Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Research Articles

Studies Regarding the Ensquared Energy of a Geostationary Hyperspectral Infrared Sounder

Compared with low earth orbit satellites, the high altitude from geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites leads to increased diffraction effects on hyperspectral infrared sounders, which reduce the ensquared energy (EE) within the satellites’ field-of-view (FOV) and increase the pseudo noise of the measurements. To help understand how the instrument performance is affected by EE for the Geostationary Extended Observations Sounder (GXS), a point spread function (PSF) is used to simulate the contribution of each location within and outside of an FOV (4 km by 4km at nadir). The PSF is applied to the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer airborne simulator data with a spatial resolution of 50m, to determine an appropriate EE for GXS. Although wavenumber dependent, an EE of 70% is recommended which ensures all GXS channels have pseudo noise less than the instrument specifications. Regardless of the EE value, the pseudo noise reduces the precision of the temperature and moisture sounding retrievals in the troposphere. Even with an EE of 70%, the pseudo noise slightly increases the root mean square error (RMSE) by 3-4% for temperature and by 1-4% for relative humidity. If an EE of 70% is difficult to meet, due to cost for example, a lower EE can be a good tradeoff with only a slight degradation in the sounding retrieval quality, which may be overcome with spatial averaging using the inverted cone method. An EE of 50% would lead to an RMSE increase of about 6% for temperature, and 3-6% for the relative humidity.

Observations and modeling of ice cloud shortwave spectral albedo during the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling Experiment (TC4)

Ice cloud optical thickness and effective radius have been retrieved from hyperspectral irradiance and discrete spectral radiance measurements for four ice cloud cases during the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling Experiment (TC4) over a range of solar zenith angle (23°–53°) and high (46–90) and low (5–15) optical thicknesses. The retrieved optical thickness and effective radius using measurements at only two wavelengths from the Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) irradiance and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator (MAS) were input to a radiative transfer model using two libraries of ice crystal single‐scattering optical properties to reproduce spectral albedo over the spectral range from 400 to 2130 nm. The two commonly used ice single‐scattering models were evaluated by examining the residuals between observed spectral and predicted spectral albedo. The SSFR and MAS retrieved optical thickness and effective radius were found to be in close agreement for the low to moderately optically thick clouds with a mean difference of 3.42 in optical thickness (SSFR lower relative to MAS) and 3.79 μm in effective radius (MAS smaller relative to SSFR). The higher optical thickness case exhibited a larger difference in optical thickness (40.5) but nearly identical results for effective radius. The single‐scattering libraries were capable of reproducing the spectral albedo in most cases examined to better than 0.05 for all wavelengths. Systematic differences between the model and measurements increased with increasing optical thickness and approached 0.10 between 400 and 600 nm and selected wavelengths between 1200 and 1300 nm. Differences between radiance and irradiance based retrievals of optical thickness and effective radius error sources in the modeling of ice single‐scattering properties are examined.

Comparing irradiance fields derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer airborne simulator cirrus cloud retrievals with solar spectral flux radiometer measurements

During the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers–Florida Area Cirrus Experiment, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) airborne simulator (MAS) and the solar spectral flux radiometer (SSFR) operated on the same aircraft, the NASA ER‐2. While MAS provided two‐dimensional horizontal fields of cloud optical thickness and effective ice particle radius, the SSFR measured spectral irradiance in the visible to near‐infrared wavelength range (0.3–1.7 μm). The MAS retrievals, along with vertical profiles from a combined radar/lidar system on board the same aircraft were used to construct three‐dimensional cloud fields, which were input into Monte Carlo radiative transfer models. The simulated field of spectral albedo (ratio of reflected upwelling to incident downwelling irradiance) was compared with the SSFR measurements. For two cases, the relative importance of spatial cloud heterogeneities, various approximations of the single scattering parameters, vertical structure, cirrus optical thickness, and ice crystal effective radius was studied.

Impact of point spread function on infrared radiances from geostationary Satellites

The blurring from diffraction for the infrared (IR) radiances on a geostationary satellite (GEO) e.g., the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) was simulated by using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator data and the point spread function (PSF) model for an unobscured telescope. The portion of the total radiance contributed from each nearby geometrical field of view (GFOV) was calculated. For 90% ensquared energy (EE) (equivalent to 10% of the energy coming from outside the footprint), the closest GFOVs contribute 7%; the contribution from the closest GFOVs increases to 22% for 70% EE. The increased portion from the nearby GFOVs causes larger blurring and degrades the pixel-based retrieval product accuracy. Radiance contamination from the nearby field for the GEO IR radiances with 90%, 80%, and 70% EE causes 0.2-, 0.3-, and 0.4-K blurring errors, respectively, in the 12-mum IR longwave window band in clear 300-K scenes. The blurring error is doubled in cloudy 230-K scenes. For the 13.8-mum absorption band, the blurring error will be smaller than that of the 12-mum band because the atmospheric layer where the temperature sensitivity peaks for the 13.8 mum is more uniform than the surface where the 12 mum is most sensitive. This indicates that the PSF has a greater impact on a heterogeneous surface. Similar blurring errors occur at both 4- and 10-km spatial resolution IR sensors. The blurring error is not random, and it varies spectrally. These conclusions are very relevant to the design of a cost-effective GEO IR sounder that meets the science requirements

The Role of Background Cloud Microphysics in the Radiative Formation of Ship Tracks

The authors investigate the extent to which the contrast brightness of ship tracks, that is, the relative change in observed solar reflectance, in visible and near-infrared imagery can be explained by the microphysics of the background cloud in which they form. The sensitivity of visible and near-infrared wavelengths for detecting reflectance changes in ship tracks is discussed, including the use of a modified cloud susceptibility parameter, termed the ‘‘contrast susceptibility,’’ for assessing the sensitivity of background cloud microphysics on potential track development. It is shown that the relative change in cloud reflectance for ship tracks is expected to be larger in the near-infrared than in the visible and that 3.7- mm channels, widely known to be useful for detecting tracks, have the greatest sensitivity. The usefulness of contrast susceptibility as a predictor of ship track contrast is tested with airborne and satellite remote sensing retrievals of background cloud parameters and track contrast. Retrievals are made with the high spatial resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator flown on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s high-altitude ER-2 aircraft, and with the larger-scale perspective of the advanced very high resolution radiometer. Observed modifications in cloud droplet effective radius, optical thickness, liquid water path, contrast susceptibility, and reflectance contrast are presented for several ship tracks formed in background clouds with both small and large droplet sizes. The remote sensing results are augmented with in situ measurements of cloud microphysics that provide data at the smaller spatial scales.

Sea Ice Extent and Classification Mapping with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator

An algorithm for mapping sea ice extent and generalized classification of sea ice by reflective and temperature characteristics with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Airborne Simulator (MAS) data is presented. The algorithm was tested using a MAS scene over the Bering Sea near St. Lawrence Island, Alaska, USA, acquired 8 April 1995. Clouds were masked with the University of Wisconsin cloud masking algorithm. Ice surface temperature was estimated with a split-window technique. Sea ice extent and generalized type of sea ice were identified based on reflective characteristics and estimated ice surface temperature using a grouped criteria technique. Resulting maps were consistent with visual interpretation and with sea ice extent and type information reported in prior studies of the region.