APPLICATIONS WITH METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES
by
W. Paul Menzel
NOAA/NESDIS
Office of Research and Applications
Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies
University of Wisconsin
2001
SAT-28
TECHNICAL DOCUMENT
WMO/TD No. 1078
-iTABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER 1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
Before satellites ............................................................................................................. 1-1
Evolution of the Polar Orbiting ....................................................................................... 1-1
The Geostationary Programme ...................................................................................... 1-6
Data Processing Capability ............................................................................................ 1-9
Summary...................................................................................................................... 1-10
CHAPTER 2
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.5.1
2.5.2
2.5.3
2.5.4
2.5.5
- ABSORPTION, EMISSION, REFLECTION, AND SCATTERING
Absorption and Emission................................................................................................ 3-1
Conservation of Energy .................................................................................................. 3-1
Planetary Albedo ............................................................................................................ 3-2
Selective Absorption and Emission ................................................................................ 3-2
Absorption /Emission) Line Formation ............................................................................ 3-4
Vibrational and Rotational Spectra ................................................................................. 3-5
Summary of the Interaction between Radiation and Matter ............................................ 3-7
Beer’s Law and Schwarzchild’s Equation ....................................................................... 3-7
Atmospheric Scattering ................................................................................................ 3-10
Solar Spectrum ............................................................................................................ 3-11
Composition of the Earth’s Atmosphere ....................................................................... 3-11
Atmospheric Absorption and Emission of the Solar Radiation ...................................... 3-12
Atmospheric Absorption and Emission of thermal Radiation ........................................ 3-12
Atmospheric Absorption Bands in the Infrared Spectrum ............................................. 3-13
Atmospheric Absorption Bands in the Microwave Spectrum ......................................... 3-14
Remote Sensing Regions............................................................................................. 3-14
CHAPTER 4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
- NATURE OF RADIATION
Remote Sensing of Radiation ......................................................................................... 2-1
Basic Units ..................................................................................................................... 2-1
Definitions of Radiation .................................................................................................. 2-2
Historical Development of Planck’s Radiation Law ......................................................... 2-3
Related Derivations ........................................................................................................ 2-6
Wien’s Displacement Law .............................................................................................. 2-6
Rayleigh-Jeans Radiation Law ....................................................................................... 2-7
Wien’s Radiation Law..................................................................................................... 2-7
Stefan-Boltzmann Law ................................................................................................... 2-8
Brightness Temperature ................................................................................................. 2-8
CHAPTER 3
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
- EVOLUTION OF SATELLITE METEOROLOGY
- THE RADIATION BUDGET
The Mean Global Energy Balance .................................................................................. 4-1
The First Satellite Experiment to Measure the Net Radiation ......................................... 4-1
The Radiation Budget .................................................................................................... 4-2
Distribution of Solar Energy Intercepted by the Earth ..................................................... 4-4
Solar Heating Rates ....................................................................................................... 4-4
Infrared Cooling Rates ................................................................................................... 4-5
- ii 4.7
Radiative Equilibrium in a Gray Atmosphere .................................................................. 4-5
CHAPTER 5
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.6.1
5.6.2
5.6.3
5.6.4
5.6.5
5.7
5.7.1
5.7.2
5.7.3
5.7.4
5.7.5
5.8
5.8.1
5.8.2
5.9
5.10
Derivation of RTE ........................................................................................................... 5-1
Temperature Profile Inversion ........................................................................................ 5-4
Transmittance Determinations ....................................................................................... 5-5
Fredholm Form of RTE and the Direct Linear Inversion method .................................... 5-6
Linearization of the RTE ................................................................................................. 5-8
Statistical Solutions for the Inversion of the RTE ............................................................ 5-8
Statistical Least Squares for the Inversion of the RTE ................................................... 5-8
Constrained Linear Inversion of the RTE........................................................................ 5-9
Statistical Regularization .............................................................................................. 5-10
Minimum Information Solution ..................................................................................... 5-11
Empirical Orthogonal Functions ................................................................................... 5-12
Numerical Solutions for the Inversion of the RTE ......................................................... 5-16
Numerical Iteration Solution ......................................................................................... 5-16
Example Problem using the Chahine Relaxation Method ............................................. 5-18
Smith’s Numerical Iteration Solution ............................................................................. 5-20
Example problem using Smith’s iteration...................................................................... 5-21
Comparison of the Chahine and Smith Numerical Iteration Solution ............................ 5-23
Direct Physical Solution ................................................................................................ 5-23
Example Problem Solving Linear RTE Directly ............................................................. 5-23
Simultaneous Direct Physical Solution of the RTE for Temperature and Moisture ....... 5-25
Water Vapour Profile Solutions .................................................................................... 5-27
Microwave Form of RTE............................................................................................... 5-29
CHAPTER 6
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.3.1
6.3.2
6.4
6.4.1
6.4.2
6.4.3
6.4.4
6.4.5
6.4.6
6.4.7
6.5
6.5.1
6.5.2
6.5.3
- CLOUDS
RTE in Cloudy Conditions .............................................................................................. 6-1
Inferring Clear Sky Radiances in Cloudy Conditions ...................................................... 6-2
Finding Clouds ............................................................................................................... 6-3
Threshold and Difference Tests to Find Clouds ............................................................. 6-4
Spatial Uniformity Tests to Find Cloud ........................................................................... 6-9
The Cloud Mask Algorithm ........................................................................................... 6-10
Thick High Clouds (Group 1 Tests) .............................................................................. 6-11
Thin Clouds (Group 2 Tests) ........................................................................................ 6-11
Low Clouds (Group 3 Tests) ........................................................................................ 6-11
High Thin Clouds (Group 4 Tests) ................................................................................ 6-12
Ancillary Data Requirements ....................................................................................... 6-12
Implementation of the Cloud Mask Algorithms ............................................................. 6-13
Short-term and Long-term Clear Sky Radiance Composite Maps ................................ 6-13
Ongoing Climatologies ................................................................................................. 6-14
ISCCP ....................................................................................................................... 6-14
CLAVR ....................................................................................................................... 6-15
CO2 slicing ................................................................................................................... 6-15
CHAPTER 7
7.1
7.1.1
- THE RADIATIVE TRANSFER EQUATION (RTE)
- SURFACE TEMPERATURE
Sea Surface Temperature Determination ....................................................................... 7-1
Slope Method ................................................................................................................. 7-1
- iii 7.1.2
7.1.3
7.2
7.3
7.4
Three Point Method ........................................................................................................ 7-2
Least Squares Method ................................................................................................... 7-2
Water Vapour Correction for SST Determinations.......................................................... 7-3
Accounting for Surface Emissivity in the Determination of SST ...................................... 7-6
Estimating Fire Size and Temperature ........................................................................... 7-7
CHAPTER 8
8.1
8.1.1
8.1.2
8.1.3
8.1.4
8.2
8.2.1
8.2.2
8.2.3
8.3
8.4
8.5
8.6
Total Water Vapour Estimation ...................................................................................... 8-1
Split Window Method ..................................................................................................... 8-1
Split Window Variance Ratio .......................................................................................... 8-1
Perturbation of Split Window RTE .................................................................................. 8-3
Microwave Split Window Estimation of Atmospheric Water Vapour and Liquid Water ... 8-3
Total Ozone Determination ............................................................................................ 8-4
Total Ozone from Numerical Iteration............................................................................. 8-4
Physical Retrieval of Total Ozone .................................................................................. 8-5
HIRS Operational Algorithm ........................................................................................... 8-7
Determination of Cloud Height and Effective Emissivity ................................................. 8-8
Geopotential Height Determination .............................................................................. 8-10
Microwave Estimation of Tropical Cyclone Intensity ..................................................... 8-11
Satellite Measure of Atmosphere Stability .................................................................... 8-13
CHAPTER 9
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.5.1
- TECHNIQUES FOR DETERMINING ATMOSPHERIC PARAMETERS
- TECHNIQUES FOR DETERMINING ATMOSPHERIC MOTIONS
Atmospheric Motion ....................................................................................................... 9-1
Geostrophic Winds ......................................................................................................... 9-1
Gradient Winds .............................................................................................................. 9-3
Thermal Winds ............................................................................................................... 9-4
Inferring Winds from Cloud Tracking .............................................................................. 9-4
Current Operational Procedures..................................................................................... 9-5
CHAPTER 10 - APPLICATIONS OF GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE SOUNDING DATA
10.1
10.2
10.3
Detection of Temporal and Spatial Gradients ............................................................... 10-1
VAS Detection of rapid Atmospheric Destabilization .................................................... 10-1
Operational GOES Sounding Applications ................................................................... 10-3
CHAPTER 11 - SATELLITE ORBITS
11.1
11.2
11.3
11.4
11.5
Orbital Mechanics ........................................................................................................ 11-1
The Geostationary Orbit ............................................................................................... 11-1
Orbital Elements........................................................................................................... 11-1
Gravitational Attraction of Non-spherical Earth ............................................................. 11-3
Sun synchronous Polar Orbit ....................................................................................... 11-4
CHAPTER 12 - RADIOMETER DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
12.1
12.2
12.3
12.3.1
Components and Performance Characteristics ............................................................ 12-1
Spectral Separation ...................................................................................................... 12-1
Design Considerations ................................................................................................. 12-1
Diffraction ..................................................................................................................... 12-1
- iv 12.3.2
12.3.3
12.3.4
12.3.5
The Impulse or Step Response Function ..................................................................... 12-2
Detector Signal to Noise............................................................................................... 12-2
Infrared Calibration....................................................................................................... 12-3
Bit Depth ...................................................................................................................... 12-5
APPENDICES
A.
EIGENVALUE PROBLEMS
B.
REFERENCES
C.
PROBLEMS
D.
EXAM