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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 541 records · Page 30
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

Validation of SCIAMACHY and TOMS UV Radiances Using Ground and Space Observations

Verification of a stratospheric ozone recovery remains a high priority for environmental research and policy definition. Models predict an ozone recovery at a much lower rate than the measured depletion rate observed to date. Therefore improved precision of the satellite and ground ozone observing systems are required over the long term to verify its recovery. We show that validation of satellite radiances from space and from the ground can be a very effective means for correcting long term drifts of backscatter type satellite measurements and can be used to cross calibrate all B W instruments in orbit (TOMS, SBW/2, GOME, SCIAMACHY, OM, GOME-2, OMPS). This method bypasses the retrieval algorithms used for both satellite and ground based measurements that are normally used to validate and correct the satellite data. Radiance comparisons employ forward models and are inherently more accurate than inverse (retrieval) algorithms. This approach however requires well calibrated instruments and an accurate radiative transfer model that accounts for aerosols. TOMS and SCIAMACHY calibrations are checked to demonstrate this method and to demonstrate applicability for long term trends.

Hilsenrath, E.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Relationship Between the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Measurements and Surface Temperatures of Selected Ocean Regions

Clear sky longwave radiances and fluxes are compared with the sea surface temperatures for three oceanic regions: Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific. The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) measurements were obtained by the three thermistor bolometers: total channel which measures the radiation arising from the earth-atmosphere system between 0.3 - greater than 100 micrometers; the window channel which measures the radiation from 8-12 micrometers; and the shortwave channel which measures the reflected energy from 0.3 - less than 5.0 micrometers. These instruments have demonstrated measurement precisions of approximately 0.3% on the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) between ground and on-orbit sensor calibrations. In this work we have used eight months of clear sky earth-nadir-view radiance data starting from January 1998 through August 1998. We have found a very strong correlation of 0.97 between the CERES window channel's weekly averaged unfiltered spectral radiance values at satellite altitude (350 km) and the corresponding weekly averaged sea surface temperature (SST) data covering all the oceanic regions. Such correlation can be used in predicting the sea surface temperatures using the present CERES Terra's window channel radiances at satellite altitude very easily.

Pandey, Dhirendra, K.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Corrections to MODIS Terra Calibration and Polarization Trending Derived from Ocean Color Products

Remotely sensed ocean color products require highly accurate top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiances, on the order of 0.5% or better. Due to incidents both prelaunch and on-orbit, meeting this requirement has been a consistent problem for the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite, especially in the later part of the mission. The NASA Ocean Biology Processing Group (OBPG) has developed an approach to correct the TOA radiances of MODIS Terra using spatially and temporally averaged ocean color products from other ocean color sensors (such as the SeaWiFS instrument on Orbview-2 or the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite). The latest results suggest that for MODIS Terra, both linear polarization parameters of the Mueller matrix are temporally evolving. A change to the functional form of the scan angle dependence improved the quality of the derived coefficients. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that simultaneously retrieving polarization and gain parameters improves the gain retrieval (versus retrieving the gain parameter only).

Polarization↗
NASA NTRS1975

A multidisciplinary study of earth resources imagery of Australia, Antarctica and Papua, New Guinea

The author has identified the following significant results. A thirteen category recognition map was prepared, showing forest, water, grassland, and exposed rock types. Preliminary assessment of classification accuracies showed that water, forest, meadow, and Niobrara shale were the most accurately mapped classes. Unsatisfactory results, were obtained in an attempt to discrimate sparse forest cover over different substrates. As base elevation varied from 7,000 to 13,000 ft, with an atmospheric visibility of 48 km, no changes in water and forest recognition were observed. Granodiorite recognition accuracy decreased monotonically as base elevation increased, even though the training set location was at 10,000 ft elevation. For snow varying in base elevation from 9400 to 8420 ft, recognition decreases from 99% at the 9400 ft training set elevation to 88% at 8420 ft. Calculations of expected radiance at the ERTS sensor from snow reflectance measured at the site and from Turner model calculations of irradiance, transmission and path radiance, reveal that snow signals should not be clipped, assuming that calculations and ERTS calibration constants were correct.

Fisher, N. H.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The importance and attainment of accurate absolute radiometric calibration

The importance of accurate absolute radiometric calibration is discussed by reference to the needs of those wishing to validate or use models describing the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with the atmosphere and earth surface features. The in-flight calibration methods used for the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and the Systeme Probatoire d'Observation de la Terre, Haute Resolution visible (SPOT/HRV) systems are described and their limitations discussed. The questionable stability of in-flight absolute calibration methods suggests the use of a radiative transfer program to predict the apparent radiance, at the entrance pupil of the sensor, of a ground site of measured reflectance imaged through a well characterized atmosphere. The uncertainties of such a method are discussed.

Slater, P. N.↗
NASA NTRS2001

[Limb Scattering Data Analysis]

The primary purpose of this grant was to support analysis of the limb scattering data taken during the 1997 flight of the SOLSE (Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounding Experiment) and LORE (Limb Ozone Retrieval Experiment) instruments. Work was done to assess the performance of the retrieval algorithms for cloudy and clear sky cases in preparation for a poster presentation. The nadir-viewing data were also compared to coincident GOME (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) data and to radiative transfer calculations. An algorithm similar to the TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) ozone retrieval algorithm was developed to infer the ozone column amount from the SOLSE nadir data. Comparison with coincident TOMS ozone column data confirmed that column ozone could be derived successfully from SOLSE nadir radiances, and also revealed significant changes in the SOLSE wavelength resolution and absolute radiometric calibration that were subsequently confirmed by comparing the post-flight instrument characterization to the pre-flight characterization, indicating a potentially useful method for monitoring instrument behavior in-flight.

Loughman, Robert↗
NASA NTRS1990

An approach to the detection of long-term trends in upper stratospheric ozone from space

A central problem in the detection of long-term trends in the upper stratospheric ozone from orbiting remote sensors involves the separation of instrument drifts from true geophysical changes. Periodic flights of a Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet radiometer (SSBUV) on the Space Shuttle will allow the detection of drifts in optically identical sensors (SBUV/2) carried on operational satellites. A detailed simulation of the SSBUV and SBUV/2 datasets defines the accuracy that can be attained by the in-orbit calibration procedure. The repeatability of the SSBUV calibration from one flight to the next is the most critical variable in the analysis. A repeatability near + or - 1.0 percent is essential for detection and correction of drifts in the SBUV/2 radiance measurements. The simulations show that true geophysical trends in backscattered radiance can be inferred to an accuracy of approximately + or - 1.0 percent per decade when SSBUV flies approximately once per year and provides a precise calibration correction to the SBUV/2 dataset over a full decade.

Frederick, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Science support for the Earth radiation budget experiment

The work undertaken as part of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) included the following major components: The development and application of a new cloud retrieval scheme to assess errors in the radiative fluxes arising from errors in the ERBE identification of cloud conditions. The comparison of the anisotropy of reflected sunlight and emitted thermal radiation with the anisotropy predicted by the Angular Dependence Models (ADM's) used to obtain the radiative fluxes. Additional studies included the comparison of calculated longwave cloud-free radiances with those observed by the ERBE scanner and the use of ERBE scanner data to track the calibration of the shortwave channels of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). Major findings included: the misidentification of cloud conditions by the ERBE scene identification algorithm could cause 15 percent errors in the shortwave flux reflected by certain scene types. For regions containing mixtures of scene types, the errors were typically less than 5 percent, and the anisotropies of the shortwave and longwave radiances exhibited a spatial scale dependence which, because of the growth of the scanner field of view from nadir to limb, gave rise to a view zenith angle dependent bias in the radiative fluxes.

Coakley, James A., Jr.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Performance Evaluation of Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) Instruments in Generating A Stable Earth Radiation Budget Multi-Decadal Data Record

Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is designed to measure the earth-reflected solar and earth-emitted longwave radiances, two components of the Earth Radiation Budget. CERES instrument measure radiances in 0.3 to 5.0 micron region with Shortwave (SW) sensor, 0.3 to >100 microns with Total (TOT) sensor, and either 8 - 12 micron with Window (WN) sensor or 5 – 35 micron with longwave (LW) sensor. The on-board internal calibration module (ICM) is used to monitor the stability of the sensors and to correct the pre-launch determined sensor gains for radiance calculations. Corrections for spectral changes occurring in different wavelength regions observed through vicarious studies were applied to sensor response function used in radiance determination. The resulting global flux long term trends from each instrument have shown consistent behavior and provided a stable global record of Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) shortwave and longwave fluxes for the Earth radiation budget climate data record.

Earth Radiation Budget↗
NASA NTRS1996

(abstract) Radiometric Calibration of the Multi-angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer

The EOS/MISR instrument has completed preflight calibration and characterization of its nine cameras. The radiometric calibration requirements includes absolute radiometric accuracy to 3 percent. To meet this challenging requirement MISR has employed detector based calibration methodology. The source, a 1.65 m integrating sphere, is spatially and spectrally featureless. Thus, when viewing scenes that are likewise homogeneous, the sensor incident radiance is easily retrieved to high accuracy. To enhance the radiance product for arbitrary scene types, however, MISR is planning to incorporate spectral out-of-band, point-spread function deconvolution, and pixel nonuniformity of response corrections. A summary of the preflight calibration is presented in this paper, as well as the error uncertainties for specific scene types with and without these processing corrections.

radiometric calibration EOS MISR↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Performance Evaluation of Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) Instruments in Generating A Stable Earth Radiation Budget Multi-Decadal Data Record

Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is designed to measure the earth-reflected solar and earth-emitted longwave radiances, two components of the Earth Radiation Budget. CERES instrument measure radiances in 0.3 to 5.0 micron region with Shortwave (SW) sensor, 0.3 to >100 microns with Total (TOT) sensor, and either 8 - 12 micron with Window (WN) sensor or 5 – 35 micron with longwave (LW) sensor. The on-board internal calibration module (ICM) is used to monitor the stability of the sensors and to correct the pre-launch determined sensor gains for radiance calculations. Corrections for spectral changes occurring in different wavelength regions observed through vicarious studies were applied to sensor response function used in radiance determination. The resulting global flux long term trends from each instrument have shown consistent behavior and provided a stable global record of Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) shortwave and longwave fluxes for the Earth radiation budget climate data record.

Clouds and Earth Radiation Energy System (CERES)↗
NASA NTRS1972

The tongue of the ocean as a remote sensing ocean color calibration range

In general, terrestrial scenes remain stable in content from both temporal and spacial considerations. Ocean scenes, on the other hand, are constantly changing in content and position. The solar energy that enters the ocean waters undergoes a process of scattering and selective spectral absorption. Ocean scenes are thus characterized as low level radiance with the major portion of the energy in the blue region of the spectrum. Terrestrial scenes are typically of high level radiance with their spectral energies concentrated in the green-red regions of the visible spectrum. It appears that for the evaluation and calibration of ocean color remote sensing instrumentation, an ocean area whose optical ocean and atmospheric properties are known and remain seasonably stable over extended time periods is needed. The Tongue of the Ocean, a major submarine channel in the Bahama Banks, is one ocean are for which a large data base of oceanographic information and a limited amount of ocean optical data are available.

Strees, L. V.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Corrections to the MODIS Aqua Calibration Derived From MODIS Aqua Ocean Color Products

Ocean color products such as, e.g., chlorophyll-a concentration, can be derived from the top-of-atmosphere radiances measured by imaging sensors on earth-orbiting satellites. There are currently three National Aeronautics and Space Administration sensors in orbit capable of providing ocean color products. One of these sensors is the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, whose ocean color products are currently the most widely used of the three. A recent improvement to the MODIS calibration methodology has used land targets to improve the calibration accuracy. This study evaluates the new calibration methodology and describes further calibration improvements that are built upon the new methodology by including ocean measurements in the form of global temporally averaged water-leaving reflectance measurements. The calibration improvements presented here mainly modify the calibration at the scan edges, taking advantage of the good performance of the land target trending in the center of the scan.

MODIS↗
NASA NTRS2000

SeaWiFS Postlaunch Technical Report Series: SeaWIFS Postlaunch Calibration and Validation Analyses - Volume 11

Volume 11 continues the sequential presentation of postlaunch data analysis and algorithm descriptions begun in Volume 9. Chapters 1 and 2 present the OC2 (version 2) and OC4 (version 4) chlorophyll a algorithms used in the SeaWiFS data second and third reprocessings, August 1998 and May 2000, respectively. Chapter 3 describes a revision of the K(490) algorithm designed to use water-leaving radiances at 490 nm which was implemented for the third reprocessing. Finally, Chapter 4 is an analysis of in situ radiometer calibration data over several years at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) to establish the temporal consistency of their in-water optical measurements.

Hooker, Stanford B.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Methods for LWIR Radiometric Calibration and Characterization

The utility of a thermal remote sensing system increases with it's ability to retrieve surface temperature or radiance accurately. The radiometer measures the water surface radiant temperature. Combining these measurements with atmospheric pressure, temperature, and water vapor profiles, a top-of-the-atmosphere tradiance estimate can be caluclated with a radiativer transfer code to compare to trhe sensor's output. A novel approach has been developed using an uncooled infrared camera mounted on a boom, to quantify buoy effects.

Ryan, Robert↗
NASA NTRS2015

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.

Su, Wenying↗