Retrieval of crop variables with field-based X-band microwave remote sensing of ladyfinger

Modeling in agriculture has been widely used to retrieve and monitor various soil and crop growth variables. Remote sensing, especially radar sensors can be useful for temporal and spatial monitoring of the soil and plant variables. Therefore, in this paper field measurements of crop ladyfinger were carried out to examine the dependency of radar backscatter on crop–soil variables and to develop a method for monitoring and retrieving crop variables for ladyfinger. A crop-bed was prepared to observe scatterometer response in the angular range of incidence angle 20–70° at 9.89 GHz in the X-band for VV- and HH-polarization. At the same time, soil moisture, plant height, leaf area index and aboveground biomass were measured at various growth stages of crop ladyfinger. The angular variation of scattering coefficient decreases with the age of crop ladyfinger shows the dominance of crop effect on soil moisture effect at the older age. Thus, angular trends are more flat as the plant grows since the effects of soil is masked by developing vegetation. Scattering coefficient increases with the increase of leaf area index for both polarizations (i.e. VV- and HH-). It was found that leaf area index and aboveground biomass of crop ladyfinger are highly correlated with microwave frequency more than with plant height and soil moisture. Leaf area index and biomass of ladyfinger crop were retrieved by polarization based model and non-linear least square optimization model. These two models gave very good results for the retrieval of leaf area index and aboveground biomass.     

Forest biomass monitoring with GNSS-R: Theoretical simulations

GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) is a remote sensing technique which performs bistatic measurements of the earth surface scattering. This paper presents some theoretical simulations of the specular scattering coefficient of a forested area, with the aim of demonstrating the potentiality of GNSS-R in monitoring forest biomass. The study is performed by means of an electromagnetic model developed in the past years and tested over several vegetation covered sites in its active and passive version. Here, after showing a comparison between model results and measurements over a forest site in the monostatic configuration, and after summarizing other previous validations, the extension to the specular configuration, typical of GNSS-R systems, will be presented. Namely, simulations are carried out at circular polarization and a sensitivity analysis of the received power in the specular configuration to some soil and forest parameters is shown.     

Gravity wave propagation studies using the Indian MST radar observations

The Indian MST radar facility at Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E) has been utilised to study the propagation of gravity waves from the troposphere/lower stratosphere to the mesosphere and their interaction with the radar backscattered signal variations. The main objective is to correlate vertically propagating gravity waves derived from the tropospheric velocity fields with the dynamics of mesospheric scattering centres. The tropospheric wind velocities and signal strengths over the entire height range have been subjected to power spectral and wavelet analysis to determine the predominant wave periods/amplitudes and the coupling between the lower atmosphere and mesosphere. Results show that (a) the gravity waves are clearly detectable near tropopause heights, (b) while relatively higher period gravity waves (20–50 min) interact with mesospheric scattering centres, the lower period waves (<20 min) are absorbed in the troposphere itself, (c) the mesospheric scattering layers are affected by gravity waves of complementary periods.     

Soil moisture mapping over the Chinese Loess Plateau using ENVISAT/ASAR data

In this paper, we used the available algorithm for soil moisture estimation over LOPEX05 (the Loess Plateau land surface process Experiment (2005)) area. The available algorithm used ENVISAT/ASAR AP mode VV polarization observational data at a low incidence angle and ground measured soil moistures. The ground measurements were performed in the summer of the 2005 during the LOPEX05 field campaign. The validated results indicate that an average difference between the soil moistures estimated from the microwave remote sensing and ground measurements is less than 0.02 cm³/cm³, with a RMS error of 2.0%, and a maximum less than 0.04 cm³/cm³. The algorithm was applied to the surface soil moisture mapping later. The results show that this algorithm is suitable for monitoring soil moisture information of the agricultural fields over the Chinese Loess Plateau, when ground land cover situation and the resolution of imagery data are taken into account. However, we also find that there are large differences over the steep slope region, the edge of mesa. The results are not acceptable for surface soil moisture estimation in these regions. Thus, the surface soil moisture retrieval in the steep slope region of the Loess Plateau need to be further investigated in the future.     

Plasma and electromagnetic wave simulations of meteors

Every day billions of meteoroids impact and disintegrate in the Earth’s atmosphere. Current estimates for this global meteor flux vary from 2000 to 200,000 tons per year, and estimates for the average velocity range between 10 km/s and 70 km/s. The basic properties of this global meteor flux, such as the average mass, velocity, and chemical composition remain poorly constrained. We believe much of the mystery surrounding the basic parameters of the interplanetary meteor flux exists for the following reason, the unknown sampling characteristics of different radar meteor observation techniques, which are used to derive or constrain most models. We believe this arises due to poorly understood radio scattering characteristics of the meteor plasma, especially in light of recent work showing that plasma turbulence and instability greatly influences meteor trail properties at every stage of evolution. We present our results on meteor plasmas simulations of head echoes using particle in cell (PIC) ions, which show that electric fields strongly influence early stage meteor plasma evolution, by accelerating ions away from the meteoroid body. We also present the results of finite difference time domain electromagnetic simulations (FDTD), which can calculate the radar cross section of the simulated meteor plasmas. These simulations have shown that the radar cross section depends in a complex manner on a number of parameters. These include the angle between radar and meteor entry, a large dependence on radar frequency, which shows that for a given meteor plasma size and density, the reflectivity as a function of probing radar frequency varies, but typically peaks below 100 MHz.     

GNSS-Reflectometry: Forest canopies polarization scattering properties and modeling

Nowadays, GNSS-Reflectometry (GNSS-R) can be a new promising remote sensing tool in the ocean, snow/ice and land surfaces, e.g., vegetation biomass monitoring. Although GNSS-R provides a potentially special L-band multi-angular and multi-polarization measurement, the theoretical vegetation scattering properties and mechanisms for GNSS-R are not understood clearly. In this paper, the GNSS-R vegetation polarization scattering properties are studied and modeled at different incidence angles (specular direction). The bistatic scattering model Bi-mimics is employed, which is the first-order radiative transfer equation. As a kind of forest stand, the Aspen’s crown layer is composed of entire leaves, and its parameters in Mimics handbook are used as model input. The specular circular polarizations (co-polarization RR and cross-polarization LR) are simulated. For cross-polarization, the received polarization is assumed as a linear (horizontal and vertical) polarizations and ±45° linear polarizations. Therefore, the HR VR, +45R and −45R polarizations are simulated here. Contributions from different scattering components at RR, LR and VR polarization are also presented. For co-polarization, it is large in the whole specular angles (10–80°). The scattering trends of the other cross polarization (HR, LR, +45R and −45R) are a little similar when compared to the RR and RV. Therefore, the RHCP and V polarizations are more favorable to collect the reflected signals. The trunk heights and crown depths do not affect the scattering trends of RR, RV and RL, while the trunk height has some effect on the scattering amplitude of different polarizations. The azimuth angle has more effects on RR, RL and RV scattering, especially in lower than 50°. The observation angles and polarization combinations are extremely important for GNSS-R remote sensing.     

基于GNSS-R的裸土圆极化散射特性研究

GNSS-R是利用导航卫星的反射信号对地物参数进行遥感的新兴对地观测方式。针对其特有的圆极化散射方式,以双站散射的高级积分方程模型为工具,利用极化合成的方法将随机粗糙地表面圆极化散射模型转换为可以计算各种极化的微波散射模型。重点模拟分析了不同土壤水分含量下,裸土在不同观测几何时的圆极化散射特性。随机粗糙地表面圆极化散射模型的发展在某种程度上填补了GNSS-R领域机理模型的空缺,为后续土壤水分的进一步反演提供了机理工具。      

Antarctic meteor observations using the Davis MST and meteor radars

This paper presents the meteor observations obtained using two radars installed at Davis (68.6°S, 78.0°E), Antarctica. The Davis MST radar was installed primarily for observation of polar mesosphere summer echoes, with additional transmit and receive antennas installed to allow all-sky interferometric meteor radar observations. The Davis meteor radar performs dedicated all-sky interferometric meteor radar observations. The annual count rate variation for both radars peaks in mid-summer and minimizes in early Spring. The height distribution shows significant annual variation, with minimum (maximum) peak heights and maximum (minimum) height widths in early Spring (mid-summer). Although the meteor radar count rate and height distribution variations are consistent with a similar frequency meteor radar operating at Andenes (69.3°N), the peak heights show a much larger variation than at Andenes, while the count rate maximum-to-minimum ratios show a much smaller variation. Investigation of the effects of the temporal sampling parameters suggests that these differences are consistent with the different temporal sampling strategies used by the Davis and Andenes meteor radars. The new radiant mapping procedure of [Jones, J., Jones, W., Meteor radiant activity mapping using single-station radar observations, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 367(3), 1050–1056, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10025.x, 2006] is investigated. The technique is used to detect the Southern delta-Aquarid meteor shower, and a previously unknown weak shower. Meteoroid speeds obtained using the Fresnel transform are presented. The diurnal, annual, and height variation of meteoroid speeds are presented, with the results found to be consistent with those obtained using specular meteor radars. Meteoroid speed estimates for echoes identified as Southern delta-Aquarid and Sextantid meteor candidates show good agreement with the theoretical pre-atmospheric speeds of these showers (41 km s⁻¹ and 32 km s⁻¹, respectively). The meteoroid speeds estimated for these showers show decreasing speed with decreasing height, consistent with the effects of meteoroid deceleration. Finally, we illustrate how the new radiant mapping and meteoroid speed techniques can be combined for unambiguous meteor shower detection, and use these techniques to detect a previously unknown weak shower.     

进动锥体目标散射特性仿真及实验分析

目标微动及结构参数的获取有助于弹道目标的识别。准确获得进动锥体目标散射特性的时频分布(TFD)、一维距离像及二维逆合成孔径雷达(ISAR)像分布是获取锥体目标微动及结构参数的关键。分析了进动锥体在窄带及宽带条件下的目标散射特性,总结了锥体目标强散射源在时频分布、距离像序列和ISAR像序列中的理论表现形式,并分析了存在锥面镜面散射时锥体目标散射特性,构建了进动锥体目标电磁回波仿真方法及微波暗室动态测试系统,通过仿真及测试数据得到了典型条件下锥体目标的散射特性,对比表明仿真及测试结果均与本文散射特性理论分布相一致,说明了本文所提散射特性理论分布与散射特性分析方法的正确性,可为分析弹道目标散射特性研究提供参考。      

Comparison of the CHAMP radio occultation data with the Canadian advanced digital ionosonde in the Polar Regions

In this paper we present the results of the comparison of the retrieved electron density profiles of the Ionospheric Radio Occultation (IRO) experiment on board CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload), with the ground ionosonde profiles for the Polar Regions. IRO retrieved electron density profiles from CHAMP are compared with Canadian Advanced Digital Ionosonde (CADI) measurements at two vertical sounding stations well within the Polar Cap, Eureka (geog. 80°13′ N; 86°11′ W) and Resolute Bay (geog. 74°41′ N; 94°54′ W). We compared the ionospheric parameters such as the peak electron density of the F-layer (NmF₂) and the peak height of the F-layer (h_mF₂) for a 3-year period, 2004–2006. CHAMP derived NmF₂ shows reasonable agreement with the ionosonde retrieved NmF₂ for both the stations (0.76 and 0.71 correlation coefficient, for Eureka and Resolute Bay, respectively) whereas the h_mF₂ agreement is not that acceptable (0.25 and 0.37 correlation coefficient, respectively). The h_mF₂ from vertical sounding showed less spread than the CHAMP h_mF₂.     

材料粗糙度变化对卫星光谱红化效应的影响

在轨人造目标的地基观测光谱存在红化效应,影响对目标反射光谱的理解应用.目标在进入空间环境后外露材料表面粗糙度发生变化.本文结合材料的光谱散射特性、卫星轨道和观测条件,仿真分析了卫星表面材料粗糙度变化对红化效应的影响.基于文献中实验数据,设计不同粗糙度的卫星表面材料样本,模拟空间环境中材料表面粗糙度的变化.利用双向反射分布函数,建立不同粗糙度材料样本的光谱散射模型.理论模拟结果表明,材料表面粗糙度的变化会影响其光谱散射特性,散射光谱形态和散射分布取决于粗糙度及入射-反射几何关系.引入网格剖分和可见面片,利用材料双向反射分布函数,仿真计算卫星表面材料在不同粗糙度状态下,整个卫星在可见光波段的反射光谱信号.仿真结果表明,随着卫星表面材料粗糙度的增加,其反射光谱在600nm之后随波长增加而呈现上升趋势,这表明空间环境中外露材料表面粗糙度变化是卫星产生红化效应的原因之一.      

Soil moisture estimation by using multipolarization SAR image

In the past studies, different soil moisture estimation models were developed for bare soil areas by using remotely-sensed data. However, there are few models that can be used to estimate soil moisture in vegetated areas. Water Cloud Model (WCM) model is a widely used soil moisture estimation model has been developed for vegetated areas. In this study, the WCM model was extended to take soil roughness parameter into consideration. The modeling and its accuracy assessment were done by using multi-polarization Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) images and ground data collected during field Soil Moisture Experiments.     

Remote sensing using GNSS signals: Current status and future directions

The refracted, reflected and scattered signals of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have been successfully used to remotely sense the Earth’s surface and atmosphere. It has demonstrated its potential to sense the atmosphere and ionosphere, ocean, land surfaces (including soil moisture) and the cryosphere. These new measurements, although in need of refinement and further validation in many cases, can be used to complement existing techniques and sensors, e.g., radiosonde, ionosonde, radar altimetry and synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This paper presents the current status and new developments of remote sensing using GNSS signals as well as its future directions and applications. Some notable emerging applications include monitoring sea ice, dangerous sea states, ocean eddy and storm surges. With the further improvement of the next generation multi-frequency GNSS systems and receivers and new space-based instruments utilizing GNSS reflections and refractions, new scientific applications of GNSS are expected in various environment remote sensing fields in the near future.     

Studies of polar mesosphere summer echoes with the EISCAT VHF and UHF radars: Information contained in the spectral shape

The nature of PMSE in the VHF and UHF frequency range is considered taking into account the shape of corresponding Doppler spectra. Assuming a turbulence-based model of PMSE it is argued that for cases where a VHF radar detects strong PMSE, the UHF radar could either detect enhanced coherent scattering caused by the same physical process as in the VHF (i.e., turbulence with large charged ice particles), there could be incoherent scattering modified by the charged ice particles, or there could be a mixture of both. In order to distinguish these cases a simple but robust method is introduced to characterize the shape of the Doppler spectra derived from observations at both frequencies. Spectral shapes are quantified with one simple fitting parameter of a generalized fit to the autocorrelation function (=Fourier transform of the Doppler spectrum). This parameter takes a value of 1 for a Lorentzian spectrum indicative of pure incoherent scatter from the D-region, a value of 2 for coherent scatter owing to turbulence, and a value of less than 1 for incoherent scatter modified by the presence of charged aerosol particles. This method is applicable to observations at altitudes between ∼70 and ∼90 km. Simultaneous observations with the EISCAT VHF and UHF radar are presented in which all three cases mentioned above are identified. For the case of incoherent scatter modified by the presence of charged aerosol particles we quantify the radius of the involved ice particles to exceed ∼5 nm. Most importantly, however, for the case where the UHF-signal exceeded the incoherent scatter signal significantly, the spectrum revealed a clear Gaussian shape indicative of a coherent scattering process with identical spectral width as for the VHF-observations. This finding gives strong support that both echoes are created by the same turbulence-based mechanism and not by different mechanisms as speculated by several previous authors.     

基于宽窄带微多普勒信息的进动目标特征提取

微动特征是弹道目标识别的重要特征之一。针对锥体目标模型,提出了一种基于宽窄带相结合的混合体制雷达网的微动参数提取方法。首先,在详细分析锥体目标等效散射中心微多普勒变化规律的基础上,利用微多普勒和差比实现了不同体制雷达回波中散射中心的匹配关联。其次,构建宽窄带微多普勒信息联合方程组,提取出锥体目标的进动角、底面半径、锥体高度等参数,并进一步对目标参数估计精度随曲线参数提取误差变化的关系做了比较研究。最后,仿真结果表明,在曲线参数提取值存在一定误差时,目标参数估计精度仍然较高。      

目标表面对FMCW激光雷达拍频信号的影响分析

被测目标表面的粗糙度会影响调频连续波(FMCW, Frequency Modulated Continuous-Wave)相干激光雷达的拍频信号特性,进而影响雷达的测速测距精度.为衡量该影响以改善雷达的性能,通过对照射目标面的空间离散化,建立和分析了拍频信号的场强模型,并针对不同粗糙度的反射表面,进行了Monte Carlo模拟仿真及系统实验验证.仿真和实验结果表明:镜面目标反射面的倾斜将导致拍频信号交流分量强度的急剧衰减;而对于高斯型粗糙面目标,强度与粗糙面高度及波长的比值成负指数关系.实验结果与理论分析和模拟仿真结果一致,且系统的测距误差小于1 mm,静态速度稳定性优于0.1 mm/s.     

Solar wind low-energy energetic ion enhancements: A tool to forecast large geomagnetic storms

Predicting the occurrence of large geomagnetic storms more than an hour in advance is an important, yet difficult task. Energetic ion data show enhancements in flux that herald the approach of interplanetary shocks, usually for many hours before the shock arrival. We present a technique for predicting large geomagnetic storms (Kp  7) following the arrival of interplanetary shocks at 1 AU, using low-energy energetic ions (47–65 keV) and solar wind data measured at the L1 libration point. It is based on a study of the relationship between energetic ion enhancements (EIEs) and large geomagnetic storms by Smith et al. [Smith, Z., Murtagh, W., Smithtro, C. Relationship between solar wind low-energy energetic ion enhancements and large geomagnetic storms. J. Geophys. Res. 109, A01110, 2004. doi:10.1029/ 2003JA010044] using data in the rise and maximum of solar cycle 23 (February 1998–December 2000). An excellent correlation was found between storms with Kp  7 and the peak flux of large energetic ion enhancements that almost always (93% of time in our time period) accompany the arrival of interplanetary shocks at L1. However, as there are many more large EIEs than large geomagnetic storms, other characteristics were investigated to help determine which EIEs are likely to be followed by large storms. An additional parameter, the magnitude of the post-shock total magnetic field at the L1 Lagrangian point, is introduced here. This improves the identification of the EIEs that are likely to be followed by large storms. A forecasting technique is developed and tested on the time period of the original study (the training data set). The lead times, defined as the times from the arrival of the shock to the start of the 3-h interval of maximum Kp, are also presented. They range from minutes to more than a day; the average for large storms is 7 h. These times do not include the extra warning time given when the EI flux cross the high thresholds ahead of the shock. Because the data-stream used in the original study is no longer available, we extended the original study (1998–2000) to 2001, in order to: (a) investigate EIEs in 2001; (b) present a validation of the technique on an independent data set; (c) compare the results based on the original (P1) energy channel to those of the replacement (P1′) and (d), determine new EIE thresholds for forecasting geomagnetic storms using P1′ data. The verification of this P1′ training data set is also presented, together with lead times.     

Prognoz-6 data about ultraviolet sky background in dark and Milky Way regions of the sky

Ultraviolet spectra (1100–1900 Å) of the sky background of 10 wide angle (6°×6°) regions obtained between 70 000 km and 200 000 km from the Earth with the photoelectric spectrometer “GALACTIKA” on board the satellite “PROGNOZ-6” are considered. The spectral energy distribution of the sky background, after subtraction of the stellar component, is similar for regions on both sides of the Milky Way and exhibits a strong U.V. light contribution. On the contrary, the Milky Way (l_II=190° b_II=+6°) is less rich in far U.V. light; this can be related to the predominance of an expected selective absorption near the galactic plane. The nature of U.V. excess at high galactic latitudes needs further investigations.     

基于双基雷达原理的GNSS海面反射信号建模方法

全球导航卫星系统反射(GNSS-R)技术应用过程中接收机的测试验证需要反射信号产生源,以降低成本。信号的模型是GNSS-R信号产生源中的核心。针对缺乏相应模型的问题,提出了一种根据双基雷达原理建立GNSS海面反射信号模型的方法。首先,在分析GNSS海面反射信号特征的基础上,选取了恰当的海面反射点。然后,计算了雷达方程中的散射系数和散射面积,从而得到相应反射点的反射信号功率。最后,对所求得的反射信号参数进行仿真验证。验证的结果表明,反射信号的相关功率曲线与ZV模型理论曲线的相关系数优于0.98,能够有效地用于GNSS海面反射信号的生成。因此,该方法可为GNSS-R信号产生源的研制提供一定的理论支撑。