI, using a cross-calibration with the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR. The AATSR is able to measure Brightness Temperature (BT to an accuracy of 30 mK, and by applying the AATSR spectral filter functions to the IASI measured radiances we are able to compare AATSR and IASI Brightness Temperatures. By choosing coincident data points that are over the sea and in clear sky conditions, a threshold of homogeneity is derived. It is found that in these homogenous conditions, the IASI BTs agree with those measured by the AATSR to within 0.3 K, with an uncertainty of order 0.1 K. The agreement is particularly good at 11 μm where the difference is less than 0.1 K. These first results indicate that IASI is meeting its target objective of 0.5 K accuracy. It is believed that a refinement of the AATSR spectral filter functions will hopefully permit a tighter error constraint on the quality of the IASI data and hence further assessment of the climate quality of the radiances.

Practical Atmospheric Correction Algorithms for a Multi-Spectral Sensor From the Visible Through the Thermal Spectral Regions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borel, C.C.; Villeneuve, P.V.; Clodium, W.B.; Szymenski, J.J.; Davis, A.B.

1999-04-04

Deriving information about the Earth's surface requires atmospheric corrections of the measured top-of-the-atmosphere radiances. One possible path is to use atmospheric radiative transfer codes to predict how the radiance leaving the ground is affected by the scattering and attenuation. In practice the atmosphere is usually not well known and thus it is necessary to use more practical methods. The authors will describe how to find dark surfaces, estimate the atmospheric optical depth, estimate path radiance and identify thick clouds using thresholds on reflectance and NDVI and columnar water vapor. The authors describe a simple method to correct a visible channel contaminated by a thin cirrus clouds.

Nanoimprinted reflecting gratings for long-range surface plasmon polaritons

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Rasmus Haugstrup; Boltasseva, Alexandra; Johansen, Dan Mario

2007-01-01

We present a novel design, fabrication, and characterization of reflecting gratings for long-range surface plasmon polaritons (LR-SPPs) at telecom wavelengths. LR-SPP waveguides consisting of a thin (12 nm) gold film embedded in a thick (45 μm) layer of dielectric polymer cladding are structured...

A rapid radiative transfer model for reflection of solar radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Xiang, X.; Smith, E. A.; Justus, C. G.

1994-01-01

A rapid analytical radiative transfer model for reflection of solar radiation in plane-parallel atmospheres is developed based on the Sobolev approach and the delta function transformation technique. A distinct advantage of this model over alternative two-stream solutions is that in addition to yielding the irradiance components, which turn out to be mathematically equivalent to the delta-Eddington approximation, the radiance field can also be expanded in a mathematically consistent fashion. Tests with the model against a more precise multistream discrete ordinate model over a wide range of input parameters demonstrate that the new approximate method typically produces average radiance differences of less than 5%, with worst average differences of approximately 10%-15%. By the same token, the computational speed of the new model is some tens to thousands times faster than that of the more precise model when its stream resolution is set to generate precise calculations.

Fast and Accurate Hybrid Stream PCRTMSOLAR Radiative Transfer Model for Reflected Solar Spectrum Simulation in the Cloudy Atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Qiguang; Liu, Xu; Wu, Wan; Kizer, Susan; Baize, Rosemary R.

2016-01-01

A hybrid stream PCRTM-SOLAR model has been proposed for fast and accurate radiative transfer simulation. It calculates the reflected solar (RS) radiances with a fast coarse way and then, with the help of a pre-saved matrix, transforms the results to obtain the desired high accurate RS spectrum. The methodology has been demonstrated with the hybrid stream discrete ordinate (HSDO) radiative transfer (RT) model. The HSDO method calculates the monochromatic radiances using a 4-stream discrete ordinate method, where only a small number of monochromatic radiances are simulated with both 4-stream and a larger N-stream (N = 16) discrete ordinate RT algorithm. The accuracy of the obtained channel radiance is comparable to the result from N-stream moderate resolution atmospheric transmission version 5 (MODTRAN5). The root-mean-square errors are usually less than 5x10(exp -4) mW/sq cm/sr/cm. The computational speed is three to four-orders of magnitude faster than the medium speed correlated-k option MODTRAN5. This method is very efficient to simulate thousands of RS spectra under multi-layer clouds/aerosols and solar radiation conditions for climate change study and numerical weather prediction applications.

Cloud Computing Infusion for Generating ESDRs of Visible Spectra Radiances

Science.gov (United States)

Golpayegani, N.; Halem, M.; Nguyen, P.

2008-12-01

The AIRS and AVHRR instruments have been collecting radiances of the Earth in the visible spectrum for over 25 years. These measurements have been used to develop such useful products as NDVI, Snow cover and depth, Outgoing long wave radiation and other products. Yet, no long-term data record of the level 1b visible spectra is available in a grid form to researchers for various climate studies. We present here an Earth System Data Record observed in the visible spectrum as gridded radiance fields of 8kmx10km grid resolution for the six years in the case of AIRS and from 1981 to the present for AVHRR. The AIRS data has four visible channels from 0.41μm to 0.94μm with an IFOV of 1 km and AVHRR has two visible channels in the 0.58μm to 1.00μm range also at 1 km. In order to process such large amounts of data on demand, two components need to be implemented,(i) a processing system capable of gridding TBs of data in a reasonable amount of time and (ii) a download mechanism to access and deliver the data to the processing system. We implemented a cloud computing approach to be able to process such large amounts of data. We use Hadoop, a distributed computation system developed by the Apache Software Foundation. With Hadoop, we are able to store the data in a distributed fashion, taking advantage of Hadoop's distributed file system (dfs). We also take advantage of Hadoop's MapReduce functionality to perform as much computations as is possible on available nodes of the UMBC bluegrit Cell cluster system that contain the data. We make use of the SOAR system developed under the ACCESS program to acquire and process the AIRS and AVHRR observations. Comparisons of the AIRS data witth selected periods of MODIS visible spectral channels on the same sattelite indicate the two instruments have maintained calibration consistency and continuity of their measurements over the six year period. Our download mechanism transfers the data from these instruments into hadoop's dfs. Our

The correlation and quantification of airborne spectroradiometer data to turbidity measurements at Lake Powell, Utah

Science.gov (United States)

Merry, C. J.

1979-01-01

A water sampling program was accomplished at Lake Powell, Utah, during June 1975 for correlation to multispectral data obtained with a 500-channel airborne spectroradiometer. Field measurements were taken of percentage of light transmittance, surface temperature, pH and Secchi disk depth. Percentage of light transmittance was also measured in the laboratory for the water samples. Analyses of electron micrographs and suspended sediment concentration data for four water samples located at Hite Bridge, Mile 168, Mile 150 and Bullfrog Bay indicated differences in the composition and concentration of the particulate matter. Airborne spectroradiometer multispectral data were analyzed for the four sampling locations. The results showed that: (1) as the percentage of light transmittance of the water samples decreased, the reflected radiance increased; and (2) as the suspended sediment concentration (mg/l) increased, the reflected radiance increased in the 1-80 mg/l range. In conclusion, valuable qualitative information was obtained on surface turbidity for the Lake Powell water spectra. Also, the reflected radiance measured at a wavelength of 0.58 micron was directly correlated to the suspended sediment concentration.

The Absolute Reflectance and New Calibration Site of the Moon

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yunzhao; Wang, Zhenchao; Cai, Wei; Lu, Yu

2018-05-01

How bright the Moon is forms a simple but fundamental and important question. Although numerous efforts have been made to answer this question such as use of sophisticated electro-optical measurements and suggestions for calibration sites, the answer is still debated. An in situ measurement with a calibration panel on the surface of the Moon is crucial for obtaining the accurate absolute reflectance and resolving the debate. China’s Chang’E-3 (CE-3) “Yutu” rover accomplished this type of measurement using the Visible-Near Infrared Spectrometer (VNIS). The measurements of the VNIS, which were at large emission and phase angles, complement existing measurements for the range of photometric geometry. The in situ reflectance shows that the CE-3 landing site is very dark with an average reflectance of 3.86% in the visible bands. The results are compared with recent mission instruments: the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Wide Angle Camera (WAC), the Spectral Profiler (SP) on board the SELENE, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on board the Chandrayaan-1, and the Chang’E-1 Interference Imaging Spectrometer (IIM). The differences in the measurements of these instruments are very large and indicate inherent differences in their absolute calibration. The M3 and IIM measurements are smaller than LROC WAC and SP, and the VNIS measurement falls between these two pairs. When using the Moon as a radiance source for the on-orbit calibration of spacecraft instruments, one should be cautious about the data. We propose that the CE-3 landing site, a young and homogeneous surface, should serve as the new calibration site.

Nimbus-4 Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS) Level 1 Radiance Data V001

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Nimbus-4 Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer (IRIS) Level 1 Radiance Data contain thermal emissions of the Earth's atmosphere at wave numbers between 400 and...

How Can Polarization States of Reflected Light from Snow Surfaces Inform Us on Surface Normals and Ultimately Snow Grain Size Measurements?

Science.gov (United States)

Schneider, A. M.; Flanner, M.; Yang, P.; Yi, B.; Huang, X.; Feldman, D.

2016-12-01

The Snow Grain Size and Pollution (SGSP) algorithm is a method applied to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data to estimate snow grain size from space-borne measurements. Previous studies validate and quantify potential sources of error in this method, but because it assumes flat snow surfaces, however, large scale variations in surface normals can cause biases in its estimates due to its dependence on solar and observation zenith angles. To address these variations, we apply the Monte Carlo method for photon transport using data containing the single scattering properties of different ice crystals to calculate polarization states of reflected monochromatic light at 1500nm from modeled snow surfaces. We evaluate the dependence of these polarization states on solar and observation geometry at 1500nm because multiple scattering is generally a mechanism for depolarization and the ice crystals are relatively absorptive at this wavelength. Using 1500nm thus results in a higher number of reflected photons undergoing fewer scattering events, increasing the likelihood of reflected light having higher degrees of polarization. In evaluating the validity of the model, we find agreement with previous studies pertaining to near-infrared spectral directional hemispherical reflectance (i.e. black-sky albedo) and similarities in measured bidirectional reflectance factors, but few studies exist modeling polarization states of reflected light from snow surfaces. Here, we present novel results pertaining to calculated polarization states and compare dependences on solar and observation geometry for different idealized snow surfaces. If these dependencies are consistent across different ice particle shapes and sizes, then these findings could inform the SGSP algorithm by providing useful relationships between measurable physical quantities and solar and observation geometry to better understand variations in snow surface normals from remote sensing observations.

Excitations of surface plasmon polaritons by attenuated total reflection, revisited

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barchesi, D.; Otto, A.

2013-01-01

Many textbooks and review papers are devoted to plasmonics based on a selection of the numerous bibliography. But none describes the details of the first culmination of plasmonics in 1968, when surface plasmons become a field of optics. The coupling of light with the surface plasmon leads to the surface plasmon polariton (SPP). Therefore, the authors chose to associate historical insight (not avoiding a personal touch), a modern mathematical formulation of the excitation of the SPP by attenuated total reflection (ATR), considered as well understood since decades, and experimental applications since 1969, including recent developments.

GLOBAL LAND COVER CLASSIFICATION USING MODIS SURFACE REFLECTANCE PROSUCTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Fukue

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to develop high accuracy land cover classification algorithm for Global scale by using multi-temporal MODIS land reflectance products. In this study, time-domain co-occurrence matrix was introduced as a classification feature which provides time-series signature of land covers. Further, the non-parametric minimum distance classifier was introduced for timedomain co-occurrence matrix, which performs multi-dimensional pattern matching for time-domain co-occurrence matrices of a classification target pixel and each classification classes. The global land cover classification experiments have been conducted by applying the proposed classification method using 46 multi-temporal(in one year SR(Surface Reflectance and NBAR(Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance products, respectively. IGBP 17 land cover categories were used in our classification experiments. As the results, SR and NBAR products showed similar classification accuracy of 99%.

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

Gain-Enhanced On-Chip Antenna Utilizing Artificial Magnetic Conductor Reflecting Surface at 94 GHz

KAUST Repository

Nafe, Mahmoud

2015-01-01

In this work, the use of specially patterned reflecting surfaces for improving on- chip antenna performance is investigated. By using a periodic metallic surface on top of a grounded substrate, the structure can mimic the behavior of a perfect mag- netic conductor, hence called Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) surface. Unlike conventional ground plane reflecting surfaces, AMC surfaces generally enhance the radiation and impedance characteristics of close-by antennas. Based on this property, a ring-based AMC reflecting surface has been designed in the oxide layer for on-chip antennas operating at 94 GHz. Furthermore, a folded dipole antenna with its associ- ated planar feeding structures has been optimized and integrated with the developed ring-based AMC surface. The proposed design is then fabricated at KAUST clean- room facilities. Prototype characterization showed very promising results with good correlation to simulations, with the antenna exhibiting an impedance bandwidth of 10% (90-100 GHz) and peak gain of -1.4 dBi, which is the highest gain reported for on-chip antennas at this frequency band without the use of any external o↵-chip components or post-fabrication steps.

Improving Image Matching by Reducing Surface Reflections Using Polarising Filter Techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Conen, N.; Hastedt, H.; Kahmen, O.; Luhmann, T.

2018-05-01

In dense stereo matching applications surface reflections may lead to incorrect measurements and blunders in the resulting point cloud. To overcome the problem of disturbing reflexions polarising filters can be mounted on the camera lens and light source. Reflections in the images can be suppressed by crossing the polarising direction of the filters leading to homogeneous illuminated images and better matching results. However, the filter may influence the camera's orientation parameters as well as the measuring accuracy. To quantify these effects, a calibration and an accuracy analysis is conducted within a spatial test arrangement according to the German guideline VDI/VDE 2634.1 (2002) using a DSLR with and without polarising filter. In a second test, the interior orientation is analysed in more detail. The results do not show significant changes of the measuring accuracy in object space and only very small changes of the interior orientation (Δc ≤ 4 μm) with the polarising filter in use. Since in medical applications many tiny reflections are present and impede robust surface measurements, a prototypic trinocular endoscope is equipped with polarising technique. The interior and relative orientation is determined and analysed. The advantage of the polarising technique for medical image matching is shown in an experiment with a moistened pig kidney. The accuracy and completeness of the resulting point cloud can be improved clearly when using polarising filters. Furthermore, an accuracy analysis using a laser triangulation system is performed and the special reflection properties of metallic surfaces are presented.

IMPROVING IMAGE MATCHING BY REDUCING SURFACE REFLECTIONS USING POLARISING FILTER TECHNIQUES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. Conen

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In dense stereo matching applications surface reflections may lead to incorrect measurements and blunders in the resulting point cloud. To overcome the problem of disturbing reflexions polarising filters can be mounted on the camera lens and light source. Reflections in the images can be suppressed by crossing the polarising direction of the filters leading to homogeneous illuminated images and better matching results. However, the filter may influence the camera’s orientation parameters as well as the measuring accuracy. To quantify these effects, a calibration and an accuracy analysis is conducted within a spatial test arrangement according to the German guideline VDI/VDE 2634.1 (2002 using a DSLR with and without polarising filter. In a second test, the interior orientation is analysed in more detail. The results do not show significant changes of the measuring accuracy in object space and only very small changes of the interior orientation (Δc ≤ 4 μm with the polarising filter in use. Since in medical applications many tiny reflections are present and impede robust surface measurements, a prototypic trinocular endoscope is equipped with polarising technique. The interior and relative orientation is determined and analysed. The advantage of the polarising technique for medical image matching is shown in an experiment with a moistened pig kidney. The accuracy and completeness of the resulting point cloud can be improved clearly when using polarising filters. Furthermore, an accuracy analysis using a laser triangulation system is performed and the special reflection properties of metallic surfaces are presented.

Evaluating the Addition of a Dinoflagellate Phytoplankton Functional Type Using Radiance Anomalies for Monterey Bay, CA

Science.gov (United States)

Houskeeper, H. F.; Kudela, R. M.

2016-12-01

Ocean color sensors have enabled daily, global monitoring of phytoplankton productivity in the world's oceans. However, to observe key structures such as food webs, or to identify regime shifts of dominant species, tools capable of distinguishing between phytoplankton functional types using satellite remote sensing reflectance are necessary. One such tool developed by Alvain et al. (2005), PHYSAT, successfully linked four phytoplankton functional types to chlorophyll-normalized remote sensing spectra, or radiance anomalies, in case-1 waters. Yet this tool was unable to characterize dinoflagellates because of their ubiquitous background presence in the open ocean. We employ a radiance anomaly technique based on PHYSAT to target phytoplankton functional types in Monterey Bay, a region where dinoflagellate populations are larger and more variable than in open ocean waters, and thus where they may be viable targets for satellite remote sensing characterization. We compare with an existing Santa Cruz Wharf photo-pigment time series spanning from 2006 to the present to regionally ground-truth the method's predictions, and we assess its accuracy in characterizing dinoflagellates, a phytoplankton group that impacts the region's fish stocks and water quality. For example, an increase in dinoflagellate abundance beginning in 2005 led to declines in commercially important fish stocks that persisted throughout the following year. Certain species of dinoflagellates in Monterey Bay are also responsible for some of the harmful algal bloom events that negatively impact the shellfish industry. Moving toward better tools to characterize phytoplankton blooms is important for understanding ecosystem shifts, as well as protecting human health in the surrounding areas.

Unmanned aerial system nadir reflectance and MODIS nadir BRDF-adjusted surface reflectances intercompared over Greenland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. F. Burkhart

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Albedo is a fundamental parameter in earth sciences, and many analyses utilize the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF/albedo (MCD43 algorithms. While derivative albedo products have been evaluated over Greenland, we present a novel, direct comparison with nadir surface reflectance collected from an unmanned aerial system (UAS. The UAS was flown from Summit, Greenland, on 210 km transects coincident with the MODIS sensor overpass on board the Aqua and Terra satellites on 5 and 6 August 2010. Clear-sky acquisitions were available from the overpasses within 2 h of the UAS flights. The UAS was equipped with upward- and downward-looking spectrometers (300–920 nm with a spectral resolution of 10 nm, allowing for direct integration into the MODIS bands 1, 3, and 4. The data provide a unique opportunity to directly compare UAS nadir reflectance with the MODIS nadir BRDF-adjusted surface reflectance (NBAR products. The data show UAS measurements are slightly higher than the MODIS NBARs for all bands but agree within their stated uncertainties. Differences in variability are observed as expected due to different footprints of the platforms. The UAS data demonstrate potentially large sub-pixel variability of MODIS reflectance products and the potential to explore this variability using the UAS as a platform. It is also found that, even at the low elevations flown typically by a UAS, reflectance measurements may be influenced by haze if present at and/or below the flight altitude of the UAS. This impact could explain some differences between data from the two platforms and should be considered in any use of airborne platforms.

A rapid method for creating qualitative images indicative of thick oil emulsion on the ocean's surface from imaging spectrometer data

Science.gov (United States)

Kokaly, Raymond F.; Hoefen, Todd M.; Livo, K. Eric; Swayze, Gregg A.; Leifer, Ira; McCubbin, Ian B.; Eastwood, Michael L.; Green, Robert O.; Lundeen, Sarah R.; Sarture, Charles M.; Steele, Denis; Ryan, Thomas; Bradley, Eliza S.; Roberts, Dar A.; ,

2010-01-01

This report describes a method to create color-composite images indicative of thick oil:water emulsions on the surface of clear, deep ocean water by using normalized difference ratios derived from remotely sensed data collected by an imaging spectrometer. The spectral bands used in the normalized difference ratios are located in wavelength regions where the spectra of thick oil:water emulsions on the ocean's surface have a distinct shape compared to clear water and clouds. In contrast to quantitative analyses, which require rigorous conversion to reflectance, the method described is easily computed and can be applied rapidly to radiance data or data that have been atmospherically corrected or ground-calibrated to reflectance. Examples are shown of the method applied to Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer data collected May 17 and May 19, 2010, over the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Antarctic Surface Reflectivity Measurements from the ANITA-3 and HiCal-1 Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Gorham, P. W.; Allison, P.; Banerjee, O.; Beatty, J. J.; Belov, K.; Besson, D. Z.; Binns, W. R.; Bugaev, V.; Cao, P.; Chen, C.; Chen, P.; Clem, J. M.; Connolly, A.; Dailey, B.; Dasgupta, P.; Deaconu, C.; Cremonesi, L.; Dowkontt, P. F.; Fox, B. D.; Gordon, J.; Hill, B.; Hupe, R.; Israel, M. H.; Jain, P.; Kowalski, J.; Lam, J.; Learned, J. G.; Liewer, K. M.; Liu, T. C.; Matsuno, S.; Miki, C.; Mottram, M.; Mulrey, K.; Nam, J.; Nichol, R. J.; Novikov, A.; Oberla, E.; Prohira, S.; Rauch, B. F.; Romero-Wolf, A.; Rotter, B.; Ratzlaff, K.; Russell, J.; Saltzberg, D.; Seckel, D.; Schoorlemmer, H.; Stafford, S.; Stockham, J.; Stockham, M.; Strutt, B.; Tatem, K.; Varner, G. S.; Vieregg, A. G.; Wissel, S. A.; Wu, F.; Young, R.

The primary science goal of the NASA-sponsored ANITA project is measurement of ultra-high energy neutrinos and cosmic rays, observed via radio-frequency signals resulting from a neutrino or cosmic ray interaction with terrestrial matter (e.g. atmospheric or ice molecules). Accurate inference of the energies of these cosmic rays requires understanding the transmission/reflection of radio wave signals across the ice-air boundary. Satellite-based measurements of Antarctic surface reflectivity, using a co-located transmitter and receiver, have been performed more-or-less continuously for the last few decades. Our comparison of four different reflectivity surveys, at frequencies ranging from 2 to 45GHz and at near-normal incidence, yield generally consistent maps of high versus low reflectivity, as a function of location, across Antarctica. Using the Sun as an RF source, and the ANITA-3 balloon borne radio-frequency antenna array as the RF receiver, we have also measured the surface reflectivity over the interval 200-1000MHz, at elevation angles of 12-30∘. Consistent with our previous measurement using ANITA-2, we find good agreement, within systematic errors (dominated by antenna beam width uncertainties) and across Antarctica, with the expected reflectivity as prescribed by the Fresnel equations. To probe low incidence angles, inaccessible to the Antarctic Solar technique and not probed by previous satellite surveys, a novel experimental approach (“HiCal-1”) was devised. Unlike previous measurements, HiCal-ANITA constitute a bi-static transmitter-receiver pair separated by hundreds of kilometers. Data taken with HiCal, between 200 and 600MHz shows a significant departure from the Fresnel equations, constant with frequency over that band, with the deficit increasing with obliquity of incidence, which we attribute to the combined effects of possible surface roughness, surface grain effects, radar clutter and/or shadowing of the reflection zone due to Earth

ASTER Expedited L1B Registered Radiance at the Sensor V003

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Expedited ASTER Level-1B Registered Radiance at the Sensor data set is produced with the express purpose of providing ASTER Science Team members data of their...

Seismic reflection imaging, accounting for primary and multiple reflections

Science.gov (United States)

Wapenaar, Kees; van der Neut, Joost; Thorbecke, Jan; Broggini, Filippo; Slob, Evert; Snieder, Roel

2015-04-01

Imaging of seismic reflection data is usually based on the assumption that the seismic response consists of primary reflections only. Multiple reflections, i.e. waves that have reflected more than once, are treated as primaries and are imaged at wrong positions. There are two classes of multiple reflections, which we will call surface-related multiples and internal multiples. Surface-related multiples are those multiples that contain at least one reflection at the earth's surface, whereas internal multiples consist of waves that have reflected only at subsurface interfaces. Surface-related multiples are the strongest, but also relatively easy to deal with because the reflecting boundary (the earth's surface) is known. Internal multiples constitute a much more difficult problem for seismic imaging, because the positions and properties of the reflecting interfaces are not known. We are developing reflection imaging methodology which deals with internal multiples. Starting with the Marchenko equation for 1D inverse scattering problems, we derived 3D Marchenko-type equations, which relate reflection data at the surface to Green's functions between virtual sources anywhere in the subsurface and receivers at the surface. Based on these equations, we derived an iterative scheme by which these Green's functions can be retrieved from the reflection data at the surface. This iterative scheme requires an estimate of the direct wave of the Green's functions in a background medium. Note that this is precisely the same information that is also required by standard reflection imaging schemes. However, unlike in standard imaging, our iterative Marchenko scheme retrieves the multiple reflections of the Green's functions from the reflection data at the surface. For this, no knowledge of the positions and properties of the reflecting interfaces is required. Once the full Green's functions are retrieved, reflection imaging can be carried out by which the primaries and multiples are

An instrument for the measurement of road surface reflection properties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Corell, Dennis Dan; Sørensen, K.

2017-01-01

surfaces in use have changed - for instance to road surface types with less noise from wheel passages. Because of this, a co-operation between the road administrations of the Nordic countries (abbreviated NMF) decided to construct a portable instrument to be used on selections of traffic roads within......Road surface reflection data in the form of standard r-tables serve as input for design calculations of road lighting installations on traffic roads. However, in several countries the use of the standard r-tables has not been verified by measurement in a long period of time, while the types of road...

Lunar surface remanent magnetic fields detected by the electron reflection method

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, R. P.; Anderson, K. A.; Bush, R.; Mcguire, R. E.; Mccoy, J. E.

1976-01-01

We present maps of the lunar surface remanent magnetic fields detected by the electron reflection method. These maps provide substantial coverage of the latitude band from 30 N southward to 30 S with a resolution of about 40 km and a sensitivity of about 0.2 gamma at the lunar surface. Regions of remanent magnetization are observed ranging in size from the resolution limit of 1.25 deg to above approximately 60 deg. The largest contiguous region fills the Big Backside Basin where it is intersected by the spacecraft orbital tracks. Preliminary analyses of the maps show that the source regions of lunar limb compressions correspond to regions of strong surface magnetism, and that there does not appear to be sharply discontinuous magnetization at the edges of maria. We also analyze the electron reflection observations to obtain information on the direction and distribution of magnetization in the Van de Graaff anomaly region.

An interactive RADIANCE toolkit for customizable CT dose monitoring and reporting.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Tessa S; Sundaram, Anand; Boonn, William W; Kim, Woojin

2013-08-01

The need for tools to monitor imaging-related radiation has grown dramatically in recent years. RADIANCE, a freely available open-source dose-monitoring tool, was developed in response to the need for an informatics solution in this realm. A number of open-source as well as commercial solutions have since been developed to enable radiology practices to monitor radiation dose parameters for modalities ranging from computed tomography to radiography to fluoroscopy. However, it is not sufficient to simply collect this data; it is equally important to be able to review it in the appropriate context. Most of the currently available dose-monitoring solutions have some type of reporting capability, such as a real-time dashboard or a static report. Previous versions of RADIANCE have included a real-time dashboard with pre-set screens that plot effective dose estimates according to different criteria, as well as monthly scorecards to summarize dose estimates for individuals within a radiology practice. In this work, we present the RADIANCE toolkit, a customizable reporting solution that allows users to generate reports of interest to them, summarizing a variety of metrics that can be grouped according to useful parameters. The output of the toolkit can be used for real-time dose monitoring or scheduled reporting, such as to a quality assurance committee. Making dose parameter data more accessible and more meaningful to the user promotes dose reduction efforts such as regular protocol review and optimization, and ultimately improves patient care by decreasing unnecessary radiation exposure.

NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of AVHRR Surface Reflectance, Version 4

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This dataset contains gridded daily surface reflectance and brightness temperatures derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors onboard...

Self-consistent approach to x-ray reflection from rough surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feranchuk, I. D.; Feranchuk, S. I.; Ulyanenkov, A. P.

2007-01-01

A self-consistent analytical approach for specular x-ray reflection from interfaces with transition layers [I. D. Feranchuk et al., Phys. Rev. B 67, 235417 (2003)] based on the distorted-wave Born approximation (DWBA) is used for the description of coherent and incoherent x-ray scattering from rough surfaces and interfaces. This approach takes into account the transformation of the modeling transition layer profile at the interface, which is caused by roughness correlations. The reflection coefficients for each DWBA order are directly calculated without phenomenological assumptions on their exponential decay at large scattering angles. Various regions of scattering angles are discussed, which show qualitatively different dependence of the reflection coefficient on the scattering angle. The experimental data are analyzed using the method developed

Exact Rayleigh scattering calculations for use with the Nimbus-7 Coastal Zone Color Scanner

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Howard R.; Brown, James W.; Evans, Robert H.

1988-01-01

The radiance reflected from a plane-parallel atmosphere and flat sea surface in the absence of aerosols has been determined with an exact multiple scattering code to improve the analysis of Nimbus-7 CZCS imagery. It is shown that the single scattering approximation normally used to compute this radiance can result in errors of up to 5 percent for small and moderate solar zenith angles. A scheme to include the effect of variations in the surface pressure in the exact computation of the Rayleigh radiance is discussed. The results of an application of these computations to CZCS imagery suggest that accurate atmospheric corrections can be obtained for solar zenith angles at least as large as 65 deg.

Energy loss of MeV protons specularly reflected from metal surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Juaristi, J.I.; Garcia de Abajo, F.J.; Echenique, P.M.

1996-01-01

A parameter-free model is presented to study the energy loss of fast protons specularly reflected from metal surfaces. The contributions to the energy loss from excitation of valence-band electrons and ionization of localized target-atom electronic states are calculated separately. The former is calculated from the induced surface wake potential using linear response theory and the specular-reflection model, while the latter is calculated in the first Born approximation. The results obtained are in good agreement with available experimental data. However, the experimental qualitative trend of the energy loss as a function of the angle of incidence is obtained when the valence-band electron model is replaced by localized target atom electron states, though with a worse quantitative agreement. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

Comparison of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function of various surfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez, R.; Seasholtz, R.G.; Oberle, L.G.; Kadambi, J.R.

1989-01-01

This paper describes the development and use of a system to measure the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of various surfaces. The BRDF measurements are to be used in the analysis and design of optical measurement systems such as laser anemometers. An Ar-ion laser (514 nm) was the light source. Preliminary results are presented for eight samples: two glossy black paints, two flat black paints, black glass, sand-blasted Al, unworked Al, and a white paint. A BaSO4 white reflectance standard was used as the reference sample throughout the tests. 8 refs

Retrieving mesospheric water vapour from observations of volume scattering radiances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Vergados

2009-02-01

Full Text Available This study examines the possibility for a theoretical approach in the estimation of water vapour mixing ratios in the vicinity of polar mesospheric clouds (PMC using satellite observations of Volume Scattering Radiances (VSR obtained at the wavelength of 553 nm. The PMC scattering properties perturb the underlying molecular Rayleigh scattered solar radiance of the background atmosphere. As a result, the presence of PMC leads to an enhancement in the observed VSR at the altitude of the layer; the PMC VSRs are superimposed on the exponentially decreasing with height Rayleigh VSR, of the PMC-free atmosphere. The ratio between the observed and the Rayleigh VSR of the background atmosphere is used to simulate the environment in which the cloud layer is formed. In addition, a microphysical model of ice particle formation is employed to predict the PMC VSRs. The initial water vapour profile is perturbed until the modelled VSRs match the observed, at which point the corresponding temperature and water vapour profiles can be considered as a first approximation of those describing the atmosphere at the time of the observations. The role of temperature and water vapour in the cloud formation is examined by a number of sensitivity tests suggesting that the water vapour plays a dominant role in the cloud formation in agreement with experimental results. The estimated water vapour profiles are compared with independent observations to examine the model capability in the context of this study. The results obtained are in a good agreement at the peak of the PMC layer although the radiance rapidly decreases with height below the peak. This simplified scenario indicates that the technique employed can give a first approximation estimate of the water vapour mixing ratio, giving rise to the VSR observed in the presence of PMC.

Evaluation of BRDF Archetypes for Representing Surface Reflectance Anisotropy Using MODIS BRDF Data

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Hu; Jiao, Ziti; Dong, Yadong; Li, Xiaowen

2015-01-01

Bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) archetypes extracted from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) BRDF/Albedo product over the global Earth Observing System Land Validation Core Sites can be used to simplify BRDF models. The present study attempts to evaluate the representativeness of BRDF archetypes for surface reflectance anisotropy. Five-year forward-modeled MODIS multi-angular reflectance (MCD-ref) and aditional actual MODIS multi-angular observat...

Reflectivity reduction of retro-reflector installed in LHD due to plasma surface interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, N.; Ohtawa, Y.; Ebihara, A.; Akiyama, T.; Tokitani, M.; Ashikawa, N.; Kawahata, K.

2008-10-01

Optical reflectivity of the retro-reflector installed in LHD as the first mirror was reduced seriously by plasma wall interaction. In order to understand the mechanism of the reflectivity reduction, optical and material properties of the mirror surfaces have been examined extensively. It was found that the deposited impurity layers caused the serious reduction of the reflectivity. Formation of iron oxide, bulges structure and He bubbles are the major factors for the reflectivity reduction in the wide wave length range. (author)

A geometrical optics polarimetric bidirectional reflectance distribution function for dielectric and metallic surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyde, M W; Schmidt, J D; Havrilla, M J

2009-11-23

A polarimetric bidirectional reflectance distribution function (pBRDF), based on geometrical optics, is presented. The pBRDF incorporates a visibility (shadowing/masking) function and a Lambertian (diffuse) component which distinguishes it from other geometrical optics pBRDFs in literature. It is shown that these additions keep the pBRDF bounded (and thus a more realistic physical model) as the angle of incidence or observation approaches grazing and better able to model the behavior of light scattered from rough, reflective surfaces. In this paper, the theoretical development of the pBRDF is shown and discussed. Simulation results of a rough, perfect reflecting surface obtained using an exact, electromagnetic solution and experimental Mueller matrix results of two, rough metallic samples are presented to validate the pBRDF.

NOAA GOES-R Series Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Level 1b Radiances

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument samples the radiance of the Earth in sixteen spectral bands using several arrays of detectors in the instrument’s...

TRMM Visible and Infrared Scanner Calibrated Radiances L1B 1.5 hours V7 (TRMM_1B01) at GES DISC

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This TRMM Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) Level 1B Calibrated Radiance Product (1B01) contains calibrated radiances and auxiliary geolocation information from...

Optical properties (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) of shot fabric.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, R; Koenderink, J J; Kappers, A M

2000-11-01

To study the optical properties of materials, one needs a complete set of the angular distribution functions of surface scattering from the materials. Here we present a convenient method for collecting a large set of bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) samples in the hemispherical scattering space. Material samples are wrapped around a right-circular cylinder and irradiated by a parallel light source, and the scattered radiance is collected by a digital camera. We tilted the cylinder around its center to collect the BRDF samples outside the plane of incidence. This method can be used with materials that have isotropic and anisotropic scattering properties. We demonstrate this method in a detailed investigation of shot fabrics. The warps and the fillings of shot fabrics are dyed different colors so that the fabric appears to change color at different viewing angles. These color-changing characteristics are found to be related to the physical and geometrical structure of shot fabric. Our study reveals that the color-changing property of shot fabrics is due mainly to an occlusion effect.

Monte Carlo and discrete-ordinate simulations of spectral radiances in a coupled air-tissue system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hestenes, Kjersti; Nielsen, Kristian P; Zhao, Lu; Stamnes, Jakob J; Stamnes, Knut

2007-04-20

We perform a detailed comparison study of Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and discrete-ordinate radiative-transfer (DISORT) calculations of spectral radiances in a 1D coupled air-tissue (CAT) system consisting of horizontal plane-parallel layers. The MC and DISORT models have the same physical basis, including coupling between the air and the tissue, and we use the same air and tissue input parameters for both codes. We find excellent agreement between radiances obtained with the two codes, both above and in the tissue. Our tests cover typical optical properties of skin tissue at the 280, 540, and 650 nm wavelengths. The normalized volume scattering function for internal structures in the skin is represented by the one-parameter Henyey-Greenstein function for large particles and the Rayleigh scattering function for small particles. The CAT-DISORT code is found to be approximately 1000 times faster than the CAT-MC code. We also show that the spectral radiance field is strongly dependent on the inherent optical properties of the skin tissue.

Comparing airborne and satellite retrievals of cloud optical thickness and particle effective radius using a spectral radiance ratio technique: two case studies for cirrus and deep convective clouds

Science.gov (United States)

Krisna, Trismono C.; Wendisch, Manfred; Ehrlich, André; Jäkel, Evelyn; Werner, Frank; Weigel, Ralf; Borrmann, Stephan; Mahnke, Christoph; Pöschl, Ulrich; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Voigt, Christiane; Machado, Luiz A. T.

2018-04-01

Solar radiation reflected by cirrus and deep convective clouds (DCCs) was measured by the Spectral Modular Airborne Radiation Measurement System (SMART) installed on the German High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) during the Mid-Latitude Cirrus (ML-CIRRUS) and the Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation, and Radiation Interaction and Dynamic of Convective Clouds System - Cloud Processes of the Main Precipitation Systems in Brazil: A Contribution to Cloud Resolving Modelling and to the Global Precipitation Measurement (ACRIDICON-CHUVA) campaigns. On particular flights, HALO performed measurements closely collocated with overpasses of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite. A cirrus cloud located above liquid water clouds and a DCC topped by an anvil cirrus are analyzed in this paper. Based on the nadir spectral upward radiance measured above the two clouds, the optical thickness τ and particle effective radius reff of the cirrus and DCC are retrieved using a radiance ratio technique, which considers the cloud thermodynamic phase, the vertical profile of cloud microphysical properties, the presence of multilayer clouds, and the heterogeneity of the surface albedo. For the cirrus case, the comparison of τ and reff retrieved on the basis of SMART and MODIS measurements yields a normalized mean absolute deviation of up to 1.2 % for τ and 2.1 % for reff. For the DCC case, deviations of up to 3.6 % for τ and 6.2 % for reff are obtained. The larger deviations in the DCC case are mainly attributed to the fast cloud evolution and three-dimensional (3-D) radiative effects. Measurements of spectral upward radiance at near-infrared wavelengths are employed to investigate the vertical profile of reff in the cirrus. The retrieved values of reff are compared with corresponding in situ measurements using a vertical weighting method. Compared to the MODIS observations, measurements of SMART provide more information on the

Planetary surface photometry and imaging: progress and perspectives.

Science.gov (United States)

Goguen, Jay D

2014-10-01

Spacecraft have visited and returned many thousands of images and spectra of all of the planets, many of their moons, several asteroids, and a few comet nuclei during the golden age of planetary exploration. The signal in each pixel of each image or spectral channel is a measurement of the radiance of scattered sunlight into a specific direction. The information on the structure and composition of the surface that is contained in variation of the radiance with scattering geometry and wavelength, including polarization state, has only just begun to be exploited and is the topic of this review. The uppermost surfaces of these bodies are mainly composed of particles that are continuously generated by impacts of micrometeoroids and larger impactors. Models of light scattering by distributions of sizes and irregular shapes of particles and by closely packed particles within a surface are challenging. These are active topics of research where considerable progress has recently been made. We focus on the surfaces of bodies lacking atmospheres.These surfaces are diverse and their morphologies give evidence of their evolution by impacts and resurfacing by a variety of processes including down slope movement and electrostatic transport of particles, gravitational accumulation of debris, volatile outgassing and migration, and magnetospheric interactions. Sampling of scattering geometries and spatial resolution is constrained by spacecraft trajectories. However, the large number of archived images and spectra demand more quantitative interpretation. The scattering geometry dependence of the radiance is underutilized and promises constraints on the compositions and structure of the surface for materials that lack diagnostic wavelength dependence. The general problem is considered in terms of the lunar regolith for which samples have been returned to Earth.

Near-surface 3D reflections seismic survey; Sanjigen senso hanshaho jishin tansa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nakahigashi, H; Mitsui, H; Nakano, O; Kobayashi, T [DIA Consultants Co. Ltd., Tokyo (Japan)

1997-05-27

Faults are being actively investigated across Japan since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Discussed in this report is the application of the 3D near-surface reflection seismic survey in big cities. Data from trenching and drilling is used for the geological interpretation of the surroundings of a fault, and the reflection seismic survey is used to identify the position, etc., of the fault. In this article, when the results obtained from the experimental field are examined, it is found that the conventional 2D imaging reflection survey betrays the limit of its capability when the geological structure is complicated, that the 3D reflection seismic survey, on the contrary, is capable of high-precision imaging and, when augmented by drilling, etc., becomes capable of a more detailed interpretation, and that it also contributes effectively to the improvement of local disaster prevention in big cities. Using as the model the Tachikawa fault that runs near JR Tachikawa Station, embodiment of the 3D reflection seismic survey is reviewed. For the acquisition of data excellent in quality in a 3D reflection seismic survey conducted utilizing the roads in the sector chosen for experiment in the urban area, the shock generating points and receiving points should be positioned by taking into account the parameters in the bin arranging process so that the mid-points will be regularly distributed on the surface. 3 refs., 11 figs., 1 tab.

MODIS/Aqua Near Real Time (NRT) Surface Reflectance Daily L2G Global 250m SIN Grid

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MODIS Near Real Time (NRT) Surface Reflectance products are an estimate of the surface spectral reflectance as it would be measured at ground level in the...

Experimental verification of active IR stealth technology by controlling the surface temperature using a thermoelectric element

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dong Geon; Han, Kuk Il; Choi, Jun Hyuk; Kim, Tae Kuk [Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Ang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-15

In this paper, we propose a technique for IR low-observability that uses an active IR signal tuning through the real time control of the object surface temperature according to the varying background environment. This is achieved by applying the proper object surface temperature obtained to result in the minimum radiance difference between the object and the background. Experimental verification by using the thermoelectric temperature control element shows that the IR radiance contrast between the object and the background can be reduced up to 99% during the night and up to 95% during the day time as compared to the un-tuned original radiance contrast values. The stealth technology demonstrated in this paper may be applied for many military systems needed for the IR stealth performance when a suitable temperature control unit is developed.

Experimental verification of active IR stealth technology by controlling the surface temperature using a thermoelectric element

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Dong Geon; Han, Kuk Il; Choi, Jun Hyuk; Kim, Tae Kuk

2016-01-01

In this paper, we propose a technique for IR low-observability that uses an active IR signal tuning through the real time control of the object surface temperature according to the varying background environment. This is achieved by applying the proper object surface temperature obtained to result in the minimum radiance difference between the object and the background. Experimental verification by using the thermoelectric temperature control element shows that the IR radiance contrast between the object and the background can be reduced up to 99% during the night and up to 95% during the day time as compared to the un-tuned original radiance contrast values. The stealth technology demonstrated in this paper may be applied for many military systems needed for the IR stealth performance when a suitable temperature control unit is developed

Earth surface reflectance climatology from 3 years of OMI data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleipool, Q.L.; Dobber, M.R.; Haan, de J.F.; Levelt, P.F.

2008-01-01

Global maps of the Earth's surface Lambertian equivalent reflectance (LER) are constructed using 3 years of Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements obtained between October 2004 and October 2007 at 23 wavelengths between 328 and 500 nm. The maps are constructed on a 0.5° by 0.5°

Mars analog minerals' spectral reflectance characteristics under Martian surface conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Poitras, J. T.; Cloutis, E. A.; Salvatore, M. R.; Mertzman, S. A.; Applin, D. M.; Mann, P.

2018-05-01

We investigated the spectral reflectance properties of minerals under a simulated Martian environment. Twenty-eight different hydrated or hydroxylated phases of carbonates, sulfates, and silica minerals were selected based on past detection on Mars through spectral remote sensing data. Samples were ground and dry sieved to <45 μm grain size and characterized by XRD before and after 133 days inside a simulated Martian surface environment (pressure 5 Torr and CO2 fed). Reflectance spectra from 0.35 to 4 μm were taken periodically through a sapphire (0.35-2.5 μm) and zinc selenide (2.5-4 μm) window over a 133-day period. Mineral stability on the Martian surface was assessed through changes in spectral characteristics. Results indicate that the hydrated carbonates studied would be stable on the surface of Mars, only losing adsorbed H2O while maintaining their diagnostic spectral features. Sulfates were less stable, often with shifts in the band position of the SO, Fe, and OH absorption features. Silicas displayed spectral shifts related to SiOH and hydration state of the mineral surface, while diagnostic bands for quartz were stable. Previous detection of carbonate minerals based on 2.3-2.5 μm and 3.4-3.9 μm features appears to be consistent with our results. Sulfate mineral detection is more questionable since there can be shifts in band position related to SO4. The loss of the 0.43 μm Fe3+ band in many of the sulfates indicate that there are fewer potential candidates for Fe3+ sulfates to permanently exist on the Martian surface based on this band. The gypsum sample changed phase to basanite during desiccation as demonstrated by both reflectance and XRD. Silica on Mars has been detected using band depth ratio at 1.91 and 1.96 μm and band minimum position of the 1.4 μm feature, and the properties are also used to determine their age. This technique continues to be useful for positive silica identifications, however, silica age appears to be less consistent

Gain-Enhanced On-Chip Antenna Utilizing Artificial Magnetic Conductor Reflecting Surface at 94 GHz

KAUST Repository

Nafe, Mahmoud

2015-08-04

Nowadays, there is a growing demand for high frequency-bandwidth mm-wave (30-300 GHz) electronic wireless transceiver systems to support applications such as high data-rate wireless communication and high resolution imaging. Such mm-wave systems are becoming more feasible due to the extreme transistor downscaling in silicon-based integrated circuits, which enabled densely-integrated high-speed elec- tronics operating up to more than 100 GHz with low fabrication cost. To further enhance system integrability, it is required to implement all wireless system compo- nents on the chip. Presently, the last major barrier to true System-on-Chip (SoC) realization is the antenna implementation on the silicon chip. Although at mm-wave frequencies the antenna size becomes small enough to fit on chip, the antenna performance is greatly deteriorated due the high conductivity and high relative permittivity of the silicon substrate. The negative e↵ects of the silicon substrate could be avoided by using a metallic reflecting surface on top of silicon, which e↵ectively isolates the antenna from the silicon. However, this approach has the shortcoming of having to implement the antenna on the usually very thin silicon oxide layer of a typical CMOS fabrication process (10’s of μm). This forces the antenna to be in a very close proximity (less than one hundredth of a wavelength) to the reflecting surface. In this regime, the use of conventional metallic reflecting surface for silicon shielding has severe e↵ects on the antenna performance as it tends to reduce the antenna radiation resistance resulting in most of the energy being absorbed rather than radiated. In this work, the use of specially patterned reflecting surfaces for improving on- chip antenna performance is investigated. By using a periodic metallic surface on top of a grounded substrate, the structure can mimic the behavior of a perfect mag- netic conductor, hence called Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) surface

Influence of Aerosols And Surface Reflectance On NO2 Retrieval Over China From 2005 to 2015

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, M.; Lin, J.

2016-12-01

Satellite observation is a powerful way to analysis annual and seasonal variations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). However, much retrieval of vertical column densities (VCDs) of normally do not explicitly account for aerosol optical effects and surface reflectance anisotropy that vary with space and time. In traditional retrieval, aerosols' effects are often considered as cloud. However, China has complicated aerosols type and aerosol loading. Their optical properties may be very different from the cloud. Furthermore, China has undergone big changes in land use type in recent 10 years. Traditional climatology surface reflectance data may not have representation. In order to study spatial-temporal variation of and influences of these two factors on variations and trends, we use an improved retrieval method of VCDs over China, called the POMINO, based on measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), and we compare the results of without aerosol, without surface reflectance treatments and without both to the original POMINO product from 2005 to 2015. Furthermore, we will study correspondent spatial-temporal variations of aerosols, represented by MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) data and CALIOP extinction data; surface reflectance, represented by MODIS bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) data.

LiDAR Relative Reflectivity Surface (2011) for Coral Bay, St. John

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a LiDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) 0.3x0.3 meter resolution relative seafloor reflectivity surface for Coral Bay, St. John in the U.S....

LiDAR Relative Reflectivity Surface (2011) for Fish Bay, St. John

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a LiDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) 0.3x0.3 meter resolution relative seafloor reflectivity surface for Fish Bay, St. John in the U.S....

A simple method for the measurement of reflective foil emissivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ballico, M. J.; Ham, E. W. M. van der

2013-01-01

Reflective metal foil is widely used to reduce radiative heat transfer within the roof space of buildings. Such foils are typically mass-produced by vapor-deposition of a thin metallic coating onto a variety of substrates, ranging from plastic-coated reinforced paper to 'bubble-wrap'. Although the emissivity of such surfaces is almost negligible in the thermal infrared, typically less than 0.03, an insufficiently thick metal coating, or organic contamination of the surface, can significantly increase this value. To ensure that the quality of the installed insulation is satisfactory, Australian building code AS/NZS 4201.5:1994 requires a practical agreed method for measurement of the emissivity, and the standard ASTM-E408 is implied. Unfortunately this standard is not a 'primary method' and requires the use of specified expensive apparatus and calibrated reference materials. At NMIA we have developed a simple primary technique, based on an apparatus to thermally modulate the sample and record the apparent modulation in infra-red radiance with commercially available radiation thermometers. The method achieves an absolute accuracy in the emissivity of approximately 0.004 (k=2). This paper theoretically analyses the equivalence between the thermal emissivity measured in this manner, the effective thermal emissivity in application, and the apparent emissivity measured in accordance with ASTM-E408

A simple method for the measurement of reflective foil emissivity

Science.gov (United States)

Ballico, M. J.; van der Ham, E. W. M.

2013-09-01

Reflective metal foil is widely used to reduce radiative heat transfer within the roof space of buildings. Such foils are typically mass-produced by vapor-deposition of a thin metallic coating onto a variety of substrates, ranging from plastic-coated reinforced paper to "bubble-wrap". Although the emissivity of such surfaces is almost negligible in the thermal infrared, typically less than 0.03, an insufficiently thick metal coating, or organic contamination of the surface, can significantly increase this value. To ensure that the quality of the installed insulation is satisfactory, Australian building code AS/NZS 4201.5:1994 requires a practical agreed method for measurement of the emissivity, and the standard ASTM-E408 is implied. Unfortunately this standard is not a "primary method" and requires the use of specified expensive apparatus and calibrated reference materials. At NMIA we have developed a simple primary technique, based on an apparatus to thermally modulate the sample and record the apparent modulation in infra-red radiance with commercially available radiation thermometers. The method achieves an absolute accuracy in the emissivity of approximately 0.004 (k=2). This paper theoretically analyses the equivalence between the thermal emissivity measured in this manner, the effective thermal emissivity in application, and the apparent emissivity measured in accordance with ASTM-E408.

Development of Multi-Sensor Global Cloud and Radiance Composites for DSCOVR EPIC Imager with Subpixel Definition

Science.gov (United States)

Khlopenkov, K. V.; Duda, D. P.; Thieman, M. M.; Sun-Mack, S.; Su, W.; Minnis, P.; Bedka, K. M.

2017-12-01

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) is designed to study the daytime Earth radiation budget by means of onboard Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR). EPIC imager observes in several shortwave bands (317-780 nm), while NISTAR measures the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) whole-disk radiance in shortwave and total broadband windows. Calculation of albedo and outgoing longwave flux requires a high-resolution scene identification such as the radiance observations and cloud property retrievals from low earth orbit and geostationary satellite imagers. These properties have to be co-located with EPIC imager pixels to provide scene identification and to select anisotropic directional models, which are then used to adjust the NISTAR-measured radiance and subsequently obtain the global daytime shortwave and longwave fluxes. This work presents an algorithm for optimal merging of selected radiances and cloud properties derived from multiple satellite imagers to obtain seamless global hourly composites at 5-km resolution. The highest quality observation is selected by means of an aggregated rating which incorporates several factors such as the nearest time relative to EPIC observation, lowest viewing zenith angle, and others. This process provides a smoother transition and avoids abrupt changes in the merged composite data. Higher spatial accuracy in the composite product is achieved by using the inverse mapping with gradient search during reprojection and bicubic interpolation for pixel resampling. The composite data are subsequently remapped into the EPIC-view domain by convolving composite pixels with the EPIC point spread function (PSF) defined with a half-pixel accuracy. Within every EPIC footprint, the PSF-weighted average radiances and cloud properties are computed for each cloud phase and then stored within five data subsets (clear-sky, water cloud, ice cloud, total cloud, and no

An instrument for the measurement of road surface reflection properties

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Corell, Dennis Dan; Sørensen, K.

2017-01-01

Road surface reflection data in the form of standard r-tables serve as input for design calculations of road lighting installations on traffic roads. However, in several countries the use of the standard r-tables has not been verified by measurement in a long period of time, while the types of road...

Bi-directional Reflectance of Icy Surface Analogs: A Dual Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Quinones, Juan Manuel; Vides, Christina; Nelson, Robert M.; Boryta, Mark; Mannat, Ken s.

2018-01-01

Bi-directional reflectance measurements of analogs for planetary regolith have provided insight into the surface properties of planetary satellites and small bodies. Because Aluminum Oxide (Al2O3) and water ice share a similar hexagonal crystalline structure, the former has been used in laboratory experiments to simulate the regolith of both icy and dusty planetary bodies. By measuring various sizes of well sorted size fractions of Al2O3, the reflectance phase curve and porosity of a planetary regolith can be determined. We have designed an experiment to test the laboratory measurements produced by Nelson et al. (2000). Additionally, we made reflectance measurements for other alkali-halide compounds that could be used for applications beyond astronomy and planetary science.In order to provide an independent check on the Nelson et al. data, we designed an instrument with a different configuration. While both instruments take bidirectional reflectance measurements, our instrument, the Rigid Photometric Goniometer (RPG), is fixed at a phase angle of 5° and detects the scattered light with a photomultiplier tube (PMT). The PMT current is then measured with an electrometer. Following the example of Nelson et al., we measured the bidirectional reflectance of Al2O3 particulate size fractions between 0.1sizes from 20size that provided optimal, or maximum, reflectance for each compound. Our conclusions bring confirmation and clarity to photometric sciences.

Early Evaluation of the VIIRS Calibration, Cloud Mask and Surface Reflectance Earth Data Records

Science.gov (United States)

Vermote, Eric; Justice, Chris; Csiszar, Ivan

2014-01-01

Surface reflectance is one of the key products fromVIIRS and as withMODIS, is used in developing several higherorder land products. The VIIRS Surface Reflectance (SR) Intermediate Product (IP) is based on the heritageMODIS Collection 5 product (Vermote, El Saleous, & Justice, 2002). The quality and character of surface reflectance depend on the accuracy of the VIIRS Cloud Mask (VCM), the aerosol algorithms and the adequate calibration of the sensor. The focus of this paper is the early evaluation of the VIIRS SR product in the context of the maturity of the operational processing system, the Interface Data Processing System (IDPS). After a brief introduction, the paper presents the calibration performance and the role of the surface reflectance in calibration monitoring. The analysis of the performance of the cloud mask with a focus on vegetation monitoring (no snow conditions) shows typical problems over bright surfaces and high elevation sites. Also discussed is the performance of the aerosol input used in the atmospheric correction and in particular the artifacts generated by the use of the Navy Aerosol Analysis and Prediction System. Early quantitative results of the performance of the SR product over the AERONET sites showthatwith the fewadjustments recommended, the accuracy iswithin the threshold specifications. The analysis of the adequacy of the SR product (Land PEATE adjusted version) in applications of societal benefits is then presented. We conclude with a set of recommendations to ensure consistency and continuity of the JPSS mission with the MODIS Land Climate Data Record.

Glazed ceramic roof tiles: influence of surface features in the solar reflectance index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bortoli, Leitcia Silva de; Stapait, Camila Cristina; Marinoski, Deivis Luis; Fredel, Marcio Celso; Schabbach, Luciana M.

2016-01-01

In this study the influence of surface features of ceramic roof tiles in the solar reflectance index were evaluated. Two glazed ceramic roof tiles (type stoneware) with the same color (ivory) but with different appearance (matte and brilliant) were the focus of the analysis. The Solar Reflectance Index (SRI) of the roofs tiles were determined by the solar reflectance values (UV-VIS-NIR) and emittance, measured in laboratory. The samples showed SRI> 39 in accordance with LEED certification criteria (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), contributing to minimizing the Heat Island Effects. Although the matte roof tile shows a slightly higher SRI value (82) than the brilliant one (78), the results for the variables that composes the SRI value (reflectance and emittance) were very similar. Analysis of XRD, SEM and EDS performed on the surfaces of the two roofs indicated for the matte glaze the presence of microcrystals (with barium and zinc) that can contribute to the slightly highest value of SRI. The roughness (optical interferometer white light) and the brightness (brightness meter) of the samples were also measured. (author)

The Impact of Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) Cloud-Cleared Radiances on Hurricane Joaquin (2015) and Matthew (2016) Forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Pei; Li, Jun; Li, Zhenglong; Lim, Agnes H. N.; Li, Jinlong; Schmit, Timothy J.; Goldberg, Mitchell D.

2017-12-01

Hyperspectral infrared (IR) sounders provide high vertical resolution atmospheric sounding information that can improve the forecast skill in numerical weather prediction. Commonly, only clear radiances are assimilated, because IR sounder observations are highly affected by clouds. A cloud-clearing (CC) technique, which removes the cloud effects from an IR cloudy field of view (FOV) and derives the cloud-cleared radiances (CCRs) or clear-sky equivalent radiances, can be an alternative yet effective way to take advantage of the thermodynamic information from cloudy skies in data assimilation. This study develops a Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)-based CC method for deriving Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) CCRs under partially cloudy conditions. Due to the lack of absorption bands on VIIRS, two important quality control steps are implemented in the CC process. Validation using VIIRS clear radiances indicates that the CC method can effectively obtain the CrIS CCRs for FOVs with partial cloud cover. To compare the impacts from assimilation of CrIS original radiances and CCRs, three experiments are carried out on two storm cases, Hurricane Joaquin (2015) and Hurricane Matthew (2016), using Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation assimilation system and Weather Research and Forecasting-Advanced Research Version models. At the analysis time, more CrIS observations are assimilated when using CrIS CCRs than with CrIS original radiances. Comparing temperature, specific humidity, and U/V winds with radiosondes indicates that the data impacts are growing larger with longer time forecasts (beyond 72 h forecast). Hurricane track forecasts also show improvements from the assimilation of CrIS CCRs due to better weather system forecasts. The impacts of CCRs on intensity are basically neutral with mixed positive and negative results.

AIRS/Aqua Level 1C Infrared (IR) resampled and corrected radiances V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The AIRS Infrared (IR) level 1C data set contains AIRS infrared calibrated and geolocated radiances in W/m2/micron/ster. This data set is generated from AIRS level...

Retrieving Temperature and Moisture Profiles from AERI Radiance Observations. AERIPROF Value-Added Product Technical Description

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feltz, W. F. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Howell, H. B. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United; Knuteson, R. O. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Comstock, J. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Mahon, R. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Turner, D. D. [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States); Smith, W. L. [NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States); Woolf, H. M. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United; Sivaraman, C. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Halter, T. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2007-04-01

One of the goals of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program is to collect a long-term series of radiative and atmospheric state observations to improve the parameterization of these processes in global climate models. The ARM Program intended to move away from the traditional approach of directly measuring profiles of temperature and moisture using radiosondes, which is expensive in terms of expendables and manpower, and develop methods to retrieve these profiles with ground-based remote sensors. The atmospheric emitted radiance interferometer (AERI), whose radiance data contains information on the vertical distribution of water vapor and temperature, is an integral part of the ARM profiling plan.

An assessment of thin cloud detection by applying bidirectional reflectance distribution function model-based background surface reflectance using Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI): A case study for South Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hye-Won; Yeom, Jong-Min; Shin, Daegeun; Choi, Sungwon; Han, Kyung-Soo; Roujean, Jean-Louis

2017-08-01

In this study, a new assessment of thin cloud detection with the application of bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model-based background surface reflectance was undertaken by interpreting surface spectra characterized using the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) over a land surface area. Unlike cloud detection over the ocean, the detection of cloud over land surfaces is difficult due to the complicated surface scattering characteristics, which vary among land surface types. Furthermore, in the case of thin clouds, in which the surface and cloud radiation are mixed, it is difficult to detect the clouds in both land and atmospheric fields. Therefore, to interpret background surface reflectance, especially underneath cloud, the semiempirical BRDF model was used to simulate surface reflectance by reflecting solar angle-dependent geostationary sensor geometry. For quantitative validation, Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data were used to make a comparison with the proposed cloud masking result. As a result, the new cloud masking scheme resulted in a high probability of detection (POD = 0.82) compared with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (POD = 0.808) for all cloud cases. In particular, the agreement between the CALIPSO cloud product and new GOCI cloud mask was over 94% when detecting thin cloud (e.g., altostratus and cirrus) from January 2014 to June 2015. This result is relatively high in comparison with the result from the MODIS Collection 6 cloud mask product (MYD35).

MODIS/Terra Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 1km - NRT

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MODIS Level 1B Near Real Time (NRT) data set contains calibrated and geolocated at-aperture radiances for 36 discrete bands located in the 0.4 to 14.4 micron...

Recent Developments in the X-Ray Reflectivity Analysis for Rough Surfaces and Interfaces of Multilayered Thin Film Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yoshikazu Fujii

2013-01-01

Full Text Available X-ray reflectometry is a powerful tool for investigations on rough surface and interface structures of multilayered thin film materials. The X-ray reflectivity has been calculated based on the Parratt formalism, accounting for the effect of roughness by the theory of Nevot-Croce conventionally. However, in previous studies, the calculations of the X-ray reflectivity often show a strange effect where interference effects would increase at a rough surface. And estimated surface and interface roughnesses from the X-ray reflectivity measurements did not correspond to the TEM image observation results. The strange result had its origin in a used equation due to a serious mistake in which the Fresnel transmission coefficient in the reflectivity equation is increased at a rough interface because of a lack of consideration of diffuse scattering. In this review, a new accurate formalism that corrects this mistake is presented. The new accurate formalism derives an accurate analysis of the X-ray reflectivity from a multilayer surface of thin film materials, taking into account the effect of roughness-induced diffuse scattering. The calculated reflectivity by this accurate reflectivity equation should enable the structure of buried interfaces to be analyzed more accurately.

Improvements to Lunar BRDF-Corrected Nighttime Satellite Imagery: Uses and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Tony A.; Molthan, Andrew L.; Schultz, Lori A.; Roman, Miguel O.; Wanik, David W.

2016-01-01

Observations made by the VIIRS day/night band (DNB) provide daily, nighttime measurements to monitor Earth surface processes.However, these observations are impacted by variations in reflected solar radiation on the moon's surface. As the moon transitions from new to full phase, increasing radiance is reflected to the Earth's surface and contributes additional reflected moonlight from clouds and land surface, in addition to emissions from other light sources observed by the DNB. The introduction of a bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) algorithm serves to remove these lunar variations and normalize observed radiances. Provided by the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center, a 1 km gridded lunar BRDF-corrected DNB product and VIIRS cloud mask can be used for a multitude of nighttime applications without influence from the moon. Such applications include the detection of power outages following severe weather events using pre-and post-event DNB imagery, as well as the identification of boat features to curtail illegal fishing practices. This presentation will provide context on the importance of the lunar BRDF correction algorithm and explore the aforementioned uses of this improved DNB product for applied science applications.

Improvements to Lunar BRDF-Corrected Nighttime Satellite Imagery: Uses and Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, T.; Molthan, A.; Schultz, L. A.; Roman, M. O.; Wanik, D. W.

2016-12-01

Observations made by the VIIRS day/night band (DNB) provide daily, nighttime measurements to monitor Earth surface processes. However, these observations are impacted by variations in reflected solar radiation on the moon's surface. As the moon transitions from new to full phase, increasing radiance is reflected to the Earth's surface and contributes additional reflected moonlight from clouds and land surface, in addition to emissions from other light sources observed by the DNB. The introduction of a bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) algorithm serves to remove these lunar variations and normalize observed radiances. Provided by the Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center, a 1 km gridded lunar BRDF-corrected DNB product and VIIRS cloud mask can be used for a multitude of nighttime applications without influence from the moon. Such applications include the detection of power outages following severe weather events using pre- and post-event DNB imagery, as well as the identification of boat features to curtail illegal fishing practices. This presentation will provide context on the importance of the lunar BRDF correction algorithm and explore the aforementioned uses of this improved DNB product for applied science applications.

Plasmonic reflectance anisotropy spectroscopy of metal nanoparticles on a semiconductor surface

Science.gov (United States)

Kosobukin, V. A.; Korotchenkov, A. V.

2016-12-01

A theory of plasmonic differential anisotropic reflection of light from nanoparticles located near the interface between media is developed. The model of a monolayer consisting of identical ellipsoidal metal particles occupying sites of a rectangular lattice is investigated. Effective plasmonic polarizabilities of nanoparticles in the layer are calculated self-consistently using the Green's function technique in the quasipoint dipole approximation. The local-field effect caused by anisotropic dipole plasmons of particles in the layer and their image dipoles is taken into account. The lately observed resonant reflectance anisotropy spectra of indium nanoclusters on InAs surface are explained by the difference between frequencies of plasmons with the orthogonal polarizations in the surface plane. The difference between the plasmon frequencies is attributed to anisotropy of the particles shape or/and the layer structure; the signs of frequency difference for the two types of anisotropy being different.

Infrared spectroscopy (2.3-20 microns) for the geological interpretation of remotely-sensed multispectral thermal infrared data

Science.gov (United States)

Bartholomew, Mary Jane; Kahle, Anne B.; Hoover, Gordon

1989-01-01

The spectral radiance and spectral reflectance of natural weathered surfaces of common sedimentary and igneous rocks is determined from in situ and in the laboratory measurements. In situ spectral radiance measurements (5-14 microns) were made with a portable spectral radiometer and were used to derive the spectral emissivity of the rocks. The spectral reflectance measurements (2.3-20 microns) were made in a laboratory with a Fourier transform IR spectrometer with a diffuse reflectance accessory. Good agreement is found between the two techniques. The field portable spectrometer has a larger field of view and the in situ data provide more accurate measurements of the intensity of spectral features related to temperature and atmospheric effects.

Evaluation of BRDF Archetypes for Representing Surface Reflectance Anisotropy Using MODIS BRDF Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hu Zhang

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF archetypes extracted from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS BRDF/Albedo product over the global Earth Observing System Land Validation Core Sites can be used to simplify BRDF models. The present study attempts to evaluate the representativeness of BRDF archetypes for surface reflectance anisotropy. Five-year forward-modeled MODIS multi-angular reflectance (MCD-ref and aditional actual MODIS multi-angular observations (MCD-obs in four growing periods in 2008 over three tiles were taken as validation data. First, BRDF archetypes in the principal plane were qualitatively compared with the time-series MODIS BRDF product of randomly sampled pixels. Secondly, BRDF archetypes were used to fit MCD-ref, and the average root-mean-squared errors (RMSEs over each tile were examined for these five years. Finally, both BRDF archetypes and the MODIS BRDF were used to fit MCD-obs, and the histograms of the fit-RMSEs were compared. The consistency of the directional reflectance between the BRDF archetypes and MODIS BRDFs in nadir-view, hotspot and entire viewing hemisphere at 30° and 50° solar geometries were also examined. The results confirm that BRDF archetypes are representative of surface reflectance anisotropy for available snow-free MODIS data.

Reflective all-sky thermal infrared cloud imager.

Science.gov (United States)

Redman, Brian J; Shaw, Joseph A; Nugent, Paul W; Clark, R Trevor; Piazzolla, Sabino

2018-04-30

A reflective all-sky imaging system has been built using a long-wave infrared microbolometer camera and a reflective metal sphere. This compact system was developed for measuring spatial and temporal patterns of clouds and their optical depth in support of applications including Earth-space optical communications. The camera is mounted to the side of the reflective sphere to leave the zenith sky unobstructed. The resulting geometric distortion is removed through an angular map derived from a combination of checkerboard-target imaging, geometric ray tracing, and sun-location-based alignment. A tape of high-emissivity material on the side of the reflector acts as a reference that is used to estimate and remove thermal emission from the metal sphere. Once a bias that is under continuing study was removed, sky radiance measurements from the all-sky imager in the 8-14 μm wavelength range agreed to within 0.91 W/(m 2 sr) of measurements from a previously calibrated, lens-based infrared cloud imager over its 110° field of view.

A sphere-scanning radiometer for rapid directional measurements of sky and ground radiance: The PARABOLA field instrument

Science.gov (United States)

Deering, D. W.; Leone, P.

1984-11-01

A unique field instrument, called the PARABOLA, a collapsable support boom, which is self contained and easily transportable to remote sites to enable the acquisition of radiance data for almost the complete (4 pi) sky and ground-looking hemispheres in only 11 seconds was designed. The PARABOLA samples in 15 deg instantaneous field of view sectors in three narrow bandpass spectral channels simultaneously. Field measurement on a variety of earth surface cover types using a truck boom, a specially designed pickup truck mounting system, and a hot air balloon were studied. The PARABOLA instrument has potential for climatological and other studies which require characterization of the distribution of diffuse solar radiation within the sky hemisphere.

MODIS/Aqua Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 250m - NRT

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 250 meter MODIS Level 1B Near Real Time (NRT) data set contains calibrated and geolocated at-aperture radiances for 2 discrete bands located in the 0.62 to 0.88...

Improving Forecast Skill by Assimilation of AIRS Cloud Cleared Radiances RiCC

Science.gov (United States)

Susskind, Joel; Rosenberg, Robert I.; Iredell, Lena

2015-01-01

ECMWF, NCEP, and GMAO routinely assimilate radiosonde and other in-situ observations along with satellite IR and MW Sounder radiance observations. NCEP and GMAO use the NCEP GSI Data Assimilation System (DAS).GSI DAS assimilates AIRS, CrIS, IASI channel radiances Ri on a channel-by-channel, case-by-case basis, only for those channels i thought to be unaffected by cloud cover. This test excludes Ri for most tropospheric sounding channels under partial cloud cover conditions. AIRS Version-6 RiCC is a derived quantity representative of what AIRS channel i would have seen if the AIRS FOR were cloud free. All values of RiCC have case-by-case error estimates RiCC associated with them. Our experiments present to the GSI QCd values of AIRS RiCC in place of AIRS Ri observations. GSI DAS assimilates only those values of RiCC it thinks are cloud free. This potentially allows for better coverage of assimilated QCd values of RiCC as compared to Ri.

Comparison of the GHSSmooth and the Rayleigh-Rice surface scatter theories

Science.gov (United States)

Harvey, James E.; Pfisterer, Richard N.

2016-09-01

The scalar-based GHSSmooth surface scatter theory results in an expression for the BRDF in terms of the surface PSD that is very similar to that provided by the rigorous Rayleigh-Rice (RR) vector perturbation theory. However it contains correction factors for two extreme situations not shared by the RR theory: (i) large incident or scattered angles that result in some portion of the scattered radiance distribution falling outside of the unit circle in direction cosine space, and (ii) the situation where the relevant rms surface roughness, σrel, is less than the total intrinsic rms roughness of the scattering surface. Also, the RR obliquity factor has been discovered to be an approximation of the more general GHSSmooth obliquity factor due to a little-known (or long-forgotten) implicit assumption in the RR theory that the surface autocovariance length is longer than the wavelength of the scattered radiation. This assumption allowed retaining only quadratic terms and lower in the series expansion for the cosine function, and results in reducing the validity of RR predictions for scattering angles greater than 60°. This inaccurate obliquity factor in the RR theory is also the cause of a complementary unrealistic "hook" at the high spatial frequency end of the predicted surface PSD when performing the inverse scattering problem. Furthermore, if we empirically substitute the polarization reflectance, Q, from the RR expression for the scalar reflectance, R, in the GHSSmooth expression, it inherits all of the polarization capabilities of the rigorous RR vector perturbation theory.

Ray splitting in the reflection and refraction of surface acoustic waves in anisotropic solids.

Science.gov (United States)

Every, A G; Maznev, A A

2010-05-01

This paper examines the conditions for, and provides examples of, ray splitting in the reflection and refraction of surface acoustic waves (SAW) in elastically anisotropic solids at straight obstacles such as edges, surface breaking cracks, and interfaces between different solids. The concern here is not with the partial scattering of an incident SAW's energy into bulk waves, but with the occurrence of more than one SAW ray in the reflected and/or transmitted wave fields, by analogy with birefringence in optics and mode conversion of bulk elastic waves at interfaces. SAW ray splitting is dependent on the SAW slowness curve possessing concave regions, which within the constraint of wave vector conservation parallel to the obstacle allows multiple outgoing SAW modes for certain directions of incidence and orientation of obstacle. The existence of pseudo-SAW for a given surface provides a further channel for ray splitting. This paper discusses some typical material configurations for which SAW ray splitting occurs. An example is provided of mode conversion entailing backward reflection or negative refraction. Experimental demonstration of ray splitting in the reflection of a laser generated SAW in GaAs(111) is provided. The calculation of SAW mode conversion amplitudes lies outside the scope of this paper.

Using Neural Networks to Improve the Performance of Radiative Transfer Modeling Used for Geometry Dependent LER Calculations

Science.gov (United States)

Fasnacht, Z.; Qin, W.; Haffner, D. P.; Loyola, D. G.; Joiner, J.; Krotkov, N. A.; Vasilkov, A. P.; Spurr, R. J. D.

2017-12-01

In order to estimate surface reflectance used in trace gas retrieval algorithms, radiative transfer models (RTM) such as the Vector Linearized Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer Model (VLIDORT) can be used to simulate the top of the atmosphere (TOA) radiances with advanced models of surface properties. With large volumes of satellite data, these model simulations can become computationally expensive. Look up table interpolation can improve the computational cost of the calculations, but the non-linear nature of the radiances requires a dense node structure if interpolation errors are to be minimized. In order to reduce our computational effort and improve the performance of look-up tables, neural networks can be trained to predict these radiances. We investigate the impact of using look-up table interpolation versus a neural network trained using the smart sampling technique, and show that neural networks can speed up calculations and reduce errors while using significantly less memory and RTM calls. In future work we will implement a neural network in operational processing to meet growing demands for reflectance modeling in support of high spatial resolution satellite missions.

Potential for the use of reconstructed IASI radiances in the detection of atmospheric trace gases

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N. C. Atkinson

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Principal component (PC analysis has received considerable attention as a technique for the extraction of meteorological signals from hyperspectral infra-red sounders such as the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI and the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS. In addition to achieving substantial bit-volume reductions for dissemination purposes, the technique can also be used to generate reconstructed radiances in which random instrument noise has been reduced. Studies on PC analysis of hyperspectral infrared sounder data have been undertaken in the context of numerical weather prediction, instrument monitoring and geophysical variable retrieval, as well as data compression. This study examines the potential of PC analysis for chemistry applications.

A major concern in the use of PC analysis for chemistry is that the spectral features associated with trace gases may not be well represented in the reconstructed spectra, either due to deficiencies in the training set or due to the limited number of PC scores used in the radiance reconstruction. In this paper we show examples of reconstructed IASI radiances for several trace gases: ammonia, sulphur dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide. It is shown that care must be taken in the selection of spectra for the initial training set: an iterative technique, in which outlier spectra are added to a base training set, gives the best results. For the four trace gases examined, key features of the chemical signatures are retained in the reconstructed radiances, whilst achieving a substantial reduction in instrument noise.

A new regional re-transmission service for IASI is scheduled to start in 2010, as part of the EUMETSAT Advanced Retransmission Service (EARS. For this EARS-IASI service it is intended to include PC scores as part of the data stream. The paper describes the generation of the reference eigenvectors for this new service.

Characterizing Land Surface Anisotropic Reflectance over Rugged Terrain: A Review of Concepts and Recent Developments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianguang Wen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Rugged terrain, including mountains, hills, and some high lands are typical land surfaces around the world. As a physical parameter for characterizing the anisotropic reflectance of the land surface, the importance of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF has been gradually recognized in the remote sensing community, and great efforts have been dedicated to build BRDF models over various terrain types. However, on rugged terrain, the topography intensely affects the shape and magnitude of the BRDF and creates challenges in modeling the BRDF. In this paper, after a brief introduction of the theoretical background of the BRDF over rugged terrain, the status of estimating land surface BRDF properties over rugged terrain is comprehensively reviewed from a historical perspective and summarized in two categories: BRDFs describing solo slopes and those describing composite slopes. The discussion focuses on land surface reflectance retrieval over mountainous areas, the difference in solo slope and composite slope BRDF models, and suggested future research to improve the accuracy of BRDFs derived with remote sensing satellites.

Surface net solar radiation estimated from satellite measurements - Comparisons with tower observations

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhanqing; Leighton, H. G.; Cess, Robert D.

1993-01-01

A parameterization that relates the reflected solar flux at the top of the atmosphere to the net solar flux at the surface in terms of only the column water vapor amount and the solar zenith angle was tested against surface observations. Net surface fluxes deduced from coincidental collocated satellite-measured radiances and from measurements from towers in Boulder during summer and near Saskatoon in winter have mean differences of about 2 W/sq m, regardless of whether the sky is clear or cloudy. Furthermore, comparisons between the net fluxes deduced from the parameterization and from surface measurements showed equally good agreement when the data were partitioned into morning and afternoon observations. This is in contrast to results from an empirical clear-sky algorithm that is unable to account adequately for the effects of clouds and that shows, at Boulder, a distinct morning to afternoon variation. It is also demonstrated that the parameterization may be applied to irradiances at the top of the atmosphere that have been temporally averaged. The good agreement between the results of the parameterization and surface measurements suggests that the algorithm is a useful tool for a variety of climate studies.

Integration of Chandrasekhar's integral equation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Tasuku

2003-01-01

We solve Chandrasekhar's integration equation for radiative transfer in the plane-parallel atmosphere by iterative integration. The primary thrust in radiative transfer has been to solve the forward problem, i.e., to evaluate the radiance, given the optical thickness and the scattering phase function. In the area of satellite remote sensing, our problem is the inverse problem: to retrieve the surface reflectance and the optical thickness of the atmosphere from the radiance measured by satellites. In order to retrieve the optical thickness and the surface reflectance from the radiance at the top-of-the atmosphere (TOA), we should express the radiance at TOA 'explicitly' in the optical thickness and the surface reflectance. Chandrasekhar formalized radiative transfer in the plane-parallel atmosphere in a simultaneous integral equation, and he obtained the second approximation. Since then no higher approximation has been reported. In this paper, we obtain the third approximation of the scattering function. We integrate functions derived from the second approximation in the integral interval from 1 to ∞ of the inverse of the cos of zenith angles. We can obtain the indefinite integral rather easily in the form of a series expansion. However, the integrals at the upper limit, ∞, are not yet known to us. We can assess the converged values of those series expansions at ∞ through calculus. For integration, we choose coupling pairs to avoid unnecessary terms in the outcome of integral and discover that the simultaneous integral equation can be deduced to the mere integral equation. Through algebraic calculation, we obtain the third approximation as a polynomial of the third degree in the atmospheric optical thickness

Decadal changes of surface elevation over permafrost area estimated using reflected GPS signals

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lin; Larson, Kristine M.

2018-02-01

Conventional benchmark-based survey and Global Positioning System (GPS) have been used to measure surface elevation changes over permafrost areas, usually once or a few times a year. Here we use reflected GPS signals to measure temporal changes of ground surface elevation due to dynamics of the active layer and near-surface permafrost. Applying the GPS interferometric reflectometry technique to the multipath signal-to-noise ratio data collected by a continuously operating GPS receiver mounted deep in permafrost in Barrow, Alaska, we can retrieve the vertical distance between the antenna and reflecting surface. Using this unique kind of observables, we obtain daily changes of surface elevation during July and August from 2004 to 2015. Our results show distinct temporal variations at three timescales: regular thaw settlement within each summer, strong interannual variability that is characterized by a sub-decadal subsidence trend followed by a brief uplift trend, and a secular subsidence trend of 0.26 ± 0.02 cm year-1 during 2004 and 2015. This method provides a new way to fully utilize data from continuously operating GPS sites in cold regions for studying dynamics of the frozen ground consistently and sustainably over a long time.

MODIS/Aqua Raw Radiances in Counts 5-Min L1A Swath V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MODIS/Aqua Raw Radiances in Counts 5-Min L1A Swath (MYD01) product contains reformatted and packaged raw instrument data. MODIS instrument data, in packetized...

SU-E-T-470: Beam Performance of the Radiance 330 Proton Therapy System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nazaryan, H; Nazaryan, V; Wang, F; Flanz, J; Alexandrov, V

2014-01-01

Purpose: The ProTom Radiance 330 proton radiotherapy system is a fully functional, compact proton radiotherapy system that provides advanced proton delivery capabilities. It supports three-dimensional beam scanning with energy and intensity modulation. A series of measurements have been conducted to characterize the beam performance of the first installation of the system at the McLaren Proton Therapy Center in Flint, Michigan. These measurements were part of the technical commissioning of the system. Select measurements and results are presented. Methods: The Radiance 330 proton beam energy range is 70–250 MeV for treatment, and up to 330 MeV for proton tomography and radiography. Its 3-D scanning capability, together with a small beam emittance and momentum spread, provides a highly efficient beam delivery. During the technical commissioning, treatment plans were created to deliver uniform maps at various energies to perform Gamma Index analysis. EBT3 Gafchromic films were irradiated using the Planned irradiation maps. Bragg Peak chamber was used to test the dynamic range during a scan in one layer for high (250 MeV) and Low (70 MeV) energies. The maximum and minimum range, range adjustment and modulation, distal dose falloff (80%–20%), pencil beam spot size, spot placement accuracy were also measured. The accuracy testing included acquiring images, image registration, receiving correction vectors and applying the corrections to the robotic patient positioner. Results: Gamma Index analysis of the Treatment Planning System (TPS) data vs. Measured data showed more than 90% of points within (3%, 3mm) for the maps created by the TPS. At Isocenter Beam Size (One sigma) < 3mm at highest energy (250 MeV) in air. Beam delivery was within 0.6 mm of the intended target at the entrance and the exit of the beam, through the phantom. Conclusion: The Radiance 330 Beam Performance Measurements have confirmed that the system operates as designed with excellent clinical

SU-E-T-470: Beam Performance of the Radiance 330 Proton Therapy System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nazaryan, H; Nazaryan, V; Wang, F [ProTom International, Inc., Flower Mound, TX (United States); Flanz, J [Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA (United States); Alexandrov, V [ZAO ProTom, Protvino, Moscow region (Russian Federation)

2014-06-01

Purpose: The ProTom Radiance 330 proton radiotherapy system is a fully functional, compact proton radiotherapy system that provides advanced proton delivery capabilities. It supports three-dimensional beam scanning with energy and intensity modulation. A series of measurements have been conducted to characterize the beam performance of the first installation of the system at the McLaren Proton Therapy Center in Flint, Michigan. These measurements were part of the technical commissioning of the system. Select measurements and results are presented. Methods: The Radiance 330 proton beam energy range is 70–250 MeV for treatment, and up to 330 MeV for proton tomography and radiography. Its 3-D scanning capability, together with a small beam emittance and momentum spread, provides a highly efficient beam delivery. During the technical commissioning, treatment plans were created to deliver uniform maps at various energies to perform Gamma Index analysis. EBT3 Gafchromic films were irradiated using the Planned irradiation maps. Bragg Peak chamber was used to test the dynamic range during a scan in one layer for high (250 MeV) and Low (70 MeV) energies. The maximum and minimum range, range adjustment and modulation, distal dose falloff (80%–20%), pencil beam spot size, spot placement accuracy were also measured. The accuracy testing included acquiring images, image registration, receiving correction vectors and applying the corrections to the robotic patient positioner. Results: Gamma Index analysis of the Treatment Planning System (TPS) data vs. Measured data showed more than 90% of points within (3%, 3mm) for the maps created by the TPS. At Isocenter Beam Size (One sigma) < 3mm at highest energy (250 MeV) in air. Beam delivery was within 0.6 mm of the intended target at the entrance and the exit of the beam, through the phantom. Conclusion: The Radiance 330 Beam Performance Measurements have confirmed that the system operates as designed with excellent clinical

Scanning tunnel microscopic image of tungsten (100) and (110) real surfaces and nature of conduction electron reflection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pryadkin, S.L.; Tsoj, V.S.

1988-01-01

The electrically polished (100) and (110) surfaces of tungsten are studied with the aid of a scanning tunnel microscope at atmospheric pressure. The (110) surface consists of a large number of atomically plane terraces whereas the (100) surface is faceted. The scanning tunnel microscope data can explain such results of experiments on transverse electron focussing as the strong dependence of the probability for specular reflection of conduction electrons scattered by the (100) surface on the electron de Broglie wavelength and the absence of a dependence of the probability for specular reflection on the wavelength for the (110) surface

Ultraviolet (UV)-reflective paint with ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) improves decontamination of nosocomial bacteria on hospital room surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Jelden, Katelyn C; Gibbs, Shawn G; Smith, Philip W; Hewlett, Angela L; Iwen, Peter C; Schmid, Kendra K; Lowe, John J

2017-06-01

An ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) generator (the TORCH, ClorDiSys Solutions, Inc.) was used to compare the disinfection of surface coupons (plastic from a bedrail, stainless steel, and chrome-plated light switch cover) in a hospital room with walls coated with ultraviolet (UV)-reflective paint (Lumacept) or standard paint. Each surface coupon was inoculated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis (VRE), placed at 6 different sites within a hospital room coated with UV-reflective paint or standard paint, and treated by 10 min UVC exposure (UVC dose of 0-688 mJ/cm 2 between sites with standard paint and 0-553 mJ/cm 2 with UV-reflective paint) in 8 total trials. Aggregated MRSA concentrations on plastic bedrail surface coupons were reduced on average by 3.0 log 10 (1.8 log 10 Geometric Standard Deviation [GSD]) with standard paint and 4.3 log 10 (1.3 log 10 GSD) with UV-reflective paint (p = 0.0005) with no significant reduction differences between paints on stainless steel and chrome. Average VRE concentrations were reduced by ≥4.9 log 10 (surface types with UV-reflective paint and ≤4.1 log 10 (hospital bed from the UVGI generator, MRSA concentrations on average were reduced by 1.3 log 10 (1.7 log 10 GSD) with standard paint and 4.7 log 10 (1.3 log 10 GSD) with UV-reflective paint (p hospital room walls with UV-reflective paint enhanced UVGI disinfection of nosocomial bacteria on various surfaces compared to standard paint, particularly at a surface placement site indirectly exposed to UVC light.

Directional reflectance factor distributions of a cotton row crop

Science.gov (United States)

Kimes, D. S.; Newcomb, W. W.; Schutt, J. B.; Pinter, P. J., Jr.; Jackson, R. D.

1984-01-01

The directional reflectance factor distribution spanning the entire exitance hemisphere was measured for a cotton row crop (Gossypium barbadense L.) with 39 percent ground cover. Spectral directional radiances were taken in NOAA satellite 7 AVHRR bands 1 and 2 using a three-band radiometer with restricted 12 deg full angle field of view at half peak power points. Polar co-ordinate system plots of directional reflectance factor distributions and three-dimensional computer graphic plots of scattered flux were used to study the dynamics of the directional reflectance factor distribution as a function of spectral band, geometric structure of the scene, solar zenith and azimuth angles, and optical properties of the leaves and soil. The factor distribution of the incomplete row crops was highly polymodal relative to that for complete vegetation canopies. Besides the enhanced reflectance for the antisolar point, a reflectance minimum was observed towards the forwardscatter direction in the principle plane of the sun. Knowledge of the mechanics of the observed dynamics of the data may be used to provide rigorous validation for two- or three-dimensional radiative transfer models, and is important in interpreting aircraft and satellite data where the solar angle varies widely.

An efficient approach for computing the geometrical optics field reflected from a numerically specified surface

Science.gov (United States)

Mittra, R.; Rushdi, A.

1979-01-01

An approach for computing the geometrical optic fields reflected from a numerically specified surface is presented. The approach includes the step of deriving a specular point and begins with computing the reflected rays off the surface at the points where their coordinates, as well as the partial derivatives (or equivalently, the direction of the normal), are numerically specified. Then, a cluster of three adjacent rays are chosen to define a 'mean ray' and the divergence factor associated with this mean ray. Finally, the ampilitude, phase, and vector direction of the reflected field at a given observation point are derived by associating this point with the nearest mean ray and determining its position relative to such a ray.

Study on the effect of ambient gas on nanostructure formation on metal surfaces during femtosecond laser ablation for fabrication of low-reflective surfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smausz, Tomi, E-mail: tomi@physx.u-szeged.hu [MTA-SZTE Research Group on Photoacoustic Spectroscopy, University of Szeged, 6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 9 (Hungary); Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 9 (Hungary); Csizmadia, Tamás [Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 9 (Hungary); Attosecond Light Pulse Source, ELI-Hu Nkft, H-6720 Szeged, Dugonics ter 13 (Hungary); Tápai, Csaba; Kopniczky, Judit [Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 9 (Hungary); Oszkó, Albert [Department of Physical Chemistry and Material Science, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Aradi vértanuk tere 1 (Hungary); Ehrhardt, Martin; Lorenz, Pierre; Zimmer, Klaus; Prager, Andrea [Leibniz-Institut für Oberflächenmodifizierung e.V., Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig (Germany); Hopp, Béla [Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, H-6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 9 (Hungary)

2016-12-15

Highlights: • Metal surfaces were irradiated with femtosecond laser in different gas environments. • The reflectivity, morphology and chemical composition of the surfaces were studied. • Darkening was influenced by chemical and physical interaction of the plume and gas. • Molecular mass of the applied gas had an impact on the nanostructure formation. • For some of the used metals the oxide formation affected the reflective properties. - Abstract: Nanostructure formation on bulk metals (silver, gold, copper and titanium) by femtosecond Ti-sapphire laser irradiation (775 nm, 150 fs) is studied aiming the production of low-reflectivity surfaces and the better understanding of the development process. The experiments were performed in nitrogen, air, oxygen and helium environments at atmospheric pressure. The samples were irradiated with fluences in the 0.1–2 J/cm{sup 2} range and an average pulse number of 100 falling over a given area. The reflectivity of the treated surfaces was determined by a microspectrometer in the 450–800 nm range and their morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The gas ambience influenced the results via two effects: formation processes and the chemically-induced modifications of the nanostructures. In case of He the nanoparticle aggregates–otherwise generally present–are predominantly missing, which leads to a lower darkening efficiency. The presence of oxygen enhances the darkening effect for copper mostly at lower fluences, while causes a slow increase in reflectivity in the case of titanium (in case of pure oxygen) in the high fluence range. The surface morphology in case of nitrogen and air were quite similar probably due to their close molecular mass values.

Probing Ultrafast Electron Dynamics at Surfaces Using Soft X-Ray Transient Reflectivity Spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, L. Robert; Husek, Jakub; Biswas, Somnath; Cirri, Anthony

The ability to probe electron dynamics with surface sensitivity on the ultrafast time scale is critical for understanding processes such as charge separation, injection, and surface trapping that mediate efficiency in catalytic and energy conversion materials. Toward this goal, we have developed a high harmonic generation (HHG) light source for femtosecond soft x-ray reflectivity. Using this light source we investigated the ultrafast carrier dynamics at the surface of single crystalline α-Fe2O3, polycrystalline α-Fe2O3, and the mixed metal oxide, CuFeO2. We have recently demonstrated that CuFeO2 in particular is a selective catalyst for photo-electrochemical CO2 reduction to acetate; however, the role of electronic structure and charge carrier dynamics in mediating catalytic selectivity has not been well understood. Soft x-ray reflectivity measurements probe the M2,3, edges of the 3d transition metals, which provide oxidation and spin state resolution with element specificity. In addition to chemical state specificity, these measurements are also surface sensitive, and by independently simulating the contributions of the real and imaginary components of the complex refractive index, we can differentiate between surface and sub-surface contributions to the excited state spectrum. Accordingly, this work demonstrates the ability to probe ultrafast carrier dynamics in catalytic materials with element and chemical state specificity and with surface sensitivity.

MODIS/Terra Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 1km V005

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MODIS Level 1B data set contains calibrated and geolocated at-aperture radiances for 36 discrete bands located in the 0.4 to 14.4 micron region of...

Observed Spectral Invariant Behavior of Zenith Radiance in the Transition Zone Between Cloud-Free and Cloudy Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Marshak, A.; Knyazikhin, Y.; Chiu, C.; Wiscombe, W.

2010-01-01

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program's (ARM) new Shortwave Spectrometer (SWS) looks straight up and measures zenith radiance at 418 wavelengths between 350 and 2200 nm. Because of its 1-sec sampling resolution, the SWS provides a unique capability to study the transition zone between cloudy and clear sky areas. A surprising spectral invariant behavior is found between ratios of zenith radiance spectra during the transition from cloudy to cloud-free atmosphere. This behavior suggests that the spectral signature of the transition zone is a linear mixture between the two extremes (definitely cloudy and definitely clear). The weighting function of the linear mixture is found to be a wavelength-independent characteristic of the transition zone. It is shown that the transition zone spectrum is fully determined by this function and zenith radiance spectra of clear and cloudy regions. This new finding may help us to better understand and quantify such physical phenomena as humidification of aerosols in the relatively moist cloud environment and evaporation and activation of cloud droplets.

Instrument development for atmospheric radiation measurement (ARM): Status of the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer - extended Resolution (AERI-X), the Solar Radiance Transmission Interferometer (SORTI), and the Absolute Solar Transmission Inferometer (ASTI)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murcray, F.; Stephen, T.; Kosters, J. [Univ. of Denver, CO (United States)

1996-04-01

This paper describes three instruments currently under developemnt for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program at the University of Denver: the AERI-X (Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer-Extended Resolution) and the SORTI (Solar R adiance Transmission Interferometer), and ASTI (Absolute Solar transmission Interferometer).

Retrieval of the Land Surface Reflectance for Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 and its validation.

Science.gov (United States)

Roger, J. C.; Vermote, E.; Skakun, S.; Franch, B.; Holben, B. N.; Justice, C. O.

2017-12-01

The land surface reflectance is a fundamental climate data record at the basis of the derivation of other climate data records (Albedo, LAI/Fpar, Vegetation indices) and a key parameter in the understanding of the land-surface-climate processes. For 25 years, Vermote and al. develop atmospheric corrections methods to define a land surface reflectance product for various satellites (AVHRR, MODIS, VIIRS…). This presentation highlights the algorithms developed both for Landsant-8 and Sentinel-2. We also emphasize the validation of the "Land surface reflectance" satellite products, which is a very important step to be done. For that purpose, we compared the surface reflectance products to a reference determined by using the accurate radiative transfer code 6S and very detailed measurements of the atmosphere obtained over the AERONET network (which allows to test for a large range of aerosol characteristics); formers being important inputs for atmospheric corrections. However, the application of this method necessitates the definition of a very detailed protocol for the use of AERONET data especially as far as size distribution and absorption are concerned, so that alternative validation methods or protocols could be compared. We describe here the protocol we have been working on based on our experience with the AERONET data and its application to Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2). We also derive a detailed error budget in relation to this approach. For a mean loaded atmosphere, t550 less than 0.25, the maximum uncertainty is 0.0025 corresponding to a relative uncertainty (in the RED channels): U 0.10, and 1% rsurf > 0.04.

Non-invasive identification of metal-oxalate complexes on polychrome artwork surfaces by reflection mid-infrared spectroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Monico, Letizia; Rosi, Francesca; Miliani, Costanza; Daveri, Alessia; Brunetti, Brunetto G

2013-12-01

In this work a reflection mid-infrared spectroscopy study of twelve metal-oxalate complexes, of interest in art conservation science as alteration compounds, was performed. Spectra of the reference materials highlighted the presence of derivative-like and/or inverted features for the fundamental vibrational modes as result of the main contribution from the surface component of the reflected light. In order to provide insights in the interpretation of theses spectral distortions, reflection spectra were compared with conventional transmission ones. The Kramers-Kronig (KK) algorithm, employed to correct for the surface reflection distortions, worked properly only for the derivative-like bands. Therefore, to pay attention to the use of this algorithm when interpreting the reflection spectra is recommended. The outcome of this investigation was exploited to discriminate among different oxalates on thirteen polychrome artworks analyzed in situ by reflection mid-infrared spectroscopy. The visualization of the νs(CO) modes (1400-1200 cm(-1)) and low wavenumber bands (below 900 cm(-1)) in the raw reflection profiles allowed Ca, Cu and Zn oxalates to be identified. Further information about the speciation of different hydration forms of calcium oxalates were obtained by using the KK transform. The work proves reflection mid-infrared spectroscopy to be a reliable and sensitive spectro-analytical method for identifying and mapping different metal-oxalate alteration compounds on the surface of artworks, thus providing conservation scientists with a non-invasive tool to obtain information on the state of conservation and causes of alteration of artworks. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Classification of Clean and Dirty Pighouse Surfaces Based on Spectral Reflectance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Blanke, Mogens; Braithwaite, Ian David; Zhang, Guo-Qiang

2004-01-01

of designing a vision based system to locate dirty areas and subsequently direct a cleaning robot to remove dirt. Novel results include the characterisation of the spectral reflectance of real surfaces and dirt in a pig house and the design of illumination to obtain discrimination of clean from dirty areas...

An explicit canopy BRDF model and inversion. [Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Shunlin; Strahler, Alan H.

1992-01-01

Based on a rigorous canopy radiative transfer equation, the multiple scattering radiance is approximated by the asymptotic theory, and the single scattering radiance calculation, which requires an numerical intergration due to considering the hotspot effect, is simplified. A new formulation is presented to obtain more exact angular dependence of the sky radiance distribution. The unscattered solar radiance and single scattering radiance are calculated exactly, and the multiple scattering is approximated by the delta two-stream atmospheric radiative transfer model. The numerical algorithms prove that the parametric canopy model is very accurate, especially when the viewing angles are smaller than 55 deg. The Powell algorithm is used to retrieve biospheric parameters from the ground measured multiangle observations.

Micro reflectance difference techniques: Optical probes for surface exploration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lastras-Martinez, L.F.; Del Pozo-Zamudio, O.; Herrera-Jasso, R.; Ulloa-Castillo, N.A.; Balderas-Navarro, R.E.; Ortega-Gallegos, J.; Lastras-Martinez, A. [Instituto de Investigacion en Comunicacion Optica, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, Alvaro Obregon 64, 78000 San Luis Potosi, S.L.P. (Mexico)

2012-06-15

Micro reflectance difference spectroscopy ({mu}-RDS) is a promising tool for the in-situ and ex-situ characterization of semiconductors surfaces and interfaces. We discuss and compare two different approaches used to measure {mu}-RD spectra. One is based on a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, while the other uses a laser and a XY translation stage. To show the performance of these systems, we have measured surface optical anisotropies of GaSb(001) sample on which anisotropic strains have been generated by preferential mechanical polishing along [110] and [1 anti 10] directions. The spectrometers are complementary and the selection of one of them depends on the sample to be investigated and on experimental conditions. (Copyright copyright 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Aerosol Properties Derived from Airborne Sky Radiance and Direct Beam Measurements in Recent NASA and DoE Field Campaigns

Science.gov (United States)

Redemann, J.; Flynn, C. J.; Shinozuka, Y.; Russell, P. B.; Kacenelenbogen, M.; Segal-Rosenheimer, M.; Livingston, J. M.; Schmid, B.; Dunagan, S. E.; Johnson, R. R.;

A method for the characterization of the reflectance of anisotropic functional surfaces

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Regi, Francesco; Nielsen, J B; Li, Dongya

2018-01-01

The functional properties of micro-structured surfaces have gained increasing interest thanks to many applications such as wetting, adhesion, thermal and/or electrical conductivity. In this study, directional optical properties, i.e. contrast between two regions of a surface, were achieved...... reflectance of the surface for a range of design-specific view-illumination configurations was determined using a method that involves a Hirox RH-2000 digital microscope, used as a gonioreflectometer. This method allows the empirical determination of the optimum surface microstructure for maximizing contrast...... between two horizontally orthogonal views. The results show that even if the uncertainty related to the instrumentation is up to 20% in some cases, this procedure is suitable for the characterization of the surface of both metal and plastic counterpart....

Calculating the bidirectional reflectance of natural vegetation covers using Boolean models and geometric optics

Science.gov (United States)

Strahler, Alan H.; Li, Xiao-Wen; Jupp, David L. B.

1991-01-01

The bidirectional radiance or reflectance of a forest or woodland can be modeled using principles of geometric optics and Boolean models for random sets in a three dimensional space. This model may be defined at two levels, the scene includes four components; sunlight and shadowed canopy, and sunlit and shadowed background. The reflectance of the scene is modeled as the sum of the reflectances of the individual components as weighted by their areal proportions in the field of view. At the leaf level, the canopy envelope is an assemblage of leaves, and thus the reflectance is a function of the areal proportions of sunlit and shadowed leaf, and sunlit and shadowed background. Because the proportions of scene components are dependent upon the directions of irradiance and exitance, the model accounts for the hotspot that is well known in leaf and tree canopies.

Effect of surface characteristics on diffuse reflection radiation at lambda=0. 40. mu. m

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Takashima, T [Atmospheric Environment Service, Downsview, Ontario (Canada)

1976-08-01

The diffuse radiation in the upward direction at the top and at an internal level of an inhomogeneous atmosphere is computed at lambda=0.40 ..mu..m. The surface is assumed to reflect light in accordance with a hybrid mode of a diffuse and specular reflector. The objective is to estimate the effect of underlying surface characteristics in terms of the diffuse radiation field. By making use of these results, accuracy in monitoring the atmospheric aerosols would be increased for the use of remote sensing satellite techniques. Junge power law (..gamma..*=3) is adopted for the size distribution of aerosols (1963), while the data given by McClatchy et al. (1971) is used for the number density of aerosols with height distribution. It is noted from the computations that the diffuse reflection radiation is affected by the surface characteristics, even if the albedo of the surface is a fixed constant and very small.

Development and applications of retro-reflective surfaces for ultrasound in LBE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2015-07-01

pulse or a complete absence of a reflection like a shadow. In that way, it suffices to align the sensor with the diaphragm instead of the fuel assembly which is much easier to achieve as the robotics on which the sensor is mounted move parallel with the diaphragm. The alignment requirement in the latter approach can be further relaxed by using a tiling of retro-reflectors on the lower surface of the diaphragm. In that way, alignment becomes less vital and the main source of acoustic energy loss - geometric spread of the beam - is almost completely removed, leaving only absorption losses. In this paper, we present the first results in developing a retro reflectance surface for ultrasound in LBE. We present experimental results for different designs of retro-reflectors in both water and LBE. We discuss both linear and array retro-reflectors of different sizes and investigate the influence of the main relevant ultrasonic parameters such as wavelength and spot size on the strength of the received reflection under different alignment angles. We also demonstrate how retro-reflective surfaces can be exploited when localizing objects using linear and rotating scanning methods. (authors)

Predicting top-of-atmosphere radiance for arbitrary viewing geometries from the visible to thermal infrared: generalization to arbitrary average scene temperatures

Science.gov (United States)

Florio, Christopher J.; Cota, Steve A.; Gaffney, Stephanie K.

2010-08-01

In a companion paper presented at this conference we described how The Aerospace Corporation's Parameterized Image Chain Analysis & Simulation SOftware (PICASSO) may be used in conjunction with a limited number of runs of AFRL's MODTRAN4 radiative transfer code, to quickly predict the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance received in the visible through midwave IR (MWIR) by an earth viewing sensor, for any arbitrary combination of solar and sensor elevation angles. The method is particularly useful for large-scale scene simulations where each pixel could have a unique value of reflectance/emissivity and temperature, making the run-time required for direct prediction via MODTRAN4 prohibitive. In order to be self-consistent, the method described requires an atmospheric model (defined, at a minimum, as a set of vertical temperature, pressure and water vapor profiles) that is consistent with the average scene temperature. MODTRAN4 provides only six model atmospheres, ranging from sub-arctic winter to tropical conditions - too few to cover with sufficient temperature resolution the full range of average scene temperatures that might be of interest. Model atmospheres consistent with intermediate temperature values can be difficult to come by, and in any event, their use would be too cumbersome for use in trade studies involving a large number of average scene temperatures. In this paper we describe and assess a method for predicting TOA radiance for any arbitrary average scene temperature, starting from only a limited number of model atmospheres.

MODIS/Terra Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 500m V005

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 500 meter MODIS Level 1B data set contains calibrated and geolocated at-aperture radiances for 7 discrete bands located in the 0.45 to 2.20 micron region of the...

MODIS/Terra Calibrated Radiances 5-Min L1B Swath 250m V005

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The 250 meter MODIS Level 1B data set contains calibrated and geolocated at-aperture radiances for 2 discrete bands located in the 0.62 to 0.88 micron region of the...

Combined analysis of surface reflection imaging and vertical seismic profiling at Yucca Mountain, Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daley, T.M.; Majer, E.L.; Karageorgi, E.

1994-08-01

This report presents results from surface and borehole seismic profiling performed by the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) on Yucca Mountain. This work was performed as part of the site characterization effort for the potential high-level nuclear waste repository. Their objective was to provide seismic imaging from the near surface (200 to 300 ft. depth) to the repository horizon and below, if possible. Among the issues addressed by this seismic imaging work are location and depth of fracturing and faulting, geologic identification of reflecting horizons, and spatial continuity of reflecting horizons. The authors believe their results are generally positive, with tome specific successes. This was the first attempt at this scale using modem seismic imaging techniques to determine geologic features on Yucca Mountain. The principle purpose of this report is to present the interpretation of the seismic reflection section in a geologic context. Three surface reflection profiles were acquired and processed as part of this study. Because of environmental concerns, all three lines were on preexisting roads. Line 1 crossed the mapped surface trace of the Ghost Dance fault and it was intended to study the dip and depth extent of the fault system. Line 2 was acquired along Drill Hole wash and was intended to help the ESF north ramp design activities. Line 3 was acquired along Yucca Crest and was designed to image geologic horizons which were thought to be less faulted along the ridge. Unfortunately, line 3 proved to have poor data quality, in part because of winds, poor field conditions and limited time. Their processing and interpretation efforts were focused on lines 1 and 2 and their associated VSP studies

Degradation of Silicon Carbide Reflective Surfaces in the LEO Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Mileti, Sandro; Coluzzi, Plinio; Marchetti, Mario

2009-01-01

Space mirrors in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) encounter a degradation problem caused by the impact of atomic oxygen (ATOX) in the space environment. This paper presents an experiment of the atomic oxygen impact degradation and UV synergic effects on ground simulation. The experiment was carried out in a dedicated ATOX simulation vacuum chamber. As target materials, a polished CVD Beta-silicon carbide (SiC) coating was investigated. The selection of silicon carbide is due to its high potential candidate as a mirror layer substrate material for its good reflectance at UV wavelengths and excellent thermal diffusivity. It has highly desirable mechanical and thermal properties and can achieve an excellent surface finish. The deposition of the coatings were on carbon-based material substrate; i.e., silicon impregnated carbon fiber composite (C/SiC). Mechanical and thermal properties of the coatings such as hardness and Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) were achieved. Several atomic oxygen impact angles were studied tilting the target samples respect to the flux direction. The various impact angles permitted to analyze the different erosion rates and typologies which the mirrors would encounter in LEO environment. The degradation was analyzed in various aspects. Macroscopic mass loss per unit area, surface roughness and morphology change were basically analyzed. The exposed surfaces of the materials were observed through a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Secondly, optical diagnostic of the surfaces were performed in order to investigate their variation in optical properties as the evaluation of reflectance degradation. The presence of micro-cracks caused by shrinkage, grinding, polishing or thermal cycling and the porosity in the coatings, could have led to the undercutting phenomenon. Observation of uprising of undercutting was also conducted. Remarks are given regarding capabilities in short-term mission exposures to the LEO environment of this coating.

Determining surface coverage of ultra-thin gold films from X-ray reflectivity measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kossoy, A.; Simakov, D.; Olafsson, S.; Leosson, K.

2013-01-01

The paper describes usage of X-ray reflectivity for characterization of surface coverage (i.e. film continuity) of ultra-thin gold films which are widely studied for optical, plasmonic and electronic applications. The demonstrated method is very sensitive and can be applied for layers below 1 nm. It has several advantages over other techniques which are often employed in characterization of ultra-thin metal films, such as optical absorption, Atomic Force Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy or Scanning Electron Microscopy. In contrast to those techniques our method does not require specialized sample preparation and measurement process is insensitive to electrostatic charge and/or presence of surface absorbed water. We validate our results with image processing of Scanning Electron Microscopy images. To ensure precise quantitative analysis of the images we developed a generic local thresholding algorithm which allowed us to treat series of images with various values of surface coverage with similar image processing parameters. - Highlights: • Surface coverage/continuity of ultra-thin Au films (up to 7 nm) was determined. • Results from X-ray reflectivity were verified by scanning electron microscopy. • We developed local thresholding algorithm to treat non-homogeneous image contrast

Exploration of a Polarized Surface Bidirectional Reflectance Model Using the Ground-Based Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David J. Diner

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Accurate characterization of surface reflection is essential for retrieval of aerosols using downward-looking remote sensors. In this paper, observations from the Ground-based Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (GroundMSPI are used to evaluate a surface polarized bidirectional reflectance distribution function (PBRDF model. GroundMSPI is an eight-band spectropolarimetric camera mounted on a rotating gimbal to acquire pushbroom imagery of outdoor landscapes. The camera uses a very accurate photoelastic-modulator-based polarimetric imaging technique to acquire Stokes vector measurements in three of the instrument’s bands (470, 660, and 865 nm. A description of the instrument is presented, and observations of selected targets within a scene acquired on 6 January 2010 are analyzed. Data collected during the course of the day as the Sun moved across the sky provided a range of illumination geometries that facilitated evaluation of the surface model, which is comprised of a volumetric reflection term represented by the modified Rahman-Pinty-Verstraete function plus a specular reflection term generated by a randomly oriented array of Fresnel-reflecting microfacets. While the model is fairly successful in predicting the polarized reflection from two grass targets in the scene, it does a poorer job for two manmade targets (a parking lot and a truck roof, possibly due to their greater degree of geometric organization. Several empirical adjustments to the model are explored and lead to improved fits to the data. For all targets, the data support the notion of spectral invariance in the angular shape of the unpolarized and polarized surface reflection. As noted by others, this behavior provides valuable constraints on the aerosol retrieval problem, and highlights the importance of multiangle observations.

Development of multi-sensor global cloud and radiance composites for earth radiation budget monitoring from DSCOVR

Science.gov (United States)

Khlopenkov, Konstantin; Duda, David; Thieman, Mandana; Minnis, Patrick; Su, Wenying; Bedka, Kristopher

2017-10-01

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) enables analysis of the daytime Earth radiation budget via the onboard Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) and National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR). Radiance observations and cloud property retrievals from low earth orbit and geostationary satellite imagers have to be co-located with EPIC pixels to provide scene identification in order to select anisotropic directional models needed to calculate shortwave and longwave fluxes. A new algorithm is proposed for optimal merging of selected radiances and cloud properties derived from multiple satellite imagers to obtain seamless global hourly composites at 5-km resolution. An aggregated rating is employed to incorporate several factors and to select the best observation at the time nearest to the EPIC measurement. Spatial accuracy is improved using inverse mapping with gradient search during reprojection and bicubic interpolation for pixel resampling. The composite data are subsequently remapped into EPIC-view domain by convolving composite pixels with the EPIC point spread function defined with a half-pixel accuracy. PSF-weighted average radiances and cloud properties are computed separately for each cloud phase. The algorithm has demonstrated contiguous global coverage for any requested time of day with a temporal lag of under 2 hours in over 95% of the globe.

Impacts of dust aerosol and adjacency effects on the accuracy of Landsat 8 and RapidEye surface reflectances

KAUST Repository

Houborg, Rasmus; McCabe, Matthew

2017-01-01

The atmospheric correction of satellite data is challenging over desert agricultural systems, due to the relatively high aerosol optical thicknesses (τ550), bright soils, and a heterogeneous surface reflectance field. Indeed, the contribution of reflected radiation from adjacent pixels scattered into the field of view of a target pixel is considerable and can significantly affect the fidelity of retrieved reflectances. In this study, uncertainties and quantitative errors associated with the atmospheric correction of multi-spectral Landsat 8 and RapidEye data were characterized over a desert agricultural landscape in Saudi Arabia. Surface reflectances were retrieved using an implementation of the 6SV atmospheric correction code, and validated against field collected spectroradiometer measurements over desert, cultivated soil, and vegetated surface targets. A combination of satellite and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data were used to parameterize aerosol properties and atmospheric state parameters. With optimal specification of τ550 and aerosol optical properties and correction for adjacency effects, the relative Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) for all bands combined was 5.4% for RapidEye and 6.8% for Landsat 8. However uncertainties associated with satellite-based τ550 retrievals were shown to introduce significant error into the reflectance estimates. With respect to deriving common vegetation indices from corrected reflectance data, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was associated with the smallest errors (3–8% MAD). Surface reflectance errors were highest for bands in the visible part of the spectrum, particularly the blue band (5–16%), while there was more consistency within the red-edge (~ 5%) and near-infrared (5–7%). Results were generally better constrained when a τ550-dependent aerosol model for desert dust particles, parameterized on the basis of nearby AERONET site data, was used in place of a generic rural or background

Impacts of dust aerosol and adjacency effects on the accuracy of Landsat 8 and RapidEye surface reflectances

KAUST Repository

Houborg, Rasmus

2017-03-29

The atmospheric correction of satellite data is challenging over desert agricultural systems, due to the relatively high aerosol optical thicknesses (τ550), bright soils, and a heterogeneous surface reflectance field. Indeed, the contribution of reflected radiation from adjacent pixels scattered into the field of view of a target pixel is considerable and can significantly affect the fidelity of retrieved reflectances. In this study, uncertainties and quantitative errors associated with the atmospheric correction of multi-spectral Landsat 8 and RapidEye data were characterized over a desert agricultural landscape in Saudi Arabia. Surface reflectances were retrieved using an implementation of the 6SV atmospheric correction code, and validated against field collected spectroradiometer measurements over desert, cultivated soil, and vegetated surface targets. A combination of satellite and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data were used to parameterize aerosol properties and atmospheric state parameters. With optimal specification of τ550 and aerosol optical properties and correction for adjacency effects, the relative Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD) for all bands combined was 5.4% for RapidEye and 6.8% for Landsat 8. However uncertainties associated with satellite-based τ550 retrievals were shown to introduce significant error into the reflectance estimates. With respect to deriving common vegetation indices from corrected reflectance data, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was associated with the smallest errors (3–8% MAD). Surface reflectance errors were highest for bands in the visible part of the spectrum, particularly the blue band (5–16%), while there was more consistency within the red-edge (~ 5%) and near-infrared (5–7%). Results were generally better constrained when a τ550-dependent aerosol model for desert dust particles, parameterized on the basis of nearby AERONET site data, was used in place of a generic rural or background

[A Method to Reconstruct Surface Reflectance Spectrum from Multispectral Image Based on Canopy Radiation Transfer Model].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yong-guang; Ma, Ling-ling; Li, Chuan-rong; Zhu, Xiao-hua; Tang, Ling-li

2015-07-01

Due to the lack of enough spectral bands for multi-spectral sensor, it is difficult to reconstruct surface retlectance spectrum from finite spectral information acquired by multi-spectral instrument. Here, taking into full account of the heterogeneity of pixel from remote sensing image, a method is proposed to simulate hyperspectral data from multispectral data based on canopy radiation transfer model. This method first assumes the mixed pixels contain two types of land cover, i.e., vegetation and soil. The sensitive parameters of Soil-Leaf-Canopy (SLC) model and a soil ratio factor were retrieved from multi-spectral data based on Look-Up Table (LUT) technology. Then, by combined with a soil ratio factor, all the parameters were input into the SLC model to simulate the surface reflectance spectrum from 400 to 2 400 nm. Taking Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) image as reference image, the surface reflectance spectrum was simulated. The simulated reflectance spectrum revealed different feature information of different surface types. To test the performance of this method, the simulated reflectance spectrum was convolved with the Landsat ETM + spectral response curves and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) spectral response curves to obtain the simulated Landsat ETM+ and MODIS image. Finally, the simulated Landsat ETM+ and MODIS images were compared with the observed Landsat ETM+ and MODIS images. The results generally showed high correction coefficients (Landsat: 0.90-0.99, MODIS: 0.74-0.85) between most simulated bands and observed bands and indicated that the simulated reflectance spectrum was well simulated and reliable.

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy for Surface Measurement of Liver Pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Nilsson, Jan H; Reistad, Nina; Brange, Hannes; Öberg, Carl-Fredrik; Sturesson, Christian

2017-01-01

Liver parenchymal injuries such as steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and sinusoidal obstruction syndrome can lead to increased morbidity and liver failure after liver resection. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) is an optical measuring method that is fast, convenient, and established. DRS has previously been used on the liver with an invasive technique consisting of a needle that is inserted into the parenchyma. We developed a DRS system with a hand-held probe that is applied to the liver surface. In this study, we investigated the impact of the liver capsule on DRS measurements and whether liver surface measurements are representative of the whole liver. We also wanted to confirm that we could discriminate between tumor and liver parenchyma by DRS. The instrumentation setup consisted of a light source, a fiber-optic contact probe, and two spectrometers connected to a computer. Patients scheduled for liver resection due to hepatic malignancy were included, and DRS measurements were performed on the excised liver part with and without the liver capsule and alongside a newly cut surface. To estimate the scattering parameters and tissue chromophore volume fractions, including blood, bile, and fat, the measured diffuse reflectance spectra were applied to an analytical model. In total, 960 DRS spectra from the excised liver tissue of 18 patients were analyzed. All factors analyzed regarding tumor versus liver tissue were significantly different. When measuring through the capsule, the blood volume fraction was found to be 8.4 ± 3.5%, the lipid volume fraction was 9.9 ± 4.7%, and the bile volume fraction was 8.2 ± 4.6%. No differences could be found between surface measurements and cross-sectional measurements. In measurements with/without the liver capsule, the differences in volume fraction were 1.63% (0.75-2.77), -0.54% (-2.97 to 0.32), and -0.15% (-1.06 to 1.24) for blood, lipid, and bile, respectively. This study shows that it is possible to manage DRS

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser vapor sensor using swelling polymer reflection modulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ansbæk, Thor; Nielsen, Claus Højgård; Dohn, Søren

2012-01-01

Vapor detection using a low-refractive index polymer for reflection modulation of the top mirror in a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is demonstrated. The VCSEL sensor concept presents a simple method to detect the response of a sensor polymer in the presence of volatile organic...

Surface Compositional Units on Mercury from Spectral Reflectance at Ultraviolet to Near-infrared Wavelengths

Science.gov (United States)

Izenberg, N. R.; Holsclaw, G. M.; Domingue, D. L.; McClintock, W. E.; Klima, R. L.; Blewett, D. T.; Helbert, J.; Head, J. W.; Sprague, A. L.; Vilas, F.; Solomon, S. C.

2012-12-01

The Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft has been acquiring reflectance spectra of Mercury's surface for over 16 months. The Visible and Infrared Spectrograph (VIRS) component of MASCS has accumulated a global data set of more than 2 million spectra over the wavelength range 300-1450 nm. We have derived a set of VIRS spectral units (VSUs) from the following spectral parameters: visible brightness (R575: reflectance at 575 nm); visible/near-infrared reflectance ratio (VISr: reflectance at 415 nm to that at 750 nm); and ultraviolet reflectance ratio (UVr: reflectance at 310 nm to that at 390 nm). Five broad, slightly overlapping VSUs may be distinguished from these parameters. "Average VSU" areas have spectral parameters close to mean global values. "Dark blue VSU" areas have spectra with low R575 and high UVr. "Red VSU" areas have spectra with low UVr and higher VISr and R575 than average. "Intermediate VSU" areas have spectra with higher VISr than VSU red, generally higher R575, and a wide range of UVr. "Bright VSU" areas have high R575 and VISr and intermediate UVr. Several units defined by morphological or multispectral criteria correspond to specific VSUs, including low-reflectance material (dark blue VSU), pyroclastic deposits (red VSU), and hollows (intermediate VSU), but these VSUs generally include other types of areas as well. VSU definitions are complementary to those obtained by unsupervised clustering analysis. The global distribution of VIRS spectral units provides new information on Mercury's geological evolution. Much of Mercury's northern volcanic plains show spectral properties ranging from those of average VSU to those of red VSU, as does a large region in the southern hemisphere centered near 50°S, 245°E. Dark blue VSU material is widely distributed, with concentrations south of the northern plains, around the Rembrandt and

X-ray Reflectivity Study of Ionic Liquids at Electrified Surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Miaoqi

X-ray reflectivity (XRR) versatile technique that characterize the surface structures. However, due to the lack of phase information of X-ray data, the reconstruction of electron density profile (EDP) from XRR data is an ill-posed inverse problem that requires extra attention. In Chapter 1, several key concepts in XRR data analysis are reviewed. The typical XRR data acquisition procedure and methods of modeling electron density are introduced. The widely used logarithm form of merit function is justified with mathematical deduction and numerical experiment. A scheme that generates artificial reflectivity data with theoretical statistical error but not systematical error is proposed. With the methods and schemes described in Chapter 1, simulated reflectivity data of a simple one-slab model is generated and fitted to test the efficient of EDP reconstruction. By isolating the parameters, the effects of slab width, electron density contrast and maximal wave transfer are studied individually. It?s demonstrated that best-fit/global minima, result reported by most XRR studies, don?t necessary reflect the real EDP. By contrast, mapping the merit function in the parametric space can capture much more details. Additionally, the widely accepted concept about the XRR theoretical spatial resolution (pi/q_{max}) as well the using Patterson function are brought to test. In the perspective of XRR data analysis, this chapter puts forward general rules to design and optimize XRR experiments. It also demonstrates how susceptible the fitting result will be if it?s not done carefully. In Chapter 3, the interface between hydrophobic OTS film and several solvents is studied with XRR in a transmission-cell setup. The solvents, from water, acetone, to alcohol (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol), to alkane (pentane, hexane and heptane), vary significantly in terms of polarity and hydrogen bonding. However, the XRR data from different solvents are subtle. The methods and principles elicited in

Spectrally adjustable quasi-monochromatic radiance source based on LEDs and its application for measuring spectral responsivity of a luminance meter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hirvonen, Juha-Matti; Poikonen, Tuomas; Vaskuri, Anna; Kärhä, Petri; Ikonen, Erkki

2013-01-01

A spectrally adjustable radiance source based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has been constructed for spectral responsivity measurements of radiance and luminance meters. A 300 mm integrating sphere source with adjustable output port is illuminated using 30 thermally stabilized narrow-band LEDs covering the visible wavelength range of 380–780 nm. The functionality of the measurement setup is demonstrated by measuring the relative spectral responsivities of a luminance meter and a photometer head with cosine-corrected input optics. (paper)

Cloud and radiance measurements with the VIS/NIR Daylight Whole Sky Imager at Lindenberg (Germany)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feister, U. [Deutscher Wetterdienst, Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg (Germany); Shields, J. [Scripps Inst. of Oceanography, Univ. of California, San Diego (United States)

2005-10-01

Ground-based cloud data acquired with the whole sky imager (WSI) are analyzed in relation to measurements of solar radiation performed at the Lindenberg Meteorological Observatory. Cloud fractions derived by the cloud detection algorithm from WSI images acquired during daylight hours between 2002 and 2004 are compared with conventional cloud observations for the two sites Potsdam and Lindenberg, and also with ceilometer data of cloud-base heights at Lindenberg. The comparison statistics are discussed in the context of different principles of measurement. A few case studies illustrate the strong scattering effect of clouds on solar radiance and irradiance measured at the ground in different spectral regions. Particularly clouds close to the apparent position of the sun lead to strong enhancements of solar diffuse irradiance incident on horizontal planes and hemispheres that substantially exceed corresponding clear-sky values. Irradiances derived from WSI sky radiance fields are shown in comparison to pyranometer data of diffuse irradiance and radiative transfer model calculations performed for clear sky conditions. Examples of spectral sky radiances with moving contrails illustrate the significant enhancement the contrails have compared to clear sky, even though they may have a relatively small direct effect on global irradiance values. As contrails are observed at Lindenberg for about 18 to 19% of daylight hours, and part of them become clouds, the indirect impact of these changes on solar irradiance received at the ground may not be negligible. (orig.)

Sun Glint Correction of High and Low Spatial Resolution Images of Aquatic Scenes: a Review of Methods for Visible and Near-Infrared Wavelengths

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Susan Kay

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Sun glint, the specular reflection of light from water surfaces, is a serious confounding factor for remote sensing of water column properties and benthos. This paper reviews current techniques to estimate and remove the glint radiance component from imagery. Methods for processing of ocean color images use statistical sea surface models to predict the glint from the sun and sensor positions and wind data. Methods for higher resolution imaging, used in coastal and shallow water mapping, estimate the glint radiance from the near-infrared signal. The effects of some current methods are demonstrated and possibilities for future techniques are briefly addressed.

Variability of Surface Reflection Amplitudes of GPR Horn Antenna Depending on Distance between Antenna and Surface

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Komačka Jozef

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The study focused on variability of surface reflections amplitudes of GPR horn antenna in relation to distance between an antenna and a surface is presented in the paper. The air-coupled antenna with the central frequency of 1 GHz was used in the investigation. Four types of surfaces (dry pavement, wet pavement, metal plate and composite layer from gypsum and wood were tested. The distance of antenna above the surfaces was changed in the range from 37.5 cm to 53.5 cm. The amplitudes of negative and positive peaks and their variability were analysed in relation to the distance of antenna above the surfaces. Moreover, the influence of changes in the peaks of negative and positive amplitudes on the total amplitudes was assessed. It was found out the amplitudes of negative peaks for all investigated surfaces were relatively consistent in the range from 40.5 cm to 48.5 cm and the moderate decline was identified in the case of amplitudes of positive peaks in the range of distances from 37.5 cm to 51.5 cm. This decline influences the tendency of total amplitudes. Based on the results of analysis it can be stated the distance of air-coupled antenna above the surface can influence the value of total amplitude and the differences depend on the type of surface.

Lactoperoxidase catalyzed radioiodination of cell surface immunoglobulin: incorporated radioactivity may not reflect relative cell surface Ig density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilder, R.L.; Yuen, C.C.; Mage, R.G.

1979-01-01

Rabbit and mouse splenic lymphocytes were radioiodinated by the lactoperoxidase technique, extracted with non-ionic detergent, immunoprecipitated with high titered rabbit anti-kappa antisera, and compared by SDS-PAGE. Mouse sIg peaks were reproducibly larger in size than rabbit sIg peaks (often greater than 10 times). Neither differences in incorporation of label into the rabbit cell surface, nor differences in average sIg density explain this result. Total TCA-precipitable radioactivity was similar in each species. Estimation of the relative amounts of sIg in the mouse and rabbit showed similar average sIg densities. Differences in detergent solubility, proteolytic lability, or antisera used also do not adequately account for this difference. Thus, these data indicate that radioactivity incorporated after lactoperoxidase catalyzed cell surface radioiodination may not reflect cell surface Ig density. Conclusions about cell surface density based upon relative incorporation of radioactivity should be confirmed by other approaches

Sunlight reflection off the spacecraft with a solar sail on the surface of mars

Science.gov (United States)

Starinova, O. L.; Rozhkov, M. A.; Gorbunova, I. V.

2018-05-01

Modern technologies make it possible to fulfill many projects in the field of space exploration. One such project is the colonization of Mars and providing favorable conditions for living on it. Authors propose principles of functioning of the spacecraft with a solar sail, intended to create a thermal and light spot in a predetermined area of the Martian surface. This additional illumination can maintain and support certain climatic conditions on a small area where a Mars base could be located. This paper investigate the possibility of the spacecraft continuously reflect the sunlight off the solar sail on the small area of the Mars surface. The mathematical motion model in such condition of the solar sail's orientation is considered and used for motion simulation session. Moreover, the analysis of this motion is performed. Thus, were obtained parameters of the synchronic non-Keplerian orbit and spacecraft construction. In addition, were given recommendations for further applying satellites to reflect the sunlight on a planet's surface.

Polarization-based enhancement of ocean color signal for estimating suspended particulate matter: radiative transfer simulations and laboratory measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jia; He, Xianqiang; Liu, Jiahang; Bai, Yan; Wang, Difeng; Chen, Tieqiao; Wang, Yihao; Zhu, Feng

2017-04-17

Absorption and scattering by molecules, aerosols and hydrosols, and the reflection and transmission over the sea surface can modify the original polarization state of sunlight. However, water-leaving radiance polarization, containing embedded water constituent information, has largely been neglected. Here, the efficiency of the parallel polarization radiance (PPR) for enhancing ocean color signal of suspended particulate matter is examined via vector radiative transfer simulations and laboratory experiments. The simulation results demonstrate that the PPR has a slightly higher ocean color signal at the top-of-atmosphere as compared with that of the total radiance. Moreover, both the simulations and laboratory measurements reveal that, compared with total radiance, PPR can effectively enhance the normalized ocean color signal for a large range of observation geometries, wavelengths, and suspended particle concentrations. Thus, PPR has great potential for improving the ocean color signal detection from satellite.

A fiber-coupled displacement measuring interferometer for determination of the posture of a reflective surface

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mao, Shuai; Hu, Peng-Cheng; Ding, Xue-Mei; Tan, Jiu-Bin

2016-01-01

A fiber-coupled displacement measuring interferometer capable of determining of the posture of a reflective surface of a measuring mirror is proposed. The newly constructed instrument combines fiber-coupled displacement and angular measurement technologies. The proposed interferometer has advantages of both the fiber-coupled and the spatially beam-separated interferometer. A portable dual-position sensitive detector (PSD)-based unit within this proposed interferometer measures the parallelism of the two source beams to guide the fiber-coupling adjustment. The portable dual PSD-based unit measures not only the pitch and yaw of the retro-reflector but also measures the posture of the reflective surface. The experimental results of displacement calibration show that the deviations between the proposed interferometer and a reference one, Agilent 5530, at two different common beam directions are both less than ±35 nm, thus verifying the effectiveness of the beam parallelism measurement. The experimental results of angular calibration show that deviations of pitch and yaw with the auto-collimator (as a reference) are less than ±2 arc sec, thus proving the proposed interferometer’s effectiveness for determination of the posture of a reflective surface.

A fast calculating two-stream-like multiple scattering algorithm that captures azimuthal and elevation variations

Science.gov (United States)

Fiorino, Steven T.; Elmore, Brannon; Schmidt, Jaclyn; Matchefts, Elizabeth; Burley, Jarred L.

2016-05-01

Properly accounting for multiple scattering effects can have important implications for remote sensing and possibly directed energy applications. For example, increasing path radiance can affect signal noise. This study describes the implementation of a fast-calculating two-stream-like multiple scattering algorithm that captures azimuthal and elevation variations into the Laser Environmental Effects Definition and Reference (LEEDR) atmospheric characterization and radiative transfer code. The multiple scattering algorithm fully solves for molecular, aerosol, cloud, and precipitation single-scatter layer effects with a Mie algorithm at every calculation point/layer rather than an interpolated value from a pre-calculated look-up-table. This top-down cumulative diffusivity method first considers the incident solar radiance contribution to a given layer accounting for solid angle and elevation, and it then measures the contribution of diffused energy from previous layers based on the transmission of the current level to produce a cumulative radiance that is reflected from a surface and measured at the aperture at the observer. Then a unique set of asymmetry and backscattering phase function parameter calculations are made which account for the radiance loss due to the molecular and aerosol constituent reflectivity within a level and allows for a more accurate characterization of diffuse layers that contribute to multiple scattered radiances in inhomogeneous atmospheres. The code logic is valid for spectral bands between 200 nm and radio wavelengths, and the accuracy is demonstrated by comparing the results from LEEDR to observed sky radiance data.

Chromatic X-ray magnifying method and apparatus by Bragg reflective planes on the surface of Abbe sphere

Science.gov (United States)

Thoe, Robert S.

1991-01-01

Method and apparatus for producing sharp, chromatic, magnified images of X-ray emitting objects, are provided. The apparatus, which constitutes an X-ray microscope or telescope, comprises a connected collection of Bragg reflecting planes, comprised of either a bent crystal or a synthetic multilayer structure, disposed on and adjacent to a locus determined by a spherical surface. The individual Bragg planes are spatially oriented to Bragg reflect radiation from the object location toward the image location. This is accomplished by making the Bragg planes spatially coincident with the surfaces of either a nested series of prolate ellipsoids of revolution, or a nested series of spheres. The spacing between the Bragg reflecting planes can be tailored to control the wavelengths and the amount of the X-radiation that is Bragg reflected to form the X-ray image.

Imaging gravity waves in lower stratospheric AMSU-A radiances, Part 2: Validation case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. D. Eckermann

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Two-dimensional radiance maps from Channel 9 (~60–90 hPa of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A, acquired over southern Scandinavia on 14 January 2003, show plane-wave-like oscillations with a wavelength λh of ~400–500 km and peak brightness temperature amplitudes of up to 0.9 K. The wave-like pattern is observed in AMSU-A radiances from 8 overpasses of this region by 4 different satellites, revealing a growth in the disturbance amplitude from 00:00 UTC to 12:00 UTC and a change in its horizontal structure between 12:00 UTC and 20:00 UTC. Forecast and hindcast runs for 14 January 2003 using high-resolution global and regional numerical weather prediction (NWP models generate a lower stratospheric mountain wave over southern Scandinavia with peak 90 hPa temperature amplitudes of ~5–7 K at 12:00 UTC and a similar horizontal wavelength, packet width, phase structure and time evolution to the disturbance observed in AMSU-A radiances. The wave's vertical wavelength is ~12 km. These NWP fields are validated against radiosonde wind and temperature profiles and airborne lidar profiles of temperature and aerosol backscatter ratios acquired from the NASA DC-8 during the second SAGE III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE II. Both the amplitude and phase of the stratospheric mountain wave in the various NWP fields agree well with localized perturbation features in these suborbital measurements. In particular, we show that this wave formed the type II polar stratospheric clouds measured by the DC-8 lidar. To compare directly with the AMSU-A data, we convert these validated NWP temperature fields into swath-scanned brightness temperatures using three-dimensional Channel 9 weighting functions and the actual AMSU-A scan patterns from each of the 8 overpasses of this region. These NWP-based brightness temperatures contain two-dimensional oscillations due to this resolved stratospheric mountain wave that have an amplitude, wavelength

Transient reflection and transmission of E polarized electromagnetic waves at boundary surface between air and moving isotropic plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saito, Yukimasa

1977-01-01

The transient reflection and transmission waves of E polarized electromagnetic waves coming into the boundary surface between air and moving isotropic plasma were theoretically investigated. By using the Laplace transformation in the moving system, the formulae of Lorentz and inverse Lorentz transformations concerning electromagnetic field were transformed, thus the transient reflection and transmission waves were obtained. These waves were normalized with the angular frequency of the incident waves, and the variation of the wave form was obtained. Examples of the numerical calculation of reflected waves are shown for the plasma moving in parallel to the boundary surface. (Kato, T.)

An analytical two-flow model to simulate the distribution of irradiance in coastal waters with a wind-roughed surface and bottom reflectance

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Wei-Ming

1997-06-01

An analytical two-flow model is derived from the radiative transfer equation to simulate the distribution of irradiance in coastal waters with a wind-roughed surface and bottom reflectance. The model utilizes unique boundary conditions, including the surface slope of the downwelling and upwelling irradiance as well as the influence of wind and bottom reflectance on simulated surface reflectance. The developed model provides a simple mathematical concept for understanding the irradiant light flux and associated processes in coastal or fresh water as well as turbid estuarine waters. The model is applied to data from the Banana River and coastal Atlantic Ocean water off the east coast of central Florida, USA. The two-flow irradiance model is capable of simulating realistic above-surface reflectance signatures under wind-roughened air-water surface given realistic input parameters including a specular flux conversion coefficient, absorption coefficient, backscattering coefficient, atmospheric visibility, bottom reflectance, and water depth. The root-mean-squared error of the calculated above-surface reflectances is approximately 3% in the Banana River and is less than 15% in coastal Atlantic Ocean off the east of Florida. Result of the subsurface reflectance sensitivity analysis indicates that the specular conversion coefficient is the most sensitive parameter in the model, followed by the beam attenuation coefficient, absorption coefficient, water depth, backscattering coefficient, specular irradiance, diffuse irradiance, bottom reflectance, and wind speed. On the other hand, result of the above-surface reflectance sensitivity analysis indicates that the wind speed is the most important parameter, followed by bottom reflectance, attenuation coefficient, water depth, conversion coefficient, specular irradiance, downwelling irradiance, absorption coefficient, and backscattering coefficient. Model results depend on the accuracy of these parameters to a large degree and

IRAS surface brightness maps of reflection nebulae in the Pleiades

Science.gov (United States)

Castelaz, Michael W.; Werner, M. W.; Sellgren, K.

1987-01-01

Surface brightness maps at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns were made of a 2.5 deg x 2.5 deg area of the reflection nebulae in the Pleiades by coadding IRAS scans of this region. Emission is seen surrounding 17 Tau, 20 Tau, 23 Tau, and 25 Tau in all four bands, coextensive with the visible reflection nebulosity, and extending as far as 30 arcminutes from the illuminating stars. The infrared energy distributions of the nebulae peak in the 100 micron band, but up to 40 percent of the total infrared power lies in the 12 and 25 micron bands. The brightness of the 12 and 25 micron emission and the absence of temperature gradients at these wavelengths are inconsistent with the predictions of equilibrium thermal emission models. The emission at these wavelengths appears to be the result of micron nonequilibrium emission from very small grains, or from molecules consisting of 10-100 carbon atoms, which have been excited by ultraviolet radiation from the illuminating stars.

Surface mineral maps of Afghanistan derived from HyMap imaging spectrometer data, version 2

Science.gov (United States)

Kokaly, Raymond F.; King, Trude V.V.; Hoefen, Todd M.

2013-01-01

This report presents a new version of surface mineral maps derived from HyMap imaging spectrometer data collected over Afghanistan in the fall of 2007. This report also describes the processing steps applied to the imaging spectrometer data. The 218 individual flight lines composing the Afghanistan dataset, covering more than 438,000 square kilometers, were georeferenced to a mosaic of orthorectified Landsat images. The HyMap data were converted from radiance to reflectance using a radiative transfer program in combination with ground-calibration sites and a network of cross-cutting calibration flight lines. The U.S. Geological Survey Material Identification and Characterization Algorithm (MICA) was used to generate two thematic maps of surface minerals: a map of iron-bearing minerals and other materials, which have their primary absorption features at the shorter wavelengths of the reflected solar wavelength range, and a map of carbonates, phyllosilicates, sulfates, altered minerals, and other materials, which have their primary absorption features at the longer wavelengths of the reflected solar wavelength range. In contrast to the original version, version 2 of these maps is provided at full resolution of 23-meter pixel size. The thematic maps, MICA summary images, and the material fit and depth images are distributed in digital files linked to this report, in a format readable by remote sensing software and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The digital files can be downloaded from http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/787/downloads/.

Spectral characterization of surface emissivities in the thermal infrared

Science.gov (United States)

Niclòs, Raquel; Mira, Maria; Valor, Enric; Caselles, Diego; García-Santos, Vicente; Caselles, Vicente; Sánchez, Juan M.

2015-04-01

Thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing trends to hyperspectral sensors on board satellites in the last decades, e.g., the current EOS-MODIS and EOS-ASTER and future missions like HyspIRI, ECOSTRESS, THIRSTY and MISTIGRI. This study aims to characterize spectrally the emissive properties of several surfaces, mostly soils. A spectrometer ranging from 2 to 16 μm, D&P Model 102, has been used to measure samples with singular spectral features, e.g. a sandy soil rich in gypsum sampled in White Sands (New Mexico, USA), salt samples, powdered quartz, and powdered calcite. These samples were chosen for their role in the assessment of thermal emissivity of soils, e.g., the calcite and quartz contents are key variables for modeling TIR emissivities of bare soils, along with soil moisture and organic matter. Additionally, the existence of large areas in the world with abundance of these materials, some of them used for calibration/validation activities of satellite sensors and products, makes the chosen samples interesting. White Sands is the world's largest gypsum dune field encompassing 400 km^2; the salt samples characterize the Salar of Uyuni (Bolivia), the largest salt flat in the world (up to 10,000 km^2), as well as the Jordanian and Israeli salt evaporation ponds at the south end of the Dead Sea, or the evaporation lagoons in Aigües-Mortes (France); and quartz is omnipresent in most of the arid regions of the world such as the Algodones Dunes or Kelso Dunes (California, USA), with areas around 700 km2 and 120 km^2, respectively. Measurements of target leaving radiance, hemispherical radiance reflected by a diffuse reflectance panel, and the radiance from a black body at different temperatures were taken to obtain thermal spectra with the D&P spectrometer. The good consistency observed between our measurements and laboratory spectra of similar samples (ASTER and MODIS spectral libraries) indicated the validity of the measurement protocol. Further, our study showed the

Giant enhancement of reflectance due to the interplay between surface confined wave modes and nonlinear gain in dielectric media.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sangbum; Kim, Kihong

2017-12-11

We study theoretically the interplay between the surface confined wave modes and the linear and nonlinear gain of the dielectric layer in the Otto configuration. The surface confined wave modes, such as surface plasmons or waveguide modes, are excited in the dielectric-metal bilayer by obliquely incident p waves. In the purely linear case, we find that the interplay between linear gain and surface confined wave modes can generate a large reflectance peak with its value much greater than 1. As the linear gain parameter increases, the peak appears at smaller incident angles, and the associated modes also change from surface plasmons to waveguide modes. When the nonlinear gain is turned on, the reflectance shows very strong multistability near the incident angles associated with surface confined wave modes. As the nonlinear gain parameter is varied, the reflectance curve undergoes complicated topological changes and sometimes displays separated closed curves. When the nonlinear gain parameter takes an optimally small value, a giant amplification of the reflectance by three orders of magnitude occurs near the incident angle associated with a waveguide mode. We also find that there exists a range of the incident angle where the wave is dissipated rather than amplified even in the presence of gain. We suggest that this can provide the basis for a possible new technology for thermal control in the subwavelength scale.

Estimation of the Potential Detection of Diatom Assemblages Based on Ocean Color Radiance Anomalies in the North Sea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne-Hélène Rêve-Lamarche

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Over the past years, a large number of new approaches in the domain of ocean-color have been developed, leading to a variety of innovative descriptors for phytoplankton communities. One of these methods, named PHYSAT, currently allows for the qualitative detection of five main phytoplankton groups from ocean-color measurements. Even though PHYSAT products are widely used in various applications and projects, the approach is limited by the fact it identifies only dominant phytoplankton groups. This current limitation is due to the use of biomarker pigment ratios for establishing empirical relationships between in-situ information and specific ocean-color radiance anomalies in open ocean waters. However, theoretical explanations of PHYSAT suggests that it could be possible to detect more than dominance cases but move more toward phytoplanktonic assemblage detection. Thus, to evaluate the potential of PHYSAT for the detection of phytoplankton assemblages, we took advantage of the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR survey, collected in both the English Channel and the North Sea. The available CPR dataset contains information on diatom abundance in two large areas of the North Sea for the period 1998-2010. Using this unique dataset, recurrent diatom assemblages were retrieved based on classification of CPR samples. Six diatom assemblages were identified in-situ, each having indicators taxa or species. Once this first step was completed, the in-situ analysis was used to empirically associate the diatom assemblages with specific PHYSAT spectral anomalies. This step was facilitated by the use of previous classifications of regional radiance anomalies in terms of shape and amplitude, coupled with phenological tools. Through a matchup exercise, three CPR assemblages were associated with specific radiance anomalies. The maps of detection of these specific radiances anomalies are in close agreement with current in-situ ecological knowledge.

Reflection-type hologram for atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimizu, Fujio; Fujita, Jun-ichi

2002-01-01

A cold metastable neon atomic beam was manipulated with a reflective amplitude hologram that was encoded on a silicon surface. A black-and-white pattern of atoms was reconstructed on a microchannel plate detector. The hologram used the enhanced quantum reflection developed by authors and was made of a two-dimensional array of rectangular low and high reflective cells. The surface of the high reflective cell was composed of regularly spaced roof-shaped ridges, while the low reflective cell was simply a flat surface. The hologram was the first demonstration of reflective atom-optical elements that used universal interaction between a neutral atom and solid surface

Morphology and phase structures of CW laser-induced oxide layers on iron surface with evolving reflectivity and colors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Taotao, E-mail: wutaotao@nint.ac.cn; Wang, Lijun; Wei, Chenghua; Zhou, Menglian; He, Minbo; Wu, Lixiong

2016-11-30

Highlights: • Firstly, iron samples with different color features were obtained by continuous wave laser irradiation depending on progressive durations. The real-time reflectivity and temperature of samples were measured. The color and the reflectivity evolution were related. They were both caused by the forming oxide films. • Secondly, laser-induced oxidation process of iron was studied by microscope, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrum. The first formed magnetite made the surface reflectivity decline rapidly and caused the “positive feedback” effect because of molecular absorption. The later formed hematite oscillated the reflectivity by interference effect. • Lastly, the laser-induced oxide films were thin, orientated and badly crystallized. The Wagner oxidation theory was incapable of describing the non-isothermal and early stage oxidation process. So we emphasized that a precise oxidation model depending on the experiment and the optical constants of the laser-induced oxides must be studied. - Abstract: Laser-induced oxidation will change the laser reflectivity and color features of metal surface. Both changes can be theoretically calculated based on the oxidation kinetics and the optical constants of oxides. For the purpose of calculation, the laser-induced oxidation process of pure polycrystalline iron was studied. Samples with various color features were obtained by continuous wave Nd:YAG fiber laser (1.06 μm) irradiation depending on progressive durations in the intensity of 1.90 W/cm{sup 2}. The real-time reflectivity and temperature were measured with integral sphere and thermocouples. The irradiated surface morphology and phase structures were characterized by microscope, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectrum. It was found that the first formed magnetite made the surface reflectivity decline rapidly and caused the “positive feedback” effect because of molecular absorption. The later formed hematite oscillated the reflectivity by

Chlorophyll fluorescence, photochemical reflective index and normalized difference vegetative index during plant senescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Cordon, Gabriela; Lagorio, M Gabriela; Paruelo, José M

2016-07-20

The relationship between the Photochemical Reflectance Index (PRI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and chlorophyll fluorescence along senescence was investigated in this work. Reflectance and radiance measurements were performed at canopy level in grass species presenting different photosynthetic metabolism: Avena sativa (C3) and Setaria italica (C4), at different stages of the natural senescence process. Sun induced-chlorophyll fluorescence at 760nm (SIF 760 ) and the apparent fluorescence yield (SIF 760 /a, with a=irradiance at time of measurement) were extracted from the radiance spectra of canopies using the Fraunhofer Line Discrimination-method. The photosynthetic parameters derived from Kautsky kinetics and pigment content were also calculated at leaf level. Whilst stand level NDVI patterns were related to changes in the structure of canopies and not in pigment content, stand level PRI patterns suggested changes both in terms of canopy and of pigment content in leaves. Both SIF 760 /a and Φ PSII decreased progressively along senescence in both species. A strong increment in NPQ was evident in A. sativa while in S. italica NPQ values were lower. Our most important finding was that two chlorophyll fluorescence signals, Φ PSII and SIF 760 /a, correlated with the canopy PRI values in the two grasses assessed, even when tissues at different ontogenic stages were present. Even though significant changes occurred in the Total Chlr/Car ratio along senescence in both studied species, significant correlations between PRI and chlorophyll fluorescence signals might indicate the usefulness of this reflectance index as a proxy of photosynthetic RUE, at least under the conditions of this study. The relationships between stand level PRI and the fluorescence estimators (Φ PSII and SIF 760 /a) were positive in both cases. Therefore, an increase in PRI values as in the fluorescence parameters would indicate higher RUE. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All

Wave optics simulation of statistically rough surface scatter

Science.gov (United States)

Lanari, Ann M.; Butler, Samuel D.; Marciniak, Michael; Spencer, Mark F.

2017-09-01

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) describes optical scatter from surfaces by relating the incident irradiance to the exiting radiance over the entire hemisphere. Laboratory verification of BRDF models and experimentally populated BRDF databases are hampered by sparsity of monochromatic sources and ability to statistically control the surface features. Numerical methods are able to control surface features, have wavelength agility, and via Fourier methods of wave propagation, may be used to fill the knowledge gap. Monte-Carlo techniques, adapted from turbulence simulations, generate Gaussian distributed and correlated surfaces with an area of 1 cm2 , RMS surface height of 2.5 μm, and correlation length of 100 μm. The surface is centered inside a Kirchhoff absorbing boundary with an area of 16 cm2 to prevent wrap around aliasing in the far field. These surfaces are uniformly illuminated at normal incidence with a unit amplitude plane-wave varying in wavelength from 3 μm to 5 μm. The resultant scatter is propagated to a detector in the far field utilizing multi-step Fresnel Convolution and observed at angles from -2 μrad to 2 μrad. The far field scatter is compared to both a physical wave optics BRDF model (Modified Beckmann Kirchhoff) and two microfacet BRDF Models (Priest, and Cook-Torrance). Modified Beckmann Kirchhoff, which accounts for diffraction, is consistent with simulated scatter for multiple wavelengths for RMS surface heights greater than λ/2. The microfacet models, which assume geometric optics, are less consistent across wavelengths. Both model types over predict far field scatter width for RMS surface heights less than λ/2.

Land Surface Reflectance Retrieval from Hyperspectral Data Collected by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle over the Baotou Test Site

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Si-Bo; Li, Zhao-Liang; Tang, Bo-Hui; Wu, Hua; Ma, Lingling; Zhao, Enyu; Li, Chuanrong

2013-01-01

To evaluate the in-flight performance of a new hyperspectral sensor onboard an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV-HYPER), a comprehensive field campaign was conducted over the Baotou test site in China on 3 September 2011. Several portable reference reflectance targets were deployed across the test site. The radiometric performance of the UAV-HYPER sensor was assessed in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the calibration accuracy. The SNR of the different bands of the UAV-HYPER sensor was estimated to be between approximately 5 and 120 over the homogeneous targets, and the linear response of the apparent reflectance ranged from approximately 0.05 to 0.45. The uniform and non-uniform Lambertian land surface reflectance was retrieved and validated using in situ measurements, with root mean square error (RMSE) of approximately 0.01–0.07 and relative RMSE of approximately 5%–12%. There were small discrepancies between the retrieved uniform and non-uniform Lambertian land surface reflectance over the homogeneous targets and under low aerosol optical depth (AOD) conditions (AOD = 0.18). However, these discrepancies must be taken into account when adjacent pixels had large land surface reflectance contrast and under high AOD conditions (e.g. AOD = 1.0). PMID:23785513

Atmospheric emitted radiance interferometer (AERI): Status and the aerosol explanation for extra window region emissions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Revercomb, H.E.; Knuteson, R.O.; Best, F.A.; Dirkx, T.P. [Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)] [and others

1996-04-01

High spectral resolution observations of downwelling emission from 3 to 19 microns have been made by the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) Prototype at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud and Radiative Testbed (CART) site for over two years. The spectral data set from AERI provides a basis for improving clear sky radiative transfer; determining the radiative impact of clouds, including the derivation of cloud radiative properties; defining the influences of aerosols in the window regions; and retrieving boundary layer state properties, including temperature, water vapor, and other trace gases. The data stream of radiometrically and spectrally calibrated radiances is routinely provided by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) to those science teams requesting it, and further information on the instrument and data characteristics is available in the ARM Science Team proceedings for 1993 and 1994 and in several conference publications. This paper describes the AERI status, calibration, field experiment wit a new AERI-01 and schedule, window region emissions, and future AERI plans.

Quantifying the Uncertainty in High Spatial and Temporal Resolution Synthetic Land Surface Reflectance at Pixel Level Using Ground-Based Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, J.; Ryu, Y.

2017-12-01

Algorithms for fusing high temporal frequency and high spatial resolution satellite images are widely used to develop dense time-series land surface observations. While many studies have revealed that the synthesized frequent high spatial resolution images could be successfully applied in vegetation mapping and monitoring, validation and correction of fused images have not been focused than its importance. To evaluate the precision of fused image in pixel level, in-situ reflectance measurements which could account for the pixel-level heterogeneity are necessary. In this study, the synthetic images of land surface reflectance were predicted by the coarse high-frequency images acquired from MODIS and high spatial resolution images from Landsat-8 OLI using the Flexible Spatiotemporal Data Fusion (FSDAF). Ground-based reflectance was measured by JAZ Spectrometer (Ocean Optics, Dunedin, FL, USA) on rice paddy during five main growth stages in Cheorwon-gun, Republic of Korea, where the landscape heterogeneity changes through the growing season. After analyzing the spatial heterogeneity and seasonal variation of land surface reflectance based on the ground measurements, the uncertainties of the fused images were quantified at pixel level. Finally, this relationship was applied to correct the fused reflectance images and build the seasonal time series of rice paddy surface reflectance. This dataset could be significant for rice planting area extraction, phenological stages detection, and variables estimation.

Cross calibration of INSAT 3A CCD channel radiances with IRS P6 ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

average sampling distance (∼3 km) of Meteosat. Second Generation ... as snow, agriculture, bare soil, forest, cloud and .... reflecting surfaces are agriculture, bare soil and forest. ..... Parihar J S 2008 A study on land surface radiation bud-.

Formation of reflective and conductive silver film on ABS surface via covalent grafting and solution spray

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Dexin; Zhang, Yan [School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, 381 Wushan, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Bessho, Takeshi [Higashifuji Technical Center, Toyota Motor Corporation, 1200 Mishuku, Susono, Shizuoka 410-1193 (Japan); Kudo, Takahiro; Sang, Jing; Hirahara, Hidetoshi; Mori, Kunio [Faculty of Engineering, Iwate University, 4-3-5 Ueda, Morioka 020-8551 (Japan); Kang, Zhixin, E-mail: zxkang@scut.edu.cn [School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, 381 Wushan, Guangzhou 510640 (China)

2015-09-15

Highlights: • A pure and homogenous silver film was deposited by spray-style plating technique. • The mechanism of covalent bonding between coating and substrate was studied. • The silver coating is highly reflective and conductive. • UV light was used to activate the ABS surface with triazine azide derivative. - Abstract: Conductive and reflective silver layers on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastics have been prepared by photo grafting of triazine azides upon ultraviolet activation, self-assembling of triazine dithiols and silver electroless plating by solution spray based on silver mirror reaction. The as-prepared silver film exhibited excellent adhesion with ABS owing to covalent bonds between coating and substrate, and the detailed bonding mechanism have been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). X-ray diffraction (XRD) result revealed that silver film on ABS was pure and with a nanocrystalline structure. Atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis demonstrated that massive silver particles with sizes varying from 80 to 120 nm were deposited on ABS and formed a homogenous and smooth coating, resulting in highly reflective surface. Furthermore, silver maintained its unique conductivity even as film on ABS surface in term of four-point probe method.

Formation of reflective and conductive silver film on ABS surface via covalent grafting and solution spray

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Dexin; Zhang, Yan; Bessho, Takeshi; Kudo, Takahiro; Sang, Jing; Hirahara, Hidetoshi; Mori, Kunio; Kang, Zhixin

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A pure and homogenous silver film was deposited by spray-style plating technique. • The mechanism of covalent bonding between coating and substrate was studied. • The silver coating is highly reflective and conductive. • UV light was used to activate the ABS surface with triazine azide derivative. - Abstract: Conductive and reflective silver layers on acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastics have been prepared by photo grafting of triazine azides upon ultraviolet activation, self-assembling of triazine dithiols and silver electroless plating by solution spray based on silver mirror reaction. The as-prepared silver film exhibited excellent adhesion with ABS owing to covalent bonds between coating and substrate, and the detailed bonding mechanism have been investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). X-ray diffraction (XRD) result revealed that silver film on ABS was pure and with a nanocrystalline structure. Atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis demonstrated that massive silver particles with sizes varying from 80 to 120 nm were deposited on ABS and formed a homogenous and smooth coating, resulting in highly reflective surface. Furthermore, silver maintained its unique conductivity even as film on ABS surface in term of four-point probe method

Impact of shading on daylight quality. Simulations with radiance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dubois, M.C.

2001-07-01

The impact of six exterior shading devices on daylight quality and on the potential for daylight utilisation in a standard, south-oriented office room was investigated through computer simulations with Radiance. The daylight quality was evaluated by considering four performance indicators: the absolute work plane illuminance, the illuminance uniformity on the work plane, the absolute luminance in the visual field and the luminance ratios between the work plane, VDT screen and surrounding surfaces. The results indicate that the overhang, white awning and horizontal venetian blind generated work plane illuminance levels that are more suitable for offices where traditional tasks are carried out. However, these devices did not prevent high luminance values at the window. On the other hand, the grey specular screen produced unacceptably low work plane illuminance, poor illuminance uniformity and unacceptably low luminance levels which resulted in unsuitable luminance ratios between the VDT screen, work plane and surroundings. The 45 deg venetian blind, white screen and blue awning provided work plane illuminance levels suitable for offices where a combination of paper and computer work is carried out. They also provided acceptable illuminance uniformity on the work plane, suitable luminance ratios between the work plane, VDT screen and surroundings and they significantly reduced the luminance of the window. However, the blue awning had a poorer performance in December than in June and the white screen resulted in high luminance values at the window, which indicates that the best device among the ones studied was the 45 deg venetian blind.

Multiseasonal-multispectral remote sensing of phenological change for natural vegetation inventory. Ph.D. Thesis

Science.gov (United States)

Schrumpf, B. J. (Principal Investigator)

1975-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Variations in phenological development among plant species was noted, as well as the tendency for the seasonal appearance of some vegetation types to be dominated by the appearance of one or a few similarly developing species. Most of the common plants in the study area could be characterized by temporal aspects of their phenological development. There was a strong similarity among the spectral signatures of vegetation types in which the spectral return was dominated by green plant material. When the soil background dominated the spectral return from a vegetation stand, then the spectral radiance and the vegetation physiognomy were apparently related. When the deciduous shrubs lost their leaves, their spectral signature altered with a slight decrease of radiance in the visible wavelengths and a strong decrease in the near infrared. As the foliage of perennial grasses cured from August to November, its apparent green radiance remained unchanged, red radiance increased over 50 percent, and near infrared radiance decreased approximately 30 percent. A reflective mineral surface exhibited high radiance levels in all four bands, thus providing a marked contrast to the absorption characteristics of vegetation canopies.

Modeling and analysis of surface roughness effects on sputtering, reflection, and sputtered particle transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brooks, J.N.; Ruzic, D.N.

1990-01-01

The microstructure of the redeposited surface in tokamaks may affect sputtering and reflection properties and subsequent particle transport. This subject has been studied numerically using coupled models/codes for near-surface plasma particle kinetic transport (WBC code) and rough surface sputtering (fractal-TRIM). The coupled codes provide an overall Monte Carlo calculation of the sputtering cascade resulting from an initial flux of hydrogen ions. Beryllium, carbon, and tungsten surfaces are analyzed for typical high recycling, oblique magnetic field, divertor conditions. Significant variations in computed sputtering rates are found with surface roughness. Beryllium exhibits high D-T and self-sputtering coefficients for the plasma regime studied (T e = 30-75 eV). Carbon and tungsten sputtering is significantly lower. 9 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab

Assessment of Mars Atmospheric Temperature Retrievals from the Thermal Emission Spectrometer Radiances

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Matthew J.; Eluszkiewicz, Janusz; Weisenstein, Deborah; Uymin, Gennady; Moncet, Jean-Luc

2012-01-01

Motivated by the needs of Mars data assimilation. particularly quantification of measurement errors and generation of averaging kernels. we have evaluated atmospheric temperature retrievals from Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) radiances. Multiple sets of retrievals have been considered in this study; (1) retrievals available from the Planetary Data System (PDS), (2) retrievals based on variants of the retrieval algorithm used to generate the PDS retrievals, and (3) retrievals produced using the Mars 1-Dimensional Retrieval (M1R) algorithm based on the Optimal Spectral Sampling (OSS ) forward model. The retrieved temperature profiles are compared to the MGS Radio Science (RS) temperature profiles. For the samples tested, the M1R temperature profiles can be made to agree within 2 K with the RS temperature profiles, but only after tuning the prior and error statistics. Use of a global prior that does not take into account the seasonal dependence leads errors of up 6 K. In polar samples. errors relative to the RS temperature profiles are even larger. In these samples, the PDS temperature profiles also exhibit a poor fit with RS temperatures. This fit is worse than reported in previous studies, indicating that the lack of fit is due to a bias correction to TES radiances implemented after 2004. To explain the differences between the PDS and Ml R temperatures, the algorithms are compared directly, with the OSS forward model inserted into the PDS algorithm. Factors such as the filtering parameter, the use of linear versus nonlinear constrained inversion, and the choice of the forward model, are found to contribute heavily to the differences in the temperature profiles retrieved in the polar regions, resulting in uncertainties of up to 6 K. Even outside the poles, changes in the a priori statistics result in different profile shapes which all fit the radiances within the specified error. The importance of the a priori statistics prevents

Image potential effect on the specular reflection coefficient of alkali ions scattered from a nickel surface at low energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zemih, R.; Boudjema, M.; Benazeth, C.; Boudouma, Y.; Chami, A.C.

2002-01-01

The resonant charge exchange in the incoming path of alkali ions scattered at low energy from a polycrystalline nickel surface is studied by using the image effect occurring at glancing incidence (2-10 deg. from the surface plane) and for specular reflection. The part of the experimental artefacts (geometrical factor, surface roughness ...) is extracted from the reflection coefficient of almost completely neutralised projectiles (He + or Ne + ) compared with the coefficient obtained from numerical simulations (TRIM and MARLOWE codes). The present model explains very well the lowering of the reflection coefficient measured at grazing incidence (below 4 deg.). Furthermore, the optimised values of the charge fraction in the incoming path and the image potential are in agreement with the theoretical calculations in the case of Na + /Ni at 4 keV

Surface Net Solar Radiation Estimated from Satellite Measurements: Comparisons with Tower Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhanqing; Leighton, H. G.; Cess, Robert D.

1993-01-01

A parameterization that relates the reflected solar flux at the top of the atmosphere to the net solar flux at the surface in terms of only the column water vapor amount and the solar zenith angle was tested against surface observations. Net surface fluxes deduced from coincidental collocated satellite-measured radiances and from measurements from towers in Boulder during summer and near Saskatoon in winter have mean differences of about 2 W/sq m, regardless of whether the sky is clear or cloudy. Furthermore, comparisons between the net fluxes deduced from the parameterization and from surface measurements showed equally good agreement when the data were partitioned into morning and afternoon observations. This is in contrast to results from an empirical clear-sky algorithm that is unable to account adequately for the effects of clouds and that shows, at Boulder, a distinct morning to afternoon variation, which is presumably due to the predominance of different cloud types throughout the day. It is also demonstrated that the parameterization may be applied to irradiances at the top of the atmosphere that have been temporally averaged by using the temporally averaged column water vapor amount and the temporally averaged cosine of the solar zenith angle. The good agreement between the results of the parameterization and surface measurements suggests that the algorithm is a useful tool for a variety of climate studies.

Viscoelasticity evaluation of rubber by surface reflection of supersonic wave.

Science.gov (United States)

Omata, Nobuaki; Suga, Takahiro; Furusawa, Hirokazu; Urabe, Shinichi; Kondo, Takeru; Ni, Qing-Qing

2006-12-22

The main characteristic of rubber is a viscoelasticity. So it is important to research the characteristic of the viscoelasticity of the high frequency band for the friction between a rubber material and the hard one with roughness, for instance, the tire and the road. As for the measurement of the viscoelasticity of rubber, DMA (dynamic mechanical analysis) is general. However, some problems are pointed out to the measurement of the high frequency band by DMA. Then, we evaluated the viscoelasticity characteristic by the supersonic wave measurement. However, attenuation of rubber is large, and when the viscoelasticity is measured by the supersonic wave therefore, it is inconvenient and limited in a past method by means of bottom reflection. In this report, we tried the viscoelasticity evaluation by the method of using complex surface reflection coefficient and we compared with the friction coefficient under wide-range friction velocity. As a result, some relationships had been found for two properties. We report the result that character of viscoelasticity of rubber was comparable to friction coefficient.

Assessment of Satellite-Derived Surface Reflectances by NASA's CAR Airborne Radiometer over Railroad Valley, Nevada

Science.gov (United States)

Kharbouche, Said; Muller, Jan-Peter; Gatebe, Charles K.; Scanlon, Tracy; Banks, Andrew C.

2017-01-01

CAR (Cloud Absorption Radiometer) is a multi-angular and multi-spectral airborne radiometer instrument, whose radiometric and geometric characteristics are well calibrated and adjusted before and after each flight campaign. CAR was built by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1984. On 16 May 2008, a CAR flight campaign took place over the well-known calibration and validation site of Railroad Valley in Nevada (38.504 deg N, 115.692 deg W).The campaign coincided with the overpasses of several key EO (Earth Observation) satellites such as Landsat-7, Envisat and Terra. Thus, there are nearly simultaneous measurements from these satellites and the CAR airborne sensor over the same calibration site. The CAR spectral bands are close to those of most EO satellites. CAR has the ability to cover the whole range of azimuth view angles and a variety of zenith angles depending on altitude and, as a consequence, the biases seen between satellite and CAR measurements due to both unmatched spectral bands and unmatched angles can be significantly reduced. A comparison is presented here between CARs land surface reflectance (BRF or Bidirectional Reflectance Factor) with those derived from Terra/MODIS (MOD09 and MAIAC), Terra/MISR, Envisat/MERIS and Landsat-7. In this study, we utilized CAR data from low altitude flights (approx. 180 m above the surface) in order to minimize the effects of the atmosphere on these measurements and then obtain a valuable ground-truth data set of surface reflectance. Furthermore, this study shows that differences between measurements caused by surface heterogeneity can be tolerated, thanks to the high homogeneity of the study site on the one hand, and on the other hand, to the spatial sampling and the large number of CAR samples. These results demonstrate that satellite BRF measurements over this site are in good agreement with CAR with variable biases across different spectral bands. This is most likely due to residual aerosol

An ultrafast line-by-line algorithm for calculating spectral transmittance and radiance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tan, X.

2013-01-01

An ultrafast line-by-line algorithm for calculating spectral transmittance and radiance of gases is presented. The algorithm is based on fast convolution of the Voigt line profile using Fourier transform and a binning technique. The algorithm breaks a radiative transfer calculation into two steps: a one-time pre-computation step in which a set of pressure independent coefficients are computed using the spectral line information; a normal calculation step in which the Fourier transform coefficients of the optical depth are calculated using the line of sight information and the coefficients pre-computed in the first step, the optical depth is then calculated using an inverse Fourier transform and the spectral transmittance and radiance are calculated. The algorithm is significantly faster than line-by-line algorithms that do not employ special speedup techniques by a factor of 10 3 –10 6 . A case study of the 2.7 μm band of H 2 O vapor is presented. -- Highlights: •An ultrafast line-by-line model based on FFT and a binning technique is presented. •Computationally expensive calculations are factored out into a pre-computation step. •It is 10 3 –10 8 times faster than LBL algorithms that do not employ speedup techniques. •Good agreement with experimental data for the 2.7 μm band of H 2 O

One year of downwelling spectral radiance measurements from 100 to 1400 cm-1 at Dome Concordia: Results in clear conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Rizzi, R.; Arosio, C.; Maestri, T.; Palchetti, L.; Bianchini, G.; Del Guasta, M.

2016-09-01

The present work examines downwelling radiance spectra measured at the ground during 2013 by a Far Infrared Fourier Transform Spectrometer at Dome C, Antarctica. A tropospheric backscatter and depolarization lidar is also deployed at same site, and a radiosonde system is routinely operative. The measurements allow characterization of the water vapor and clouds infrared properties in Antarctica under all sky conditions. In this paper we specifically discuss cloud detection and the analysis in clear sky condition, required for the discussion of the results obtained in cloudy conditions. First, the paper discusses the procedures adopted for the quality control of spectra acquired automatically. Then it describes the classification procedure used to discriminate spectra measured in clear sky from cloudy conditions. Finally a selection is performed and 66 clear cases, spanning the whole year, are compared to simulations. The computation of layer molecular optical depth is performed with line-by-line techniques and a convolution to simulate the Radiation Explorer in the Far InfraRed-Prototype for Applications and Development (REFIR-PAD) measurements; the downwelling radiance for selected clear cases is computed with a state-of-the-art adding-doubling code. The mean difference over all selected cases between simulated and measured radiance is within experimental error for all the selected microwindows except for the negative residuals found for all microwindows in the range 200 to 400 cm-1, with largest values around 295.1 cm-1. The paper discusses possible reasons for the discrepancy and identifies the incorrect magnitude of the water vapor total absorption coefficient as the cause of such large negative radiance bias below 400 cm-1.

Estimating Advective Near-surface Currents from Ocean Color Satellite Images

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

on the SuomiNational Polar-Orbiting Partner- ship (S- NPP ) satellite. The GOCI is the world’s first geostationary orbit satellite sensor over the...radiance Lwn at several wave - lengths. These spectral Lwn channels are used to derive several in- water bio-optical properties (Lee, Carder, & Arnone...the same surface flow, it is the inter-product similarities, instead of the differences, that are more likely to stand for the surface advection. If

Effect of surface plasmon polaritons on the sensitivity of refractive index measurement using total internal reflection method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roshan Entezar, S.

2015-01-01

The phase difference between two p-polarized and s-polarized plane waves which are reflected under total internal reflection from the base of a prism with a thin metal coating is studied. Typically such a quantity can be used to measure the refractive index of a test material using the total internal reflection method. It is shown that due to the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons at the interface between the tested dielectric material and the thin metal layer, the p-polarized light experiences a large phase shift which enlarges the phase difference between the p-polarized and the s-polarized waves. As a result, the sensitivity of refractive index measurement increases and the error in determining the refractive index decreases. - Highlights: • Phase difference of totally internally reflected p and s polarized beams is studied. • Excitation of the surface wave increases the phase shift of the p-polarized light. • The sensitivity of refractive index measurement increases by using a coated prism. • The error in determining the refractive index decreases using the coated prism

LiDAR Relative Reflectivity Surface (2011) for the St. Thomas East End Reserve, St. Thomas

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a LiDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) 0.3x0.3 meter resolution relative seafloor reflectivity surface for the St. Thomas East End Reserve...

Absorption and reflectivity of the lithium niobate surface masked with a graphene layer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. Salas

2017-01-01

Full Text Available We performed simulations of the interaction of a graphene layer with the surface of lithium niobate utilizing density functional theory and molecular dynamics at 300K and atmospheric pressure. We found that the graphene layer is physisorbed on the lithium niobate surface with an adsorption energy of -0.8205 eV/(carbon-atom. Subsequently, the energy band structure, the optical absorption and reflectivity of the new system were calculated. We found important changes in these physical properties with respect to the corresponding ones of a graphene layer and of a lithium niobate crystal.

Radius of curvature measurement of spherical smooth surfaces by multiple-beam interferometry in reflection

Science.gov (United States)

Abdelsalam, D. G.; Shaalan, M. S.; Eloker, M. M.; Kim, Daesuk

2010-06-01

In this paper a method is presented to accurately measure the radius of curvature of different types of curved surfaces of different radii of curvatures of 38 000,18 000 and 8000 mm using multiple-beam interference fringes in reflection. The images captured by the digital detector were corrected by flat fielding method. The corrected images were analyzed and the form of the surfaces was obtained. A 3D profile for the three types of surfaces was obtained using Zernike polynomial fitting. Some sources of uncertainty in measurement were calculated by means of ray tracing simulations and the uncertainty budget was estimated within λ/40.

Training and Validation of the Fast PCRTM_Solar Model

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Q.; Liu, X.; Wu, W.; Yang, P.; Wang, C.

2015-12-01

Fast and accurate radiative transfer model is the key for satellite data assimilation for remote sensing application. The simulation of the satellite remote sensing radiances is very complicated since many physical processes, such as absorption, emission, and scattering, are involved due to the interactions between electromagnetic radiation and earth surface, water vapor, clouds, aerosols, and gas molecules in the sky. The principal component-based radiative transfer model (PCRTM) has been developed for various passive IR and MW instruments. In this work, we extended PCRTM to including the contribution from solar radiation. The cloud/aerosol bidirectional reflectances have been carefully calculated using the well-known Discrete-Ordinate-Method Radiative Transfer (DISORT) model under over 10 millions of diverse conditions with varying cloud particle size, wavelength, satellite viewing direction, and solar angles. The obtained results were compressed significantly using principal component analysis and used in the mono domain radiance calculation. We used 1352 different atmosphere profiles, each of them has different surface skin temperatures and surface pressures in our training. Different surface emissivity spectra were derived from ASTER database and emissivity models. Some artificially generated emissivity spectra were also used to account for diverse surface types of the earth. Concentrations of sixteen trace gases were varied systematically in the training and the remaining trace gas contributions were accounted for as a fixed gas. Training was done in both clear and cloudy skies conditions. Finally the nonlocal thermal equilibrium (NLTE) induced radiance change was included for daytime conditions. We have updated the PCRTM model for instruments such as IASI, NASTI, CrIS, AIRS, and SHIS. The training results show that the PCRTM model can calculate thousands of channel radiances by computing only a few hundreds of mono radiances. This greatly increased the

Bidirectional reflectance distribution function modeling of one-dimensional rough surface in the microwave band

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Li-Xin; Gou Xue-Yin; Zhang Lian-Bo

2014-01-01

In this study, the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of a one-dimensional conducting rough surface and a dielectric rough surface are calculated with different frequencies and roughness values in the microwave band by using the method of moments, and the relationship between the bistatic scattering coefficient and the BRDF of a rough surface is expressed. From the theory of the parameters of the rough surface BRDF, the parameters of the BRDF are obtained using a genetic algorithm. The BRDF of a rough surface is calculated using the obtained parameter values. Further, the fitting values and theoretical calculations of the BRDF are compared, and the optimization results are in agreement with the theoretical calculation results. Finally, a reference for BRDF modeling of a Gaussian rough surface in the microwave band is provided by the proposed method. (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)

MODIS/Aqua Clear Radiance Statistics Indexed to Global Grid 5-Min L2 Swath 10km V006

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The MODIS/Aqua Clear Radiance Statistics Indexed to Global Grid 5-Min L2 Swath 10km (MYDCSR_G) provides a variety of statistical measures that characterize observed...

The Impact of AMSU-A Radiance Assimilation in the U.S. Navy's Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS)

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Baker, Nancy L; Hogan, T. F; Campbell, W. F; Pauley, R. L; Swadley, S. D

2005-01-01

...) sensor suite onboard NOAA 15 and 16 for NOGAPS. The direct assimilation of AMSU-A radiances replaced the assimilation of ATOVS temperature retrievals produced by NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS...

Kaguya observations of the lunar wake in the terrestrial foreshock: Surface potential change by bow-shock reflected ions

Science.gov (United States)

Nishino, Masaki N.; Harada, Yuki; Saito, Yoshifumi; Tsunakawa, Hideo; Takahashi, Futoshi; Yokota, Shoichiro; Matsushima, Masaki; Shibuya, Hidetoshi; Shimizu, Hisayoshi

2017-09-01

There forms a tenuous region called the wake behind the Moon in the solar wind, and plasma entry/refilling into the wake is a fundamental problem of the lunar plasma science. High-energy ions and electrons in the foreshock of the Earth's magnetosphere were detected at the lunar surface in the Apollo era, but their effects on the lunar night-side environment have never been studied. Here we show the first observation of bow-shock reflected protons by Kaguya (SELENE) spacecraft in orbit around the Moon, confirming that solar wind plasma reflected at the terrestrial bow shock can easily access the deepest lunar wake when the Moon stays in the foreshock (We name this mechanism 'type-3 entry'). In a continuous type-3 event, low-energy electron beams from the lunar night-side surface are not obvious even though the spacecraft location is magnetically connected to the lunar surface. On the other hand, in an intermittent type-3 entry event, the kinetic energy of upward-going field-aligned electron beams decreases from ∼ 80 eV to ∼ 20 eV or electron beams disappear as the bow-shock reflected ions come accompanied by enhanced downward electrons. According to theoretical treatment based on electric current balance at the lunar surface including secondary electron emission by incident electron and ion impact, we deduce that incident ions would be accompanied by a few to several times higher flux of an incident electron flux, which well fits observed downward fluxes. We conclude that impact by the bow-shock reflected ions and electrons raises the electrostatic potential of the lunar night-side surface.

Simulation of reflecting surface deviations of centimeter-band parabolic space radiotelescope (SRT) with the large-size mirror

Science.gov (United States)

Kotik, A.; Usyukin, V.; Vinogradov, I.; Arkhipov, M.

2017-11-01

he realization of astrophysical researches requires the development of high-sensitive centimeterband parabolic space radiotelescopes (SRT) with the large-size mirrors. Constructively such SRT with the mirror size more than 10 m can be realized as deployable rigid structures. Mesh-structures of such size do not provide the reflector reflecting surface accuracy which is necessary for the centimeter band observations. Now such telescope with the 10 m diameter mirror is developed in Russia in the frame of "SPECTR - R" program. External dimensions of the telescope is more than the size of existing thermo-vacuum chambers used to prove SRT reflecting surface accuracy parameters under the action of space environment factors. That's why the numerical simulation turns out to be the basis required to accept the taken designs. Such modeling should be based on experimental working of the basic constructive materials and elements of the future reflector. In the article computational modeling of reflecting surface deviations of a centimeter-band of a large-sized deployable space reflector at a stage of his orbital functioning is considered. The analysis of the factors that determines the deviations - both determined (temperatures fields) and not-determined (telescope manufacturing and installation faults; the deformations caused by features of composite materials behavior in space) is carried out. The finite-element model and complex of methods are developed. They allow to carry out computational modeling of reflecting surface deviations caused by influence of all factors and to take into account the deviations correction by space vehicle orientation system. The results of modeling for two modes of functioning (orientation at the Sun) SRT are presented.

Application of a spectral sky in Radiance for daylighting calculations including non-image-forming light effects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Khademagha, P.; Aries, M.B.C.; Rosemann, A.L.P.; van Loenen, E.J.

2016-01-01

Daylight is dynamic and rich in the blue part of the spectrum. To date, the spectral composition of daylight is ignored in sky models used in Radiance. Spectral sky composition is particularly important when non-image-forming (NIF) light effects are concerned, since the action spectrum for these

Intercomparison of 30+ years of AVHRR and Landsat-5 TM Surface Reflectance using Multiple Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites

Science.gov (United States)

Santamaría-Artigas, A. E.; Franch, B.; Vermote, E.; Roger, J. C.; Justice, C. O.

2017-12-01

The 30+ years daily surface reflectance long term data record (LTDR) from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is a valuable source of information for long-term studies of the Earth surface. This LTDR was generated by combining observations from multiple AVHRR sensors aboard different NOAA satellites starting from the early 1980s, and due to the lack of on-board calibration its quality should be evaluated. Previous studies have used observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) over pseudo-invariant calibration sites (PICS) as a calibrated reference to assess the performance of AVHRR products. However, this limits the evaluation to the period after MODIS launch. In this work, the AVHRR surface reflectance LTDR was evaluated against Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data using observations from 4 well known pseudo-invariant calibration sites (i.e. Sonoran, Saharan, Sudan1, and Libya4) over an extended time period (1984-2011). For the intercomparison, AVHRR and TM observations of each site were extracted and averaged over a 20 km x 20 km area and aggregated to monthly mean values. In order to account for the spectral differences between sensors, Hyperion hyperspectral data from the Sonoran and Libya4 sites were convolved with sensor-specific relative spectral responses, and used to compute spectral band adjustment factors (SBAFs). Results of the intercomparison are reported in terms of the root mean square difference (RMSD) and determination coefficient (r2). In general, there is good agreement between the surface reflectance products from both sensors. The overall RMSD and r2 for all the sites and AVHRR/TM combinations were 0.03 and 0.85 for the red band, and 0.04 and 0.81 for the near-infrared band. These results show the strong performance of the AVHRR surface reflectance LTDR through all of the considered period. Thus, remarking its usefulness and value for long term Earth studies. Figure 1 shows the red (filled markers

Observation on Surface Change of Fragile Glass: Temperature - Time Dependence Studied by X-Ray Reflectivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kikkawa, Hiroyuki; Kitahara, Amane; Takahashi, Isao

2004-01-01

The structural change of a fragile glass surface close to the glass transition temperature Tg is studied by using X-ray reflectivity. Measurements were performed on surfaces of maltitol, which is a typical polyalcohol fragile glass with Tg = 320K. Upon both heating and cooling, we find the following features which are also noticed in silicate glass surfaces: (i) On heating, the surface morphology indicates a variation at temperatures below Tg; (ii) A drastic increase in surface roughness occurs at a temperature about 333K on heating, which is 13K higher than Tg; (iii) During the cooling of the sample, formation of a low-density surface layer (3nm at 293K) is observed. Prior to the crystallization, nm - μm sized domains were grown at the surface, which might not be reported for other glasses

Use of INSAT-3D sounder and imager radiances in the 4D-VAR data assimilation system and its implications in the analyses and forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Indira Rani, S.; Taylor, Ruth; George, John P.; Rajagopal, E. N.

2016-05-01

INSAT-3D, the first Indian geostationary satellite with sounding capability, provides valuable information over India and the surrounding oceanic regions which are pivotal to Numerical Weather Prediction. In collaboration with UK Met Office, NCMRWF developed the assimilation capability of INSAT-3D Clear Sky Brightness Temperature (CSBT), both from the sounder and imager, in the 4D-Var assimilation system being used at NCMRWF. Out of the 18 sounder channels, radiances from 9 channels are selected for assimilation depending on relevance of the information in each channel. The first three high peaking channels, the CO2 absorption channels and the three water vapor channels (channel no. 10, 11, and 12) are assimilated both over land and Ocean, whereas the window channels (channel no. 6, 7, and 8) are assimilated only over the Ocean. Measured satellite radiances are compared with that from short range forecasts to monitor the data quality. This is based on the assumption that the observed satellite radiances are free from calibration errors and the short range forecast provided by NWP model is free from systematic errors. Innovations (Observation - Forecast) before and after the bias correction are indicative of how well the bias correction works. Since the biases vary with air-masses, time, scan angle and also due to instrument degradation, an accurate bias correction algorithm for the assimilation of INSAT-3D sounder radiance is important. This paper discusses the bias correction methods and other quality controls used for the selected INSAT-3D sounder channels and the impact of bias corrected radiance in the data assimilation system particularly over India and surrounding oceanic regions.

Clouds and Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES), a Review: Past, Present and Future

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, G. L.; Priestley, K. J.; Loeb, N. G.; Wielicki, B. A.; Charlock, T. P.; Minnis, P.; Doelling, D. R.; Rutan, D. A.

2011-01-01

The Clouds and Earth Radiant Energy System (CERES) project s objectives are to measure the reflected solar radiance (shortwave) and Earth-emitted (longwave) radiances and from these measurements to compute the shortwave and longwave radiation fluxes at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and the surface and radiation divergence within the atmosphere. The fluxes at TOA are to be retrieved to an accuracy of 2%. Improved bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDFs) have been developed to compute the fluxes at TOA from the measured radiances with errors reduced from ERBE by a factor of two or more. Instruments aboard the Terra and Aqua spacecraft provide sampling at four local times. In order to further reduce temporal sampling errors, data are used from the geostationary meteorological satellites to account for changes of scenes between observations by the CERES radiometers. A validation protocol including in-flight calibrations and comparisons of measurements has reduced the instrument errors to less than 1%. The data are processed through three editions. The first edition provides a timely flow of data to investigators and the third edition provides data products as accurate as possible with resources available. A suite of cloud properties retrieved from the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) by the CERES team is used to identify the cloud properties for each pixel in order to select the BRDF for each pixel so as to compute radiation fluxes from radiances. Also, the cloud information is used to compute radiation at the surface and through the atmosphere and to facilitate study of the relationship between clouds and the radiation budget. The data products from CERES include, in addition to the reflected solar radiation and Earth emitted radiation fluxes at TOA, the upward and downward shortwave and longwave radiation fluxes at the surface and at various levels in the atmosphere. Also at the surface the photosynthetically active radiation

Estimation of Soil Moisture Content from the Spectral Reflectance of Bare Soils in the 0.4–2.5 µm Domain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sophie Fabre

2015-02-01

used to analyse the sensitivity of these methods to the sensor spectral resolution and the water vapour content knowledge. The spectral signatures of the database are then used to simulate the signal at the top of atmosphere with a radiative transfer model and to compute the integrated incident signal representing the spectral radiance measurements of the HYMAP airborne hyperspectral instrument. The sensor radiances are then corrected from the atmosphere by an atmospheric compensation tool to retrieve the surface reflectances. The SMC estimation methods are then applied on the retrieve spectral reflectances. The adaptation of the spectral index wavelengths to the HyMap sensor spectral bands and the application of the convex envelope and ISER models to boarder spectral bands lead to an error on the SMC estimation. The best performance is then obtained with the ISER model (RMSE of 2.9% and R2 of 0.96 while the four other methods lead to quite similar RMSE (from 6.4% to 7.8% and R² (between 0.79 and 0.83 values. In the atmosphere compensation processing, an error on the water vapour content is introduced. The most robust methods to water vapour content variations are WISOIL, NINSON, NINSOL and ISER model. The convex envelope model and NSMI index require an accurate estimation of the water vapour content in the atmosphere.

Application of Sol-Gel Method as a Protective Layer on a Specular Reflective Surface for Secondary Reflector in a Solar Receiver

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Afrin, Samia; Dagdelen, John; Ma, Zhiwen; Kumar, Vinod

2017-01-01

Highly-specular reflective surfaces that can withstand elevated-temperatures are desirable for many applications including reflective heat shielding in solar receivers and secondary reflectors, which can be used between primary concentrators and heat collectors. A high-efficiency, high-temperature solar receiver design based on arrays of cavities needs a highly-specular reflective surface on its front section to help sunlight penetrate into the absorber tubes for effective flux spreading. Since this application is for high-temperature solar receivers, this surface needs to be durable and to maintain its optical properties through the usable life. Degradation mechanisms associated with elevated temperatures and thermal cycling, which include cracking, delamination, corrosion/oxidation, and environmental effects, could cause the optical properties of surfaces to degrade rapidly in these conditions. Protected mirror surfaces for these applications have been tested by depositing a thin layer of SiO2 on top of electrodeposited silver by means of the sol-gel method. To obtain an effective thin film structure, this sol-gel procedure has been investigated extensively by varying process parameters that affect film porosity and thickness. Endurance tests have been performed in a furnace at 150 degrees C for thousands of hours. This paper presents the sol-gel process for intermediate-temperature specular reflective coatings and provides the long-term reliability test results of sol-gel protected silver-coated surfaces.

Near zero reflection by nanostructured anti-reflection coating design for Si substrates

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Fandi, Mohamed; Makableh, Yahia F.; Khasawneh, Mohammad; Rabady, Rabi

2018-05-01

The nanostructure design of near zero reflection coating for Si substrates by using ZnO Nanoneedles (ZnONN) is performed and optimized for the visible spectral range. The design investigates the ZnONN tip to body ratio effect on the anti-reflection coating properties. Different tip to body ratios are used on Si substrates. Around zero reflection is achieved by the Nanoneedles structure design presented in this work, leading to minimal reflection losses from the Si surface. The current design evolves a solution to optical losses and surface contamination effects associated with Si solar cells.

Anomalous Quasiparticle Reflection from the Surface of a ^{3}He-^{4}He Dilute Solution.

Science.gov (United States)

Ikegami, Hiroki; Kim, Kitak; Sato, Daisuke; Kono, Kimitoshi; Choi, Hyoungsoon; Monarkha, Yuriy P

2017-11-10

A free surface of a dilute ^{3}He-^{4}He liquid mixture is a unique system where two Fermi liquids with distinct dimensions coexist: a three-dimensional (3D) ^{3}He Fermi liquid in the bulk and a two-dimensional (2D) ^{3}He Fermi liquid at the surface. To investigate a novel effect generated by the interaction between the two Fermi liquids, the mobility of a Wigner crystal of electrons formed on the free surface of the mixture is studied. An anomalous enhancement of the mobility, compared with the case where the 3D and 2D systems do not interact with each other, is observed. The enhancement is explained by the nontrivial reflection of 3D quasiparticles from the surface covered with the 2D ^{3}He system.

Remote measurement of water color in coastal waters. [spectral radiance data used to obtain quantitative values for chlorophyll and turbidity

Science.gov (United States)

Weldon, J. W.

1973-01-01

An investigation was conducted to develop procedure to obtain quantitative values for chlorophyll and turbidity in coastal waters by observing the changes in spectral radiance of the backscattered spectrum. The technique under consideration consists of Examining Exotech model 20-D spectral radiometer data and determining which radiance ratios best correlated with chlorophyll and turbidity measurements as obtained from analyses of water samples and sechi visibility readings. Preliminary results indicate that there is a correlation between backscattered light and chlorophyll concentration and secchi visibility. The tests were conducted with the spectrometer mounted in a light aircraft over the Mississippi Sound at altitudes of 2.5K, 2.8K and 10K feet.

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

This study investigated the potential of Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) data for studying compositional variation in the near-, far-side transition zone of the lunar surface. For this purpose, the radiance values of the M3 data were corrected for illumination and emission related effects and converted to apparent reflectance.

Quantum state-resolved gas/surface reaction dynamics probed by reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen Li [Department of Dynamics at Surfaces, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, Goettingen (Germany); Ueta, Hirokazu; Beck, Rainer D. [Laboratoire de Chimie Physique Moleculaire, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (Switzerland); Bisson, Regis [Aix-Marseille Universite, PIIM, CNRS, UMR 7345, 13397 Marseille (France)

2013-05-15

We report the design and characterization of a new molecular-beam/surface-science apparatus for quantum state-resolved studies of gas/surface reaction dynamics combining optical state-specific reactant preparation in a molecular beam by rapid adiabatic passage with detection of surface-bound reaction products by reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). RAIRS is a non-invasive infrared spectroscopic detection technique that enables online monitoring of the buildup of reaction products on the target surface during reactant deposition by a molecular beam. The product uptake rate obtained by calibrated RAIRS detection yields the coverage dependent state-resolved reaction probability S({theta}). Furthermore, the infrared absorption spectra of the adsorbed products obtained by the RAIRS technique provide structural information, which help to identify nascent reaction products, investigate reaction pathways, and determine branching ratios for different pathways of a chemisorption reaction. Measurements of the dissociative chemisorption of methane on Pt(111) with this new apparatus are presented to illustrate the utility of RAIRS detection for highly detailed studies of chemical reactions at the gas/surface interface.

Nearshore Water Quality Estimation Using Atmospherically Corrected AVIRIS Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sima Bagheri

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The objective of the research is to characterize the surface spectral reflectance of the nearshore waters using atmospheric correction code—Tafkaa for retrieval of the marine water constituent concentrations from hyperspectral data. The study area is the nearshore waters of New York/New Jersey considered as a valued ecological, economic and recreational resource within the New York metropolitan area. Comparison of the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS measured radiance and in situ reflectance measurement shows the effect of the solar source and atmosphere in the total upwelling spectral radiance measured by AVIRIS. Radiative transfer code, Tafkaa was applied to remove the effects of the atmosphere and to generate accurate reflectance (R(0 from the AVIRIS radiance for retrieving water quality parameters (i.e., total chlorophyll. Chlorophyll estimation as index of phytoplankton abundance was optimized using AVIRIS band ratio at 675 nm and 702 nm resulting in a coefficient of determination of R2 = 0.98. Use of the radiative transfer code in conjunction with bio optical model is the main tool for using ocean color remote sensing as an operational tool for monitoring of the key nearshore ecological communities of phytoplankton important in global change studies.

Detecting annual and seasonal variations of CO2, CO and N2O from a multi-year collocated satellite-radiosonde data-set using the new Rapid Radiance Reconstruction (3R-N) model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chedin, A.; Serrar, S.; Hollingsworth, A.; Armante, R.; Scott, N.A.

2003-01-01

The NOAA polar meteorological satellites have embarked the TIROS-N operational vertical sounder (TOVS) since 1979. Using radiosondes and NOAA-10 TOVS measurements which are collocated within a narrow space and time window, we have studied the differences between the TOVS measurements and simulated measurements from a new fast, Rapid Radiance Reconstruction Network (3R-N), non-linear radiative transfer model with up to date spectroscopy. Simulations use radiosonde temperature and humidity measurements as the prime input. The radiative transfer model also uses fixed greenhouse gas absorber amounts (CO 2 ,CO,N 2 O) and reasonable estimates of O 3 and of surface temperature. The 3R-N model is first presented and validated. Then, a study of the differences between the simulated and measured radiances shows annual trends and seasonal variations consistent with independent measurements of variations in CO 2 and other greenhouse gases atmospheric concentrations. The improved accuracy of 3R-N and a better handling of its deviations with respect to observations allow most of difficulties met in a previous study (J. Climate 15 (2002) 95) to be resolved

Water surface temperature profiles for the Rhine River derived from Landsat ETM+ data

Science.gov (United States)

Fricke, Katharina; Baschek, Björn

2013-10-01

Water temperature influences physical and chemical parameters of rivers and streams and is an important parameter for water quality. It is a crucial factor for the existence and the growth of animal and plant species in the river ecosystem. The aim of the research project "Remote sensing of water surface temperature" at the Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), Germany, is to supplement point measurements of water temperature with remote sensing methodology. The research area investigated here is the Upper and Middle Rhine River, where continuous measurements of water temperature are already available for several water quality monitoring stations. Satellite imagery is used to complement these point measurements and to generate longitudinal temperature profiles for a better systematic understanding of the changes in river temperature along its course. Several products for sea surface temperature derived from radiances in the thermal infrared are available, but for water temperature from rivers less research has been carried out. Problems arise from the characteristics of the river valley and morphology and the proximity to the riverbank. Depending on the river width, a certain spatial resolution of the satellite images is necessary to allow for an accurate identification of the river surface and the calculation of water temperature. The bands from the Landsat ETM+ sensor in the thermal infrared region offer a possibility to extract the river surface temperatures (RST) of a sufficiently wide river such as the Rhine. Additionally, problems such as cloud cover, shadowing effects, georeferencing errors, different emissivity of water and land, scattering of thermal radiation, adjacency and mixed pixel effects had to be accounted for and their effects on the radiance temperatures will be discussed. For this purpose, several temperature data sets derived from radiance and in situ measurements were com- pared. The observed radiance temperatures are strongly influenced by

Reflectance Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, J. A.; Cooper, K.; Randolph, M.

1984-01-01

A classical description of the one dimensional radiative transfer treatment of vegetation canopies was completed and the results were tested against measured prairie (blue grama) and agricultural canopies (soybean). Phase functions are calculated in terms of directly measurable biophysical characteristics of the canopy medium. While the phase functions tend to exhibit backscattering anisotropy, their exact behavior is somewhat more complex and wavelength dependent. A Monte Carlo model was developed that treats soil surfaces with large periodic variations in three dimensions. A photon-ray tracing technology is used. Currently, the rough soil surface is described by analytic functions and appropriate geometric calculations performed. A bidirectional reflectance distribution function is calculated and, hence, available for other atmospheric or canopy reflectance models as a lower boundary condition. This technique is used together with an adding model to calculate several cases where Lambertian leaves possessing anisotropic leaf angle distributions yield non-Lambertian reflectance; similar behavior is exhibited for simulated soil surfaces.

Exploring the mid-infrared region for urban remote sensing: seasonal and view angle effects

Science.gov (United States)

Krehbiel, C. P.; Kovalskyy, V.; Henebry, G. M.

2013-12-01

Spanning 3-5 microns, the mid-infrared (MIR) region is the mixing zone between reflected sunlight and emitted earthlight in roughly equal proportions. While the MIR has been utilized in atmospheric remote sensing, its potential in terrestrial remote sensing--particularly urban remote sensing, has yet to be realized. One major advantage of the MIR is the ability to penetrate most anthropogenic haze and smog. Green vegetation appears MIR-dark, urban building materials appear MIR-grey, and bare soil and dried vegetation appear MIR-bright. Thus, there is an intrinsic seasonality in MIR radiance dynamics due both to surface type differences and to seasonal change in insolation. These factors merit exploration into the potential applications of the MIR for monitoring urban change. We investigated MIR radiance dynamics in relation to (1) the spectral properties of land cover types, (2) time of year and (3) sensor view zenith angle (VZA). We used Aqua MODIS daily swaths for band 23 (~ 4.05 μm) at 1 km spatial resolution from 2009-2010 and the NLCD Percent Impervious Surface Area (%ISA) 30 m product from 2001 and 2006. We found the effects of time of year, sensor VZA, and %ISA to be three principal factors influencing MIR radiance dynamics. We focused on analyzing the relationship between MIR radiance and %ISA over eight major cities in the Great Plains of the USA. This region is characterized by four distinct seasons, relatively flat terrain, and isolated urban centers situated within a vegetated landscape. We used west-east transects beginning in the agricultural areas outside of each city, passing through the urban core and extending back out into the agricultural periphery to observe the spatial pattern of MIR radiance and how it changes seasonally. Sensor VZA influences radiance dynamics by affecting the proportion of surface elements detected--especially pertinent at the coarse spatial resolution (~1 km) of MODIS. For example, smaller VZAs (30°). Larger VZAs detect