Sunglint Impact on Atmospheric Soundings from Hyperspectral Resolution Infrared Radiances

The mid-wave infrared band （3-5 #rn） has been widely used for atmospheric soundings. The sunglint impact on the atmospheric parameter retrieval using this band has been neglected because the reflected radiances in this band are significantly less than those in the visible band. In this study, an investigation of sunglint impact on the atmospheric soundings was conducted with Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder ob- servation data from 1 July to 7 July 2007 over the Atlantic Ocean. The impact of sunglint can lead to a brightness temperature increase of 1.0 K for the surface sensitive sounding channels near 4.58 #m. This contamination can indirectly cause a positive bias of 4 g kg-1 in the water vapor retrieval near the ocean surface, and it can be corrected by simply excluding those contaminated channels.

RETRIEVING ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDING PROFILES AROUND TYPHOON YUNNA USING INFRARED HYPERSPECTRAL MEASUREMENTS AIRS

In this study,we derived atmospheric profiles of temperature,moisture,and ozone,along with surface emissivity,skin temperature,and surface pressure,from infrared-sounder radiances under clear sky (cloudless) condition.Clouds were detected objectively using the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder under a relatively low spatial resolution and cloud-mask information from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer under a high horizontal resolution;this detection was conducted using space matching.Newton’s nonlinear physical iterative solution technique is applied to the radiative transfer equation (RTE) to retrieve temperature profiles,relative humidity profiles,and surface variables simultaneously.This technique is carried out by using the results of an eigenvector regression retrieval as the background profile and using corresponding iterative forms for the weighting functions of temperature and water-vapor mixing ratio.The iterative forms are obtained by applying the variational principle to the RTE.We also compared the retrievals obtained with different types of observations.The results show that the retrieved atmospheric sounding profile has great superiority over other observations by accuracy and resolution.Retrieved profiles can be used to improve the initial conditions of numerical models and used in areas where conventional observations are sparse,such as plateaus,deserts,and seas.

Use of Total Precipitable Water Classification of A Priori Error and Quality Control in Atmospheric Temperature and Water Vapor Sounding Retrieval

This study investigates the use of dynamic a priori error information according to atmospheric moistness and the use of quality controls in temperature and water vapor profile retrievals from hyperspectral infrared （IR） sounders. Temperature and water vapor profiles are retrieved from Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder （AIRS） radiance measurements by applying a physical iterative method using regression retrieval as the first guess. Based on the dependency of first-guess errors on the degree of atmospheric moistness, the a priori first-guess errors classified by total precipitable water （TPW） are applied in the AIRS physical retrieval procedure. Compared to the retrieval results from a fixed a priori error, boundary layer moisture retrievals appear to be improved via TPW classification of a priori first-guess errors. Six quality control （QC） tests, which check non-converged or bad retrievals, large residuals, high terrain and desert areas, and large temperature and moisture deviations from the first guess regression retrieval, are also applied in the AIRS physical retrievals. Significantly large errors are found for the retrievals rejected by these six QCs, and the retrieval errors are substantially reduced via QC over land, which suggest the usefulness and high impact of the QCs, especially over land. In conclusion, the use of dynamic a priori error information according to atmospheric moistness, and the use of appropriate QCs dealing with the geographical information and the deviation from the first-guess as well as the conventional inverse performance are suggested to improve temperature and moisture retrievals and their applications.

Research on vertical spatial characteristic of satellite infrared hyperspectral atmospheric sounding data

Spatial characteristic is an important indicator of remote sensor performance,and space-borne infrared hyperspectral sounder is the frontier of atmospheric vertical sounding technology.In this paper,the formation mechanism of the vertical spatial characteristics involved in the space-borne infrared hyperspectral sounding data are analyzed in detail,which shows that the vertical spatial characteristics of sounding data depends not only on the spectral channels and their waveband coverage,but also the specific atmospheric parameter and its specific variation interested.The indicators of vertical spatial characteristics are defined and their mathematical models are established based on the mechanism analyses.These models are applied to the vertical spatial characteristic evaluation of atmospheric temperature sounding for FY-4A GIIRS,which is the first space-borne infrared hyperspectral atmospheric sounder in geostationary orbit.It is concluded that FY-4A GIIRS can sound the vertical temperature distribution in whole troposphere and lower stratosphere with height<35 km.This study can provide basic information to support the improvement of infrared hyperspectral sounder and the trace of vertical spatial characteristics of atmospheric inversion products.

A Miniature Robotic Plane Meteorological Sounding System

This article presents a miniature robotic plane meteorological sounding system (RPMSS), which consists of three major subsystems: a miniature robotic plane, an air-borne meteorological sounding and ?ight control system, and a ground-based system. Take-o? and landing of the miniature aircraft are guided by radio control, and the ?ight of the robotic plane along a pre-designed trajectory is automatically piloted by an onboard navigation system. The observed meteorological data as well as all ?ight information are sent back in real time to the ground, then displayed and recorded by the ground-based computer. The ground-based subsystem can also transmit instructions to the air-borne control subsystem. Good system performance has been demonstrated by more than 300 hours of ?ight for atmospheric sounding.

The dawn−dusk asymmetry in mesosphere and lower thermosphere temperature disturbances during geomagnetic storms at high latitude

Utilizing observations by the Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry(SABER)instrument,we quantitatively assessed the dawn-dusk asymmetry in temperature disturbances within the high-latitude mesosphere and lower thermosphere(MLT)during the main phase of geomagnetic storms in this study.An analysis of five geomagnetic superstorm events indicated that during the main phase,negative temperature disturbances were more prevalent on the dawn side than on the dusk side in the high-latitude MLT region.Results of a statistical analysis of 54 geomagnetic storm events also revealed a notable disparity in temperature disturbances between the dawn and dusk sides.At high latitudes,38.2%of the observational points on the dawn side exhibited negative temperature disturbances(less than−5 K),whereas on the dusk side,this percentage was only 29.5%.In contrast,at mid-latitudes,these proportions were 34.1%and 36.5%,respectively,showing no significant difference.We also conducted a statistical analysis of temperature disturbances at different altitudes,which revealed an increase in the proportion of warming disturbances with altitude.Conversely,the proportion of cooling disturbances initially rose with altitude,reaching a peak around 105 km,and subsequently decreased.These temperature disturbance differences could be explained by the day-night asymmetry in vertical wind disturbances during storm conditions.

20 TO 30-DAY AND 30 TO 60-DAY OSCILLATIONS IN ASSIMILATED GLOBAL DATASETS USING TRMM RAINFALL OBSERVATIONS

The influences of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission （TRMM） precipitation products on the structure and underlying physics of intraseasonal oscillation （ISO） are investigated with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Earth Observing System model version 3 （GEOS-3） data assimilation system （DAS）. The strong ISO phase in the 1998 summer is apparently located in the Asian monsoon region and the east equatorial Pacific region. The eastward propagation is a dominant feature for the tropical ISO at 20 to 30-day oscillation while the northeastward propagation is the salient ISO at 30 to 60-day oscillation over the 10~N to 25~N belt region. It appears that the Kelvin wave structure is for the tropical 20 to 30-day oscillation. The tropical 30 to 60-day oscillation has the characteristics of the Kelvin-Rossby wave. The impact of satellite-derived precipitation （and its associated latent heating） on the ISO intensity is limited in the GEOS-3 assimilation system. However, its impact on the ISO spatial structures is obvious. Overall, the results demonstrate a better eastward propagation and a northward propagation of ISO with the TRMM precipitation simulation, indicating that latent heating is very important in exciting the equatorial ISO. Key words： 20 to 30-day oscillation; 30 to 60-day oscillation; GEOS data assimilation system; Kelvin wave; TRMM precipitation

Preliminary Study on Direct Assimilation of Cloud-affected Satellite Microwave Brightness Temperatures

Direct assimilation of cloud-affected microwave brightness temperatures from AMSU-A into the GSI three-dimensional variational （3D-Var） assimilation system is preliminarily studied in this paper. A combination of cloud microphysics param- eters retrieved by the 1D-Var algorithm （including vertical profiles of cloud liquid water content, ice water content, and rain water content） and atmospheric state parameters from objective analysis fields of an NWP model are used as background fields. Three cloud microphysics parameters （cloud liquid water content, ice water content, and rain water content） are ap- plied to the control variable. Typhoon Halong （2014） is selected as an example. The results show that direct assimilation of cloud-affected AMSU-A observations can effectively adjust the structure of large-scale temperature, humidity and wind anal- ysis fields due to the assimilation of more AMSU-A observations in typhoon cloudy areas, especially typhoon spiral cloud belts. These adjustments, with temperatures increasing and humidities decreasing in the movement direction of the typhoon, bring the forecasted typhoon moving direction closer to its real path. The assimilation of cloud-affected satellite microwave brightness temperatures can provide better analysis fields that are more similar to the actual situation. Furthermore, typhoon prediction accuracy is improved using these assimilation analysis fields as the initial forecast fields in NWP models.

RETRIEVAL OF CLEAR SKY MOISTURE PROFILES IN THE PACIFIC USING MEASUREMENTS OF MICROWAVE HUMIDITY SOUNDER FROM FY-3A SATELLITE

An improved Smith iterative method, which generally applies to microwave bands, is described. The moisture profiles retrieved from the brightness temperature data of microwave humidity sounder onboard FY-3A satellite, pertaining to clear sky, are shown over western North Pacific by using a vector-discrete ordination radiative transfer model. The retrieved profiles are compared with those from MODIS products, and the results of single point show that they are in good agreement with the results for lower layers. The distribution of retrieved humidity at 500 hPa is basically consistent with the actual situation, and the values are lower than that of the MODIS products. Compared with MODIS products, RMS is within 5.76g/kg at every single level separately.

Analysis and Test on Influence Factors of Dew Drop Condensation in Dew Point Hygrometer

The condensation process of dew droplets is influenced by many factors. Adew point condensation image observation system was built to improve the responsespeed of dew point detector under different measuring conditions. The basic mechanismof dew drop condensation growth was studied and the influence of various factors on thedew drop growth rate were analyzed. And the accuracy of the influence results wasverified based on the improved Hough transform circle detection. The results show thatthe growth rate of dew droplets is affected by ambient temperature, dew pointtemperature, mirror temperature and air velocity. The observed variation of the averageradius of dew droplets is consistent with the theoretical calculations. The maximumradius error is less than 4 μm, the initial error is larger, and the error oscillates in themiddle and late stages of condensation. The establishment of condensation mechanism ishelpful to solve the problem in fast determination of dew point temperature under thecold start of dew point meter, and to improve the response speed.

Analyses of structure of planetary boundary layer in ice camp over Arctic ocean

The vertical structure of Planetary boundary layer over Arctic floating ice is presented by using about 50 atmospheric profiles and relevant data sounded at an ice station over Arctic Ocean from 22 August to 3 September,2003.It shows that the height of the convective boundary layer in day is greater than that of the stability boundary layer in night.The boundary layer can be described as vertical structures of stability,instability and multipling The interaction between relative warm and wet down draft air from up level and cool air of surface layer is significant,which causes stronger wind shear,temperature and humidity inversion with typical wind shear of 10 m/s/100 m,intensity of temperature inversion of 8 ℃/100 m.While the larger pack ice is broken by such process,new ice free area in the high latitudes of arctic ocean.The interactions between air/ice/water are enhanced.The fact helps to understanding characteristics of atmospheric boundary layer and its effect in Arctic floating ice region.

THE INFLUENCE OF INHOMOGENEOUS WIND DISTRIBUTION ON DATA QUALITY FOR WIND PROFILING RADAR

Horizontal wind measured by wind profiling radar(WPR) is based on uniform wind assumption in volume of lateral beam. However, this assumption cannot completely meet in the real atmosphere. The subject of this work is to analyze the influence of atmospheric inhomogeneities for wind measurement. Five-beam WPR can measure two groups of horizontal wind components U and V independently, using the difference of horizontal wind components U and V can evaluate the influence of the inhomogeneity of the atmospheric motion on wind measurement. The influences can be divided into both inhomogeneous distribution of horizontal motion and vertical motion. Based on wind measurements and meteorological background information, a new means of coordinate rotation the two kinds of inhomogeneous factor was separated, and the impact in different weather background was discussed. From analysis of the wind measured by type of PB-II WPR(445MHz) during 2012 at Yanqing of Beijing, it is shown that the inhomogeneity of horizontal motion is nearly the same in U and V direction. Both the inhomogeneities of horizontal motion and vertical motion have influence on wind measurement, and the degrees of both influences are associated with changes of wind speed. In clear air, inhomogeneity of horizontal motion is the main influence on wind measurement because of small vertical velocity.In precipitation, the two influences are larger than that in clear air.

Measuring boundary-layer height under clear and cloudy conditions using three instruments

Boundary-layer height （BLH） under clear, altostratus and low stratus cloud conditions were measured by GPS sounding, wind profiler radar, and micro-pulse lidar during the atmospheric radiation measurement experiment from Sep. to Dec. 2008 in Shouxian, Anhui, China. Results showed that during daytime or nighttime, regardless of cloud conditions, the GPS sounding was the most accurate method for measuring BLH. Unfortunately, because of the long time gap between launchings, sounding data did not capture the diurnal evolution of the BLH. Thus, wind profile radar emerged as a promising instrument for direct and continuous measurement of the mixing height during the daytime, accurately determining BLH using the structure parameter of the electromagnetic refractive index. However, during nighttime, radar was limited by weak signal extraction and did not work well for determining the BLH of the stable boundary layer, often recording the BLH of the residual layer. While micro-pulse lidar recorded the evolution of BLH, it overestimated the BLH of the stable boundary layer. This method also failed to work under cloudy conditions because of the influence of water vapor. Future work needs to develop a method to determine BLH that combines the complimentary features of all three algorithms.