The First Global Map of Atmospheric Ammonia(NH_(3)) as Observed by the HIRAS/FY-3D Satellite

Atmospheric ammonia(NH_(3)) is a chemically active trace gas that plays an important role in the atmospheric environment and climate change. Satellite remote sensing is a powerful technique to monitor NH_(3) concentration based on the absorption lines of NH_(3) in the thermal infrared region. In this study, we establish a retrieval algorithm to derive the NH_(3)column from the Hyperspectral Infrared Atmospheric Sounder(HIRAS) onboard the Chinese Feng Yun(FY)-3D satellite and present the first atmospheric NH_(3) column global map observed by the HIRAS instrument. The HIRAS observations can well capture NH_(3) hotspots around the world, e.g., India, West Africa, and East China, where large NH_(3) emissions exist. The HIRAS NH_(3) columns are also compared to the space-based Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer(IASI)measurements, and we find that the two instruments observe a consistent NH_(3) global distribution, with correlation coefficient(R) values of 0.28–0.73. Finally, some remaining issues about the HIRAS NH_(3) retrieval are discussed.

FY-3E:The First Operational Meteorological Satellite Mission in an Early Morning Orbit

Fengyun-3 E(FY-3E),the world’s first early-morning-orbit meteorological satellite for civil use,was launched successfully at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 5 July 2021.The FY-3E satellite will fill the vacancy of the global early-morning-orbit satellite observation,working together with the FY-3C and FY-3D satellites to achieve the data coverage of early morning,morning,and afternoon orbits.The combination of these three satellites will provide global data coverage for numerical weather prediction(NWP)at 6-hour intervals,effectively improving the accuracy and time efficiency of global NWP,which is of great significance to perfect the global earth observing system.In this article,the background and meteorological requirements for the early-morning-orbit satellite are reviewed,and the specifications of the FY-3E satellite,as well as the characteristics of the onboard instrumentation for earth observations,are also introduced.In addition,the ground segment and the retrieved geophysical products are also presented.It is believed that the NWP communities will significantly benefit from an optimal temporal distribution of observations provided by the early morning,mid-morning,and afternoon satellite missions.Further benefits are expected in numerous applications such as the monitoring of severe weather/climate events,the development of improved sampling designs of the diurnal cycle for accurate climate data records,more efficient monitoring of air quality by thermal infrared remote sensing,and the quasicontinuous monitoring of the sun for space weather and climate.

FY-3 Meteorological Satellites and the Applications

FY-3 is the second generation polar-orbiting meteorological satellite of China. The first satellite named FY-3A of this series was launched on 27 May 2008. The first operational satellite named FY-3C of this series was launched on 23 September, 2013. The new generation satellites are to provide three-dimensional, quantitative, multi-spectral global remote sensing data under all weather conditions, which will greatly help the operational numerical weather prediction, global climate change research, climate diagnostics and prediction, and natural disaster monitoring. They will also provide help for many other fields such as agriculture, forestry, oceanography and hydrology. With the above-mentioned capability, the FY-3 satellites can make valuable contributions to improving weather forecasts, global natural-disaster and environmental monitoring.

FY-3A SATELLITE MICROWAVE DATA ASSIMILATION EXPERIMENTS IN TROPICAL CYCLONE FORECAST

China's new generation of polar-orbiting meteorological satellite FY-3A was successfully launched on May 26,2008,carrying microwave sounding devices which had similar performance to ATOVS of NOAA series.In order to study the application of microwave sounding data in numerical prediction of typhoons and to improve typhoon forecasting,we assimilated data directly for numerical forecasting of the track and intensity of the 2009 typhoon Morakot(0908)based on the WRF-3DVar system.Results showed that the initial fields of the numerical model due to direct assimilation of FY-3A microwave sounding data was improved much more than that due to assimilation of conventional observations alone,and the improvement was especially significant over the ocean,which is always without conventional observations.The model initial fields were more reasonable in reflecting the initial situation of typhoon circulation as well as temperature and humidity conditions,and typhoon central position at sea was also adjusted.Through direct 3DVar assimilation of FY-3A microwave data,the regional mesoscale model improves the forecasting of typhoon track.Therefore,the FY-3A microwave data could efficiently improve the numerical prediction of typhoons.

FY-3B Satellite Delivered to CMA

FY-3B was formally delivered to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) on May 26. The delivery ceremony was attended by China National Space Administration (CNSA),

LM-3A Successfully Launched the FY-2F Satellite

China successfully launched the meteorological satellite FY-2F into space at 8:56 a.m.on January 13 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.Developed and produced by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST),a subsidiary of the

Assimilation of Feng-Yun-3B Satellite Microwave Humidity Sounder Data over Land

The ECMWF has been assimilating Feng-Yun-3B （FY-3B） satellite microwave humidity sounder （MWHS） data over ocean in an operational forecasting system since 24 September 2014, It is more difficult, however, to assimilate microwave observations over land and sea ice than over the open ocean due to higher uncertainties in land surface temperature, surface emissivity and less effective cloud screening. We compare approaches in which the emissivity is retrieved dynamically from MWHS channel l [150 GHz （vertical polarization）] with the use of an evolving emissivity atlas from 89 GHz observations from the MWHS onboard NOAA and EUMETSAT satellites. The assimilation of the additional data over land improves the fit of short-range forecasts to other observations, notably ATMS （Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder） humidity channels, and the forecast impacts are mainly neutral to slightly positive over the first five days. The forecast impacts are better in boreal summer and the Southern Hemisphere. These results suggest that the techniques tested allow for effective assimilation of MWHS/FY-3B data over land.

Evaluation of the Long-term Performance of Microwave Radiation Imager Onboard Chinese Fengyun Satellites

Accurate brightness temperature(BT)is a top priority for retrievals of atmospheric and surface parameters.Microwave Radiation Imagers(MWRIs)on Chinese Fengyun-3(FY-3)serial polar-orbiting satellites have been providing abundant BT data since 2008.Much work has been done to evaluate short-term MWRI observations,but the long-term performance of MWRIs remains unclear.In this study,operational MWRI BTs from 2012–19 were carefully examined by using simultaneous Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2(AMSR2)BTs as the reference.The BT difference between MWRI/FY3B and AMSR2 during 2012–19 increased gradually over time.As compared with MWRI/FY3B BTs over land,those of MWRI/FY3D were much closer to those of AMSR2.The ascending and descending orbit difference for MWRI/FY3D is also much smaller than that for MWRI/FY3B.These results suggested the improvement of MWRI/FY3D over MWRI/FY3B.A substantial BT difference between AMSR2 and MWRI was found over water,especially at the vertical polarization channels.A similar BT difference was found over polar water based on the simultaneous conical overpassing(SCO)method.Radiative transfer model simulations suggested that the substantial BT differences at the vertical polarization channels of MWRI and AMSR2 over water were partly contributed by their difference in the incident angle;however,the underestimation of the operational MWRI BT over water remained a very important issue.Preliminary assessment of the operational and recalibrated MWRI BT demonstrated that MWRI BTs were substantially improved after the recalibration,including the obvious underestimation of the operational MWRI BT at the vertical polarization channels over water was corrected,and the time-dependent biases were reduced.

Growing Operational Use of FY-3 Data in the ECMWF System

This paper reviews the data quality and impact of observations from the FY-3 satellite series used operationally in the ECMWF system. This includes data from the passive microwave radiometers MWHS-1, MWHS-2 and MWRI, as well as observations from the radio occultation receiver GNOS. Evaluations against background equivalents show that the quality of the observations is broadly comparable to that of similar instruments on other polar-orbiting satellites, even though biases for the passive microwave observations can be somewhat larger and more complex for some channels. An observing system experiment shows that the FY-3 instruments jointly contribute significantly to the forecast skill in the ECMWF system. Positive impact of up to 2% is seen for most variables out to the day-2 forecasts over hemispheric scales, with significant benefits for total column water vapor or for temperature and wind in the stratosphere out to day 4.

Precipitation Detection and Retrieving Based on FY-3C MWHTS

The paper develops a passive sub-millimeter precipitation retrievals algorithm for Microwave Humidity and Temperature Sounder(MWHTS)onboard the Chinese Feng Yun 3C(FY-3C)satellite.The retrieval algorithm employs a number of neural network estimators trained and evaluated using the validated global reference physical model NCEP/WRF/ARTS,and works for seawater.NCEP data per 6 hours are downloaded to run the Weather Research and Forecast model WRF,and derive the typical precipitation data from the whole world.The Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator ARTS is feasible for performing simulations of atmospheric radiative transfer.Rain detection algorithm has been used to generate level 2 products.Retrievals are reliable for surface precipitation rate higher than 0.1 mm/h at 15km resolution,which is in good agreement with those retrieved using the Precipitation retrieval algorithm version 1(ATMP-1)for Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder(ATMS)aboard Suomi NPP satellite.

Evaluation and Preprocess of Chinese Fengyun-3A Sea Surface Temperature Experimental Product for Data Assimilation

Validated satellite-derived sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are widely used for climate monitoring and ocean data assimilation systems. In this study, the Fengyun-3A (FY-3A) SST experimental product is evaluated using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)-merged and in situ SSTs. A comparison of AVHRR-merged SSTs reveals a negative bias of more than 2K in FY-3A SSTs in most of the tropical Pacific and low-latitude Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The error variance of FY-3A SSTs is estimated using three-way error analysis. FY-3A SSTs show regional error variance in global oceans with a maximum error variance of 2.2 K in the Pacific Ocean. In addition, a significant seasonal variation of error variance is present in FY-3A SSTs, which indicates that the quality of FY-3A SST could be improved by adjusting the parameters in the SST retrieval algorithm and by applying regional and seasonal algorithms, particularly in key areas such as the tropical Pacific Ocean. An objective analysis method is used to merge FY-3A SSTs with the drifter buoy data. The errors of FY-3A SSTs are decreased to-0.45K comparing with SST observations from GTSPP.

Improvements on global meteorological observations from the current Fengyun 3 satellites and beyond

The Fengyun 3(FY-3)series is the second generation of Chinese sun-synchronous meteorological satellites.The first two,FY-3A and FY-3B,were launched successfully on 27 May 2008 and 5 November 2010,respectively.FY-3A and FY-3B share the same design,equipped with 11 payloads to observe the Earth system,but FY-3A is on a monitoring-orbit and FY-3B is on an afternoon-orbit.As a satellite constellation,FY-3A and FY-3B comprehensively improved meteorological observations in spectral wavelength,spatial coverage,and temporal frequency.This paper summarizes the improvements of the FY-3A and FY-3B satellites.New features,including optical imaging capacity from kilometer to hundred-meter resolution,passive microwave imaging,atmospheric temperature and moisture sounding,atmospheric chemistry remote sensing,and Earth radiation budget measurement,are presented with demonstrations of their use.Instruments scheduled for the FY-3C and beyond are introduced as well.

Comparative Analysis of Microwave Brightness Temperature Data in Northeast China Using AMSR-E and MWRI Products

With such significant advantages as all-day observation, penetrability and all-weather coverage, passive mi-crowave remote sensing technique has been widely applied in the research of global environmental change. As the sat-ellite-based passive microwave remote sensor, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing Sys-tem (AMSR-E) loaded on NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration of USA) Aqua satellite has been popularly used in the field of microwave observation. The Microwave Radiation Imager (MWRI) loaded on the Chi-nese FengYun-3A (FY-3A) satellite is an AMSR-E-like conical scanning microwave sensor, but there are few reports about MWRI data. This paper firstly proposed an optimal spatial position matching algorithm from rough to exact for the position matching between AMSR-E and MWRI data, then taking Northeast China as an example, comparatively analyzed the microwave brightness temperature data derived from AMSR-E and MWRI. The results show that when the antenna footprints of the two sensors are filled with either full water, or full land, or mixed land and water with ap-proximate proportion, the errors of brightness temperature between AMSR-E and MWRI are usually in the range from -10 K to +10 K. In general, the residual values of brightness temperature between the two microwave sensors with the same spatial resolution are in the range of ±3 K. Because the spatial resolution of AMSR-E is three times as high as that of MWRI, the results indicate that the quality of MWRI data is better. The research can provide useful information for the MWRI data application and microwave unmixing method in the future.

Evaluation of FY-3/VIRR Sea Surface Temperature Data for Climate Applications

We evaluated the sea surface temperature(SST)products derived from the visible infrared radiometer on board the Fengyun-3 satellites(FY-3/VIRR)during 2016-2018 from the perspective of climate applications.The data had previously been reprocessed by the National Satellite Meteorological Center of China Meteorological Administration based on an updated SST retrieval algorithm.The overall consistency between the FY-3/VIRR SST data and the optimum interpolation SST version 2.1(OIv2.1)was better for monthly means than for pentad means,and showed a clear dependence on the season and location.There was better consistency in winter than in summer,and in the tropical central-eastern Pacific than in the western Pacific warm pool,tropical North Indian Ocean,and tropical Atlantic Ocean.The monthly deviation of the global average SST anomaly was-0.03±0.07℃ and the average root-meansquare errors(RMSEs)presented clear seasonal fluctuations with a maximum of approximately 0.5℃ in summer.The poor consistency of the FY-3/VIRR SST in summer may be partially attributed to the bias of the OIv2.1 data in global oceans(especially the Indian Ocean)as a result of the spatially heterogeneous in situ measurements from ships,buoys,and Argo floats.Convective activities and clouds in the tropics may also influence the accuracy of the FY-3/VIRR SST retrievals.The Nino SST indices based on both FY-3/VIRR and OIv2.1 SST data displayed a generally similar evolution,including the start and end of El Nino and La Nina events and their amplitudes,although the deviations were slightly larger when the Pacific SST anomaly was in the neutral state of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation(ENSO).The deviations varied greatly with season in the tropical Indian and Atlantic oceans,suggesting the need to perform further analyses and validation of the FY-3/VIRR SST products in these two basins.

Variability of Sea Ice from 2008 to 2019 in the Bohai and Northern Huanghai Sea, China and the Relationship with Climatic Factors

Sea ice has important effect on the marine ecosystem and people living in the surrounding regions in winter.However,the understanding on changes of sea ice in the Bohai and northern Huanghai Sea(BNHS),China is still limited.Based on the images from Visible and InfraRed Radiometer(VIRR)onboard Chinese second generation polar-orbit meteorological series satellites FY-3A/B/C,the sea ice areas in the BNHS were extracted from December 2008 to March 2019,the spatio-temporal distribution charac-teristics of sea ice and the relationship between sea ice area and climatic factors were analyzed,then a preliminary sea ice forecast model based on the climatic factors was developed.The results showed that sea ice area in the BNHS in each December was relatively small and rather high sea ice occurrence probability appeared in the offshore areas in Liaodong Bay and northern Huanghai Sea.The sea ice area in January or February each year was the largest,and sea ice occurred in most of areas in Liaodong Bay and northern Huanghai Sea with rather high probability and in some areas in Bohai Bay and Laizhou Bay with relatively high probability.How-ever,the sea ice area in each March was the smallest,and sea ice was even melted completely occasionally,hence with relatively low occurrence probability in Liaodong Bay.As for the inter-annual variability of sea ice in the BNHS during the research period,the sea ice area was largest in winter 2010/11 and smallest in winter 2014/15,and annual sea ice area presented a decreasing trend.The at-mospheric temperature,western Pacific subtropical high(WPSH),Asia polar vortex(APV),Asian monsoon circulation(AMC)and Eurasian monsoon circulation(EMC)were very important climatic factors for sea ice formation and they had significant correlations with sea ice area.Therefore,a preliminary sea ice forecast model was constructed by using eight climatic factors including western Pacific subtropical high area index(WPSHAI),western Pacific subtropical high intensity index(WPSHII),western Pacific subtro-pical high northern boundary position index(WPSHNBPI),Asia polar vortex area index(APVAI),Asian zonal circulation index(AZCI),Asian meridional circulation index(AMCI),Eurasian zonal circulation index(EZCI)and mean minimum atmospheric tem-perature(MMAT).The model was confirmed to have a robust forecast effect by using F-test and validated sample data.The results are useful for monitoring sea ice with remote sensed data and forecasting sea ice conditions by climatic indices.

Study on Growth Monitoring and Yield Prediction of Winter Wheat in the South of Shanxi Province Based on MERSI Data and ALMANAC Crop Model

Accurate crop growth monitoring and yield forecasting have important implications for food security and agricultural macro-control. Crop simulation and satellite remote sensing have their own advantages, combining the two can improve the real-time mechanism and accuracy of agricultural monitoring and evaluation. The research is based on the MERSI data carried by China’s new generation Fengyun-3 meteorological satellite, combined with the US ALMANAC crop model, established the NDVI-LAI model and realized the acquisition of LAI data from point to surface. Because of the principle of the relationship between the morphological changes of LAI curve and the growth of crops, an index that can be used to determine the growth of crops is established to realize real-time, dynamic and wide-scale monitoring of winter wheat growth. At the same time, the index was used to select the different key growth stages of winter wheat for yield estimation. The results showed that the relative error of total yield during the filling period was low, nearly 5%. The research results show that the combination of domestic meteorological satellite Fengyun-3 and ALMANAC crop model for crop growth monitoring and yield estimation is feasible, and further expands the application range of domestic satellites.

太阳辐射监测仪观测角度变化的修正

研究了在卫星上太阳光扫过太阳辐射监测仪视场期间,太阳入射角的时间变化函数和在这种变角入射情况下辐射计接收腔的温度响应情况以及测量太阳辐照度的观测角变化修正问题。太阳辐射监测仪上的绝对辐射计是在腔上接收辐射功率发生微小变化的情况下,关闭快门进行电功率定标获得太阳辐射照度的,将腔接收辐射功率的这种微小变化作为角度修正因子对太阳辐照值进行了修正。风云三号卫星上两年来测得的2×104多组数据进行这种观测角变化修正后,获得的太阳常数值为1368±4 W/m2。其不确定度为0.3%,同世界气象组织推荐的公认值1367±7 W/m2及欧美国家至今在各类卫星上测量值相一致。

AC vector magnetometer for space-based applications using low-resource magneto-impedance sensor

This study proposes a novel AC vector magnetometer developed using a low-resource magneto-impedance sensor for China’s Feng-Yun meteorological satellite(FY-3E).It was calibrated and characterized to determine its performance parameters.The total weight of the AC vector magnetometer is 51 g(the aluminum box excluded),while the total power consumption is 310 m W.The proposed AC vector magnetometer can detect magnetic field variations in the range of±1000 nT and noise power spectral density of≤50 pT/Hz^(1/2)@1 Hz.Furthermore,the proposed device has a maximum nonlinearity of≤0.71‰over the entire range and a nonorthogonality error of 3.07 nT or 0.15%(root mean square).The total dose hardness of the sensor is≥30 krad(Si).Furthermore,we propose the first survey results of a magnetometer equipped aboard a Chinese FY-3E satellite in a Sunsynchronous orbit.The data revealed that the AC vector magnetometer can detect transient physical signals such as quasistatic field-aligned currents(~50 nT)and waves at the auroral latitudes.These features render the proposed AC vector magnetometer suitable for space-based applications,particularly those involving the study of geomagnetic activity.