Abstract
A novel approach, using low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite microwave communication links for cloud liquid water measurements, is proposed in this paper. The feasibility of this approach is studied through simulations of the retrieval system including a LEO satellite communicating with a group of ground receivers equipped with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimators, a synthetic cloud attenuation field and a tomographic retrieval algorithm. Rectangular and Gaussian basis functions are considered to define the targeted field. Simulation results suggest that the proposed least-squares based retrieval algorithm produces satisfactory outcomes for both types of basis functions. The root-mean-square error of the retrieved field is around 0.2 dB/km, with the range of the reference field as 0 to 2.35 dB/km. It is also confirmed that the partial retrieval of the cloud field is achievable when a limited number of receivers with restricted locations are available. The retrieval outcomes exhibit properties of high resolution and low error, indicating that the proposed approach has great potential for cloud observations.
Highlights
Understanding the role of clouds is of great importance in many areas such as numerical weather prediction and climate studies, as clouds are vital in the hydrological cycle, and crucial for the Earth’s radiation budget
We propose a novel cloud estimation approach as an auxiliary means to traditional methods, in which the attenuation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite microwave links is used to measure the liquid water content (LWC) in clouds
As the overpass time is very short for the LEO satellite (e.g., 289 s for a satellite at 1000 km of orbital height and a minimum elevation angle of 40 degrees for ground receivers), the attenuation field is regarded as static for the purpose of retrieval
Summary
Understanding the role of clouds is of great importance in many areas such as numerical weather prediction and climate studies, as clouds are vital in the hydrological cycle, and crucial for the Earth’s radiation budget. The number of active LEO satellites in space is well above 1000, and several companies are pursuing the proposal for large constellations of LEO satellites to provide global broadband access, e.g., OneWeb’s system with 720 LEO satellites for global coverage and SpaceX’s system with more than 4000 LEO satellites [2]. Once this service is available to the public, it can be foreseen that millions of user terminals (ground receivers) will be deployed across the globe. Because of the high demand for bandwidth, Ku-band (12~18 GHz) and Ka-band (26.5~40 GHz) are usually used
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