Engineering topics
Miller, Walter
Publications and source records attributed to Miller, Walter.
Consistency of CERES Radiances and Fluxes from Aqua and Suomi-NPP
The Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments on board Terra, Aqua, and Suomi-NPP have been providing data products critical to advancing our understanding of the effects of clouds and aerosols on radiative energy within the Earth-atmosphere system. The CERES instrument consists of a threechannel broadband scanning radiometer. The scanning radiometer measures radiances in shortwave (SW, 0.3-5 micron), window (WN, 8-12 micron), and total (0.3-200 micron) channels. The longwave (LW) component is derived as the difference between total and SW channels. These measured radiances at a given sun-Earthsatellite geometry are converted to outgoing reflected solar and emitted thermal TOA radiative fluxes by using CERES scene-type dependent angular distribution models (ADMs). The CERES instruments must remain radiometrically stable and correctly inter-calibrated to accurately capture changes in Earth"s radiation budget from interannual to decadal timescales. This presentation will focus on comparisons between collocated radiance measurements from CERES instruments on Aqua and on Suomi-NPP. As we do not have a set of ADMs that is constructed specifically for the CERES instrument on Suomi-NPP, CERES Aqua ADMs are used to invert fluxes from radiance measurements on Suomi-NPP. But the CERES Aqua footprint size is smaller than the CERES Suomi-NPP footprint size and the scene identifications provided by MODIS and VIIRS can also be different from each other. Will using Aqua ADMs for Suomi-NPP flux inversion increase the flux uncertainty? We will examine the deseasonalized flux anomaly time series using Aqua data alone and using combined Aqua and Suomi-NPP data. We will also present a simulation study to assess the Suomi-NPP flux uncertainty from using Aqua ADMs for the flux inversion.
Sofia Observatory Performance and Characterization
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has recently concluded a set of engineering flights for Observatory performance evaluation. These in-flight opportunities have been viewed as a first comprehensive assessment of the Observatory's performance and will be used to address the development activity that is planned for 2012, as well as to identify additional Observatory upgrades. A series of 8 SOFIA Characterization And Integration (SCAI) flights have been conducted from June to December 2011. The HIPO science instrument in conjunction with the DSI Super Fast Diagnostic Camera (SFDC) have been used to evaluate pointing stability, including the image motion due to rigid-body and flexible-body telescope modes as well as possible aero-optical image motion. We report on recent improvements in pointing stability by using an Active Mass Damper system installed on Telescope Assembly. Measurements and characterization of the shear layer and cavity seeing, as well as image quality evaluation as a function of wavelength have been performed using the HIPO+FLITECAM Science Instrument configuration (FLIPO). A number of additional tests and measurements have targeted basic Observatory capabilities and requirements including, but not limited to, pointing accuracy, chopper evaluation and imager sensitivity. SCAI activities included in-flight partial Science Instrument commissioning prior to the use of the instruments as measuring engines. This paper reports on the data collected during the SCAI flights and presents current SOFIA Observatory performance and characterization.
Two MODIS Aerosol Products Over Ocean on the Terra and Aqua CERES SSF Datasets
Over ocean, two aerosol products are reported on the Terra and Aqua CERES SSFs. Both are derived from MODIS, but using different sampling and aerosol algorithms. This study briefly summarizes these products, and compares using 2 weeks of global Terra data from 15-21 December 2000, and 1-7 June 2001.