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At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1988

A scattering model for forested area

A forested area is modeled as a volume of randomly oriented and distributed disc-shaped, or needle-shaped leaves shading a distribution of branches modeled as randomly oriented finite-length, dielectric cylinders above an irregular soil surface. Since the radii of branches have a wide range of sizes, the model only requires the length of a branch to be large compared with its radius which may be any size relative to the incident wavelength. In addition, the model also assumes the thickness of a disc-shaped leaf or the radius of a needle-shaped leaf is much smaller than the electromagnetic wavelength. The scattering phase matrices for disc, needle, and cylinder are developed in terms of the scattering amplitudes of the corresponding fields which are computed by the forward scattering theorem. These quantities along with the Kirchoff scattering model for a randomly rough surface are used in the standard radiative transfer formulation to compute the backscattering coefficient. Numerical illustrations for the backscattering coefficient are given as a function of the shading factor, incidence angle, leaf orientation distribution, branch orientation distribution, and the number density of leaves. Also illustrated are the properties of the extinction coefficient as a function of leaf and branch orientation distributions. Comparisons are made with measured backscattering coefficients from forested areas reported in the literature.

Karam, M. A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

New Examination of the Traditional Raman Lidar Technique II: Evaluating the Ratios for Water Vapor and Aerosols

In a companion paper, the temperature dependence of Raman scattering and its influence on the Raman and Rayleigh-Mie lidar equations was examined. New forms of the lidar equation were developed to account for this temperature sensitivity. Here those results are used to derive the temperature dependent forms of the equations for the water vapor mixing ratio, aerosol scattering ratio, aerosol backscatter coefficient, and extinction to backscatter ratio (Sa). The error equations are developed, the influence of differential transmission is studied and different laser sources are considered in the analysis. The results indicate that the temperature functions become significant when using narrowband detection. Errors of 5% and more can be introduced in the water vapor mixing ratio calculation at high altitudes and errors larger than 10% are possible for calculations of aerosol scattering ratio and thus aerosol backscatter coefficient and extinction to backscatter ratio.

Whiteman, David N.↗
NASA NTRS1989

C-band scatterometer measurements of a tallgrass prairie

C-band (4.75 GHz) scatterometer measurements were made of a tallgrass prairie in an attempt to determine the relationship between (1) the backscattering coefficient and different expressions of soil moisture and (2) the backscattering coefficient and various canopy parameters. A moderately strong correlation and partial correlation between the backscattering coefficient and leaf water potential indicates the capability of C-band measurements to detect extremes in the water status of prairie vegetation under shallow soil conditions. Site differences due to burn treatments appeared to be sufficient to cause significant differences in the sensitivity of the backscattering coefficient to soil moisture. The site differences could not be removed by any known expression of soil moisture.

Martin, Robert D., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1998

A Multi-Instrument Approach for Characterizing the Vertical Structure of Aerosol Properties: Case Studies in the Pacific Basin Troposphere

During February/March 1994, a series of aircraft-based aerosol measurements were carried out in the Pacific Basin troposphere using a differential absorption lidar system deployed by NASA Langley, and optical spectrometer probes and a wire-impactor system operated by NASA Ames. A modified Klett inversion algorithm was applied to extract altitude profiles of aerosol backscattering from the IR lidar signal. The algorithm that we have designed for this purpose utilizes the in situ aerosol measurements to normalize the lidar profile at the aircraft altitude and to supply the lidar ratio as a function of height. The lidar-derived aerosol backscattering coefficients were then compared to the backscattering coefficients calculated from the in situ measurements. During several local aircraft descents, we found good agreement between the remote lidar and in situ results for the absolute value of the aerosol backscattering coefficient and its altitude variation only when we allowed for several layers with different aerosol refractive indices. The agreement validates our lidar calibration method and provides an indication of the variation in aerosol refractive index as a function of altitude. Two of the three case studies performed in this paper reveal layers of anthropogenic aerosols transported long distances into the Pacific Basin troposphere. A third case implies the existence of a layer of dustlike aerosol particles in the lower troposphere, most likely of Asian origin.

Redemann, J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Satellite and correlative measurements of the stratospheric aerosol. I An optical model for data conversions

A description is presented of an empirically based model of stratospheric aerosol optical properties (size distributions and refractive indices) and their variations. The need for such a model arose in the data validation and archival programs for two satellite sensors, SAM II and SAGE. These programs require the ability to convert measurements of a given aerosol macroproperty (e.g., volume extinction coefficient, volume backscatter coefficient, particle number or mass per unit volume) to best estimates of other aerosol macroproperties, and to assess quantitatively the uncertainties in the conversion process. The described model provides the information on size distributions, refractive indices and their variations necessary for these tasks, and also defines a procedure for combining the model information with empirical data in a way that facilitates automatic data processing. Although the model was developed for use in the satellite validation and archival programs, it also has proven useful in other studies of stratospheric aerosol.

Russell, P. B.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Probing thick vegetation canopies with a field microwave scatterometer

with a narrow-beam field microwave scatterometer having a variable slant range and a small slant-range resolution, investigators can estimate the distribution of backscattering sources in a medium as a function of slant range. From this, they can calculate the backscattering coefficient. With less confidence, they can estimate the volume extinction coefficient, the volume density of backscattering cross sections, the transmittance, and the backscattering coefficient of a semiinfinite medium with the same volumetric microwave properties. These parameters allow one to understand the interactions of microwaves with media such as vegetation canopies with their substrates.

Paris, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Optical properties of Southern Hemisphere aerosols: Report of the joint CSIRO/NASA study

This study was made in support of the LAWS and GLOBE programs, which aim to design a suitable Doppler lidar system for measuring global winds from a satellite. Observations were taken from 5 deg S to 45 deg S along and off the E and SE Australian coast, thus obtaining representative samples over a large latitude range. Observations were made between 0 and 6 km altitude of aerosol physical and chemical properties in situ from the CSIRO F-27 aircraft; of lidar backscatter coefficients at 10.6 micron wavelength from the F-27 aircraft; of lidar backscatter profiles at 0.694 microns at Sale, SE Australia; and of lidar backscatter profiles at 0.532 microns at Cowley Beach, NE Australia. Both calculations and observations in the free troposphere gave a backscatter coefficient of 1-2 x 10 to the -11/m/sr at 10.6 microns, although the accuracies of the instruments were marginal at this level. Equivalent figures were 2-8 x 10 to the -9/m/sr (aerosol) and 9 x 10 to the -9 to 2 x 10 to the -8/m/sr (lidar) at 0.694 microns wavelength at Sale; and 3.7 x 10 to the -9/m/sr (aerosol) and 10 to the -8 to 10 to the -7/m/sr (lidar) at 0.532 microns wavelength at Cowley Beach. The measured backscatter coefficients at 0.694 and 0.532 microns were consistently higher than the values calculated from aerosol size distributions by factors of typically 2 to 10.

Gras, John L.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Subvisual Cirrus cloud properties derived from a FIRE IFO case study

From the central Wisconsin IFO field at Wausau, the Mobile Polarization Lidar and a surface radiation station from the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory observed two very tenuous cirrus clouds on 21 October 1986. The clouds were present just below the height of the tropopause, between -60 to -70 C. The first cloud was not detected visually, and is classified as subvisual cirrus. The second, a relatively narrow cloud band that was probably the remnants of an aircraft contrail, can be termed zenith-subvisual since, although it was invisible in the zenith direction, it could be discerned when viewed at lower elevation angles and also due to strong solar forward-scattering and corona effects. The observations provide an opportunity to assess the threshold cloud optical thickness associated with cirrus cloud visibility. Ruby lidar backscattered signals were converted to isotropic volume backscatter coefficients by applying the pure-molecular scattering assumption just below the cloud base. The backscattering coefficient due to the cloud is then obtained and expressed in relation to the molecular backscattering coefficient in terms of the scattering ratio R. The linear depolarization ratio for the cloud is computed after removing the essentially parallel-polarized scattering contribution from air molecules. The values are also applied to determine the cloud optical thickness through the use of backscatter-to-extinction ratio, and the concentration of cloud particles using the backscattering gain, and the effective diameter of the particles obtained from the analysis of solar corona photographs. The sizes of the particles generating the corona are related to the angular separations between the centers of the red bands and the sun, yielding diameters of approximately 25 microns. The direct and diffuse components of shortwave radiation fluxes, measured by full hemispheric pyranometers, were used to compute the nadir optical thickness of the total atmosphere.

Sassen, Kenneth↗
NASA NTRS1981

Quantitative broadband ultrasonic backscatter - An approach to nondestructive evaluation in acoustically inhomogeneous materials

The use of a broadband backscatter technique to obtain the frequency dependence of the longitudinal-wave ultrasonic backscatter coefficient from a collection of scatterers in a solid is investigated. Measurements of the backscatter coefficient were obtained over the range of ultrasonic wave vector magnitude-glass sphere radius product between 0.1 and 3.0 from model systems consisting of dilute suspensions of randomly distributed crown glass spheres in hardened polyester resin. The results of these measurements were in good agreement with theoretical prediction. Consequently, broadband measurements of the ultrasonic backscatter coefficient may represent a useful approach toward characterizing the physical properties of scatterers in intrinsically inhomogeneous materials such as composites, metals, and ceramics, and may represent an approach toward nondestructive evaluation of these materials.

Odonnell, M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Retrieval of ice thickness from polarimetric SAR data

We describe a potential procedure for retrieving ice thickness from multi-frequency polarimetric SAR data for thin ice. This procedure includes first masking out the thicker ice types with a simple classifier and then deriving the thickness of the remaining pixels using a model-inversion technique. The technique used to derive ice thickness from polarimetric observations is provided by a numerical estimator or neural network. A three-layer perceptron implemented with the backpropagation algorithm is used in this investigation with several improved aspects for a faster convergence rate and a better accuracy of the neural network. These improvements include weight initialization, normalization of the output range, the selection of offset constant, and a heuristic learning algorithm. The performance of the neural network is demonstrated by using training data generated by a theoretical scattering model for sea ice matched to the database of interest. The training data are comprised of the polarimetric backscattering coefficients of thin ice and the corresponding input ice parameters to the scattering model. The retrieved ice thickness from the theoretical backscattering coefficients is compare with the input ice thickness to the scattering model to illustrate the accuracy of the inversion method. Results indicate that the network convergence rate and accuracy are higher when multi-frequency training sets are presented. In addition, the dominant backscattering coefficients in retrieving ice thickness are found by comparing the behavior of the network trained backscattering data at various incidence angels. After the neural network is trained with the theoretical backscattering data at various incidence anges, the interconnection weights between nodes are saved and applied to the experimental data to be investigated. In this paper, we illustrate the effectiveness of this technique using polarimetric SAR data collected by the JPL DC-8 radar over a sea ice scene.

Kwok, R.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Aerosol and Cloud Interaction Observed From High Spectral Resolution Lidar Data

Recent studies utilizing satellite retrievals have shown a strong correlation between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and cloud cover. However, these retrievals from passive sensors are subject to many limitations, including cloud adjacency (or 3D) effects, possible cloud contamination, uncertainty in the AOD retrieval. Some of these limitations do not exist in High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) observations; for instance, HSRL observations are not a ected by cloud adjacency effects, are less prone to cloud contamination, and offer accurate aerosol property measurements (backscatter coefficient, extinction coefficient, lidar ratio, backscatter Angstrom exponent,and aerosol optical depth) at a neospatial resolution (less than 100 m) in the vicinity of clouds. Hence, the HSRL provides an important dataset for studying aerosol and cloud interaction. In this study, we statistically analyze aircraft-based HSRL profiles according to their distance from the nearest cloud, assuring that all profile comparisons are subject to the same large-scale meteorological conditions. Our results indicate that AODs from HSRL are about 17% higher in the proximity of clouds (approximately 100 m) than far away from clouds (4.5 km), which is much smaller than the reported cloud 3D effect on AOD retrievals. The backscatter and extinction coefficients also systematically increase in the vicinity of clouds, which can be explained by aerosol swelling in the high relative humidity (RH) environment and/or aerosol growth through in cloud processing (albeit not conclusively). On the other hand, we do not observe a systematic trend in lidar ratio; we hypothesize that this is caused by the opposite effects of aerosol swelling and aerosol in-cloud processing on the lidar ratio. Finally, the observed backscatter Angstrom exponent (BAE) does not show a consistent trend because of the complicated relationship between BAE and RH. We demonstrate that BAE should not be used as a surrogate for Angstrom exponent, especially at high RH.

Su, Wenying↗
NASA NTRS1993

A numerical technique for the calculation of cloud optical extinction from lidar

A simple numerical algorithm which calculates optical extinction from cloud lidar data is presented. The method assumes a two-component atmosphere consisting of 'clear air' and cloud particulates. 'Clear air' may consist of either molecules only or a mix of molecules and atmospheric aerosols. For certain clouds, the method may be utilized to provide an estimate of the cloud-atmospheric parameter defined as the ratio of the cloud volume backscatter coefficient to the cloud extinction coefficient divided by the atmospheric volume backscatter coefficient at a given altitude. The cloud-atmospheric parameter may be estimated only from cloud data from which the optical thickness may reliably be used as a constraint on the numerical solution. This constraint provides the additional information necessary to obtain the cloud-atmospheric parameter. Conversely, the method may be applied to obtain cloud extinction and optical thickness from lidar cloud soundings if an estimate of the cloud-atmospheric parameter is available.

Alvarez, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Soil moisture retrieval in the Oberpfaffenhofen testsite using MAC Europe AIRSAR data

Soil moisture content is an important parameter in many disciplines of science like hydrology, meteorology, agriculture and others. Microwave remote sensing technique has a high potential in measuring the dielectric constant of soils, which is strongly governed by the soil moisture. Much excellent work has been done on investigating the relationship between backscattering coefficient and soil moisture. Most of these studies are measured in a laboratory or are carried out with a multitemporal data set. This means, that the variation in the backscattering coefficient is only related to the soil moisture because all other parameters influencing the backscattering like surface roughness, vegetation cover, plant geometry, phenology of plants and row direction are kept constant. In this study the sensitivity of the backscattering coefficient to soil moisture of corn fields is investigated. In the framework of the MAC-Europe Campaign in June 1991, the NASA/JPL three-frequency polarimetric AIRSAR system collected data over the test site Oberpfaffenhofen. The AIRSAR campaign in Oberpfaffenhofen was complemented with intensive ground truth measurements. The sampled corn fields are nearly in the range of the same incidence angle (approximately 20 deg) and belong to different soil types. The evaluation was carried out at a single data set. The results show that the backscattering, measured at P-band, can be described with only two parameters very well. The main parameter influencing the backscattering is the soil moisture content; the second subordinated parameter is the row direction.

Wever, Tobias↗
NASA NTRS1975

Remotely sensing wheat maturation with radar

The scattering properties of wheat were studied in the 8-18 GHz band as a function of frequency, polarization, incidence angle, and crop maturity. Supporting ground truth was collected at the time of measurement. The data indicate that the radar backscattering coefficient is sensitive to both radar system parameters and crop characteristics particularly at incidence angles near nadir. Linear regression analyses of the radar backscattering coefficient on both time and plant moisture content result in rather good correlation. Furthermore, by calculating the average time rate of change of the radar backscattering coefficient it is found that it undergoes rapid variations shortly before and after the wheat is harvested. Both of these analyses suggest methods for estimating wheat maturity and for monitoring the progress of harvest.

Bush, T. F.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Feasibility of sea ice typing with synthetic aperture radar (SAR): Merging of Landsat thematic mapper and ERS 1 SAR satellite imagery

Earth Remote-Sensing Satellite (ERS) 1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Landsat thematic mapper (TM) images were acquired for the same area in the Beaufort Sea, April 16 and 18, 1992. The two image pairs were colocated to the same grid (25-m resolution), and a supervised ice type classification was performed on the TM images in order to classify ice free, nilas, gray ice, gray-white ice, thin first-year ice, medium and thick first-year ice, and old ice. Comparison of the collocated SAR pixels showed that ice-free areas can only be classified under calm wind conditions (less than 3 m/s) and for surface winds greater than 10 m/s based on the backscattering coefficient alone. This is true for pack ice regions during the cold months of the year where ice-free areas are spatially limited and where the capillary waves that cause SAR backscatter are dampened by entrained ice crystals. For nilas, two distinct backscatter classes were found at -17 dB and at -10 dB. The higher backscattering coefficient is attributed to the presence of frost flowers on light nilas. Gray and gray-white ice have a backscatter signature similar to first-year ice and therefore cannot be distinguished by SAR alone. First-year and old ice can be clearly separated based on their backscattering coefficient. The performance of the Geophysical Processor System ice classifier was tested against the Landsat derived ice products. It was found that smooth first-year ice and rough first-year ice were not significantly different in the backscatter domain. Ice concentration estimates based on ERS 1 C band SAR showed an error range of 5 to 8% for high ice concentration regions, mainly due to misclassified ice-free and smooth first-year ice areas. This error is expected to increase for areas of lower ice concentration. The combination of C band SAR and TM channels 2, 4, and 6 resulted in ice typing performance with an estimated accuracy of 90% for all seven ice classes.

Steffen, Konrad↗
NASA NTRS1996

Multiwavelength Comparison of Modeled and Measured Remote Tropospheric Aerosol Backscatter Over Pacific Ocean

Aerosol concentrations and size distributions in the middle and upper troposphere over the remote Pacific Ocean were measured with a forward scattering spectrometer probe (FSSP) on the NASA DC-8 aircraft during NASA's Global Backscatter Experiment (GLOBE) in May-June 1990. The FSSP size channels were recalibrated based on refractive index estimates from flight-level aerosol volatility measurements with a collocated laser optical particle counter (LOPC). The recalibrated FSSP size distributions were averaged over 100-s intervals, fitted with lo-normal distributions and used to calculate aerosol backscatter coefficients at selected wavelengths. The FSSP-derived backscatter estimates were averaged over 300-s intervals to reduce large random fluctuations. The smoothed FSSP aerosol backscatter coefficients were then compared with LOPC-derived backscatter values and with backscatter measured at or near flight level from four lidar systems operating at 0.53, 1.06, 9.11, 9.25, and 10.59 micrometers. Agreement between FSSP-derived and lidar-measured backscatter was generally best at flight level in homogeneous aerosol fields and at high backscatter values. FSSP data often underestimated low backscatter values especially at the longer wavelengths due to poor counting statistics for larger particles (greater than 0.8 micrometers diameter) that usually dominate aerosol backscatter at these wavelengths. FSSP data also underestimated backscatter at shorter wavelengths when particles smaller than the FSSP lower cutoff diameter (0.35 micrometers) made significant contributions to the total backscatter.

Cutten, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Microwave response of snow

Truck-mounted microwave sensors were used to acquire backscattering coefficient and apparent temperature data for snow-covered terrain at 19 frequencies between 1 and 18 GHz and at 35.6 GHz. Passive microwave measurements were made at 10.7, 37, and 94 GHz. The radar backscattering coefficient and radiometric emissivity were evaluated as a function of snow depth, wetness, surface roughness, and other snow parameters. It is shown that volume scattering makes the radar backscattering coefficient to increase and the radiometric emissivity to decrease with increasing snow depth until the snow layer appears electromagnetically semiinfinite in extent. The presence of liquid water in the snowpack results in increased attenuation and reduction in scattering which leads to less backscatter and more emission by the snow volume. It is concluded that microwave sensors have the potential capability for remotely monitoring both the snow equivalent and wetness of snowpacks.

Ulaby, F. T.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Beta systems error analysis

The atmospheric backscatter coefficient, beta, measured with an airborne CO Laser Doppler Velocimeter (LDV) system operating in a continuous wave, focussed model is discussed. The Single Particle Mode (SPM) algorithm, was developed from concept through analysis of an extensive amount of data obtained with the system on board a NASA aircraft. The SPM algorithm is intended to be employed in situations where one particle at a time appears in the sensitive volume of the LDV. In addition to giving the backscatter coefficient, the SPM algorithm also produces as intermediate results the aerosol density and the aerosol backscatter cross section distribution. A second method, which measures only the atmospheric backscatter coefficient, is called the Volume Mode (VM) and was simultaneously employed. The results of these two methods differed by slightly less than an order of magnitude. The measurement uncertainties or other errors in the results of the two methods are examined.

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