Zhang, Banglin | Search NASA

NASA NTRS2007

Cloud Motion Vectors from MISR using Sub-pixel Enhancements

The operational retrieval of height-resolved cloud motion vectors by the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer on the Terra satellite has been significantly improved by using sub-pixel approaches to co-registration and disparity assessment, and by imposing stronger quality control based on the agreement between independent forward and aft triplet retrievals. Analysis of the fore-aft differences indicates that CMVs pass the basic operational quality control 67% of the time, with rms differences - in speed of 2.4 m/s, in direction of 17 deg, and in height assignment of 290 m. The use of enhanced quality control thresholds reduces these rms values to 1.5 m/s, 17 deg and 165 m, respectively, at the cost of reduced coverage to 45%. Use of the enhanced thresholds also eliminates a tendency for the rms differences to increase with height. Comparison of CMVs from an earlier operational version that had slightly weaker quality control, with 6-hour forecast winds from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office yielded very low bias values and an rms vector difference that ranged from 5 m/s for low clouds to 10 m/s for high clouds.

Davies, Roger↗

NASA NTRS2007

An EOF Iteration Approach for Obtaining Homogeneous Radiative Fluxes from Satellites Observations

Conventional observations of climate parameters are sparse in space and/or in time and the representativeness of such information needs to be optimized. Observations from satellites provide improved spatial coverage than point observations however they pose new challenges for obtaining homogeneous coverage. Surface radiative fluxes, the forcing functions of the hydrologic cycle and biogeophysical processes, are now becoming available from global scale satellite observations. They are derived from independent satellite platforms and sensors that differ in temporal and spatial resolution and in the size of the footprint from which information is derived. Data gaps, degraded spatial resolution near boundaries of geostationary satellites, and different viewing geometries in areas of satellite overlap, could result in biased estimates of radiative fluxes. In this study, discussed will be issues related to the sources of inhomogeneity in surface radiative fluxes as derived from satellites; development of an approach to obtain homogeneous data sets; and application of the methodology to the widely used International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) data that currently serve as a source of information for deriving estimates of surface and top of the atmosphere radiative fluxes. Introduced is an Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) iteration scheme for homogenizing the fluxes. The scheme is evaluated in several ways including comparison of the inferred radiative fluxes against ground observations, both before and after the EOF approach is applied. On the average, the latter reduces the rms error by about 2-3 W/m2.

Zhang, Banglin↗