Bottom Of Atmosphere Research Articles

Physically Based Model for Multispectral Image Simulation of Earth Observation Sensors

Physically based multispectral image simulation consists of sensor system modeling, bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) image generation, and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) image calculation. TOA radiance images are usually generated using a lookup table (LUT) for computational efficiency, which is calculated by means of atmospheric radiative transfer codes with different combination of input variables, including viewing zenith, solar zenith, and relative azimuth angles; visibility; columnar water vapor; and ground elevation. In this paper, a new strategy is proposed for TOA radiance image simulation, where transmitted surface radiance and atmospheric radiance at the TOA are calculated, respectively, to improve accuracy as well as efficiency. The transmitted surface radiance image is obtained from pixel-by-pixel calculation of BOA radiance and path transmittance. In calculating the atmospheric radiance of TOA, two LUTs are built for the emitted and the scattered radiance from each atmospheric layer, respectively. The effects of visibility and columnar water vapor on the atmospheric radiance are characterized by means of an equivalent path transmittance, which is related to the scene geometry as well as the thickness of atmospheric layer. In this way, when a new scene is simulated, except for three variables, i.e., viewing and solar zenith angles and atmospheric layer number, other parameters are set as constants in building the LUTs, enabling more combinations of input variables without adding excessive computational burden. Multispectral images in different bands with moderate spatial resolution are simulated and compared with the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) images to demonstrate the accuracy and the usefulness of the proposed strategy.

A Landsat 8 OLI Satellite Data-Based Assessment of Spatio-Temporal Variations of Lake Sevan Phytoplankton Biomass

Abstract The Sevan is one of the world’s largest highland lakes and the largest drinking water reservoir to the South Caucasus. An intensive drop in the level of the lake that occurred over the last decades of the 20th century has brought to eutrophication. The 2000s were marked by an increase in the level of the lake and development of fish farming. To assess possible effect of these processes on water quality, creating a state-ofthe- art water quality monitoring system is required. Traditional approaches to monitoring aquatic systems are often time-consuming, expensive and non-continuous. Thus, remote sensing technologies are crucial in quantitatively monitoring the status of water quality due to the rapidity, cyclicity, large-scale and low-cost. The aim of this work was to evaluate potential applications of the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) to study the spatio-temporal phytoplankton biomass changes. In this study phytoplankton biomasses are used as a water quality indicator, because phytoplankton communities are sensitive to changes in their environment and directly correlated with eutrophication. We used Landsat 8 OLI (30 m spatial resolution, May, Aug, Sep 2016) images converted to the bottom of atmosphere (BOA) reflectance by performing standard preprocessing steps (radiometric and atmospheric correction, sun glint removal etc.). The nonlinear regression model was developed using Landsat 8 (May 2016) coastal blue, blue, green, red, NIR bands, their ratios (blue/red, red/green, red/blue etc.) and in situ measurements (R2=0.7, p<0.05) performed by the Scientific Center of Zoology and Hydroecology of NAS RA in May 2016. Model was applied to the OLI images received for August and September 2016. The data obtained through the model shows that in May the quantity of phytoplankton mostly varies from 0.2 to 0.6g/m3. In August vs. May a sharp increase in the quantity of phytoplankton around 1-5 g/m3 is observable. In September, very high contents of phytoplankton are observed for almost entire surface of the lake. Preliminary collation between data generated with help of the model and in-situ measurements allows to conclude that the RS model for phytoplankton biomass estimation showed reasonable results, but further validation is necessary.

Data Service Platform for Sentinel-2 Surface Reflectance and Value-Added Products: System Use and Examples

This technical note presents the first Sentinel-2 data service platform for obtaining atmospherically-corrected images and generating the corresponding value-added products for any land surface on Earth. Using the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Sen2Cor algorithm, the platform processes ESA’s Level-1C top-of-atmosphere reflectance to atmospherically-corrected bottom-of-atmosphere (BoA) reflectance (Level-2A). The processing runs on-demand, with a global coverage, on the Earth Observation Data Centre (EODC), which is a public-private collaborative IT infrastructure in Vienna (Austria) for archiving, processing, and distributing Earth observation (EO) data. Using the data service platform, users can submit processing requests and access the results via a user-friendly web page or using a dedicated application programming interface (API). Building on the processed Level-2A data, the platform also creates value-added products with a particular focus on agricultural vegetation monitoring, such as leaf area index (LAI) and broadband hemispherical-directional reflectance factor (HDRF). An analysis of the performance of the data service platform, along with processing capacity, is presented. Some preliminary consistency checks of the algorithm implementation are included to demonstrate the expected product quality. In particular, Sentinel-2 data were compared to atmospherically-corrected Landsat-8 data for six test sites achieving a R2 = 0.90 and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) = 0.031. LAI was validated for one test site using ground estimations. Results show a very good agreement (R2 = 0.83) and a RMSE of 0.32 m2/m2 (12% of mean value).

Analysis of Aerosol Radiative Forcing over Beijing under Different Air Quality Conditions Using Ground-Based Sun-Photometers between 2013 and 2015

Aerosol particles can strongly affect both air quality and the radiation budget of the atmosphere. Above Beijing, the capital city of China, large amounts of aerosols within the atmospheric column have caused the deterioration of local air quality and have influenced radiative forcings at both the top and the bottom of the atmosphere (BOA and TOA). Observations of aerosol radiative forcing and its efficiency have been made using two sun-photometers in urban Beijing between 2013 and 2015, and have been analyzed alongside two air quality monitoring stations’ data by dividing air quality conditions into unpolluted, moderately polluted, and heavily polluted days. Daily average PM2.5 concentrations varied greatly in urban Beijing (5.5–485.0 µg/m3) and more than one-third of the analyzed period is classified as being polluted according to the national ambient air quality standards of China. The heavily polluted days had the largest bottom of atmosphere (BOA) and top of atmosphere (TOA) radiative forcings, but the smallest radiative forcing efficiencies, while the unpolluted days showed the opposite characteristics. On heavily polluted days, the averaged BOA aerosol radiative forcing occasionally exceeded −150 W/m2, which represents a value about three-times greater than that for unpolluted days. BOA aerosol radiative forcing was around two-to-three times as large as TOA aerosol radiative forcing under various air quality conditions, although both were mostly negative, suggesting that aerosols had different magnitudes of cooling effects at both the surface and the top of the atmosphere. Unpolluted days had the largest average values of aerosol radiative forcing efficiencies at BOA (and TOA) levels, which exceeded −190 W/m2 (−70 W/m2), compared with the lowest average values in heavily polluted days of around −120 W/m2 (−55 W/m2). These results suggest that the high concentrations of particulate matter pollution in the urban Beijing area had a strong cooling effect at both BOA and TOA levels.

Dust aerosol properties and radiative forcing observed in spring during 2001-2014 over urban Beijing, China.

The ground-based characteristics (optical and radiative properties) of dust aerosols measured during the springtime between 2001 and 2014 were investigated over urban Beijing, China. The seasonal averaged aerosol optical depth (AOD) during spring of 2001-2014 was about 0.78 at 440nm. During dust days, higher AOD occurred associated with lower Ångström exponent (AE). The mean AE440-870 in the springtime was about 1.0, indicating dominance of fine particles over the region. The back-trajectory analysis revealed that the dust was transported from the deserts of Inner Mongolia and Mongolia arid regions to Beijing. The aerosol volume size distribution showed a bimodal distribution pattern, with its highest peak observed in coarse mode for all episodes (especially for dust days with increased volume concentration). The single scattering albedo (SSA) increased with wavelength on dust days, indicating the presence of more scattering particles. Furthermore, the complex parts (real and imaginary) of refractive index showed distinct characteristics with lower imaginary values (also scattering) on dust days. The shortwave (SW; 0.2-4.0μm) and longwave (LW; 4-100μm) aerosol radiative forcing (ARF) values were computed from the Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (SBDART) model both at the top of atmosphere (TOA) and the bottom of atmosphere (BOA) during dust and non-dust (dust free) days, and the corresponding heating rates and forcing efficiencies were also estimated. The SW (LW) ARF, therefore, produced significant cooling (warming) effects at both the TOA and the BOA over Beijing.

Changes in column aerosol optical properties during extreme haze-fog episodes in January 2013 over urban Beijing

Several dense haze-fog (HF) episodes were occurred in the North China Plain (NCP), especially over Beijing in January 2013 characterized by a long duration, a large influential region, and an extremely high PM2.5 values (>500 μg m−3). In this study, we present the characteristics of aerosol optical properties and radiative forcing using Cimel sun-sky radiometer measurements during HF and no haze-fog (NHF) episodes occurred over Beijing during 1–31 January, 2013. The respective maximum values of daily mean aerosol optical depth at 440 nm (AOD440) were observed to be 1.21, 1.43, 1.52, and 2.21 occurred on 12, 14 19, and 28 January. It was found that the Ångström exponent (AE) values were almost higher than 1.0 during all the days with its maximum on 26 January (1.53), suggests the dominance of fine-mode particles. The maximum (minimum) aerosol volume size distributions occurred during dense HF (NHF) days with larger particle volumes of fine-mode. The single scattering albedo, asymmetry parameter, and complex refractive index values during HF events suggest the abundance of fine-mode particles from anthropogenic (absorbing) activities mixed with scattering dust particles. The average shortwave direct aerosol radiative forcing (DARF) values at the bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) during HF and NHF days were estimated to be 112.29 ± 42.18 W m−2 and −58.61 ± 13.09 W m−2, while at the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) the forcing values were −45.78 ± 22.17 W m−2 and −18.64 ± 5.84 W m−2, with the corresponding heating rate of 1.61 ± 0.48 K day−1 and 1.12 ± 0.31 K day−1, respectively. The DARF values retrieved from the AERONET were in good agreement with the SBDART computed both at the TOA (r = 0.95) and the BOA (r = 0.97) over Beijing in January 2013.

Composition, size distribution, optical properties, and radiative effects of laboratory-resuspended PM<sub>10</sub> from geological dust of the Rome area, by electron microscopy and radiative transfer modelling

Abstract. In this work, new information has been gained on the laboratory-resuspended PM10 fraction from geological topsoil and outcropped rocks representative of the Rome area (Latium). Mineralogical composition, size distribution, optical properties and the surface radiative forcing efficiency (RFE) of dust types representing the compositional end members of this geological area have been addressed. A multi-disciplinary approach was used, based on chamber resuspension of raw materials and sampling of the PM10 fraction, to simulate field sampling at dust source, scanning electron microscopy/X-ray energy-dispersive microanalysis (SEM XEDS) of individual mineral particles, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of bulk dust samples, building of number and volume size distribution (SD) from microanalysis data of mineral particles and fitting to a log-normal curve, and radiative transfer modelling (RTM) to retrieve optical properties and radiative effects of the compositional end-member dust samples. The mineralogical composition of Rome lithogenic PM10 varies between an end-member dominated by silicate minerals (from volcanics lithotypes), and one mostly composed of calcite (from travertine or limestones). Lithogenic PM10 with intermediate composition derives mainly from siliciclastic rocks or marlstones. Size and mineral species of PM10 particles of silicate-dominated dust types are tuned mainly by rock weathering and, to lesser extent, by debris formation or crystallization; chemical precipitation of CaCO3 plays a major role in calcite-dominated types. These differences are reflected in the diversity of volume distributions, either within dust types or mineral species. Differences are also observed between volume distributions of calcite from travertine (natural source; SD unimodal at 5 μm a.d.) and from road dust (anthropic source; SD bimodal at 3.8 and 1.8 μm a.d.). The volcanics and travertine dusts differently affect the single scattering albedo (SSA) and the asymmetry parameter (g) in the visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) regions. The downward component of the bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) solar irradiance simulated by RTM for an atmosphere where only volcanics (or only travertine dust) composes the aerosol, shows that the volcanics contribution to the solar irradiance differs significantly from that of travertine in the NIR region, while similar contributions are modelled in the VIS. The RFE (−293 W m−2 for volcanics and −139 W m−2 for travertine, at 50° solar zenith angle) shows that volcanics dust produces a stronger cooling effect at surface than travertine, as expected for more absorbing aerosols.

CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION PLAN FOR THE L2A PROCESSOR AND PRODUCTS OF THE SENTINEL-2 MISSION

Abstract. The Copernicus programme, is a European initiative for the implementation of information services based on observation data received from Earth Observation (EO) satellites and ground based information. In the frame of this programme, ESA is developing the Sentinel-2 optical imaging mission that will deliver optical data products designed to feed downstream services mainly related to land monitoring, emergency management and security. To ensure the highest quality of service, ESA sets up the Sentinel-2 Mission Performance Centre (MPC) in charge of the overall performance monitoring of the Sentinel-2 mission. TPZ F and DLR have teamed up in order to provide the best added-value support to the MPC for calibration and validation of the Level-2A processor (Sen2Cor) and products. This paper gives an overview over the planned L2A calibration and validation activities. Level-2A processing is applied to Top-Of-Atmosphere (TOA) Level-1C ortho-image reflectance products. Level-2A main output is the Bottom-Of-Atmosphere (BOA) corrected reflectance product. Additional outputs are an Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) map, a Water Vapour (WV) map and a Scene Classification (SC) map with Quality Indicators for cloud and snow probabilities. Level-2A BOA, AOT and WV outputs are calibrated and validated using ground-based data of automatic operating stations and data of in-situ campaigns. Scene classification is validated by the visual inspection of test datasets and cross-sensor comparison, supplemented by meteorological data, if available. Contributions of external in-situ campaigns would enlarge the reference dataset and enable extended validation exercise. Therefore, we are highly interested in and welcome external contributors.

Simultaneous retrieval of aerosol properties and clear-sky direct radiative effect over the global ocean from MODIS

A unified satellite algorithm is presented to simultaneously retrieve aerosol properties (aerosol optical depth; AOD and aerosol type) and clear-sky shortwave direct radiative effect (hereafter, DREA) over ocean. The algorithm is applied to Moderate Resolution Imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations for a period from 2003 to 2010 to assess the DREA over the global ocean. The simultaneous retrieval utilizes lookup table (LUT) containing both spectral reflectances and solar irradiances calculated using a single radiative transfer model with the same aerosol input data. This study finds that aerosols cool the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) by 5.2 ± 0.5 W/m2 and 8.3 W/m2, respectively, and correspondingly warm the atmosphere (hereafter, ATM) by 3.1 W/m2. These quantities, solely based on the MODIS observations, are consistent with those of previous studies incorporating chemical transport model simulations and satellite observations. However, the DREAs at BOA and ATM are expected to be less accurate compared to that of TOA due to low sensitivity in retrieving aerosol type information, which is related with the atmospheric heating by aerosols, particularly in low AOD conditions; consequently, the uncertainties could not be quantified. Despite the issue in the aerosol type information, the present method allows us to confine the DREA attributed only to fine-mode dominant aerosols, which are expected to be mostly anthropogenic origin, in the range from −1.1 W/m2 to −1.3 W/m2 at TOA. Improvements in size-resolved AOD and SSA retrievals from current and upcoming satellite instruments are suggested to better assess the DREA, particularly at BOA and ATM, where aerosol absorptivity induces substantial uncertainty.

A first analysis on the Culture-MERIS products

In view of the recent interruption of Envisat services, the European Space Agency (ESA) started the backlog processing of the whole archive of Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), through the Culture-MERIS project. Culture-MERIS provides global weekly composites of MERIS full-resolution (300 m) land reflectance. This paper examines the geographic coverage of the weekly product during the first year (2011) of operations. Pixel samples of weekly bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) reflectance obtained from Culture-MERIS are compared with samples acquired from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra 500 m 8-day surface reflectance product (MOD09A1). The inter-comparison proved a reasonable agreement of the green and red bands, between the two products, apart from surface reflectances over forested lands, where the reflectance levels are low and approach the root mean square deviation (RMSD).

Shortwave radiative forcing and efficiency of key aerosol types using AERONET data

Abstract. The shortwave radiative forcing (ΔF) and the radiative forcing efficiency (ΔFeff) of natural and anthropogenic aerosols have been analyzed using estimates of radiation both at the Top (TOA) and at the Bottom Of Atmosphere (BOA) modeled based on AERONET aerosol retrievals. Six main types of atmospheric aerosols have been compared (desert mineral dust, biomass burning, urban-industrial, continental background, oceanic and free troposphere) in similar observational conditions (i.e., for solar zenith angles between 55° and 65°) in order to compare the nearly same solar geometry. The instantaneous ΔF averages obtained vary from −122 ± 37 Wm−2 (aerosol optical depth, AOD, at 0.55 μm, 0.85 ± 0.45) at the BOA for the mixture of desert mineral dust and biomass burning aerosols in West Africa and −42 ± 22 Wm−2 (AOD = 0.9 ± 0.5) at the TOA for the pure mineral dust also in this region up to −6 ± 3 Wm−2 and −4 ± 2 Wm−2 (AOD = 0.03 ± 0.02) at the BOA and the TOA, respectively, for free troposphere conditions. This last result may be taken as reference on a global scale. Furthermore, we observe that the more absorbing aerosols are overall more efficient at the BOA in contrast to at the TOA, where they backscatter less solar energy into the space. The analysis of the radiative balance at the TOA shows that, together with the amount of aerosols and their absorptive capacity, it is essential to consider the surface albedo of the region on which they are. Thus, we document that in regions with high surface reflectivity (deserts and snow conditions) atmospheric aerosols lead to a warming of the Earth-atmosphere system.

The Global Character of the Flux of Downward Longwave Radiation

Abstract Four different types of estimates of the surface downwelling longwave radiative flux (DLR) are reviewed. One group of estimates synthesizes global cloud, aerosol, and other information in a radiation model that is used to calculate fluxes. Because these synthesis fluxes have been assessed against observations, the global-mean values of these fluxes are deemed to be the most credible of the four different categories reviewed. The global, annual mean DLR lies between approximately 344 and 350 W m−2 with an error of approximately ±10 W m−2 that arises mostly from the uncertainty in atmospheric state that governs the estimation of the clear-sky emission. The authors conclude that the DLR derived from global climate models are biased low by approximately 10 W m−2 and even larger differences are found with respect to reanalysis climate data. The DLR inferred from a surface energy balance closure is also substantially smaller that the range found from synthesis products suggesting that current depictions of surface energy balance also require revision. The effect of clouds on the DLR, largely facilitated by the new cloud base information from the CloudSat radar, is estimated to lie in the range from 24 to 34 W m−2 for the global cloud radiative effect (all-sky minus clear-sky DLR). This effect is strongly modulated by the underlying water vapor that gives rise to a maximum sensitivity of the DLR to cloud occurring in the colder drier regions of the planet. The bottom of atmosphere (BOA) cloud effect directly contrast the effect of clouds on the top of atmosphere (TOA) fluxes that is maximum in regions of deepest and coldest clouds in the moist tropics.

Radiative forcing under mixed aerosol conditions

[1] The mixture of mineral dust with biomass burning or urban-industrial aerosols presents significant differences in optical properties when compared to those of the individual constituents, leading to different impacts on solar radiation levels. This effect is assessed by estimating the direct radiative forcing (ΔF) of these aerosols from solar flux models using the radiative parameters derived from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). These data reveal that, in oceanic and vegetative covers (surface albedo (SA) 0.30 are not present in East Asia region. At the bottom of atmosphere (BOA) the maximum ΔF values are associated with the highest AOD levels obtained for the mixture of mineral dust and biomass burning aerosols (-130 ± 44 Wm -2 with AOD = 0.8 ± 0.4 for SA < 0.30).

Retrieval of atmospheric and oceanic properties from MERIS measurements: A new Case‐2 water processor for BEAM

A freely available data processor for the B asic E RS & ENVISAT ( A )ATSR and M ERIS Toolbox (BEAM) was developed to retrieve atmospheric and oceanic properties above and of Case‐2 waters from Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Level1b data. The processor was especially designed for European coastal waters and uses MERIS Level1b Top‐Of‐Atmosphere (TOA) radiances to retrieve atmospherically corrected remote sensing reflectances at the Bottom‐Of‐Atmosphere (BOA), spectral aerosol optical thicknesses (AOT) and the concentration of three water constituents, namely chlorophyll‐a (CHL), total suspended matter (TSM) and the absorption of yellow substance at 443 nm (YEL). The retrieval is based on four separate artificial neural networks which were trained on the basis of the results of extensive radiative transfer (RT) simulations by taking various atmospheric and oceanic conditions into account. The accuracy of the retrievals was acquired by comparisons with concurrent in situ ground measurements and was published in full detail elsewhere. For the remote sensing reflectance product a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 18% was derived within the spectral range 412.5–708.75 nm while the accuracy of the AOT at 550 nm in terms of MAPE was calculated to be 40%. The accuracies for CHL, TSM and YEL were derived from match‐up analysis with MAPEs of 50%, 60% and 71%, respectively.

Atmospheric correction algorithm for MERIS above case‐2 waters

The development and validation of an atmospheric correction algorithm designed for the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) with special emphasis on case‐2 waters is described. The algorithm is based on inverse modelling of radiative transfer (RT) calculations using artificial neural network (ANN) techniques. The presented correction scheme is implemented as a direct inversion of spectral top‐of‐atmosphere (TOA) radiances into spectral remote sensing reflectances at the bottom‐of‐atmosphere (BOA), with additional output of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at four wavelengths for validation purposes. The inversion algorithm was applied to 13 MERIS Level1b data tracks of 2002–2003, covering the optically complex waters of the North and Baltic Sea region. A validation of the retrieved AOTs was performed with coincident in situ automatic sun–sky scanning radiometer measurements of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) from Helgoland Island located in the German Bight. The accuracy of the derived reflectances was validated with concurrent ship‐borne reflectance measurements of the SIMBADA hand‐held field radiometer. Compared to the MERIS Level2 standard reflectance product generated by the processor versions 3.55, 4.06 and 6.3, the results of the proposed algorithm show a significant improvement in accuracy, especially in the blue part of the spectrum, where the MERIS Level2 reflectances result in errors up to 122% compared to only 19% with the proposed algorithm. The overall mean errors within the spectral range of 412.5–708.75 nm are calculated to be 46.2% and 18.9% for the MERIS Level2 product and the presented algorithm, respectively.

A synergetic approach for estimating the local direct aerosol forcing: Application to an urban zone during the Expérience sur Site pour Contraindre les Modèles de Pollution et de Transport d'Emission (ESCOMPTE) experiment

A method dedicated to the investigation of direct radiative forcing of the main anthropogenic aerosol species (ammonium sulfate, black carbon, particulate organic matter) is presented. We computed the direct radiative aerosol forcing at the top of atmosphere (TOA), at the bottom of atmosphere (BOA), and into the atmospheric layer (ATM). The methodology is based on chemical, photometric, and satellite measurements. We first determined the optical properties of the main aerosol species and then computed their direct radiative impact at local scale. The method was applied to a periurban zone during the Expérience sur Site pour Contraindre les Modèles de Pollution et de Transport d'Emission experiment. Optical computations indicate that the single scattering albedo, for the total aerosol population in the external mixture, is equal to 0.83 ± 0.04 at 550 nm, indicative of a strong absorption of the solar radiation. At the same time the mean asymmetry parameter is equal to 0.59 ± 0.04, and the mean aerosol optical thickness is equal to 0.30 ± 0.02, at 550 nm. The anthropogenic urban aerosol layer reduces significantly the daily surface illumination (−24 W m−2 &gt; ΔFBOA &gt; −47.5 W m−2) by reflection to space (−6 W m−2 &gt; ΔFTOA &gt; −9 W m−2) and by absorption of the solar radiation into the atmosphere (17 W m−2 &lt; ΔFATM &lt; 39 W m−2). The available resulting energy in the atmospheric column heats the lowermost part of the atmosphere from 1.1°K d−1 to 2.8°K d−1. Our study shows that the black carbon particles have a large contribution to the BOA forcing (almost 50% of the total daily forcing), whereas the ammonium sulfate particles contribute only to about 10%. Conversely, the TOA daily forcing is mostly driven by the ammonium sulfate aerosol (around 50%).

Estimation of sensible heat flux using the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) and ATSR measurements

This paper describes a modified version of the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) as regards the use of radiometric data from space and presents the results of a large area validation study on estimated sensible heat flux, extended over several months. The improvements were made possible by the characteristics of the Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR-2) on board the European Remote Sensing satellite (ERS-2) and relate to: (a) the use of bi-angular radiometric data in two thermal infrared channels to estimate column atmospheric water vapor; (b) the use of bi-angular radiometric data in four spectral channels in the 550–1600 nm spectral regions to estimate aerosols optical depth; (c) determination of bottom of atmosphere (BOA) spectral reflectance using column water vapor, aerosols optical depth and a two-stream radiative transfer scheme to relate BOA spectral reflectance to top of atmosphere spectral radiance; (d) direct and inverse modeling of radiative transfer in a vegetation canopy to relate BOA spectral reflectance to canopy properties, such as spectrally integrated hemispherical reflectance (albedo). A parameterization of the aerodynamic resistance for heat transfer (in term of kB −1) was applied for the first time at large spatial scales. For such large area analyses SEBS requires wind speed, potential temperature and humidity of air at an appropriate reference height. The latter was taken as being the height of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and the data used were fields generated by an advanced numerical weather prediction model, i.e. regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO), integrated over the PBL. Validation of estimated sensible heat flux H obtained with the ATSR radiometric data was done using long-range, line-averaged measurements of H done with large aperture scintillometers (LAS) located at three sites in Spain and operated continuously between April and September 1999. The root mean square deviation of SEBS H estimates from LAS H measurements was 25.5 W m −2.