Errors in the remotely sensed ocean reflectance

An approximate method has been described to determine optical properties of the ocean surface from the reflected short-wave radiance at the top of the atmosphere. The non-scattered and singly scattered components of the radiation field have been taken into account exactly, the multiply scattered components - approximately. The calculations for a real atmospheric model have been compared with the results of an exact method for solving the radiation transfer equation.On the basis of the elaborated algorithm the sensitivity of the value of the remotely sensed spectral albedo of the ocean to the variations in optical thickness, single scattering albedo and aerosol phase function has been described as well as the influence of vertical inhomogeneity of the atmosphere.     

Satellite measurements of tropospheric aerosols

The ability to measure tropospheric aerosols over ocean surfaces has been demonstrated using several different satellite sensors. Landsat data originally showed that a linear relationship exists between the upwelling visible radiance and the aerosol optical thickness (about 90% of this thickness is generally in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere). Similar relationships have also been found for sensors on GOES, NOAA-5 and NOAA-6 satellites. The linear relationship has been shown theoretically to vary with the aerosol properties, such as size distribution and refractive index, although the Landsat data obtained at San Diego showed little variability in the relationship. To investigate the general applicability of the technique to different locations, a global-scale ground-truth experiment was conducted in 1980 with the AVHRR sensor on NOAA-6 to determine the relationship at ten ocean sites around the globe. The data for four sites have been analyzed, and show excellent agreement between the aerosol content measured by the AVHRR and by sunphotometers at San Diego, Sable Island and San Juan, but at Barbados, the AVHRR appears to overestimate the aerosol content. The reason for the different relationship at the Barbados site has not been definitely established, but is most likely related to problems in interpreting the sunphotometer data rather than to a real overestimation by the AVHRR. A preliminary analysis of AVHRR Channel 1 (0.65 μm) and Channel 2 (0.85 μm) radiances suggest that useful information on the aerosol size distribution may also be obtained from satellite observations.     

Aerosol observations for climate studies

The SAM II and SAGE satellite systems have provided to date more than 5 years and almost 3 years, respectively, of data on atmospheric aerosol profiles on a near-global scale. Studies with these unique data sets are developing a global aerosol climatology for the first time and have shown the existence and quantification of polar stratospheric clouds (PSC's) and tropical stratospheric cirrus. In addition, a tropospheric cirrus climatology is evolving. Since these two experiments were launched, a series of large volcanic eruptions have occurred which have greatly impacted the stratospheric aerosol loading. The aerosol layer produced by the eruption of El Chichon, for example, increased the 30 mb temperatures in the northern tropics by as much as 4°C for 6 months after the eruption. This paper will describe in detail, from a climate perspective, the evolving aerosol and cloud climatologies as a function of space and time, and show the stratospheric dynamics of volcanic injections and their enhancements on stratospheric optical depth and mass loading.     

Image restoration of the asymmetric point spread function of a high-resolution remote sensing satellite with time-delayed integration

The calibration and validation team of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has calibrated and validated the image data of the KOMPSAT-2 since the launch of KOMPSAT-2 on July 28, 2006. The asymmetric phenomenon of the point spread function of the KOMPSAT-2 image data is evident in both the along and the across direction, most likely because KOMPSAT-2 has a 1 m ground sample distance high-resolution camera with time-delayed integration. Furthermore, because KOMPSAT-2 is in space, the KOMPSAT-2 image data has been corrected with good results by means of modulation transfer function compensation.     

The temporal variation of mean gravity of atmosphere

One of the precise widely used global Zenith Hydrostatic Delay (ZHD) model is based on the gravity value at the centroid of the atmospheric column at the station of observation and gravity value at the centroid is constant in this model for a specific location throughout the year. However, as the content and extent of atmosphere varies temporally, its centroid and consequently gravity value at the centroid also varies. Apart from this, the actual atmospheric condition of different region is not alike. Therefore, there is a need to develop a regional mean gravity model and development of such model has been discussed in this paper. To obtain the mean gravity model, first a regional model of centroid height of atmospheric column was developed as a function of the surface pressure and temperature. It was developed by multiple regressions between estimated centroid of the atmosphere and surface pressure, surface temperature using radiosonde data of five radiosonde stations spread over the Indian subcontinent. Three years radiosonde data from 2006 to 2008 was used for each station. The root mean square error in estimating centroid of the atmospheric column is about ±326 m, which is negligible considering the variability of the atmosphere and its content. The centroid height model has been used to formulate the mean gravity model, considering uniform lapse rate in gravity with height. It is found that proposed mean gravity model provides temporal variation of mean gravity values at the centroid and thus matches with the reality. The interesting advantage of the developed model is that the model shows diurnal variation of mean gravity. The accuracy of ZHD has shown of the order of about 0.3 mm using the developed regional mean gravity model. However, already developed ZHD model has shown a slight inferior result compared to the developed model. These models have shown accuracy of about 0.8 mm and 0.6 mm.     

A comparison of atmospheric aerosol measurements by various satellite sensors

Investigations to measure the vertical optical thickness of aerosols over ocean surfaces has been conducted using several different satellite sensors. Landsat 1 and Landsat 2 data originally confirmed that a linear relationship exists between the upwelling visible radiance and the aerosol optical thickness (about 90% of this thickness is generally in the lowest 3 km of the atmosphere). Similar relationships have also been found for sensors on GOES-1, SMS-2, NOAA-5, and NOAA-6 satellites. The linear relationship has been shown theoretically to vary with the aerosol properties, such as size distribution and refractive index, although the Landsat data obtained at San Diego showed little variability in the relationship. The differences between the results found for the various satellite sensors are discussed, and are attributed mainly to uncertainties in the calibration of the sensors. To investigate the general applicability of the technique to different locations, a global-scale ground truth experiment was conducted with the AVHRR sensor on NOAA-6 to determine the relationship at eleven ocean sites around the globe. Analysis of the data shows good agreement between the satellite and ground truth values of the aerosol optical thickness, and indicates that the technique has global application. At two of the sites, multispectral radiometric measurements of the Junge aerosol size distribution parameter were made, and showed good agreement with a value inferred from the AVHRR Channels 1 and 2 radiances.     

Regional gravity field model in Pakistan area from the combination of CHAMP,GRACE and ground data using least squares collocation: A case study

This study describes a methodology of recovery of the Earth’s gravity field from CHAMP and GRACE satellites data in Pakistan using least squares collocation (LSC) based downward continuation technique. The CHAMP height anomalies and GRACE gravity disturbances derived from the observed satellite data have been used in combination solution using LSC with observed gravity values at the Earth surface. The combined covariance functions of height anomalies and/or gravity disturbances at satellite altitudes and observed gravity anomalies at Earth surface have been used as the basis for combination and downward continuation solution. The variance of predicted gravity anomalies from GRACE gravity disturbances is relatively lower than the corresponding results of gravity anomalies from CHAMP height anomalies. This fact may be attributed partly to the amplification of noise and partly to the unstable inverse transformation process of height anomalies to gravity anomalies. The impact of data error variance has been studied in the context of smoothing and noise reduction in the final solution of downward continuation using least squares collocation. The raising of data error suppresses the noise and as a result a smooth final solution is obtained. The prediction results appear to be dependent on the quality of data and goodness of combined covariance function, which are fairly comparable for the CHAMP and GRACE data. The recovered gravity field from satellite data appears to contribute mainly to medium and long wavelength parts of total gravity field spectrum. Due to flexibility of data handling in least squares collocation, this procedure is applicable to any observable of gravity field being at different altitudes and with different data spacing.     

Retrieval of aerosol optical characteristics from polarization measurements of reflected solar radiation above the oceans

The reflected near infrared solar radiation observed from space above the oceans is due mainly to the atmosphere scattering, as the ocean surface is nearly black. The molecular Rayleigh contribution is also minimized at infrared wavelengths and it can be evaluated. It is shown that the degree of polarization is much more sensitive to the aerosol properties than the radiance. Measurements of polarization at two wavelengths and with an angular scanning are simulated and an inversion algorithm is proposed. It aims at finding an “equivalent aerosol model,” which reproduces the optical thickness and the asymmetry factor of the actual aerosol at all wavelengths in the solar spectrum.     

The effect of aerosols on climate and aerosol climatology on the basis of observations from space

Principal aspects of the effect of aerosols on climate are discussed and the possibilities of obtaining a climatic data set of global aerosols are analyzed. Based on the analysis of space images, new data have been obtained on gigantic dust outbreaks in various regions of the Earth. It has been shown that dust outbreaks can propagate over hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers. The western Sahara - Atlantic Ocean is the major region of propagation of these outbreaks. The continent-to-continent trajectories of dust clouds have been discovered (from Africa to the coast of America, from Central Asia to the Pacific Ocean). Maps of the sources of strong dust transformations have been studied and drawn. In particular, an anthropogenic dust source has been found out on the northeastern coast of the Aral Sea. A striped mesostructure of dust formations has been analyzed, determined by both the inhomogeneous surface and peculiarities of the eddy dust transport. The techniques have been discussed in detail for retrieving the parameters of aerosol size distribution and the vertical profiles of the coefficients of aerosol extinction in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere from the data on the brightness of the twilight and daytime horizon as well as occultation measurements of solar radiation attenuation by the atmosphere.The difficulty of reliably predicting possible environmental changes arises both from the problems of estimating complex interactions of numerous processes and from a lack of information concerning various environmental parameters. For example, an important factor in present day climatic changes is the increased dust content of the atmosphere due to man's activities. However, a reliable estimate of this influence is found to be impossible due to the absence of definitive data on the global distribution of atmospheric dust and the properties of dust in various parts of the world [4,5,13–15]. The impact of aerosols on climate has been discussed in detail in a number of monographs [12–15].Observations from space have opened up new possibilities for studying atmospheric dust. For this purpose, both the imagery and spectrometry of the Earth's atmosphere from space are used. Rather attractive are the prospects for laser sounding [1].     

SJ-10卫星固体材料燃烧实验装置

为对微重力条件下固体材料着火和火焰传播特性进行研究,研制了实践十号（SJ-10）卫星固体材料燃烧实验装置.利用空间高真空条件,采用实验段内气体环境更新和控制技术,实现了在有限实验空间内对多个实验样品进行研究,并提供准确可控的实验环境条件（氧气浓度和气流速度）.通过地面试验验证,该装置可通过实验样品、氧气浓度、气流速度、点火方式等实验参数的灵活组合,实现空间实验机会的充分利用和预定科学目标.     

Direct radiative forcing from black carbon aerosols over urban environment

There is growing evidence that the earth’s climate is changing and will likely continue to change in the future. It is still debated whether these changes are due to natural variability of the climate system or a result of increases in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Black carbon (BC) has become the subject of interest for a variety of reasons. BC aerosol may cause environmental as well as harmful health effects in densely inhabited regions. BC is a strong absorber of radiation in the visible and near-infrared part of the spectrum, where most of the solar energy is distributed. Black carbon is emitted into the atmosphere as a byproduct of all combustion processes, viz., vegetation burning, industrial effluents and motor vehicle exhausts, etc. In this paper, we present results from our measurements on black carbon aerosols, total aerosol mass concentration and aerosol optical depth over an urban environment namely Hyderabad during January to May, 2003. Diurnal variations of BC indicate high BC concentrations during 6:00–9:00 and 19:00–23:00 h. Weekday variations of BC concentrations increase gradually from Monday to Wednesday and gradually decrease from Thursday to Sunday. Analysis of traffic density along with meteorological parameters suggests that the primary determinant for BC concentration levels and patterns is traffic density. Seasonal variations of BC suggest that the BC concentrations are high during dry season compared to rainy season due to the scavenging by air. The fraction of BC to total mass concentration has been observed to be 7% during January to May. BC showed positive correlation with total mass concentration and aerosol optical depth at 500 nm. Radiative transfer calculations suggests that during January to May, diurnal averaged aerosol forcing at the surface is −33 Wm² and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) above 100 km it is observed to be +9 Wm⁻². The results have been discussed in detail in the paper.     

The spatio-spectral localization approach to modeling VTEC over the western part of the USA using GPS observations

The precise ionosphere modeling is crucial and remains a challenge for GPS positioning and navigation, as well as many other Earth observation systems. In this research, two approaches have been proposed to model the vertical total electron content (VTEC) of the ionosphere using spherical slepian function. For the two-dimensional case, VTEC has been modeled in a sun-fixed reference frame and the three-dimensional approach based on the system of the three-dimensional base functions has been defined as the tensor product of the spherical slepian function for the longitude and latitude in an Earth-fixed reference frame, and the polynomial B-spline function for time. Rather than the spherical harmonics, the spherical slepian functions can be employed to produce the locally and globally orthogonal bases to optimally represent the data in any arbitrary region up to a given degree. The spherical slepian functions have been applied to the real data obtained from the ground-based GPS observation across the western part of the USA.     

Spectral and temporal characteristics of aerosol optical depth over a wet tropical location in North East India

A network of multi wavelength solar radiometer (MWR) stations has been in operation since the 1980s in India for measurement of aerosol optical depth (AOD). This network was augmented recently with the addition of a large number of stations located across the length and breath of India covering a variety of climate regimes. The spectral and temporal variations of aerosol optical depths observed over Dibrugarh located in the North East of India (27.3°N, 94.5°E) are investigated by analyzing the data obtained from a MWR during October 2001–September 2003 using the Langley technique. AOD varies with time of the day, month of the year and season. From January to April and October to December, aerosol optical depth decreases with wavelength whereas during May–September aerosol optical depth has been found to be nearly independent of wavelengths. AOD is higher during pre-monsoon season (March–May) and lower in the monsoon (June–September) season at about all wavelengths. The temporal variation of AOD over Dibrugarh have also been compared with those reported from selected locations in India.     

基于逆多项式轨迹成形法的小推力轨道设计

轨迹成形法是一种基于反向设计思想的轨道设计方法,它假设待研究的轨道呈现某一形状,利用数学曲线进行逼近从而得到设计结果.逆多项式轨迹成形法为小推力地球转移轨道设计和数值求解最优轨迹过程中初值的选取提供了新的研究思路.首先结合轨道动力学方程和逆多项式曲线模型给出了轨迹成形法的设计过程,并在考虑时间约束的情况下对小推力转移轨道进行设计.仿真结果表明逆多项式轨迹成形法适宜于小推力转移轨道设计,并且其设计结果是一组近优解,可以作为求取精确最优轨迹的初值猜测.     

Remote sensing of aerosol and radiation from geostationary satellites

The paper presents a high-level overview of current and future remote sensing of aerosol and shortwave radiation budget carried out at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from the US Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series. The retrievals from the current GOES imagers are based on physical principles. Aerosol and radiation are estimated in separate processing from the comparison of satellite-observed reflectances derived from a single visible channel with those calculated from detailed radiative transfer. The radiative transfer calculation accounts for multiple scattering by molecules, aerosol and cloud and absorption by the major atmospheric gases. The retrievals are performed operationally every 30 min for aerosol and every hour for radiation for pixel sizes of 4-km (aerosol) and 15- to 50-km (radiation). Both retrievals estimate the surface reflectance as a byproduct from the time composite of clear visible reflectances assuming fixed values of the aerosol optical depth. With the launch of GOES-R NOAA will begin a new era of geostationary remote sensing. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard GOES-R will offer capabilities for aerosol remote sensing similar to those currently provided by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flown on the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites. The ABI aerosol algorithm currently under development uses a multi-channel approach to estimate the aerosol optical depth and aerosol model simultaneously, both over water and land. Its design is strongly inspired by the MODIS aerosol algorithm. The ABI shortwave radiation budget algorithm is based on the successful GOES Surface and Insolation Product system of NOAA and the NASA Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), Surface and Atmospheric Radiation Budget (SARB) algorithm. In all phases of the development, the algorithms are tested with proxy data generated from existing satellite observations and forward simulations. Final assessment of the performance will be made after the launch of GOES-R scheduled in 2012.     

A method for estimating cross radiance

When imaging the surface from satellites or aircraft, “cross radiance” diminishes the information content of the pictures. In this paper a simple method is presented to estimate the value of cross radiance. This method includes a height-dependent aerosol size distribution model and the calculations refer to the single scattering approximation. The height variation of aerosol size distribution has significant effect on the value of cross radiance, while the areal distribution does not change much in comparison with that of the height-independent aerosol model.     

基于改进加权响应面的结构可靠度计算方法

在结构可靠度分析中,响应面法由于具有良好的适用性和可操作性,是目前广泛使用的基于代理模型的分析方法。针对响应面法的计算效率和精度难以平衡兼顾等难点问题,提出一种基于改进加权响应面的结构可靠度计算方法。首先,在迭代过程中,同时考虑样本点与验算点距离、极限状态函数值、联合概率密度函数值3个权重因子对样本点进行赋权,采用加权回归并重复利用已有样本点更新不含交叉项的二次多项式响应面函数。其次,在迭代收敛后,选取已有样本点中权重较大的样本点加权拟合含有交叉项的二次多项式响应面函数。最后,结合数值算例和工程案例,通过与传统抽样方法和其他响应面法进行对比,验证了改进加权响应面法的可行性。结果表明所提方法具有较高效率的同时也保证了精度。      

一种修正的马氏距离判别法

马氏距离判别法是一种基于马氏距离的多元统计分析方法,其引入了协方差矩阵的逆矩阵,以排除属性变量的量纲及变量之间的相关性对距离度量的干扰。然而,在属性变量存在严重的多重共线性时,样本协方差矩阵的奇异性会影响其逆矩阵估计的稳定性,从而降低马氏距离判别法的有效性。为此,提出了一种修正的马氏距离判别法,采用了一般交叉验证(GCV)方法,在属性变量间存在高度相关性的情况下,选择预测效果最好的变量维度,同时可以对协方差矩阵的逆矩阵进行稳定的估计。修正的马氏距离判别法可以得到可靠的协方差矩阵的估计,提高模型的判别准确率;也可以抵抗样本外的扰动,提高模型的泛化能力。仿真实验结果验证了在属性变量存在严重的多重共线性情形下,修正的马氏距离判别法的判别效果较经典的马氏距离判别法有明显的提升。      

GALILEO接收机中BOC(1,1)信号的捕获

BOC(1,1)(Binary-Offset-Carrier)信号相关函数中的零值会使接收机判定没有捕获到信号.为了完全捕获到BOC(1,1)信号,从副载波相位和码相位角度出发,提出了一种3路并行捕获方法.通过数字仿真得到了BOC(1,1)和扩频码的相关函数图,比较了二者相关函数的峰值.推导了BOC(1,1)相关函数的解析式,给出了相关函数中的零点位置和峰值位置,比较了BOC(1,1)和扩频码的相关函数数值及捕获.3路本地BOC信号以其中一路相位为基准,另外2路相位分别超前、滞后该路.给出了3路本地信号的生成方法及捕获的结构框图.仿真结果表明,捕获码相位差在半个码片内时,BOC(1,1)信号的捕获率从33.3%提高到100％,码相位捕获范围从1/6码片增大到1/2码片.该方法可为跟踪环路提供相位信息,适用于BOC(n,n)信号的捕获.