WLS filter for reducing atmospheric effects in spaceborne SAR tomography

A new approach was presented to eliminate the atmosphere-induced phase error utilizing only the single look complex(SLC) synthetic aperture radar(SAR) image set. This method exploited the space-invariance characteristic of phase error components contained in image pixels and estimates the phase error using the weighted least-squares(WLS) filter. Actually, this sort of method can be classified as autofocus algorithm which was generally applied in airborne SAR 2-D imaging to compensate the phase error introduced by airplane's nonideal motion. Real data processing, which is relevant to Honda center and Angel stadium of Anaheim test-sites and acquired by Envisat-ASAR during the period from June 2004 to October 2007, was carried out to evaluate this WLS estimation algorithm. Experimental results show that the phase error estimated from WLS filter is very accurate and the focusing quality along NSR dimension is improved prominently via phase correction, which verifies the practicability of this new method.

Quantitative study of atmospheric effects in spaceborne InSAR measurements

Atmospheric effects on interferometric synthetic aperture radar(InSAR) measurements are quantitatively studied based on a tandem pair of SAR data and a month-long continuous GPS tracking data obtained at six stations. Differential atmospheric signals extracted from the SAR data for two selected areas show apparent power law characteristics. The RMS values of the signals are 2.04 and 3.66 rad respectively for the two areas. These differential delays can potentially cause in the two areas peak-to-peak deformation errors of 3.64 and 6.52cm, respectively, at the 95% confidence level and Gaussian distribution. The respective potential peak-to-peak DEM errors are 123 and 221 m. The GPS tropospheric total zenith delays estimate indicates that a peak-to-peak error of about 7.8cm can potentially be caused in a SAR interferogram with only 1 d interval at the 95% confidence level. The error increases to about 9.6cm for 10 d interval. The potential peak-to-peak DEM and deformation errors estimated from GPS total zenith delay measurements are however quite similar to those estimated from InSAR data. This provides us with a useful tool to pre-estimate the potential atmospheric effects in a SAR interferogram before we order the SAR images. Nevertheless, the results reveal that even in a small area the atmospheric delays can obscure centimetre level ground displacements and introduce a few hundred meters of errors to derived DEM.

Analysis of atmospheric effects on the continuous variable quantum key distribution

Atmospheric effects have significant influence on the performance of a free-space optical continuous variable quantum key distribution(CVQKD)system.In this paper,we investigate how the transmittance,excess noise and interruption probability caused by atmospheric effects affect the secret-key rate(SKR)of the CVQKD.Three signal wavelengths,two weather conditions,two detection schemes,and two types of attacks are considered in our investigation.An expression aims at calculating the interruption probability is proposed based on the Kolmogorov spectrum model.The results show that a signal using long working wavelength can propagate much further than that of using short wavelength.Moreover,as the wavelength increases,the influence of interruption probability on the SKR becomes more significant,especially within a certain transmission distance.Therefore,interruption probability must be considered for CVQKD by using long-signal wavelengths.Furthermore,different detection schemes used by the receiver will result in different transmission distances when subjected to individual attacks and collective attacks,respectively.

Science and technology of atmospheric effects on optical engineering：Progress in 3rd quinquennium of 21st century

Brief introduction with remarks is given for recent work in optical properties of turbulent and turbid atmospheres and their effects on optical engineering. Emphasis about turbulence investigation is paid on spatial structure characteristics of optical turbulence,turbulence profiling with lidar technology, and turbulence prediction based on mesoscale atmospheric model. Discussion of turbid atmosphere study is focused on light scattering by non-spherical aerosol particles, high resolution atmospheric transmittance from solar radiation measurement, total sky imaging with high spectral resolution, and the modulation transfer function of a turbid medium. Key points about light propagation through turbulence include non-Kolmogorov turbulence effects, probability distribution models of scintillation, and combined beam propagation. Atmospheric effects on quantum communication are discussed, and statistical characteristics of atmospheric effects on optical engineering are introduced.

Formation and Variation of the Atmospheric Heat Source over the Tibetan Plateau and Its Climate Effects

To cherish the memory of the late Professor Duzheng YE on what would have been his 100 th birthday, and to celebrate his great accomplishment in opening a new era of Tibetan Plateau（TP） meteorology, this review paper provides an assessment of the atmospheric heat source（AHS） over the TP from different data resources, including observations from local meteorological stations, satellite remote sensing data, and various reanalysis datasets. The uncertainty and applicability of these heat source data are evaluated. Analysis regarding the formation of the AHS over the TP demonstrates that it is not only the cause of the atmospheric circulation, but is also a result of that circulation. Based on numerical experiments, the review further demonstrates that land–sea thermal contrast is only one part of the monsoon story. The thermal forcing of the Tibetan–Iranian Plateau plays a significant role in generating the Asian summer monsoon（ASM）, i.e., in addition to pumping water vapor from sea to land and from the lower to the upper troposphere, it also generates a subtropical monsoon–type meridional circulation subject to the angular momentum conservation, providing an ascending-air large-scale background for the development of the ASM.

Effects of Turbulent Dispersion of Atmospheric Balance Motions of Planetary Boundary Layer

New Reynolds' mean momentum equations including both turbulent viscosity and dispersion are used to analyze atmospheric balance motions of the planetary boundary layer. It is pointed out that turbulent dispersion with r 0 will increase depth of Ekman layer, reduce wind velocity in Ekman layer and produce a more satisfactory Ekman spiral lines fit the observed wind hodograph. The wind profile in the surface layer including tur-bulent dispersion is still logarithmic but the von Karman constant k is replaced by k1 = 1 -2/k, the wind increasesa little more rapidly with height.

The Role of Atmospheric Pressure, Temperature, and Humidity on Cosmic Ray Muons at a Low Latitude Station

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between atmospheric conditions and cosmic ray (CR) muons using daily and monthly CR data collected by the KAAU muon detector in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia between 2007 and 2012. Specifically, the study examined the effects of atmospheric pressure, air temperature, and relative humidity on CR muons at different time scales (annual, seasonal, and monthly). The results of the analysis revealed that atmospheric pressure and air temperature had a negative impact on CR muons, while relative humidity had a positive impact. Although air temperature and relative humidity had small mean values across all time scales, their coefficients varied significantly from month to month and season to season. In addition, the study conducted multivariable correlation analyses for each day, which showed that pressure coefficients had consistently negative mean values, while the temperature and humidity coefficients had varying effects, ranging from positive to negative values. The reasons for the variations in the coefficients are not yet fully understood, but the study proposed several possible terrestrial and extraterrestrial explanations. These findings provide important insights into the complex interactions between the Earth’s atmosphere and cosmic rays, which can contribute to a better understanding of the potential impacts of cosmic rays on the Earth’s climate and environment.

Quantitative Analysis of Seeing with Height and Time at Muztagh-Ata Site Based on ERA5 Database

Seeing is an important index to evaluate the quality of an astronomical site.To estimate seeing at the Muztagh-Ata site with height and time quantitatively,the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis database(ERA5)is used.Seeing calculated from ERA5 is compared consistently with the Differential Image Motion Monitor seeing at the height of 12 m.Results show that seeing decays exponentially with height at the Muztagh-Ata site.Seeing decays the fastest in fall in 2021 and most slowly with height in summer.The seeing condition is better in fall than in summer.The median value of seeing at 12 m is 0.89 arcsec,the maximum value is1.21 arcsec in August and the minimum is 0.66 arcsec in October.The median value of seeing at 12 m is 0.72arcsec in the nighttime and 1.08 arcsec in the daytime.Seeing is a combination of annual and about biannual variations with the same phase as temperature and wind speed indicating that seeing variation with time is influenced by temperature and wind speed.The Richardson number Ri is used to analyze the atmospheric stability and the variations of seeing are consistent with Ri between layers.These quantitative results can provide an important reference for a telescopic observation strategy.

Mid-infrared atmospheric transmittance at 5100 m-altitude Ali Observatory

Ali in Tibet,5100 m above sea level,is one of the most suitable locations in the world for infrared spectral observations.The atmospheric transmittances at Ali Observatory and Mauna Kea Observatory were calculated by MODTRAN using radiosonde data.The results were 0.848 and 0.789 respectively which indicated better conditions at Ali Observatory.A self-made instrument with a 320×256-pixel HgCdTe infrared focal plane array and a 7.5-cm diameter telescope was utilized for the actual measurements.Without the help of standard stars,the on-site and real-time atmospheric transmittance can be obtained as 0.831 by fitting the relation between the measured atmospheric radiation intensity and the zenith angle based on radiation transfer equations.This paper firstly reports the atmospheric transmittance in the M'band(4.605–4.755μm)at the 5100 m-altitude Ali observatory by actual measurement.It shows that the high-altitude Ali observatory with sufficiently low water vapor content is suitable for observation in the mid-infrared bands.

Simulation and fabrication of the atmospheric turbulence phase screen based on a fractal model

An atmospheric turbulence phase screen generated using a fractal method is introduced. It is etched onto fused silica and tested in the laboratory. The etched screen has relatively low cost, high resolution, and can be used in the broad waveband under severe temperature conditions. Our results are shown to agree well with the theory.

The estimate of sensitivity for large infrared telescopes based on measured sky brightness and atmospheric extinction

In order to evaluate the ground-based infrared telescope sensitivity affected by the noise from the atmosphere,instruments and detectors,we construct a sensitivity model that can calculate limiting magnitudes and signal-to-noise ratio(S/N).The model is tested with tentative measurements of M’-band sky brightness and atmospheric extinction obtained at the Ali and Daocheng sites.We find that the noise caused by an excellent scientific detector and instruments at-135℃can be ignored compared to the M’-band sky background noise.Thus,when S/N=3 and total exposure time is 1 second for 10 m telescopes,the magnitude limited by the atmosphere is 13.01^(m)at Ali and 12.96^(m)at Daocheng.Even under lessthan-ideal circumstances,i.e.,the readout noise of a deep cryogenic detector is less than 200 e-and the instruments are cooled to below-87.2℃,the above magnitudes decrease by 0.056^(m)at most.Therefore,according to observational requirements with a large telescope in a given infrared band,astronomers can use this sensitivity model as a tool for guiding site surveys,detector selection and instrumental thermal-control.

Differential measurement of atmospheric refraction using a telescope with double fields of view

For the sake of advancing theoretical research about atmospheric refrac- tion, the atmospheric refraction observed at lower angles of elevation is still worth analyzing and exploring. In some engineering applications, objects with a larger zenith distance must sometimes be observed. Carrying out observational research on atmospheric refraction at lower angles of elevation has an important significance. However, it has been considered difficult to measure the atmospheric refraction at lower angles of elevation. A new idea for determining atmospheric refraction by utilizing differential measurement with double fields of view is proposed. Taking the observational principle used by the HIPPARCOS satellite as a reference, a prototype with double fields of view was developed. In August 201 3, experimental observations were carried out and atmospheric refractions at lower angles of elevation were obtained by the prototype. The measured value of atmospheric refraction at a zenith distance of 78.8° was 240.23″±0.27″, and the feasibility of differential measurement of atmospheric refraction with double fields of view was verified. Limitations of the prototype, such as inadequate ability to gather light, lack of accurate meteorological data recording, and a low level of automation in observation and data processing, are pointed out, which need to be improved in subsequent work.

Electromagnetic effects on the orbital motion of a charged spacecraft

This paper deals with the effects of electromagnetic forces on the orbital motion of a spacecraft. The electrostatic charge which a spacecraft generates on its surface in the Earth＇s magnetic field will be subject to a perturbative Lorentz force. A model incorporating all Lorentz forces as a function of orbital elements has been developed on the basis of magnetic and electric fields. This Lorentz force can be used to modify or perturb the spacecraft＇s orbits. Lagrange＇s planetary equations in the Gauss variational form are derived using the Lorentz force as a perturbation to a Keplerian orbit. Our approach incorporates orbital inclination and the true anomaly. The numer- ical results of Lagrange＇s planetary equations for some operational satellites show that the perturbation in the orbital elements of the spacecraft is a second order perturba- tion for a certain value of charge. The effect of the Lorentz force due to its magnetic component is three times that of the Lorentz force due to its electric component. In addition, the numerical results confirm that the strong effects are due to the Lorentz force in a polar orbit, which is consistent with realistic physical phenomena that occur in polar orbits. The results confirm that the magnitude of the Lorentz force depends on the amount of charge. This means that we can use artificial charging to create a force to control the attitude and orbital motion of a spacecraft.

Image Field Deformation of LAMOST due to Differential Atmospheric Refraction

A vectorial expression of the image field deformation of LAMOST due to the differential atmospheric refraction is presented. The calculated results are compared with those from previous analyses based on the traditional spherical trigonometric formulas. It is demonstrated that different tangential displacements of star images during the observation tracking given by various authors are simply due to different reference points adopted. It is pointed out that the observational celestial pole is the center of the apparent diurnal motion, that, by referring to the observational celestial pole, the effect of the differential refraction on the image field of LAMOST during the 1.5-hour tracking period is approximately equivalent to a constant rotation of - 13.65″ for all declination belts. It is therefore unnecessary to design a particular tracking velocity for each observation, and this will be obviously advantageous to the observation implementation. If the maximum tracking error of the fibers is 0.2″, then the fibers are required to be able to re-position during observational tracking for sky regions south of declination ＋20° and north of declination ＋60°.

Synergistic Effect of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Pre-Treatment on Alkaline Etching of Polyethylene Terephthalate Fabrics and Films

Dyeing of PET materials by traditional methods presents several problems.Plasma technology has received enormous attention as a solution for the environmental problems related with textile surface modifications,and there has been a rapid development and commercialization of plasma technology over the past decade.In this work,the synergistic effect of atmospheric pressure plasma on alkaline etching and deep coloring of dyeing properties on polyethylene terephthalate（PET）fabrics and films was investigated.The topographical changes of the PET surface were investigated by atomic force microscopy（AFM）images,which revealed a smooth surface morphology of the untreated sample whereas a high surface roughness for the plasma and/or alkaline treated samples.The effects of atmospheric pressure plasma on alkaline etching of the structure and properties of PET were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）,the main objective of performing DSC was to investigate the effect of the plasma pre-treatment on the T_g and T_m.Using a tensile strength tester YG065 H and following a standard procedure the maximum force and elongation at maximum force of PET materials was investigated.Oxygen and argon plasma pre-treatment was found to increase the PET fabric weight loss rate.The color strength of PET fabrics was increased by various plasma pre-treatment times.The penetration of plasma and alkaline reactive species deep into the PET structure results in better dyeability and leaves a significant effect on the K/S values of the plasma pre-treated PET.It indicated that plasma pre-treatment has a great synergistic effect with the alkaline treatment of PET.

Atmospheric Pollution Control Effect of Key Cities in Inner Mongolia in 2014

APEC conference was held in Beijing during November 3- 12,2014. Hohhot City and Baotou City fall into the peripheral key air pollution control cities in the ＂ Beijing- Tianjin- Hebei＂ region. Inner Mongolia government adopted powerful pollution control measures in the period of the conference. According to pollutant concentration data and meteorological data etc. in the course of the event and the same period of last year,the atmospheric pollution variations and control effect were discussed in this study. The results showed that during October 1- 25,2014,there were 16 days with air pollution in Hohhot City and 15 days with air pollution in Baotou City,respectively increasing by 8% and 34% compared with the same period of 2013,and the concentration of particulate matter was also higher than that of last year. During October 22- 24,2014,Hohhot and Baotou cities were polluted persistently. The variation features of hourly concentration of main pollutants PM（10） and PM2. 5were similar to those in the same period of 2013. That is,the pollutant concentration reached the maximum from 21：00 to 23：00,and the minimum appeared from 15： 00 to 19： 00 in the next day. In the course of the event,the concentration of particulate matter in the two cities stared to reduce greatly on October 26. From October 26 to November 13,there were no days with air pollution in Hohhot City,decreasing by 100% compared with the same period of 2013; there were five days with air pollution in Baotou City,and the numbers of days with slight,moderate and severe pollution reduced by 37%,100% and67% respectively compared with the same period of last year. The persistent air pollution from October 22 to the first 10 days of November was related to unfavorable meteorological conditions,and the meteorological condition in the same period of 2014 was even worse. In the course of the event,the Inner Mongolia Government adopted air pollution control measures around October 25 and began to adopt some powerful pollution control measures on November 1. As a result,air pollution in key cities has been controlled effectively. This event showed that urban atmospheric pollution problem can be resolved,and we should take an optimistic attitude towards this matter.

Validation of Foreground Emission Model using GALEX Medium Observations

The study of diffuse ultraviolet(UV)background radiation is vital in the investigation of stellar and galactic evolution.Space-based UV observations are comprised of both foreground and background radiations.The foreground emission in an observation is a result of solar contamination in the direction of observation.In our previous work,we modeled airglow(one of the major constituents of the foreground emission)as a function of10.7 cm Solar Flux and Sun Angle with great accuracy using GALEX deep observations.We adopt a similar methodology to validate the obtained model and run equivalent experiments here using far-UV(FUV)and nearUV(NUV)GALEX medium imaging surveys(MIS)with a total exposure time greater than 3300 s.We obtained a predictive model having excellent compatibility with the earlier model.Our analysis shows that the total foreground emission varies between 59 and 295 photon units in FUV whereas in NUV,it varies between 671 and1195 photon units depending upon the date and time of observation.We also noticed a strong correlation between the background emission and optical depth both in FUV and NUV,especially in the low density regions.This clearly indicates that the major contributor in diffuse background radiation is the starlight scattered by interstellar dust grains.

The AIMS Site Survey

This paper reports site survey results for the Infrared System for the Accurate Measurement of Solar Magnetic Field, especially in Saishiteng Mountain, Qinghai, China. Since 2017, we have installed a weather station,spectrometers for precipitable water vapor, and Solar Differential Image Motion Monitor, and have carried out observations on weather elements, precipitable water vapor, and daytime seeing conditions for more than one year in almost all candidates. At Mt. Saishiteng, the median value of daytime precipitable water vapor is 5.25 mm and its median value in winter season is 2.1 mm. The median value of the Fried parameter of daytime seeing observation at Saishiteng Mountain is 3.42 cm. Its solar direct radiation data show that solar average observable time is 446 minutes per day and premium time is 401 minutes per day in 2019 August.

Astronomy from Dome A in Antarctica

Dome A in Antarctica has been demonstrated to be the best site on earth for optical,infrared,and terahertz astronomical observations by more and more evidence,such as excellent free-atmosphere seeing,extremely low perceptible water vapor,low sky background,and continuous dark time,etc.In this paper,we present a complete picture of the development of astronomy at Dome A from the very beginning,review recent progress in time-domain astronomy,demonstrate exciting results of the site testing,and address the challenges in instrumentation.Currently proposed projects are briefly discussed.

Wind Environment Analysis of Ground-based Optical Observatory

The telescopes and the infrastructures may alter the local wind environment around the observatory and further affect the observing environment.After the completion of site testing,it is necessary to analyze the wind environment of the entire site and plan the telescope layout to make use of the excellent conditions scientifically and rationally.Taking a typical observatory as an example,the effect of topographical features on the wind environment and the mutual interference between telescope enclosures are analyzed by using the Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD)method.The CFD simulations are compared with the seeing data from the Differential Image Motion Monitor,and the results are in good agreement,which verifies the effectiveness of the CFD method.The results of wind environment analysis can provide reasonable suggestions for site layout and construction,reducing the interference effects and improving the observing environment.