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At least 271 records · Page 15
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NASA NTRS2010

The Energy Budget of the Polar Atmosphere in MERRA

Components of the atmospheric energy budget from the Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) are evaluated in polar regions for the period 1979-2005 and compared with previous estimates, in situ observations, and contemporary reanalyses. Closure of the energy budget is reflected by the analysis increments term, which results from virtual enthalpy and latent heating contributions and averages -11 W/sq m over the north polar cap and -22 W/sq m over the south polar cap. Total energy tendency and energy convergence terms from MERRA agree closely with previous study for northern high latitudes but convergence exceeds previous estimates for the south polar cap by 46 percent. Discrepancies with the Southern Hemisphere transport are largest in autumn and may be related to differences in topography with earlier reanalyses. For the Arctic, differences between MERRA and other sources in TOA and surface radiative fluxes maximize in May. These differences are concurrent with the largest discrepancies between MERRA parameterized and observed surface albedo. For May, in situ observations of the upwelling shortwave flux in the Arctic are 80 W/sq m larger than MERRA, while the MERRA downwelling longwave flux is underestimated by 12 W/sq m throughout the year. Over grounded ice sheets, the annual mean net surface energy flux in MERRA is erroneously non-zero. Contemporary reanalyses from the Climate Forecast Center (CFSR) and the Interim Re-Analyses of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ERA-I) are found to have better surface parameterizations, however these collections are also found to have significant discrepancies with observed surface and TOA energy fluxes. Discrepancies among available reanalyses underscore the challenge of reproducing credible estimates of the atmospheric energy budget in polar regions.

Cullather, Richard I.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Synergistic use of optical and microwave data in agrometeorological applications

Remotely sensed optical and microwave data can be synergistically used to infer land surface properties. Optical data can be used to estimate surface albedo, radiation absorption by vegetation canopies and their photosynthetic efficiencies. Vegetation canopy reflectance at red and near-infrared wavelengths can be used to correct for vegetation effect on microwave emissivities at low frequencies for estimating soil moisture. Optical data can also provide information about surface and air temperatures, precipitable water vapor, cloud top temperature and its water content. This information can be utilized to correct microwave data for atmospheric effects. These points are illustrated with theoretical analyses and by application to satellite data. The basic physical mechanisms operative at the various wavelengths are also discussed.

Myneni, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS2001

The Potential of Using Landsat 7 Data for the Classification of Sea Ice Surface Conditions During Summer

During spring and summer, the Surface of the Arctic sea ice cover undergoes rapid changes that greatly affect the surface albedo and significantly impact the further decay of the sea ice. These changes are primarily the development of a wet snow cover and the development of melt ponds. As melt pond diameters generally do not exceed a couple of meters, the spatial resolutions of sensors like AVHRR and MODIS are too coarse for their identification. Landsat 7, on the other hand, has a spatial resolution of 30 m (15 m for the pan-chromatic band). The different wavelengths (bands) from blue to near-infrared offer the potential to distinguish among different surface conditions. Landsat 7 data for the Baffin Bay region for June 2000 have been analyzed. The analysis shows that different surface conditions, such as wet snow and meltponded areas, have different signatures in the individual Landsat bands. Consistent with in-situ albedo measurements, melt ponds show up as blueish whereas dry and wet ice have a white to gray appearance in the Landsat true-color image. These spectral differences enable the distinction of melt ponds. The melt pond fraction for the scene studied in this paper was 37%.

Markus, Thorsten↗
NASA NTRS1985

Atlas of Archived Vegetation, Land-use and Seasonal Albedo Data Sets

Global digital data bases of natural vegetation and land use were compiled, for use in climate studies, at 1 deg resolution from over 100 published sources. A series of 6 data sets, derived from the original compilations, was prepared and archived on tape at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) (Matthews, 1984). The first is a vegetation data set representing natural (pre-agricultural) vegetation based on the UNESCO classification system. The second, derived from the land-use compilation, is a cultivation-intensity data set defining the areal extent of presently-cultivated land in the 1 deg cells. The last four are integrated surface-albedo data sets (January, April, July, October) for snow-free conditions, incorporating natural-vegetation and cultivation characteristics from the vegetation and cultivation-intensity data sets. Each of these data sets covers the entire surface of the earth. They include non-zero data for permanent land only, including continental ice; water, including oceans and lakes, is zero. The present report includes maps, presented by continent, of the complete archived data, with the exception of Antarctica.

Matthews, E.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Remote Sensing of smoke and its Direct Radiative Forcing in South America

Smoke aerosol, organic and black carbon particles suspended in the air, can absorb and reflect solar radiation to space, i.e., direct radiative forcing. Depending on the ratio of scattering to absorption, and the surface spectral properties, the net smoke effect can be warming or cooling of the climate system. Data from the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) flown on the ER-2 at altitude of 20km, and of the AERONET ground based sun/sky radiometers are used to assess the smoke aerosol optical thickness over the land and the direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere and at ground level, respectively. The data are collected during the Smoke, Clouds, and Radiation - Brazil (SCAR-B) experiment. In contrast to model results of the smoke effect, we show using the AVIRIS data, that even though the surface albedo is high (0.17 - average on the solar spectrum) and the smoke single scattering albedo is low (0.88), smoke does increase the instantaneous reflectance of sunlight to space by 30-40 W/m2 for an increase in the smoke optical thickness of 0.5. The AERONET data are used to derive, simultaneously, the effect of smoke on the downward radiation. Models using spectrally averaged smoke optical properties and averaged surface reflectance, predicted very small smoke forcing. The reason is that smoke is mainly opaque in short wavelengths (e.g.<0.7 micron) while the surface is mainly bright in longer wavelengths (>0.7 micron). Modeling the effect of smoke on climate forcing cannot be done using the spectrally average properties. It requires the knowledge of the smoke and surface spectral properties.

Kaufman, Yoram J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

In Situ Air Temperature and Humidity Measurements Over Diverse Land Covers in Greenbelt, Maryland, November 2013-November 2015

As our climate changes through time there is an ever-increasing need to quantify how and where it is changing so that mitigation strategies can be implemented. Urban areas have a disproportionate amount of warming due, in part, to the conductive properties of concrete and asphalt surfaces, surface albedo, heat capacity, lack of water, etc. that make up an urban environment. The NASA Climate Adaptation Science Investigation working group at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, conducted a study to collect temperature and humidity data at 15 min intervals from 12 sites at the center. These sites represent the major surface types at the center: asphalt, building roof, grass field, forest, and rain garden. The data show a strong distinction in the thermal properties of these surfaces at the center and the difference between the average values for the center compared to a local meteorological station. The data have been submitted to Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL-DAAC) for archival in comma separated value (csv) file format (Carroll et al.,2016) and can be found by following this link: http:daac.ornl.govcgi-bindsviewer.pl?ds_id1319.

Carroll, Mark L.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Satellite Radiation Products for Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry: Needs, State-Of-The-Art, Gaps, Development Priorities, and Opportunities

Knowing the spatial and temporal distribution of the underwater light field, i.e., the spectral and angular structure of the radiant intensity at any point in the water column, is essential to understanding the biogeochemical processes that control the composition and evolution of aquatic ecosystems and their impact on climate and reaction to climate change. At present, only a few properties are reliably retrieved from space, either directly or via water-leaving radiance. Existing satellite products are limited to planar photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) and ultraviolet (UV) irradiance above the surface and diffuse attenuation coefficient. Examples of operational products are provided, and their advantages and drawbacks are examined. The usefulness and convenience of these products notwithstanding, there is a need, as expressed by the user community, for other products, i.e., sub-surface planar and scalar fluxes, average cosine, spectral fluxes (UV to visible), diurnal fluxes, absorbed fraction of PAR by live algae (APAR), surface albedo, vertical attenuation, and heating rate, and for associating uncertainties to any product on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Methodologies to obtain the new products are qualitatively discussed in view of most recent scientific knowledge and current and future satellite missions, and specific algorithms are presented for some new products, namely sub-surface fluxes and average cosine. A strategy and roadmap (short, medium, and long term) for usage and development priorities is provided, taking into account needs and readiness level. Combining observations from satellites overpassing at different times and geostationary satellites should be pursued to improve the quality of daily-integrated radiation fields, and products should be generated without gaps to provide boundary conditions for general circulation and biogeochemical models. Examples of new products, i.e., daily scalar PAR below the surface, daily average cosine for PAR, and sub-surface spectral scalar fluxes are presented. A procedure to estimate algorithm uncertainties in the total uncertainty budget for above-surface daily PAR, based on radiative simulations for expected situations, is described. In the future, space-borne lidars with ocean profiling capability offer the best hope for improving our knowledge of sub-surface fields. To maximize temporal coverage, space agencies should consider placing ocean-color instruments in L1 orbit, where the sunlit part of the Earth can be frequently observed.

Frouin, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1999

Remote Sensing of Smoke and its Direct Radiative Forcing in South-America

Smoke aerosol, organic and black carbon particles suspended in the air, are capable to absorb and reflect solar radiation to space - direct radiative forcing. Depending on the ratio of scattering to absorption, and on the surface spectral properties, the net smoke effect can be warming or cooling of the climate system. Data from the AVIRIS spectrometer flown on the ER-2 at altitude of 20 km, and of the AERONET ground based sun/sky radiometers are used to assess the smoke aerosol optical thickness over the land and the direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere and at ground level, respectively. The data are collected during the SCAR-B experiment in Brazil. In contrast to model results of the smoke effect, we show using the AVIRIS data, that even though the surface albedo is high (0.17 - average on the solar spectrum) and the smoke single scattering albedo is low (0.88), smoke does increase the instantaneous reflectance of sunlight to space by 30-40 W/m(exp 2) for an increase in the smoke optical thickness of 0.5. The AERONET data are used to derive, simultaneously, the effect of smoke on the downward radiation. Models using spectrally averaged smoke optical properties and averaged surface reflectance, predicted very small smoke forcing. The reason is that smoke is mainly opaque in short wavelengths (e.g.< 0.7 micron) while the surface is mainly bright in longer wavelengths (> 0.7 micron). Modeling the effect of smoke on climate forcing cannot be done using the spectrally average properties. It requires the knowledge of the smoke and surface spectral properties.

Kaufman, Yoram↗
NASA NTRS2020

Satellite Beach Energy - Restructuring the Energy Balance in Satellite Beach, Florida, by Quantifying Solar Energy Production Potential using NASA POWER Data Products and LiDAR

The City of Satellite Beach, Florida, has committed to supplying 100% of its energy use from renewable energy, primarily solar, by the year 2050. The team created a methodology for estimating rooftop solar power potential using a high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) dataset and the NASA Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) dataset to assist Satellite Beach in reaching their solar renewable energy goals. The POWER dataset provides information on direct and diffuse solar irradiation on horizontal surfaces, surface albedo, and effects of local meteorology, such as clouds. The team integrated the solar irradiance data with the LiDAR data to model slope, aspect, and shadowing in the 7 km2 study area to find suitable roof segments for solar panel installation and estimate the solar potential of each segment. This process was supplemented by an analysis of land surface temperature and urban greenness measured through the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS) observations. These metrics serve to target areas for cooling initiatives aimed at reducing Satellite Beach’s overall energy consumption. The team found the total rooftop solar potential throughout the city to be 221,919,330KWh per year with an average annual rooftop photovoltaic, or PV, potential of 55,647KWh per building. As such, the average building could generate over five times the annual energy needs for an average household if PV panels were installed on all viable areas of its roof.

Spencer Nelson↗
NASA NTRS2003

Validation of the Archived CERES Surface and Atmosphere Radiation Budget (SARB) at SGP

The CERES Surface and Atmosphere Radiation Budget (SARB) product (Charlock et al, 2002) includes the vertical profile of broadband SW, broadband LW, and 8-12 micron window (WN) fluxes; upwelling and downwelling at TOA, 70 hPa, 200 hPa, 500 hPa, and the surface; and for all-sky and clear-sky conditions. We test the archived CERES TRMM record of SARB for January-August 1998 and focus on discrepancies with ground-based measurements at SGP. The CERES SARB is generated by a highly modified Fu-Liou radiative transfer code (Fu and Liou, 1993). The most critical inputs for this application are cloud optical properties (fractional area, optical depth, particle size and phase, height of top, and estimate of geometrical thickness Minnis et al., 2002) from the narrowband VIRS imager. Numerous VIRS pixels (approx. 2km resolution at nadir) are matched to each of the large (approx. 20km) CERES broadband footprints (Wielicki et al, 1996). Other inputs include temperature and humidity from ECMWF (Rabier et al, 1998) , NCEP ozone profiles from SBUV and TOVS (Yang et al, 2001), aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from the Model for Atmospheric Transport and Chemistry (MATCH) aerosol assimilation (Collins et al., 2001) or alternately from the VIRS imager (Ignatov and Stowe, 2000). VIRS AOT is available for clear and partly cloudy ocean footprints during daylight; and only when viewing geometry renders a contribution from sunglint as unlikely. For other footprints, AOT is taken from MATCH. AOT is apportioned into fractions of dust (Tegan and Lacis, 1996), sea salt, sulfate, dust, soluble organic, insoluble organic, and soot (Hess et al., 1996) using the 6-hourly MATCH output. Tuned fluxes are retrieved by adjusting inputs to nudge computed TOA fluxes toward CERES observations (Rose et al, 1997). In clear conditions, the fields of humidity, surface skin temperature, surface albedo and AOT are adjusted to produce a closer match of computed and observed fluxes at TOA. When CERES footprints have clouds, the cloud optical thickness, fractional area within the footprint, and temperature of cloud top are adjusted by the tuning algorithm. Both tuned and untuned fluxes are archived, as are the respective adjustments to any parameters at the surface or within the atmosphere.

Charlock, Thomas P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Arctic Warming Signals from Satellite Observations

Global warming signals are expected to be amplified in the Arctic primarily because of ice-albedo feedback associated with the high reflectivity of ice and snow that blankets much of the region. The Arctic had been a poorly explored territory basically because of its general inaccessibility on account of extremely harsh weather conditions and the dominant presence of thick perennial ice in the region. The advent of satellite remote sensing systems since the 1960s, however, enabled the acquisition of synoptic data that depict in good spatial detail the temporal changes of many Arctic surface parameters. Among the surface parameters that have been studied using space based systems are surface temperature, sea ice concentration, snow cover, surface albedo and phytoplankton concentration. Associated atmospheric parameters, such as cloud cover, temperature profile, ozone concentration, and aerosol have also been derived. Recent observational and phenomenological studies have indeed revealed progressively changing conditions in the Arctic during the last few decades (e g , Walsh et al. 1996; Serreze et al 2000; Comiso and Parkinson 2004). The changes included declines in the extent and area of surfaces covered by sea ice and snow, increases in melt area over the Greenland ice sheets, thawing of the permafrost, warming in the troposphere, and retreat of the glaciers. These observations are consistent with the observed global warming that has been associated with the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (Karl and Trenberth 2003) and confirmed by modeling studies (Holland and Bitz, 2003). The Arctic system, however, is still not well understood complicated by a largely fluctuating wind circulation and atmospheric conditions (Proshutinsky and Johnson 1997) and controlled by what is now known as the Arctic Oscillation (AO) which provides a measure of the strength of atmospheric activities in the region (Thompson and Wallace 1998). Meanwhile, the observed Arctic conditions since the 1970s have been shown to exhibit a linear behavior that directly contradicts what has been expected from the A0 (Overland, 2005). The decade of the 1990s has been regarded as the warmest decade in the last century and current data indicates that the 2000s may be even a warmer decade than the 1990s further supporting the linear variability. In this paper, we use satellite data to gain insights into the warming Arctic and how the abnormally warm conditions during the last few years are reflected in the region.

Comiso, Josefino C.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Lunar Flashlight: Mapping Lunar Surface Volatiles Using a Cubesat

Water ice and other volatiles may be located in the Moon's polar regions, with sufficient quantities for in situ extraction and utilization by future human and robotic missions. Evidence from orbiting spacecraft and the LCROSS impactor suggests the presence of surface and/or nearsurface volatiles, including water ice. These deposits are of interest to human exploration to understand their potential for use by astronauts. Understanding the composition, quantity, distribution, and form of water/H species and other volatiles associated with lunar cold traps is identified as a NASA Strategic Knowledge Gap (SKG) for Human Exploration. These polar volatile deposits could also reveal important information about the delivery of water to the Earth- Moon system, so are of scientific interest. The scientific exploration of the lunar polar regions was one of the key recommendations of the Planetary Science Decadal Survey. In order to address NASA's SKGs, the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program selected three lowcost 6-U CubeSat missions for launch as secondary payloads on the first test flight (EM1) of the Space Launch System (SLS) scheduled for 2017. The Lunar Flashlight mission was selected as one of these missions, specifically to address the SKG associated with lunar volatiles. Development of the Lunar Flashlight CubeSat concept leverages JPL's Interplanetary Nano- Spacecraft Pathfinder In Relevant Environment (INSPIRE) mission, MSFC's intimate knowledge of the Space Launch System and EM-1 mission, small business development of solar sail and electric propulsion hardware, and JPL experience with specialized miniature sensors. The goal of Lunar Flashlight is to determine the presence or absence of exposed water ice and its physical state, and map its concentration at the kilometer scale within the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole. After being ejected in cislunar space by SLS, Lunar Flashlight deploys its solar panels and solar sail and maneuvers into a low-energy transfer to lunar orbit. The solar sail and attitude control system work to bring the satellite into an elliptical polar orbit spiraling down to a perilune of 30-10 km above the south pole for data collection. Lunar Flashlight uses its solar sail to shine reflected sunlight into permanently shadowed regions, measuring surface albedo with a four-filter point spectrometer at 1.1, 1.5 1.9, and 2.0 microns. Water ice will be distinguished from dry regolith from these measurements in two ways: 1) spatial variations in absolute reflectance (water ice is much brighter in the continuum channels), and 2) reflectance ratios between absorption and continuum channels. Derived reflectance and reflectance ratios will be mapped onto the lunar surface in order to distinguish the composition of the PSRs from that of the sunlit terrain. Lunar Flashlight enables a low-cost path to in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) by identifying operationally useful deposits (if there are any), which is a game-changing capability for expanded human exploration.

Cohen, B. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Vegetation, land-use and seasonal albedo data sets: Documentation of archived data tape

Global data bases of vegetation, land use, and land cover were compiled at a 1 deg latitude x 1 deg longitude resolution, drawing on approximately 100 published sources complemented by a large collection of satellite imagery. Six datasets prepared and archived at NCAR are described: a vegetation data set (VEGTYPE) representing natural (pre-agricultural) vegetation based on the UNESCO classification system; a cultivation intensity data set (CULTINT) defining the areal extent (expressed as %) of presently cultivated land in the 1 x 1 cells; and four integrated surface-albedo data sets (January, April, July, October) for snow-free conditions except for permanently snow-covered continental ice, incorporating natural vegetation and cultivation characteristics from the vegetation and cultivation-intensity data sets. Non-zero data are included for permanent land only, including continental ice. Documentation of the data-tape format as well as descriptions and regional maps of the individual data sets are presented.

Matthews, E.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Autonomous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs) as a Tool for Improving the Spatial Resolution of Snow Albedo Measurements in Mountainous Regions

We present technical advances and methods to measure effective broadband physical albedo in snowy mountain headwaters using a prototype dual-sensor pyranometer mounted on an Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (an AAV). Our test flights over snowy meadows and forested areas performed well during both clear sky and snowy/windy conditions at an elevation of ~2650 m above mean sea level (MSL). Our AAV-pyranometer platform provided high spatial (m) and temporal resolution (sec) measurements of effective broadband (310–2700 nm) surface albedo. The AAV-based measurements reveal spatially explicit changes in landscape albedo that are not present in concurrent satellite measurements from Landsat and MODIS due to a higher spatial resolution. This AAV capability is needed for validation of satellite snow albedo products, especially over variable montane landscapes at spatial scales of critical importance to hydrological applications. Effectively measuring albedo is important, as annually the seasonal accumulation and melt of mountain snowpack represent a dramatic transformation of Earth’s albedo, which directly affects headwaters’ water and energy cycles.

albedo↗
NASA NTRS2010

Ten Years of Cloud Optical and Microphysical Retrievals from MODIS

The MODIS cloud optical properties algorithm (MOD06/MYD06 for Terra and Aqua MODIS, respectively) has undergone extensive improvements and enhancements since the launch of Terra. These changes have included: improvements in the cloud thermodynamic phase algorithm; substantial changes in the ice cloud light scattering look up tables (LUTs); a clear-sky restoral algorithm for flagging heavy aerosol and sunglint; greatly improved spectral surface albedo maps, including the spectral albedo of snow by ecosystem; inclusion of pixel-level uncertainty estimates for cloud optical thickness, effective radius, and water path derived for three error sources that includes the sensitivity of the retrievals to solar and viewing geometries. To improve overall retrieval quality, we have also implemented cloud edge removal and partly cloudy detection (using MOD35 cloud mask 250m tests), added a supplementary cloud optical thickness and effective radius algorithm over snow and sea ice surfaces and over the ocean, which enables comparison with the "standard" 2.1 11m effective radius retrieval, and added a multi-layer cloud detection algorithm. We will discuss the status of the MOD06 algorithm and show examples of pixellevel (Level-2) cloud retrievals for selected data granules, as well as gridded (Level-3) statistics, notably monthly means and histograms (lD and 2D, with the latter giving correlations between cloud optical thickness and effective radius, and other cloud product pairs).

Platnick, Steven↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-31980-DND

Background and Objective: The surface temperature of the Arctic is projected to warm more than any other region on Earth (i.e., Arctic Amplification). Even though the increase of solar absorption, due to the reduction of the surface albedo associated with the loss of sea ice, is strongest in summer, the warming is largest in late fall/early winter and smallest in summer. The most common theory put forward to explain the suppressed summer warming is that most of the additional solar energy goes into the melting of sea ice. The energy gain in summer, however, is thought to lead to the Arctic warming maximum in late fall/early winter by leading to enhanced heat release during this time period as a result of the enhanced surface latent and sensible heat fluxes into the atmosphere, also a consequence of the loss and thinning of sea-ice, warming the surface air temperature. While this commonly accepted theory makes clear the importance of sea-ice loss on Arctic warming, by focusing on surface skin temperature our study proposes a differing perspective on how sea-ice decline amplifies Arctic warming and establishes its seasonal pattern.

Sergio A. Sejas↗
NASA NTRS2012

Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction for MODIS (MAIAC). Part 3: Atmospheric Correction

This paper describes the atmospheric correction (AC) component of the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction algorithm (MAIAC) which introduces a new way to compute parameters of the Ross-Thick Li-Sparse (RTLS) Bi-directional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), spectral surface albedo and bidirectional reflectance factors (BRF) from satellite measurements obtained by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). MAIAC uses a time series and spatial analysis for cloud detection, aerosol retrievals and atmospheric correction. It implements a moving window of up to 16 days of MODIS data gridded to 1 km resolution in a selected projection. The RTLS parameters are computed directly by fitting the cloud-free MODIS top of atmosphere (TOA) reflectance data stored in the processing queue. The RTLS retrieval is applied when the land surface is stable or changes slowly. In case of rapid or large magnitude change (as for instance caused by disturbance), MAIAC follows the MODIS operational BRDF/albedo algorithm and uses a scaling approach where the BRDF shape is assumed stable but its magnitude is adjusted based on the latest single measurement. To assess the stability of the surface, MAIAC features a change detection algorithm which analyzes relative change of reflectance in the Red and NIR bands during the accumulation period. To adjust for the reflectance variability with the sun-observer geometry and allow comparison among different days (view geometries), the BRFs are normalized to the fixed view geometry using the RTLS model. An empirical analysis of MODIS data suggests that the RTLS inversion remains robust when the relative change of geometry-normalized reflectance stays below 15%. This first of two papers introduces the algorithm, a second, companion paper illustrates its potential by analyzing MODIS data over a tropical rainforest and assessing errors and uncertainties of MAIAC compared to conventional MODIS products.

Lyapustin, A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

A thermal model for the seasonal nitrogen cycle on Triton

The seasonal N2-cycle model presently used to characterize such observed phenomena on Triton as atmospheric pressure and surface albedo features at the time of the Voyager encounter incorporates diurnal and seasonal subsurface heat conduction, and can account for the heat capacity of N2 frost deposits. The results obtained by this model differ from those of previous studies in that they do not predict the seasonal freezing-out of the Triton atmosphere; even for a wide range of input parameters, the bright southern polar cap is seen as rather unlikely to be N2. The results support the microphysical arguments for the presence of either dark or smooth translucent N2 frosts on the Triton surface.

Hansen, Candice J.↗