Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

Aerosol Plume Detection Algorithm Based on Image Segmentation of Scanning Atmospheric Lidar Data

R. Andrew Weekley National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado

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R. Kent Goodrich National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Department of Mathematics, University of Colorado Boulder, and Science and Technology in Atmospheric Research, LLC, Boulder, Colorado

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Larry B. Cornman National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder Colorado

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Print Publication:
01 Apr 2016
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-15-0125.1
Page(s):
697–712
Restricted access

Abstract

An image-processing algorithm has been developed to identify aerosol plumes in scanning lidar backscatter data. The images in this case consist of lidar data in a polar coordinate system. Each full lidar scan is taken as a fixed image in time, and sequences of such scans are considered functions of time. The data are analyzed in both the original backscatter polar coordinate system and a lagged coordinate system. The lagged coordinate system is a scatterplot of two datasets, such as subregions taken from the same lidar scan (spatial delay), or two sequential scans in time (time delay). The lagged coordinate system processing allows for finding and classifying clusters of data. The classification step is important in determining which clusters are valid aerosol plumes and which are from artifacts such as noise, hard targets, or background fields. These cluster classification techniques have skill since both local and global properties are used. Furthermore, more information is available since both the original data and the lag data are used. Performance statistics are presented for a limited set of data processed by the algorithm, where results from the algorithm were compared to subjective truth data identified by a human.

Denotes Open Access content.

Corresponding author address: R. Andrew Weekley, Strategic Energy Analysis Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401. E-mail: andrew.weekley@nrel.gov

Abstract

An image-processing algorithm has been developed to identify aerosol plumes in scanning lidar backscatter data. The images in this case consist of lidar data in a polar coordinate system. Each full lidar scan is taken as a fixed image in time, and sequences of such scans are considered functions of time. The data are analyzed in both the original backscatter polar coordinate system and a lagged coordinate system. The lagged coordinate system is a scatterplot of two datasets, such as subregions taken from the same lidar scan (spatial delay), or two sequential scans in time (time delay). The lagged coordinate system processing allows for finding and classifying clusters of data. The classification step is important in determining which clusters are valid aerosol plumes and which are from artifacts such as noise, hard targets, or background fields. These cluster classification techniques have skill since both local and global properties are used. Furthermore, more information is available since both the original data and the lag data are used. Performance statistics are presented for a limited set of data processed by the algorithm, where results from the algorithm were compared to subjective truth data identified by a human.

Denotes Open Access content.

Corresponding author address: R. Andrew Weekley, Strategic Energy Analysis Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401. E-mail: andrew.weekley@nrel.gov
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