Heck, P. W. | Search NASA

NASA NTRS2004

Benchmarking In-Flight Icing Detection Products for Future Upgrades

This paper summarizes the results of a benchmarking exercise conducted as part of the NASA supported Advanced Satellite Aviation-Weather Products (ASAP) Program. The goal of ASAP is to increase and optimize the use of satellite data sets within the existing FAA Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP) Product Development Team (PDT) structure and to transfer advanced satellite expertise to the PDTs. Currently, ASAP fosters collaborative efforts between NASA Laboratories, the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (UW-CIMSS), the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), and the AWRP PDTs. This collaboration involves the testing and evaluation of existing satellite algorithms developed or proposed by AWRP teams, the introduction of new techniques and data sets to the PDTs from the satellite community, and enhanced access to new satellite data sets available through CIMSS and NASA Langley Research Center for evaluation and testing.

Politovich, M. K.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Satellite and Surface Data Synergy for Developing a 3D Cloud Structure and Properties Characterization Over the ARM SGP. Stage 1: Cloud Amounts, Optical Depths, and Cloud Heights Reconciliation

One of the primary Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program objectives is to obtain measurements applicable to the development of models for better understanding of radiative processes in the atmosphere. We address this goal by building a three-dimensional (3D) characterization of the cloud structure and properties over the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP). We take the approach of juxtaposing the cloud properties as retrieved from independent satellite and ground-based retrievals, and looking at the statistics of the cloud field properties. Once these retrievals are well understood, they will be used to populate the 3D characterization database. As a first step we determine the relationship between surface fractional sky cover and satellite viewing angle dependent cloud fraction (CF). We elaborate on the agreement intercomparing optical depth (OD) datasets from satellite and ground using available retrieval algorithms with relation to the CF, cloud height, multi-layer cloud presence, and solar zenith angle (SZA). For the SGP Central Facility, where output from the active remote sensing cloud layer (ARSCL) valueadded product (VAP) is available, we study the uncertainty of satellite estimated cloud heights and evaluate the impact of this uncertainty for radiative studies.

Genkova, I.↗