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At least 721 records · Page 40

Comparison of Surface Fluxes Derived from CYGNSS and Simulated by WRF Model: An MJO Case Study

This study focuses on ocean surface fluxes, mainly the latent heat flux, and their impact on MJO propagation and associated precipitation structures over the Indian Ocean and Maritime Continent. The Coupled-Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) model is used to simulate two MJO events during the 2017-2018 season: the December 10 - January 20, 2017 case, which maintained its strong precipitation signal over the Maritime Continent, and the March 1 - 20, 2018 case, which was weaker and did not propagate through the Maritime Continent. Both simulated MJO events show positive biases in surface rainfall compared with GPM IMERG data. During the MJO suppressed phase, the simulations rain more often than the observations. During the active phase, the westward propagating precipitation structures are more organized and much stronger compared with the observations, sometimes forming westward propagating cyclones that weakened the eastward precipitation signals. Two aspects of the surface flux interactions are investigated: the impact of the domain mean surface fluxes, and the impact of storm scale circulations and their interactions with local surface fluxes. Both aspects affect water vapor budget, atmosphere instability and mean flow, through which convection initiation, organization, and propagation are influenced. Model sensitivity tests with different radiation, microphysics, PBL schemes and nudging schemes indicate that in the control simulations, higher SST and surface fluxes, especially during the suppressed period, are the main reason of rainfall overestimation compared with IMERG data. The strong westward propagating signals are caused by both increased atmosphere instability and reduced mean wind shear. Unfortunately, the small differences in mean SST and surface fluxes between different model sensitivity tests are all within the satellite observation error margin, and cannot be directly corroborated by observations. One of the advantages of CYGNSS satellites is that they observe ocean surface wind and heat fluxes underneath strong rainfall events such as the convective systems associated with MJO active phases. Currently we are comparing CYGNSS level 2 surface fluxes retrievals and the model simulations in order to better understand the second aspect of the MJO and surface fluxes interactions, and how this affects MJO strengths and propagations. The interactive atmosphere-ocean-wave model also provides cases that directly comparing satellite observables (the bistatic radar cross section) and the model simulations (through CYGNSS satellite simulator). These discrepancies are more prominent in coupled ocean simulations, mainly due to higher SST and enhanced surface fluxes.

Li, Xiaowen↗

TPSAS-NF1676L-32014-DND

The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), on-board the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) is a satellite-borne polarization sensitive lidar. It has been providing the vertical distributions of clouds and aerosols along with their microphysical and optical properties since 2006. One of its important Level 2 products, feature classification, has been determined using the lidar information from 532 nm parallel and perpendicular channels, and 1064 nm channel measurements of layer integrated backscatter. Deep machine learning methods which combine both the channel and texture information to recognize feature patterns is uniquely beneficial when applied to this data. In this study, we will use Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), a deep machine learning method, to classify lidar aerosol subtypes by using the lidar profile observations. This method uses additional information from the vertical texture of the feature instead of using only the layer information. Note that in the integrated layer properties, the texture information has been masked due to averaging. Our results will show how the texture information plays a role in the classification. This preliminary work explores the benefits and potential of deep machine learning methods for lidar retrievals and focuses on the aerosol subtype classification. The broader application extends to the classification of other feature types. Future applications include the developing deep machine learning methods with neural networks to retrieve properties of the features, and studies of indirect effect of cloud-aerosol interaction from lidar measurements.

Shan Zeng Kowalski↗

Regional variability of dust single scattering albedo due to mineral composition

Nearly all Earth System Models (ESMs) assume globally homogeneous dust aerosols, neglecting regional variations of the imaginary refractive index (IRI) due to varying mineral composition. This has led to a range of single scattering albedo (SSA) and direct radiative forcing (DRF) estimates, as models assign global properties using dust measurements from different regions. We use model and observational data to assess to what extent regionally varying mineral composition affects visible-band SSA and short-wave DRF of dust. We run global simulations with NASA GISS ModelE2.1, using optical properties for minerals based on laboratory-derived empirical relationships between dust IRI at visible wavelengths and the mineral content of iron oxides. When allowing mineral variations instead of homogeneous dust, we find regional differences in dust SSA up to ~0.06 and consequent variations in DRF up to ~6 and ~5 W/m2, at surface and top-of-atmosphere respectively. We compare model SSA with AERONET inversion data (Version 3.0, Level 2), filtered by aerosol size and optical properties to identify pure dust scenes. To investigate possible contamination by biomass burning aerosols, we use the dataset of Schuster et al. (2016, doi:10.5194/acp-16-1565-2016), who separately calculated the contribution of iron oxides and carbonaceous species to AERONET extinction and absorption optical depths. Our results show that: (1) the range of observed SSA (even without carbonaceous species) is larger than that resulting from homogeneous dust; (2) residual amounts of fine mode black and brown carbon may affect AERONET SSA even in seasons with limited biomass burning; (3) model SSA from our mineral scheme exceeds the AERONET range, possibly due also to an uncertain treatment of goethite. In summary, homogeneous dust cannot explain the variability of observed SSA, so regionally varying optical properties based on mineral content are necessary. Higher accuracy in soil mineralogy maps is needed to better reproduce SSA variations at regional scales. Also, distinct soil maps for hematite and goethite are required, given the high sensitivity of model SSA to their extreme optical properties.

V. Obiso↗

Improvements in CALIOP Smoke Optical Depth over Clouds

Smoke over marine stratocumulus is ubiquitous off the southwest coast of Africa during biomass burning season. Past studies have shown that CALIOP overestimates the base altitudes of strongly attenuating smoke layers. This is because CALIOP layer detection operates on the 532 nm attenuated backscatter signal. Smoke strongly attenuates light at this wavelength, so CALIOP feature detection at times assigns a base altitude that is higher than the true layer base for optically thick layers. In order to improve the AOD for smoke over clouds, a new algorithm has been implemented in for an upcoming CALIOP level 2 data release that will extend the base altitudes of smoke layers over clouds. This poster summarizes the new smoke base extension algorithm and its performance.

Jason L. Tackett↗

Investigation of CATS Aerosol Products and Application Toward Global Diurnal Variation of Aerosols

We present a comparison of 1064 nm aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol extinction profiles from the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) level 2 aerosol product with collocated Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD, Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra Dark Target AOD and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) AOD and extinction data for the period of March 2015–October 2017. Upon quality-assurance checks of CATS data, reasonable agreement is found between aerosol data from CATS and other sensors. Using quality-assured CATS aerosol data, for the first time, variations in AODs and aerosol extinction profiles are evaluated at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 UTC (and/or 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 local time or LT) on both regional and global scales. This study suggests that marginal variations are found in AOD from a global mean perspective, with the minimum aerosol extinction values found at 18:00 LT near the surface layer for global oceans, for both the June–November and December–May seasons. Over land, below 500 m, the daily minimum and maximum aerosol extinction values are found at 12:00 and 00:00/06:00 LT, respectively. Strong diurnal variations are also found over north Africa, the Middle East and India for the December–May season, and over north Africa, south Africa, the Middle East and India for the June–November season.

Logan Lee↗

Evaluation of GEOS Precipitation Flagging for SMAP Soil Moisture Retrieval Accuracy

The precipitation flag in the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Level 2 passive soil moisture (L2SMP) retrieval product indicates the presence or absence of heavy precipitation at the time of the SMAP overpass. The flag is based on precipitation estimates from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Forward Processing numerical weather prediction system. An error in flagging during an active or recent precipitation event can produce either 1) an overestimation of soil moisture due to short-term surface wetting of vegetation and/or surface ponding (if soil moisture retrieval was attempted in the presence of rain) or 2) an unnecessary nonretrieval of soil moisture and loss of data (if retrieval is flagged due to an erroneous indication of rain). Satellite precipitation estimates from the Integrated Multisatellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG), version 06, Early Run (latency of ~4 h) precipitationCal product are used here to evaluate the GEOS-based precipitation flag in the L2SMP product for both the 1800 local time (LT) ascending and 0600 LT descending SMAP overpasses over the first five years of the mission (2015–20). Consisting of blended precipitation measurements from the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) satellite constellation, IMERG is treated as the “truth” when comparing to the GEOS model forecasts of precipitation used by SMAP. Key results include (i) IMERG measurements generally show higher spatial variability than the GEOS forecast precipitation, (ii) the IMERG product has a higher frequency of light precipitation amounts, and (iii) the effect of incorporating IMERG rainfall measurements in lieu of GEOS precipitation forecasts are minimal on the L2SMP retrieval accuracy (determined vs in situ soil moisture measurements at core validation sites). Our results indicate that L2SMP retrievals continue to meet the mission’s accuracy requirement [standard deviation of the unbiased RMSE (ubRMSE) less than 0.04 cu. m/cu. m].

IMERG-precipitationCal↗

Validation of Soil Moisture Data Products from the NASA SMAP Mission

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)Soil Moisture Active Passive(SMAP) mission has been validatingits soil moisture (SM) products since the start of data production onMarch 31, 2015. Prior to launch, the mission defined a set of criteria for core validation sites (CVS) that enable the testing of the key mission SM accuracy requirement(unbiased root-mean-square error <0.04 m3/m3). Thevalidation approach also includes other (“sparse network”) in situSM measurements, satellite SM products, model-based SM products, and field experiments. Over the past six years, the SMAP SM products have been analyzed with respect to thesereference data,and the analysis approaches themselves have been scrutinizedin an effort to best understand the products’ performance. Validation of themost recent SMAP Level 2 and 3 SMretrievalproducts (R17000) shows that the L-band (1.4 GHz) radiometer-based SM record continues to meet mission requirements. The products aregenerallyconsistentwith SM retrievals from the European Space Agency (ESA)Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity mission, althoughthere aredifferencesin some regions. The high-resolution (3-km) SM retrieval product,generated by combining Copernicus Sentinel-1 data with SMAP observations,performswithin expectations. Currently, however,there is limited availability of3-kmCVSdatato support extensive validation at this spatial scale. The most recent (version 5)SMAP Level4 SMdata assimilation productprovidingsurface and root-zone SM with complete spatio-temporal coverageat 9-km resolution also meets performance requirements. The SMAP SM validation program will continue throughout the mission life; futureplans include expanding ittoforestedand high-latituderegions

SMAP↗

Risk-Reduction Autonomy Implementation to Enable NASA Artemis Missions

To achieve NASA’s Artemis program mission objectives a high level of autonomy and ubiquitous autonomy throughout the systems that are being developed will be necessary. The autonomous systems of Artemis will require a distributed autonomy capability, with autonomous systems organized functionally in a hierarchical architecture, where systems at higher levels of the hierarchy have authority over systems at lower levels. The challenge of developing autonomy technologies and concepts of operations for Artemis has been undertaken by the NASA Gateway Working Group. This group has developed requirements, architectures, concepts of operations, and interface control documents, in the context of a hierarchical distributed architecture that includes the following: a Vehicle System Manager (VSM) that autonomously manages the entire Gateway; Module System Managers (MSMs) that autonomously manage each module; and System Managers (SMs) that autonomously manage systems within a module(i.e. ECLSS).A substantially high level of autonomy needs to be achieved by each element of the hierarchy (VSM, MSM, SM)to meet requirements for uncrewed operations; this includes conditions that will have minimal and/or delayed ground intervention (i.e. requirements for sustainability for months of operation without crew or ground support). To advance an implementation of this autonomy design (Gateway Autonomy Design –GAD), a collaboration was established between the Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) at NASA Stennis Space Center and Lockheed Martin. The objectives of this partnership were the following: (1)to implement autonomy at the VSM, MSM, and SM levels;(2) to implement communications among a VSM, 2 MSMs, ORION (a visiting vehicle somewhat equivalent to a module) and 1 SM (a power system), and (3) test autonomous operations with representative use cases. A SM backed by a high-fidelity simulation was created to facilitate demonstrations of use cases that originated in a system of a module. Communication between the VSM and MSMs was implemented according to Concepts of Operations and Interface Control Documents (ICDs). Demonstrations were conducted to address nominal and off-nominal operations and multi-module interactions with VSM. Additionally, user interfaces were created to provide awareness about ongoing processes and results while enhancing the demonstration. Demonstrations included the following use cases: (1)Orion as visiting vehicle registers with VSM;(2) VSM reschedules a module’s timelines when another module’s MSM task fails; and (3) a module’s Power System Manager (PSM) standalone demonstration that included component failure diagnostics, tracing component failure to effected components, which in turn, reports failure information up to the VSM for acknowledgement and display. This paper will describe the detailed technology and autonomous systems developed, and the integrated multi-module demonstrations conducted. Also, challenges that must be met to fully implement the GAD defined by Gateway will be addressed.

Autonomous Systems↗

Risk-Reduction Autonomy Implementation to Enable NASA Artemis Missions

To achieve NASA’s Artemis program mission objectives a high level of autonomy that is ubiquitous throughout the systems that are being developed will be necessary. The autonomous systems of Artemis will require a distributed autonomy capability, with autonomous systems organized functionally in a hierarchical architecture, where systems at higher levels of the hierarchy have authority over systems at lower levels. The challenge of developing autonomy technologies and Concepts of Operations (ConOps) for Artemis has been undertaken by the NASA Gateway Working Group. This group has developed requirements, architectures, ConOps, and interface control documents (ICDs), in the context of a hierarchical distributed architecture that includes the following: a Vehicle System Manager (VSM) that autonomously manages the entire Gateway; Module System Managers (MSMs) that autonomously manage each module; and System Managers (SMs) that autonomously manage systems within a module (i.e. ECLSS). A substantially high level of autonomy needs to be achieved by each element of the hierarchy (VSM, MSM, SM) to meet requirements for uncrewed operations; this includes conditions that will have minimal and/or delayed ground intervention (i.e. requirements for sustainability for months of operation without crew or ground support). To advance an implementation of this autonomy design (Gateway Autonomy Design – GAD), a collaboration was established between the Autonomous Systems Laboratory (ASL) at NASA Stennis Space Center and Lockheed Martin. The objectives of this partnership were the following: (1) to implement autonomy at the VSM, MSM, and SM levels; (2) to implement communications among a VSM, 2 MSMs, ORION (a visiting vehicle somewhat equivalent to a module) and 1 SM (a power system), and (3) test autonomous operations with representative use cases. A SM backed by a high-fidelity simulation was created to facilitate demonstrations of use cases that originated in a system of a module. Communication between the VSM and MSMs was implemented according to Concepts of Operations and Interface Control Documents (ICDs). Demonstrations were conducted to address nominal and off-nominal operations and multi-module interactions with the VSM. Additionally, user interfaces were created to provide awareness about ongoing processes and results while enhancing the demonstration. Demonstrations included the following use cases: (1) Orion as visiting vehicle registers with VSM; (2) VSM reschedules a module’s timelines when another module’s MSM task fails; and (3) a module’s Power System Manager (PSM) demonstration that included component failure diagnostics, tracing component failure to effected components, which in turn, reports failure information up to the VSM for acknowledgement and display. This paper will describe the detailed technology and autonomous systems developed, and the integrated multi-module demonstrations conducted. Also, challenges that must be met to fully implement the GAD defined by Gateway will be addressed.

Fernando Figueroa↗

Reduced El NiñO Variability in the Mid-Pliocene According to the Pliomip2 Ensemble

The mid-Pliocene warm period (3.264–3.025 Ma) is the most recent geological period during which atmospheric CO 2 levels were similar to recent historical values (∼400 ppm). Several proxy reconstructions for the mid-Pliocene show highly reduced zonal sea surface temperature (SST) gradients in the tropical Pacific Ocean, indicating an El Niño-like mean state. However, past modelling studies do not show these highly reduced gradients. Efforts to understand mid-Pliocene climate dynamics have led to the Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP). Results from the first phase (PlioMIP1) showed clear El Niño variability (albeit significantly reduced) and did not show the greatly reduced time-mean zonal SST gradient suggested by some of the proxies. In this work, we study El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability in the PlioMIP2 ensemble, which consists of additional global coupled climate models and updated boundary conditions compared to PlioMIP1. We quantify ENSO amplitude, period, spatial structure and “flavour”, as well as the tropical Pacific annual mean state in mid-Pliocene and pre-industrial simulations. Results show a reduced ENSO amplitude in the model-ensemble mean (−24 %) with respect to the pre-industrial, with 15 out of 17 individual models showing such a reduction. Furthermore, the spectral power of this variability considerably decreases in the 3–4-year band. The spatial structure of the dominant empirical orthogonal function shows no particular change in the patterns of tropical Pacific variability in the model-ensemble mean, compared to the pre-industrial. Although the time-mean zonal SST gradient in the equatorial Pacific decreases for 14 out of 17 models (0.2 ∘C reduction in the ensemble mean), there does not seem to be a correlation with the decrease in ENSO amplitude. The models showing the most “El Niño-like” mean state changes show a similar ENSO amplitude to that in the pre-industrial reference, while models showing more “La Niña-like” mean state changes generally show a large reduction in ENSO variability. The PlioMIP2 results show a reasonable agreement with both time-mean proxies indicating a reduced zonal SST gradient and reconstructions indicating a reduced, or similar, ENSO variability.

mid-Pliocene warm period↗

Evaluation of Heave Disturbance Rejection and Control Response Criteria on the Handling Qualities Evaluation of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) eVTOL Quadrotors Using the Vertical Motion Simulator

The first piloted handling qualities study of an urban air mobility (UAM) vehicle leveraging the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) at NASA Ames Research Center was conducted in Spring 2021. The VMS provides a unique capability to reduce risk by assessing and iterating control designs. Minimal sources currently exist to provide performance and handling qualities data for large, rotor speed-controlled vehicles outside of the software environment. The study compares multiple handling qualities performance configurations for rotor speed and blade pitch-controlled variants of a six-passenger quadrotor conceptual design model developed by the NASA Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) Project. Additionally, both ADS-33 and a tailored set of performance standards (notionally representing the agility required of a UAM mission) are examined under conditions with and without light turbulence. Preliminary results did show significant variation in ratings based on the set of standards utilized, controller tuning to either Level 1 or boundary Level 1/ Level 2 conditions, and presence or lack of turbulence. A custom approach and landing maneuver was also designed to bring these evaluation tasks together in a more comprehensive application.

Handling Qualities↗

On-Orbit Calibration and Performance of NOAA-20 VIIRS Reflective Solar Bands

The NOAA-20 (N20) satellite was launched on November 18, 2017 carrying the second Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument. Immediately following the launch, the VIIRS passed a series of intensive calibration and validation tests, after which regular calibration and operation activities have continued successfully for more than three years. The production of NASA Collection 2 Level 1B (C2 L1B) for N20 VIIRS began in summer 2019. In this article, we evaluate the early mission performance of the N20 VIIRS reflective solar bands (RSB) covering the first three full years of operation. The calibrated RSB gains are calculated primarily from the onboard solar diffuser (SD) and used in generating the C2 L1B reflectance and radiance products. We also show the on-orbit performance of the instrument noise, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and a reflectance uncertainty assessment. Comparisons are made to the first three years of operation of the first VIIRS instrument, aboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite. We evaluate the long-term stability of the calibrated N20 RSB reflectance product by looking at the long-term trends of lunar observations and data from the pseudo-invariant Libya 4 desert site. The N20 RSB have had excellent early mission performance, with changes in the gain of less than 0.5% in the first three years across all detectors, stable L1B reflectance, and very stable values of detector SNR and reflectance uncertainty.

calibration↗

Solving Global Cirrus Cloud Top-of-the-Atmosphere Radiative Forcing from Satellite Lidar

We estimate top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) cirrus cloud radiative forcing from satellite lidar observations. We describe the technical innovations necessary to conduct this experiment. Specifically, we highlight advances in broadband radiative transfer modeling, and the optical and physical parameterizations necessary to run them. We present two years of results, across two decades (2008 vs. 2018), highlighting seasonal and annual differences. The goal of this endeavor is to standardize mechanics for transitioning this work to operational Level 2 ground and satellite lidar products moving forward. However, the unique TOA forcing characteristics of cirrus clouds are also discussed, including specifically daytime characteristics than can oscillate between warming and cooling regionally.

James R Campbell↗

Cloud Aerosol LIDAR Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) - Data Management - Data Products Catalog V4.94

The CALIPSO V2.00 Lidar Level 2 Polar Stratospheric Cloud data product is an updated version of an already order-able dat set. The changes were signed off by the CALIPSO Configuration Control Board, versioned, and the code uploaded to a code repository. There is no ITAR/SBU data or code associated with this product. Data will be publicly order-able at the NASA LaRC Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC). All documentation and web sites will be made public once the data product is released. The data is in HDF4 format and will be generated for majority of the mission (June 2006 - March 2021). The attached Data Products Catalog (v4.94) describes this new product in section 2.14, pp 115- 119.

Mark Vaughan↗

Determining the Primary Sources of Uncertainty in Retrieval of Marine Remote Sensing Reflectance From Satellite Ocean Color Sensors

Uncertainties in the retrieval of the remote sensing reflectance, R_rs, from Ocean Color (OC) satellite sensors have a strong impact on the performance of algorithms for the estimation of chlorophyll-a, mineral concentrations, and inherent optical properties (IOPs). The uncertainties are highest in the blue bands. The total radiance measured at the top of the atmosphere captures the instantaneous state of the atmosphere-ocean system: the in-water conditions, sky and Sun glint reflected from the wind-roughened ocean surface, as well as light scattered from molecules and aerosols in the atmosphere. Each of these components has associated uncertainties, and when combined with the additional uncertainties from the instrument noise and the atmospheric correction process, they contribute to the total uncertainty budget for the retrieved R_rs. We analyzed the contribution of each component uncertainties to the total R_rs uncertainties in SNPP-VIIRS level 2 products, taking advantage of the spectral differences between the components. We examined multiple scenes in the open ocean and coastal waters at spatial resolutions ranging from 2250 to 5250 m by comparing the retrieved R_rs to in situ measurements made at several AERONET-OC sites and at the MOBY site. It was shown that uncertainties associated with the molecular (Rayleigh) scattering play the most significant role, while the contributions of other components are usually smaller. Uncertainties in Rayleigh scattering are primarily attributed to the variability of Rayleigh optical thickness (ROT) with a standard deviation of approximately 1.5% of ROT, which can largely explain the frequency of negative R_rs retrievals as observed using the current standard atmospheric correction process employed by NASA. Variability of the sky light reflected from the ocean surface in some conditions also contributed to uncertainties in the blue; water variability proportional to R_rs had a very pronounced peak in the green at coastal sites.

remote sensing reflectance↗

CALIPSO’s New ODCOD Product Compared to Langley’s HSRL and HSRL-2

CALIPSO’s Version 4.51 Level 2 data release introduces an all-new group of science data sets containing estimates of total column two-way transmittances and effective optical depths derived from CALIOP ocean surface backscatter measurements and MERRA-2 reanalysis wind speed data. This new data product is known as the Ocean Derived Column Optical Depth product (ODCOD). These estimates use CALIOP’s ocean surface lidar return to estimate the total column optical depth overhead. This new retrieval will be provided for the entire mission, day and night, at 532nm, and are reported at single shot, 1km, and 5km resolutions for all profiles in which a valid lidar ocean surface return is detected. This poster will present a collection of HSRL and HSRL-2 CALIPSO under flights and compare the HSRL measured aerosol optical depth with the estimated total column optical depth of ODCOD. The ODCOD algorithm uses CALIOP’s ocean surface lidar return to estimate the effective total column optical depth overhead; i.e., the single scattering optical depth reduced by the contributions of multiple scattering to the ocean surface signal. Because the retrieval generates a single estimate for the entire column based solely on the surface backscatter, there is currently no way to correct for multiple scattering effects from different kinds of features within the column. This new retrieval will be provided for the entire mission, day and night, at 532nm, and is reported at single shot, 1km, and 5km resolutions for all profiles in which a valid lidar ocean surface return is detected. This poster presents a collection of HSRL and HSRL-2 CALIPSO under-flight case studies that compare the HSRL measured aerosol optical depth with the estimated total column optical depth derived by ODCOD.

R. Ryan↗

Using CALIPSO's New Ocean Derived Column Optical Depths

CALIPSO’s Version 4.51 Level 2 data release introduces an all-new group of science data sets containing estimates of total column two-way transmittances and effective optical depths derived from CALIOP ocean surface backscatter measurements and MERRA-2 reanalysis wind speed data. These estimates use data from the standard CALIOP lidar signal but in a passive sensor-like way, thus creating a unique link to passive instrument measurements. These new retrievals are provided for the entire mission, day and night, at 532nm, and are reported at single shot, 1km, and 5km resolutions for all profiles in which a valid lidar ocean surface return is detected. The addition of a total column optical depth constraint on subsequent retrievals of cloud and aerosol optical properties opens the door for many exciting new ways to leverage the already rich and versatile CALIPSO dataset. Following a brief review of the retrieval technique, this talk will focus on quality assurance assessments, estimated uncertainties, and data usage scenarios. We will conclude with examples highlighting some of the exciting work already being done using this new addition to CALIPSO’s already rich data record.

R Ryan↗

Continuing Global SO2 Data Record from OMI and SNPP/OMPS to JPSS-1/NOAA-20/OMPS

Since 2004, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) aboard NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura spacecraft has been providing global observations that help to constrain the sources, transport, and environmental impacts of anthropogonic and volcanic SO2. The OMI SO2 data record is now being continued with the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP)/Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) launched in 2011. Both OMI and SNPP/OMPS SO2 products are produced with the Goddard principal component analysis (PCA) based spectral fitting algorithm. This data-driven technique inherently accounts for various instrumental factors and geophysical interferences, leading to high-quality, consistent SO2 retrievals between OMI and SNPP/OMPS, despite coarser spectral (~0.5 nm vs. ~1 nm) and spatial (13  24 km2 vs. 50  50 km2 at nadir) resolution for the latter. In this presentation, we describe our effort to continue the long-term SO2 climate data record using measurements from the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)-1/NOAA-20 (N20)/OMPS. Launched in 2017, the N20/OMPS is a follow-on for SNPP/OMPS but features a spatial resolution (17  13 km2) that is comparable with OMI. We will discuss our progress implementing the PCA SO2 algorithm with N20/OMPS, especially algorithmic improvements to further reduce retrieval noise and bias for large volcanic eruptions. We will present examples for both continuously emitting sources (e.g., power plants in India and oil/gas fields in the Middle East) and volcanic eruptions (e.g., Raikoke in 2019). We will also compare N20/OMPS SO2 retrievals with OMI and SNPP/OMPS, as well as other instruments such as the ESA Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P)/TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). To assess the ability of N20/OMPS to monitor and quantify SO2 sources, we will run the level 2 retrievals through a top-down emission algorithm to estimate the SO2 emission strengths for a number of point sources. Finally, we will outline our plan for further algorithm refinement and public data release.

SO2↗