Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Spectral albedo”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

The ultraviolet spectral albedo of planet earth

The solar backscattered ultraviolet spectral radiometer on the Nimbus 7 satellite provides a unique set of radiation measurements which allows an evaluation of the spectral albedo of the earth and its atmosphere in the wavelength range 300 to 340 nm. Near 340 nm, the derived spectral albedo expressed as a function of latitude and month exceeds that in the visible part of the spectrum, with values near 45 percent existing equatorward of 30 deg and an increase to 60-80 percent toward the poles. At middle to high latitudes, the monthly mean spectral albedo exceeds the contribution from Rayleigh scattering alone by factors of 1.4 to 2.2. At wavelengths from 300 to 310 nm, where absorption by stratospheric ozone is significant, the daylight averaged spectral albedos receive negligible contribution from scattering by tropospheric clouds, yet the derived values exceed those predicted for Rayleigh scattering from a clean stratosphere. These observations are consistent with the presence of an atmospheric scattering layer, distinct from cloudiness, located at an altitude above the tropopause.

Frederick, John E.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Spectral albedos of midlatitude snowpacks

Spectral albedos of impure-nonhomogeneous snowpacks, typical of midlatitudes, from 400 to 2200 nm were modeled through a numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation in the two-stream approximation. Discrete depth-dependent values of density, grain size and impurity concentration were used to characterize the snowpacks. The model is for diffuse incident radiation, and the numerical method is based on doubling and invariant imbedding. The effect of soot impurities on snowpack albedos is illustrated when a snowpack is several centimeters deep and soot reduces the albedos at visible wavelengths, however, when a snowpack is only a few centimeters deep, soot may increase the albedos at visible wavelengths. By adjusting soot content and snow grain size, good quantitative agreement with some observations at the Cascade Mountains (Washington) and at Point Barrow (Alaska) are obtained; however, the model grain sizes are found to be fifty to four hundred percent larger than the measured values. For satellite snowcover observations, a model for effective albedo of partially snow-covered areas was developed and compared with some NOAA-2 observations of the southeastern United States.

Choudhury, B.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Jupiter and Saturn - Near-infrared spectral albedos

The near-infrared (0.65-2.5 micron) spectral albedo of Jupiter and Saturn with 1.5% spectral resolution is presented for the center of disk and for the limb. There is a distinct difference in the continuum slope between Jupiter and Saturn which may be attributed to a difference in the dust content or composition of the two atmospheres. There is an indication of limb brightening in the deepest CH4 bands on Saturn. No limb brightening is found for Jupiter.

Clark, R. N.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Using Single-Scattering Albedo Spectral Curvature to Characterize East Asian Aerosol Mixtures

Spectral dependence of aerosol single-scattering albedo (SSA) has been used to infer aerosol composition. In particular, aerosol mixtures dominated by dust absorption will have monotonically increasing SSA with wavelength while that dominated by black carbon absorption has monotonically decreasing SSA spectra. However, by analyzing SSA measured at four wavelengths, 440, 675, 870, and 1020 nm from the Aerosol Robotic Network data set, we find that the SSA spectra over East Asia are frequently peaked at 675 nm. In these cases, we suggest that SSA spectral curvature, defined as the negative of the second derivative of SSA as a function of wavelength, can provide additional information on the composition of these aerosol mixtures. Aerosol SSA spectral curvatures for East Asia during fall and winter are considerably larger than those found in places primarily dominated by biomass burning or dust aerosols. SSA curvature is found to increase as the SSA magnitude decreases. The curvature increases with coarse mode fraction (CMF) to a CMF value of about 0.4, then slightly decreases or remains constant at larger CMF. Mie calculations further verify that the strongest SSA curvature occurs at approx. 40% dust fraction, with 10% scattering aerosol fraction. The nonmonotonic SSA spectral dependence is likely associated with enhanced absorption in the shortwave by dust, absorption by black carbon at longer wavelengths, and also the flattened absorption optical depth spectral dependence due to the increased particle size.

curvature↗
NASA NTRS1972

Spectral Albedos of the Galilean Satellites

The wavelength dependence of the albedo of the Galilean satellites was determined from wide-band photometric observations extending from 0.36 microns to 3.4 microns.

Lee, T.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Spectral albedos of the Galilean satellites.

The wavelength dependence of the albedo of Jupiter's four Galilean satellites, determined from wide-band photometric observations extending from 0.36 to 3.4 microns, is presented. The drop in the wavelength dependence curves for Europa and Ganymede confirms earlier conclusions that H2O ice is present on these satellites, while the decrease seen at 3.4 microns for Callisto could be due to ammonium chloride.-

Lee, T.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Spectral albedo and emissivity of CO2 in Martian polar caps - Model results

In this paper, a snow albedo model previously developed for terrestrial snow is extended to the case of CO2 snow on Mars. Pure CO2 snow is calculated to have high albedo at visible wavelengths but not as high as that of water snow. At any given wavelength, the primary variable controlling albedo and emissivity is the snow grain size, with albedo decreasing and emissivity increasing as grain size increases. Observations that red albedo is much higher than blue albedo in the Martian south polar cap indicates that the snow or the atmosphere is contaminated with red dust. The absorption coefficient of CO2 ice in the thermal infrared is two to three orders of magnitude smaller than that measured for H2O ice. CO2 snow emissivity is therefore much lower than H2O snow, varying substantially with wavelength and quite sensitive to grain size and emission angle. Factors tending to increase emissivity are large grain size, small emission angle, and large concentrations of dust or water.

Warren, Stephen G.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Extracting spectral albedo from NOAA-9 AVHRR multiple view data using an atmospheric correction procedure and an expert system

A 100 km by 200 km area of the Sahel was selected to demonstrate a new method of extracting hemispherical reflectance (albedo) from directional satellite data. Utilizing a stratification of the Gao region of Mali based on soil texture, satellite data for homogeneous areas were selected. These data were employed in a knowledge-based expert system called VEG, which is designed to handle a wide variety of types of input data. The calculated directional reflectance factors at ground level are very similar to ground measurements noted in the literature.

Kimes, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Spectral and diurnal variations in clear sky planetary albedo

Spectral and diurnal variations in the clear sky planetary albedo of the earth are calculated using a radiative transfer model to obtain January and July values for a 5 deg x 5 deg global grid. The model employs observed climatological values of temperatures, humidities, snow and sea-ice cover. The diurnal cycle of clear sky albedo is calculated in the following intervals: 0.2-0.5, 0.5-0.7, and 0.7-4 microns. Observed ozone distribution is specified as a function of latitude and season. The 0.2-0.5 micron spectral albedo is 10-20% higher than the total albedo for all latitudes because of Rayleigh scattering; the 0.5-0.7 micron albedo differs from the total albedo by 1-2% for most latitudes, while the 0.7-4 micron albedo is 5-10% lower than the total because of strong atmospheric absorption. Planetary albedo decreases from morning to local noon, with diurnal variations being particularly strong over water.

Briegleb, B.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Spatially Complete Global Spectral Surface Albedos: Value-Added Datasets Derived from Terra MODIS Land Products

Land surface albedo is an important parameter in describing the radiative properties of the earth s surface as it represents the amount of incoming solar radiation that is reflected from the surface. The amount and type of vegetation of the surface dramatically alters the amount of radiation that is reflected; for example, croplands that contain leafy vegetation will reflect radiation very differently than blacktop associated with urban areas. In addition, since vegetation goes through a growth, or phenological, cycle, the amount of radiation that is reflected changes over the course of a year. As a result, albedo is both temporally and spatially dependant upon global location as there is a distribution of vegetated surface types and growing conditions. Land surface albedo is critical for a wide variety of earth system research projects including but not restricted to remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol and cloud properties from space, ground-based analysis of aerosol optical properties from surface-based sun/sky radiometers, biophysically-based land surface modeling of the exchange of energy, water, momentum, and carbon for various land use categories, and surface energy balance studies. These projects require proper representation of the surface albedo s spatial, spectral, and temporal variations, however, these representations are often lacking in datasets prior to the latest generation of land surface albedo products.

Moody, Eric G.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Towards a More Realistic Representation of Surface Albedo in NASA CERES Satellite Products: A Comparison with MOSAiC Field Campaign

Observing the Arctic from space is one of the most challenging tasks in climate science. Uncertainty in the NASA Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES)-derived irradiances is larger over sea ice than any other scene type and comes from several sources. The one-year long MOSAiC expedition in the central Arctic provides a rare opportunity to explore uncertainty in CERES-derived radiative fluxes. First, a systematic and statistically robust assessment of surface shortwave and longwave fluxes has been conducted using in-situ measurements from MOSAiC flux stations. The CERES SYN1deg product overestimates the SW_down flux by 11.40 Wm-2 and underestimates the SW_up flux by −15.70 Wm-2 and LW_down fluxes by −13.30 Wm-2 at the surface during summertime. In addition, large differences are found in the LW_up flux (~320 Wm-2) when the surface reaches melting point (~0℃). The large negative bias in upwelling shortwave flux can be attributed to the underestimation of surface albedo (−0.15) in SYN1deg. In addition to direct comparison, a series of perturbation experiments with a radiative transfer model are performed to estimate the contributions to the differences. By correcting both cloud and albedo inputs, the biases in SW_net flux and LW_net flux can be reduced to less than half of the control run biases to +19.90% and −10.53%, respectively. Furthermore, a compensating effect between underestimation of broadband albedo and overestimation of spectral albedo in visible and mid-infrared bands in SYN1deg datasets is found and contributes to the shortwave flux differences. The difference in CERES broadband albedo (~20 Wm 2) contributes to larger uncertainty in SW_up flux than spectral albedo shape (~3 Wm 2). The results of this study inform the future development of CERES products and will ultimately reduce uncertainties in Arctic surface radiation budget derived from satellite measurements.

Yiyi Huang↗
NASA NTRS1990

Spectral geometric albedo and bolometric Bond albedo of Neptune's satellite Triton from Voyager observations

The spectral geometric albedo and the bolometric Bond albedo of Triton are calculated using data from the Voyager spacecraft photopolarimeter and science experiments. The geometric albedo is not inconsistent with the presence of a weak absorption feature in Triton's spectrum near 0.75 micron. The bolometric Bond albedo (0.65) is consistent with the 38 K daytime surface temperature of Triton. The results are also in agreement with the 37.5 K temperature of nitrogen at an infrared basal pressure of 14 microbar.

Nelson, R. M.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Near-Infrared Spectral Geometric Albedos of Charon and Pluto: Constraints on Charon's Surface Composition

The spectral geometric albedos of Charon and Pluto are derived at near-infrared wavelengths (1.4-2.5 jAm) from measurements obtained in 1987. Comparisons of these to theoretical calculations are used to place constraints on the identity and relative abundances of surface ices on Charon. These compari- sons suggest that widespread regions of pure CH4 ice do not occur on Charon and that if CH4 is abundant on Charon then it is large grained (-5 mm) and is likely mixed at the granular level with H20 ice, and possibly C02 ice.

Roush, Ted L.↗