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Abstract
A method to estimate surface albedo in the African Sahel is proposed and discussed. This method, which uses METEOSAT imagery and routine surface global radiation measurement is shown to be relevant for climatological studies.
The accuracy in the estimated albedos is analysed with respect to the intervening physical parameters. It is shown that a main source of error lies in the estimate of 0.4–1.1 μm radiances from filtered METEOSAT radiances. This problem limits the expected attainable accuracy in albedo to about 10% for typical land surface albedos.
Abstract
A method to estimate surface albedo in the African Sahel is proposed and discussed. This method, which uses METEOSAT imagery and routine surface global radiation measurement is shown to be relevant for climatological studies.
The accuracy in the estimated albedos is analysed with respect to the intervening physical parameters. It is shown that a main source of error lies in the estimate of 0.4–1.1 μm radiances from filtered METEOSAT radiances. This problem limits the expected attainable accuracy in albedo to about 10% for typical land surface albedos.
Abstract
This paper discusses the problem of radiation transfer in geophysical media, in particular, within homogeneous plant canopies over terrestrial surfaces. The emphasis is placed on the specificities of this problem when it is addressed with the radiation transfer equation classically used in atmospheric sciences. The discussion takes place in the context of remote sensing applications, where the main constraint is to be able to invert the photon transport model against observations to retrieve the properties of the observed media. To facilitate the solution of the radiative coupling between the vegetation and atmospheric layers, the same formal approach is used in both media, and the extinction and differential scattering coefficients are specified in a similar way. The accurate description of the radiation transfer within a vegetation layer is complicated by the fact that both of these coefficients depend on the position of the external sources of radiation, and by the lack of precise knowledge about the radiative boundary conditions at the top and bottom of this layer. Effective solutions to the radiation transfer problem in plant canopies require the introduction of specific hypotheses, for instance, in the treatment of the multiple scattering contribution.
Abstract
This paper discusses the problem of radiation transfer in geophysical media, in particular, within homogeneous plant canopies over terrestrial surfaces. The emphasis is placed on the specificities of this problem when it is addressed with the radiation transfer equation classically used in atmospheric sciences. The discussion takes place in the context of remote sensing applications, where the main constraint is to be able to invert the photon transport model against observations to retrieve the properties of the observed media. To facilitate the solution of the radiative coupling between the vegetation and atmospheric layers, the same formal approach is used in both media, and the extinction and differential scattering coefficients are specified in a similar way. The accurate description of the radiation transfer within a vegetation layer is complicated by the fact that both of these coefficients depend on the position of the external sources of radiation, and by the lack of precise knowledge about the radiative boundary conditions at the top and bottom of this layer. Effective solutions to the radiation transfer problem in plant canopies require the introduction of specific hypotheses, for instance, in the treatment of the multiple scattering contribution.
Abstract
Pressure and temperature fields within a West African squall line, retrieved from dual-Doppler radar data collected during the “COPT 81” (Convection Profonde Tropicale) experiment are presented. The method for derivation of thew results is approximately similar to that proposed by Gal-Chen, based on the anelastic equation of motion.
Comparisons between pressure and temperature fields deduced from radar data at the lowest levels and surface network measurements show good agreement. The inferred thermodynamic structure displays the influence of a low-level frontward flow which is mainly due to a density current of cold air, generated in the stratiform region of the squall line and resulting from a mesoscale downdraft. This frontward flow contributes to initiate and maintain a frontal updraft through both nonhydrostatic pressure perturbation and temperature difference between entering air and colder frontward flow. At higher altitudes, mixing with the environment reduces buoyancy in the frontal updraft, while weaker convective updrafts develop in the inner region.
Comparisons between these results and the kinematic and thermodynamic structures deduced from a previous observation (Le Mone, 1983) display different types of dynamics of organized convective systems.
Abstract
Pressure and temperature fields within a West African squall line, retrieved from dual-Doppler radar data collected during the “COPT 81” (Convection Profonde Tropicale) experiment are presented. The method for derivation of thew results is approximately similar to that proposed by Gal-Chen, based on the anelastic equation of motion.
Comparisons between pressure and temperature fields deduced from radar data at the lowest levels and surface network measurements show good agreement. The inferred thermodynamic structure displays the influence of a low-level frontward flow which is mainly due to a density current of cold air, generated in the stratiform region of the squall line and resulting from a mesoscale downdraft. This frontward flow contributes to initiate and maintain a frontal updraft through both nonhydrostatic pressure perturbation and temperature difference between entering air and colder frontward flow. At higher altitudes, mixing with the environment reduces buoyancy in the frontal updraft, while weaker convective updrafts develop in the inner region.
Comparisons between these results and the kinematic and thermodynamic structures deduced from a previous observation (Le Mone, 1983) display different types of dynamics of organized convective systems.
Abstract
Two-stream approximations have been used widely and for a long time in the field of radiative transfer through vegetation in various contexts and in the last 10 years also to model the hemispheric reflectance of vegetated surfaces in numerical models of the earth-atmosphere system.
For a plane-parallel and turbid vegetation medium, the existence of rotational invariance allows the application of a conventional two-stream approximation to the phase function, based on an expansion in Legendre Polynomials. Three conditions have to be fulfilled to nuke this reduction possible in the case of vegetation. The scattering function of single leaves must be bi-Lambertian, the azimuthal distribution of leaf normals must be uniform, and the azimuthally averaged Leaf Area Normal Distribution (LAND) must be either uniform or planophile. The first and second assumptions have been shown to he acceptable by other researchers and. in fact, are usually assumed explicitly or implicitly when dealing with radiative transfer through canopies. The third one, on the shape of the azimuthally averaged LAND, although investigated before, is subjected to a detailed sensitivity test in this study, using a set of synthetic LAND's as well as experimental data for 17 plant canopies.
It is shown that the radiative energy flux equations are relatively insensitive to the exact form of the LAND. The experimental Ross functions and hemispheric reflectances lie between those for the synthetic cases of planophile and erectophile LANDS. However, only the uniform and planophile LANDs lead to canopy hemispheric reflectances, which are markedly different from one another.
The analytical two-stream solutions for the either the planophile or the uniform LAND cases may be used to model the radiative fluxes through plant canopies in the solar spectral range. The choice between the two for any particular case must he made on the basis of experimental data.
Abstract
Two-stream approximations have been used widely and for a long time in the field of radiative transfer through vegetation in various contexts and in the last 10 years also to model the hemispheric reflectance of vegetated surfaces in numerical models of the earth-atmosphere system.
For a plane-parallel and turbid vegetation medium, the existence of rotational invariance allows the application of a conventional two-stream approximation to the phase function, based on an expansion in Legendre Polynomials. Three conditions have to be fulfilled to nuke this reduction possible in the case of vegetation. The scattering function of single leaves must be bi-Lambertian, the azimuthal distribution of leaf normals must be uniform, and the azimuthally averaged Leaf Area Normal Distribution (LAND) must be either uniform or planophile. The first and second assumptions have been shown to he acceptable by other researchers and. in fact, are usually assumed explicitly or implicitly when dealing with radiative transfer through canopies. The third one, on the shape of the azimuthally averaged LAND, although investigated before, is subjected to a detailed sensitivity test in this study, using a set of synthetic LAND's as well as experimental data for 17 plant canopies.
It is shown that the radiative energy flux equations are relatively insensitive to the exact form of the LAND. The experimental Ross functions and hemispheric reflectances lie between those for the synthetic cases of planophile and erectophile LANDS. However, only the uniform and planophile LANDs lead to canopy hemispheric reflectances, which are markedly different from one another.
The analytical two-stream solutions for the either the planophile or the uniform LAND cases may be used to model the radiative fluxes through plant canopies in the solar spectral range. The choice between the two for any particular case must he made on the basis of experimental data.
Abstract
New satellite instruments have been delivering a wealth of information regarding land surface albedo. This basic quantity describes what fraction of solar radiation is reflected from the earth’s surface. However, its concept and measurements have some ambiguity resulting from its dependence on the incidence angles of both the direct and diffuse solar radiation. At any time of day, a surface receives direct radiation in the direction of the sun, and diffuse radiation from the various other directions in which it may have been scattered by air molecules, aerosols, and cloud droplets. This contribution proposes a complete description of the distribution of incident radiation with angles, and the implications in terms of surface albedo are given in a mathematical form, which is suitable for climate models that require evaluating surface albedo many times. The different definitions of observed albedos are explained in terms of the coupling between surface and atmospheric scattering properties. The analytical development in this paper relates the various quantities that are retrieved from orbiting platforms to what is needed by an atmospheric model. It provides a physically simple and practical approach to evaluation of land surface albedo values at any condition of sun illumination irrespective of the current range of surface anisotropic conditions and atmospheric aerosol load. The numerical differences between the various definitions of albedo for a set of typical atmospheric and surface scattering conditions are illustrated through numerical computation.
Abstract
New satellite instruments have been delivering a wealth of information regarding land surface albedo. This basic quantity describes what fraction of solar radiation is reflected from the earth’s surface. However, its concept and measurements have some ambiguity resulting from its dependence on the incidence angles of both the direct and diffuse solar radiation. At any time of day, a surface receives direct radiation in the direction of the sun, and diffuse radiation from the various other directions in which it may have been scattered by air molecules, aerosols, and cloud droplets. This contribution proposes a complete description of the distribution of incident radiation with angles, and the implications in terms of surface albedo are given in a mathematical form, which is suitable for climate models that require evaluating surface albedo many times. The different definitions of observed albedos are explained in terms of the coupling between surface and atmospheric scattering properties. The analytical development in this paper relates the various quantities that are retrieved from orbiting platforms to what is needed by an atmospheric model. It provides a physically simple and practical approach to evaluation of land surface albedo values at any condition of sun illumination irrespective of the current range of surface anisotropic conditions and atmospheric aerosol load. The numerical differences between the various definitions of albedo for a set of typical atmospheric and surface scattering conditions are illustrated through numerical computation.
Abstract
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) white-sky surface albedos are compared with similar products generated on the basis of the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) surface bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) model parameters available for the year 2005. The analysis is achieved using global-scale statistics to characterize the broad patterns of these two independent albedo datasets. The results obtained in M. Taberner et al. have shown that robust statistics can be established and that both datasets are highly correlated. As a result, the slight but consistent biases and trends identified in this paper, derived from statistics obtained on a global basis, should be considered sufficiently reliable to merit further investigation. The present paper reports on the zonal- and seasonal-mean differences retrieved from the analysis of the MODIS and MISR surface albedo broadband products. The MISR − MODIS differences exhibit a systematic positive bias or offset in the range of 0.01–0.03 depending on the spectral domain of interest. Results obtained in the visible domain exhibit a well-marked and very consistent meridional trend featuring a “smile effect” such that the MISR − MODIS differences reach maxima at the highest latitudes in both hemispheres. The analysis of seasonal variations observed in MISR and MODIS albedo products reveals that, in the visible domain, the MODIS albedos generate weaker seasonal changes than MISR and that the differences increase poleward from the equatorial regions. A detailed investigation of MODIS and MISR aerosol optical depth retrievals suggests that this large-scale meridional trend is probably not caused by differences in the aerosol load estimated by each instrument. The scale and regularity of the meridional trend suggests that this may be due to the particular sampling regime of each instrument in the viewing azimuthal planes and/or approximations in the atmospheric correction processes. If this is the case, then either MODIS is underestimating, or MISR overestimating, the surface anisotropy or both.
Abstract
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) white-sky surface albedos are compared with similar products generated on the basis of the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) surface bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF) model parameters available for the year 2005. The analysis is achieved using global-scale statistics to characterize the broad patterns of these two independent albedo datasets. The results obtained in M. Taberner et al. have shown that robust statistics can be established and that both datasets are highly correlated. As a result, the slight but consistent biases and trends identified in this paper, derived from statistics obtained on a global basis, should be considered sufficiently reliable to merit further investigation. The present paper reports on the zonal- and seasonal-mean differences retrieved from the analysis of the MODIS and MISR surface albedo broadband products. The MISR − MODIS differences exhibit a systematic positive bias or offset in the range of 0.01–0.03 depending on the spectral domain of interest. Results obtained in the visible domain exhibit a well-marked and very consistent meridional trend featuring a “smile effect” such that the MISR − MODIS differences reach maxima at the highest latitudes in both hemispheres. The analysis of seasonal variations observed in MISR and MODIS albedo products reveals that, in the visible domain, the MODIS albedos generate weaker seasonal changes than MISR and that the differences increase poleward from the equatorial regions. A detailed investigation of MODIS and MISR aerosol optical depth retrievals suggests that this large-scale meridional trend is probably not caused by differences in the aerosol load estimated by each instrument. The scale and regularity of the meridional trend suggests that this may be due to the particular sampling regime of each instrument in the viewing azimuthal planes and/or approximations in the atmospheric correction processes. If this is the case, then either MODIS is underestimating, or MISR overestimating, the surface anisotropy or both.
