HY-2 satellite is the first satellite for dynamic environmental parameters measurement of China,which was launched on 16th August 2011.A scanning microwave radiometer(RM) is carried for sea surface temperature(SST...HY-2 satellite is the first satellite for dynamic environmental parameters measurement of China,which was launched on 16th August 2011.A scanning microwave radiometer(RM) is carried for sea surface temperature(SST),sea surface wind speed,columnar water vapor and columnar cloud liquid water detection.In this paper,the initial SST product of RM was validated with in-situ data of National Data of Buoy Center(NDBC) mooring and Argo buoy.The validation results indicate the accuracy of RM SST is better than 1.7 C.The comparison of RM SST and WindSat SST shows the former is warmer than the latter at high sea surface wind speed and the difference between these SSTs is depend on the sea surface wind speed.Then,the relationship between the errors of RM SST and sea surface wind speed was analyzed using NDBC mooring measurements.Based on the results of assessment and errors analysis,the suggestions of taking account of the affection of sea surface wind speed and using sea surface wind speed and direction derived from the microwave scatteromter aboard on HY-2 for SST product calibration were given for retrieval algorithm improvement.展开更多
A scanning microwave radiometer(RM) was launched on August 16,2011,on board HY-2 satellite.The six-month long global sea surface wind speeds observed by the HY-2 scanning microwave radiometer are preliminarily valid...A scanning microwave radiometer(RM) was launched on August 16,2011,on board HY-2 satellite.The six-month long global sea surface wind speeds observed by the HY-2 scanning microwave radiometer are preliminarily validated using in-situ measurements and WindSat observations,respectively,from January to June 2012.The wind speed root-mean-square(RMS) difference of the comparisons with in-situ data is 1.89 m/s for the measurements of NDBC and 1.72 m/s for the recent four-month data measured by PY30-1 oil platform,respectively.On a global scale,the wind speeds of HY-2 RM are compared with the sea surface wind speeds derived from WindSat,the RMS difference of 1.85 m/s for HY-2 RM collocated observations data set is calculated in the same period as above.With analyzing the global map of a mean difference between HY-2 RM and WindSat,it appears that the bias of the sea surface wind speed is obviously higher in the inshore regions.In the open sea,there is a relatively higher positive bias in the mid-latitude regions due to the overestimation of wind speed observations,while the wind speeds are underestimated in the Southern Ocean by HY-2 RM relative to WindSat observations.展开更多
Due to the low spatial resolution of sea surface temperature(T_S)retrieval by real aperture microwave radiometers,in this study,an iterative retrieval method that minimizes the differences between brightness temperatu...Due to the low spatial resolution of sea surface temperature(T_S)retrieval by real aperture microwave radiometers,in this study,an iterative retrieval method that minimizes the differences between brightness temperature(T_B)measured and modeled was used to retrieve sea surface temperature with a one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer,temporarily named 1 D-SAMR.Regarding the configuration of the radiometer,an angular resolution of 0.43°was reached by theoretical calculation.Experiments on sea surface temperature retrieval were carried out with ideal parameters;the results show that the main factors affecting the retrieval accuracy of sea surface temperature are the accuracy of radiometer calibration and the precision of auxiliary geophysical parameters.In the case of no auxiliary parameter errors,the greatest error in retrieved sea surface temperature is obtained at low T_S scene(i.e.,0.7106 K for the incidence angle of 35°under the radiometer calibration accuracy of0.5 K).While errors on auxiliary parameters are assumed to follow a Gaussian distribution,the greatest error on retrieved sea surface temperature was 1.3305 K at an incidence angle of 65°in poorly known sea surface wind speed(W)(the error on W of 1.0 m/s)over high W scene,for the radiometer calibration accuracy of 0.5 K.展开更多
Deviation exists between measured and simulated microwave radiometer sounding data. The bias results in low-accuracy atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles simulated by Back Propagation artificial neural networ...Deviation exists between measured and simulated microwave radiometer sounding data. The bias results in low-accuracy atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles simulated by Back Propagation artificial neural network models. This paper evaluated a retrieving atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles method by adopting an input data adjustment-based Back Propagation artificial neural networks model. First, the sounding data acquired at a Nanjing meteorological site in June 2014 were inputted into the Mono RTM Radiative transfer model to simulate atmospheric downwelling radiance at the 22 spectral channels from 22.234 GHz to 58.8 GHz, and we performed a comparison and analysis of the real observed data; an adjustment model for the measured microwave radiometer sounding data was built. Second, we simulated the sounding data of the 22 channels using the sounding data acquired at the site from 2011 to 2013. Based on the simulated rightness temperature data and the sounding data, BP neural network-based models were trained for the retrieval of atmospheric temperature, water vapor density and relative humidity profiles. Finally, we applied the adjustment model to the microwave radiometer sounding data collected in July 2014, generating the corrected data. After that, we inputted the corrected data into the BP neural network regression model to predict the atmospheric temperature, vapor density and relative humidity profile at 58 high levels from 0 to 10 km. We evaluated our model's effect by comparing its output with the real measured data and the microwave radiometer's own second-level product. The experiments showed that the inversion model improves atmospheric temperature and humidity profile retrieval accuracy; the atmospheric temperature RMS error is between 1 K and 2.0 K; the water vapor density's RMS error is between 0.2 g/m^3 and 1.93 g/m3; and the relative humidity's RMS error is between 2.5% and 18.6%.展开更多
As rain drops change the radiation and scattering characteristic of the oceans and the atmosphere, the wind speed measuring by spaceborne remote sensors under rainy conditions remains challenging for years. On the bas...As rain drops change the radiation and scattering characteristic of the oceans and the atmosphere, the wind speed measuring by spaceborne remote sensors under rainy conditions remains challenging for years. On the basis of a microwave radiometer(RM) loaded on HY-2 satellite, the sensitivity of some brightness temperature(TB)channels to a rain rate and the wind speed are analyzed. Consequently, two TB combinations which show minor sensitivity to rain are obtained. Meanwhile, the sensitivity of the TB combination to the wind speed is even better to the original TB channel. On the basis of these TB combinations, a wind speed retrieval algorithm is developed and compared with Wind Sat all-weather wind speed product, HY-2 RM original wind speed product and buoy in situ data. The wind speed retrieval accuracy is better than 2 m/s for rainy conditions, which is evidently superior to HY-2 RM original product. The applicability of this new algorithm is testified for the wind speed measuring in rainy weather with HY-2 RM.展开更多
Detecting near-surface soil freeze-thaw cycles in high-altitude cold regions is important for understanding the Earth's surface system, but such studies are rare. In this study, we detected the spatial-temporal varia...Detecting near-surface soil freeze-thaw cycles in high-altitude cold regions is important for understanding the Earth's surface system, but such studies are rare. In this study, we detected the spatial-temporal variations in near-surface soil freeze-thaw cycles in the source region of the Yellow River(SRYR) during the period 2002–2011 based on data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System(AMSR-E). Moreover, the trends of onset dates and durations of the soil freeze-thaw cycles under different stages were also analyzed. Results showed that the thresholds of daytime and nighttime brightness temperatures of the freeze-thaw algorithm for the SRYR were 257.59 and 261.28 K, respectively. At the spatial scale, the daily frozen surface(DFS) area and the daily surface freeze-thaw cycle surface(DFTS) area decreased by 0.08% and 0.25%, respectively, and the daily thawed surface(DTS) area increased by 0.36%. At the temporal scale, the dates of the onset of thawing and complete thawing advanced by 3.10(±1.4) and 2.46(±1.4) days, respectively; and the dates of the onset of freezing and complete freezing were delayed by 0.9(±1.4) and 1.6(±1.1) days, respectively. The duration of thawing increased by 0.72(±0.21) day/a and the duration of freezing decreased by 0.52(±0.26) day/a. In conclusion, increases in the annual minimum temperature and winter air temperature are the main factors for the advanced thawing and delayed freezing and for the increase in the duration of thawing and the decrease in the duration of freezing in the SRYR.展开更多
Compared with traditional real aperture microwave radiometers,one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometers have higher spatial resolution.In this paper,we proposed to retrieve sea surface temperature using...Compared with traditional real aperture microwave radiometers,one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometers have higher spatial resolution.In this paper,we proposed to retrieve sea surface temperature using a one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 6.9 GHz,10.65 GHz,18.7 GHz and 23.8 GHz at multiple incidence angles.We used the ERA5 reanalysis data provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and a radiation transmission forward model to calculate the model brightness temperature.The brightness temperature measured by the spaceborne one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer was simulated by adding Gaussian noise to the model brightness temperature.Then,a backpropagation(BP)neural network algorithm,a random forest(RF)algorithm and two multiple linear regression algorithms(RE1 and RE2)were developed to retrieve sea surface temperature from the measured brightness temperature within the incidence angle range of 0°-65°.The results show that the retrieval errors of the four algorithms increase with the increasing Gaussian noise.The BP achieves the lowest retrieval errors at all incidence angles.The retrieval error of the RE1 and RE2 decrease first and then increase with the incidence angle and the retrieval error of the RF is contrary to that of RE1 and RE2.展开更多
One-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometers have higher spatial resolution and record measurements at multiple incidence angles.In this paper,we propose a multiple linear regression method to retrieve sea...One-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometers have higher spatial resolution and record measurements at multiple incidence angles.In this paper,we propose a multiple linear regression method to retrieve sea surface wind speed at an incidence angle between 0°65°.We assume that a one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer operates at frequencies of 6.9,10.65,18.7,23.8 and 36.5 GHz.Then,the microwave radiative transfer forward model is used to simulate the measured brightness temperatures.The sensitivity of the brightness temperatures at 0°65°to the sea surface wind speed is calculated.Then,vertical polarization channels(VR),horizontal polarization channels(HR)and all channels(AR)are used to retrieve the sea surface wind speed via a multiple linear regression algorithm at 0°65°,and the relationship between the retrieval error and incidence angle is obtained.The results are as follows:(1)The sensitivity of the vertical polarization brightness temperature to the sea surface wind speed is smaller than that of the horizontal polarization.(2)The retrieval error increases with Gaussian noise.The retrieval error of VR first increases and then decreases with increasing incidence angle,the retrieval error of HR gradually decreases with increasing incidence angle,and the retrieval error of AR first decreases and then increases with increasing incidence angle.(3)The retrieval error of AR is the lowest and it is necessary to retrieve the sea surface wind speed at a larger incidence angle for AR.展开更多
The microwave radiactivproperty of snow is studied using self-developed three band microwave radiometers. Experiments were carried out repeatedly from 1986 to 1989 in Northeast China The relation between brightness te...The microwave radiactivproperty of snow is studied using self-developed three band microwave radiometers. Experiments were carried out repeatedly from 1986 to 1989 in Northeast China The relation between brightness temperature and observation angle was obtained with both vertical and horizontal polarizations. The curves corresponding brightness temperature and snow depth were also drawn out for different frequency bands. The results demonstrate the application potential of the multifrequency microwave radiometer in this area.展开更多
The sounding data of a multi-channel parallel ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR) in Fuzhou station in July and August in 2016 were compared with the sounding data of a radiosonde in the same position in the sam...The sounding data of a multi-channel parallel ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR) in Fuzhou station in July and August in 2016 were compared with the sounding data of a radiosonde in the same position in the same period. The results showed that the correlations between the two types of temperature or humidity detected by the microwave radiometer and the radiosonde were significant at 0.05 level, indicating that the overall changing trends of temperature or humidity detected by the two devices were similar. The temperature detected by the microwave radiometer and the radiosonde decreased with the increase of height. The difference between the changes in the height of the zero layer detected by the micro- wave radiometer and the radiosonde was not significant, and their trends were basically the same.展开更多
The microwave radiometer (MRM) onboard the Chang' E-1 (CE-I) lu- nar orbiter is a 4-frequency microwave radiometer, and it is mainly used to obtain the brightness temperature (TB) of the lunar surface, from whi...The microwave radiometer (MRM) onboard the Chang' E-1 (CE-I) lu- nar orbiter is a 4-frequency microwave radiometer, and it is mainly used to obtain the brightness temperature (TB) of the lunar surface, from which the thickness, temperature, dielectric constant and other related properties of the lunar regolith can be derived. The working mode of the CE-1 MRM, the ground calibration (including the official calibration coefficients), as well as the acquisition and processing of the raw data are introduced. Our data analysis shows that TB increases with increasing frequency, decreases towards the lunar poles and is significantly affected by solar illumination. Our analysis also reveals that the main uncertainty in TB comes from ground calibration.展开更多
Ground-based microwave radiometers(MWRs)operating in the K-and V-bands(20–60 GHz)can help us obtain temperature and humidity profiles in the troposphere.Aside from some soundings from local meteorological observatori...Ground-based microwave radiometers(MWRs)operating in the K-and V-bands(20–60 GHz)can help us obtain temperature and humidity profiles in the troposphere.Aside from some soundings from local meteorological observatories,the tropospheric atmosphere over the Tibetan Plateau(TP)has never been continuously observed.As part of the Chinese Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(STEP),the Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Profile(TPPROFILE)project aims to construct a comprehensive MWR troposphere observation network to study the synoptic processes and environmental changes on the TP.This initiative has collected three years of data from the MWR network.This paper introduces the data information,the data quality,and data downloading.Some applications of the data obtained from these MWRs were also demonstrated.Our comparisons of MWR against the nearest radiosonde observation demonstrate that the TP-PROFILE MWR system is adequate for monitoring the thermal and moisture variability of the troposphere over the TP.The continuous temperature and moisture profiles derived from the MWR data provide a unique perspective on the evolution of the thermodynamic structure associated with the heating of the TP.The TP-PROFILE project reveals that the low-temporal resolution instruments are prone to large uncertainties in their vapor estimation in the mountain valleys on the TP.展开更多
A retrieval algorithm of arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) based on the brightness temperature data of “HY-2” scanning microwave radiometer has been constructed. The tie points of the brightness temperature were ...A retrieval algorithm of arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) based on the brightness temperature data of “HY-2” scanning microwave radiometer has been constructed. The tie points of the brightness temperature were selected based on the statistical analysis of a polarization gradient ratio and a spectral gradient ratio over open water (OW), first-year ice (FYI), and multiyear ice (MYI) in arctic. The thresholds from two weather filters were used to reduce atmospheric effects over the open ocean. SIC retrievals from the “HY-2” radiom-eter data for idealized OW, FYI, and MYI agreed well with theoretical values. The 2012 annual SIC was calcu-lated and compared with two reference operational products from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and the University of Bremen. The total ice-covered area yielded by the “HY-2” SIC was consistent with the results from the reference products. The assessment of SIC with the aerial photography from the fifth Chinese national arctic research expedition (CHINARE) and six synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from the National Ice Service was carried out. The “HY-2” SIC product was 16% higher than the values de-rived from the aerial photography in the central arctic. The root-mean-square (RMS) values of SIC between “HY-2” and SAR were comparable with those between the reference products and SAR, varying from 8.57% to 12.34%. The “HY-2” SIC is a promising product that can be used for operational services.展开更多
The blackbody calibration targets applied for microwave radiometer's prelaunch calibration are optimized with its electromagnetic and thermal characteristics. Based on the method of emissivity optimization with radar...The blackbody calibration targets applied for microwave radiometer's prelaunch calibration are optimized with its electromagnetic and thermal characteristics. Based on the method of emissivity optimization with radar cross section (RCS) simulation and the method of subgrid finite difference time domain (FDTD), the following design rules are summarized: that the round wedge is better than the square one, the best ratio from height to bottom radius is 4:1, for wide band calibration, the multilayer absorbing material coating is efficient to increase the emissivity, and the gradual thickness absorbing material coating is helpful to guarantee the uniform distribution of surface temperature even as it keeps a higher emissivity. Finally following the above conclusions, a new type of blackbody calibration target with the cellular array is preferred to improve the uniformity of polarization, which will increase the performance of the calibration targets further.展开更多
Microwave Radiometer Imager(MWRI) is a key payload of China’s second generation polar meteorological satellite, i.e., Fengyun-3 series(FY-3). Up to now, 5 satellites including FY-3A(2008), FY-3B(2010), FY-3C(2013), F...Microwave Radiometer Imager(MWRI) is a key payload of China’s second generation polar meteorological satellite, i.e., Fengyun-3 series(FY-3). Up to now, 5 satellites including FY-3A(2008), FY-3B(2010), FY-3C(2013), FY-3D(2018), and FY-3E(2021) have been launched successfully to provide multiwavelength, all-weather, and global data for decades. Much progress has been made on the calibration of MWRI and a recalibrated MWRI brightness temperature(BT) product(V2) was recently released. This study thoroughly evaluates the accuracy of this new product from FY-3B, 3C, and 3D by using the simultaneous collocated Global Precipitation Measurement(GPM)Microwave Imager(GMI) measurements as a reference. The results show that the mean biases(MBEs) of the BT between MWRI and GMI are generally less than 0.5 K and the root mean squares(RMSs) between them are less than1.5 K. The previous notable ascending and descending difference of the MWRI has disappeared. This indicates that the new MWRI recalibration procedure is very effective in removing potential errors associated with the emission of the hot-load reflector. Analysis of the dependence of MBE on the latitude and earth scene temperature shows that MBE decreases with decreasing latitude over ocean. Furthermore, MBE over ocean decreases linearly with increasing scene temperature for almost all channels, whereas this does not occur over land. A linear regression fitting is then used to modify MWRI, which can reduce the MBE over ocean to be within 0.2 K. The standard deviation of error of GMI, FY-3B, and FY-3D MWRI BT data derived by using the three-cornered hat method(TCH) shows that GMI has the best overall performance over ocean except at 10.65 GHz where its standard deviation of error is slightly larger than that of FY-3D. Over land, the standard deviation of error of FY-3D is the lowest at almost all channels except at 89V. MWRI onboard FY-3 series satellites would serve as an important passive microwave radiometer member of the constellation to monitor key surface and atmospheric properties.展开更多
The calibration of the sea surface height(SSH)measured by satellite altimeters is essential to understand altimeter biases.Many factors affects the construction and maintenance of a permanent calibration site.In order...The calibration of the sea surface height(SSH)measured by satellite altimeters is essential to understand altimeter biases.Many factors affects the construction and maintenance of a permanent calibration site.In order to calibrate Chinese satellite altimetry missions,the feasibility of maintaining a calibration site based on the Qianliyan islet in Yellow Sea of China is taken into account.The related calibration facilities,such as the permanent tide gauge,GNSS reference station and meteorological station,were already operated by the Ministry of Natural Resources of China.The data could be fully used for satellite altimeter calibration with small fiscal expenditure.In addition,the location and marine environments of Qianliyan were discussed.Finally,we used the Jason-3 mission to check the possibility of calibration works.The result indicates that the brightness temperatures of three channels measured by microwave radiometer(MWR)and the derived wet tropospheric correction varies smoothly,which means the land contamination to MWR could be ignored.The high frequency waveforms at the Qianliyan site present no obvious difference from the normal waveforms received by satellite radar altimeter over the open ocean.In conclusion,the Qianliyan islet will not influence satellite altimetry observation.Following these analyses,a possible layout and mechanism of the Qianliyan calibration site are proposed.展开更多
Satellite-borne microwave radiometers provide essential measurements to study the surface melt state of ice sheets. Therefore, selecting suitable microwave radiometer data is critical to characterize the spatial distr...Satellite-borne microwave radiometers provide essential measurements to study the surface melt state of ice sheets. Therefore, selecting suitable microwave radiometer data is critical to characterize the spatial distribution of surface melt. In this study, we investigated the Greenland Ice Sheet and evaluated the usefulness, as climate indicators, of data acquired by microwave radiometers onboard the F17 satellite of the United States of America Defense Meteorological Satellite Program(DMSP) and the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity(SMOS) satellite of the European Space Agency. First, surface melt was simulated using the DMSP dataset as input for a brightness temperature threshold algorithm, the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks(MEMLS2), and the SMOS dataset as input for the L-band Specific MEMLS(LS-MEMLS). For accuracy evaluation, the simulation results were then compared with surface melt estimates derived from air temperature measurements at Automatic Weather Stations and from ice surface temperature measurements from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) satellite-borne instrument. Our results show that global(over Greenland) MEMLS2 simulation performance(overall accuracy 83%) was higher than that of LS-MEMLS(overall accuracy 78%). However, in southeastern Greenland, MEMLS2 omission error was markedly higher than that of LS-MEMLS, whereas LS-MEMLS could detect longer-lasting surface melt than MEMLS2. This analysis showed that DMSP-based surface melt simulations are more accurate than SMOS-based simulations, thereby providing a data selection reference for surface melt studies of the Greenland Ice Sheet.展开更多
Wet tropospheric path delay (PD) is a highly variable term for the altimeter measurement of a sea surface height, caused by the refraction effect of atmospheric water vapor and cloud liquid water. In order to esti- ...Wet tropospheric path delay (PD) is a highly variable term for the altimeter measurement of a sea surface height, caused by the refraction effect of atmospheric water vapor and cloud liquid water. In order to esti- mate PD values, the "HY-2" system includes a calibration microwave radiometer (CMR) operating at 18.7, 23.8 and 37 GHz. The PD data of the CMR were compared and validated by coincident radiosonde profiles from ten globally distributed radiosonde stations during October 2011 to August 2012. The temporal interval was 1 h. In order to avoid land contamination, different spatial intervals between these two data sets were tested. The empirical fit function of PD uncertainty and spatial interval was found and extrapolated to the ideal situation that the data of CMR and radiosonde were totally coincident. The stability of the brightness temperature of the CMR and its impact on the PD correction was also studied. Consequently, the uncertainty of the PD algorithm of the CMR was estimated to be 2.1 cm.展开更多
Nearshore wind speeds retrieved by WindSat are validated by a comparison with the moored buoy observations near the U.S. west and east coasts. A 30 min and 25 km collection window is used for the WindSat wind data and...Nearshore wind speeds retrieved by WindSat are validated by a comparison with the moored buoy observations near the U.S. west and east coasts. A 30 min and 25 km collection window is used for the WindSat wind data and buoy measurements from ]anuary 2004 to December 2014. Comparisons show that the overall root-mean-square error is better than 1.44 m/s near the U.S. coasts, and the result for the east coast is better than that for the west coast. The retrieval accuracy of the descending portions is slightly better than that of the ascending portions. Most buoy-to-buoy variations are not significantly correlated with the coastal topography, the longitude and the distance from the shore or satellite-buoy separation distance. In addition, comparisons between a polarimetric microwave radiometer and a microwave scatterometer are accomplished with the nearshore buoy observations from 2007 to 2008. The WindSat-derived winds tend to be lower than the buoy observations near the U.S. coasts. In contrast, the QuikSCAT-derived winds tend to be higher than the buoy observations. Overall, the retrieval accuracy of WindSat is slightly better than that of QuikSCAT, and these satellite-derived winds are sufficiently accurate for scientific studies.展开更多
To evaluate the ocean surface wind vector and the sea surface temperature obtained from WindSat, we compare these quantities over the time period from January 2004 to December 2013 with moored buoy measurements. The m...To evaluate the ocean surface wind vector and the sea surface temperature obtained from WindSat, we compare these quantities over the time period from January 2004 to December 2013 with moored buoy measurements. The mean bias between the WindSat wind speed and the buoy wind speed is low for the low frequency wind speed product (WSPD_LF), ranging from -0.07 to 0.08 m/s in different selected areas. The overall RMS error is 0.98 m/s for WSPD_LF, ranging from 0.82 to 1.16 m/s in different selected regions. The wind speed retrieval result in the tropical Ocean is better than that of the coastal and offshore waters of the United States. In addition, the wind speed retrieval accuracy ofWSPD LF is better than that of the medium frequency wind speed product. The crosstalk analysis indicates that the WindSat wind speed retrieval contains some cross influences from the other geophysical parameters, such as sea surface temperature, water vapor and cloud liquid water. The mean bias between the WindSat wind direction and the buoy wind direction ranges from -0.46° to 1.19° in different selected regions. The overall RMS error is 19.59° when the wind speed is greater than 6 m/s. Measurements of the tropical ocean region have a better accuracy than those of the US west and east coasts. Very good agreement is obtained between sea surface temperatures of WindSat and buoy measurements in the tropical Pacific Ocean; the overall RMS error is only 0.36℃, and the retrieval accuracy of the low latitudes is better than that of the middle and high latitudes.展开更多
基金The Marine Public Welfare Project of China under contract No.201105032the National High-Tech Project of China under contract No.2008AA09A403+1 种基金the fund of State Administration for ScienceTechnology and Industry for National Defense
文摘HY-2 satellite is the first satellite for dynamic environmental parameters measurement of China,which was launched on 16th August 2011.A scanning microwave radiometer(RM) is carried for sea surface temperature(SST),sea surface wind speed,columnar water vapor and columnar cloud liquid water detection.In this paper,the initial SST product of RM was validated with in-situ data of National Data of Buoy Center(NDBC) mooring and Argo buoy.The validation results indicate the accuracy of RM SST is better than 1.7 C.The comparison of RM SST and WindSat SST shows the former is warmer than the latter at high sea surface wind speed and the difference between these SSTs is depend on the sea surface wind speed.Then,the relationship between the errors of RM SST and sea surface wind speed was analyzed using NDBC mooring measurements.Based on the results of assessment and errors analysis,the suggestions of taking account of the affection of sea surface wind speed and using sea surface wind speed and direction derived from the microwave scatteromter aboard on HY-2 for SST product calibration were given for retrieval algorithm improvement.
基金The National High-Tech Project of China under contract No.2008AA09A403the Marine Public Welfare Project of China under contract No.201105032
文摘A scanning microwave radiometer(RM) was launched on August 16,2011,on board HY-2 satellite.The six-month long global sea surface wind speeds observed by the HY-2 scanning microwave radiometer are preliminarily validated using in-situ measurements and WindSat observations,respectively,from January to June 2012.The wind speed root-mean-square(RMS) difference of the comparisons with in-situ data is 1.89 m/s for the measurements of NDBC and 1.72 m/s for the recent four-month data measured by PY30-1 oil platform,respectively.On a global scale,the wind speeds of HY-2 RM are compared with the sea surface wind speeds derived from WindSat,the RMS difference of 1.85 m/s for HY-2 RM collocated observations data set is calculated in the same period as above.With analyzing the global map of a mean difference between HY-2 RM and WindSat,it appears that the bias of the sea surface wind speed is obviously higher in the inshore regions.In the open sea,there is a relatively higher positive bias in the mid-latitude regions due to the overestimation of wind speed observations,while the wind speeds are underestimated in the Southern Ocean by HY-2 RM relative to WindSat observations.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41475019,41575028,41705007,41605016,and 41505016。
文摘Due to the low spatial resolution of sea surface temperature(T_S)retrieval by real aperture microwave radiometers,in this study,an iterative retrieval method that minimizes the differences between brightness temperature(T_B)measured and modeled was used to retrieve sea surface temperature with a one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer,temporarily named 1 D-SAMR.Regarding the configuration of the radiometer,an angular resolution of 0.43°was reached by theoretical calculation.Experiments on sea surface temperature retrieval were carried out with ideal parameters;the results show that the main factors affecting the retrieval accuracy of sea surface temperature are the accuracy of radiometer calibration and the precision of auxiliary geophysical parameters.In the case of no auxiliary parameter errors,the greatest error in retrieved sea surface temperature is obtained at low T_S scene(i.e.,0.7106 K for the incidence angle of 35°under the radiometer calibration accuracy of0.5 K).While errors on auxiliary parameters are assumed to follow a Gaussian distribution,the greatest error on retrieved sea surface temperature was 1.3305 K at an incidence angle of 65°in poorly known sea surface wind speed(W)(the error on W of 1.0 m/s)over high W scene,for the radiometer calibration accuracy of 0.5 K.
基金National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFC1501704,2016YFA0600703)Projects of International Cooperation and Exchanges NSFC(NSFC-RCUK_STFC)(61661136005)+2 种基金Major State Basic Research Development Program of China(973 Program)(2013CB430101)Six Talent Peaks Project in Jiangsu Province(2015-JY-013)Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions(PAPD),Key Laboratory of Radiometric Calibration and Validation for Environmental Satellites,National Satellite Meteorological Center,China Meteorological Administration
文摘Deviation exists between measured and simulated microwave radiometer sounding data. The bias results in low-accuracy atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles simulated by Back Propagation artificial neural network models. This paper evaluated a retrieving atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles method by adopting an input data adjustment-based Back Propagation artificial neural networks model. First, the sounding data acquired at a Nanjing meteorological site in June 2014 were inputted into the Mono RTM Radiative transfer model to simulate atmospheric downwelling radiance at the 22 spectral channels from 22.234 GHz to 58.8 GHz, and we performed a comparison and analysis of the real observed data; an adjustment model for the measured microwave radiometer sounding data was built. Second, we simulated the sounding data of the 22 channels using the sounding data acquired at the site from 2011 to 2013. Based on the simulated rightness temperature data and the sounding data, BP neural network-based models were trained for the retrieval of atmospheric temperature, water vapor density and relative humidity profiles. Finally, we applied the adjustment model to the microwave radiometer sounding data collected in July 2014, generating the corrected data. After that, we inputted the corrected data into the BP neural network regression model to predict the atmospheric temperature, vapor density and relative humidity profile at 58 high levels from 0 to 10 km. We evaluated our model's effect by comparing its output with the real measured data and the microwave radiometer's own second-level product. The experiments showed that the inversion model improves atmospheric temperature and humidity profile retrieval accuracy; the atmospheric temperature RMS error is between 1 K and 2.0 K; the water vapor density's RMS error is between 0.2 g/m^3 and 1.93 g/m3; and the relative humidity's RMS error is between 2.5% and 18.6%.
基金The National Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China under contract 41306183the National High Technology Research and Development Program(863 Program)of China under contract Nos 2013AA09A505 and 2013AA122803
文摘As rain drops change the radiation and scattering characteristic of the oceans and the atmosphere, the wind speed measuring by spaceborne remote sensors under rainy conditions remains challenging for years. On the basis of a microwave radiometer(RM) loaded on HY-2 satellite, the sensitivity of some brightness temperature(TB)channels to a rain rate and the wind speed are analyzed. Consequently, two TB combinations which show minor sensitivity to rain are obtained. Meanwhile, the sensitivity of the TB combination to the wind speed is even better to the original TB channel. On the basis of these TB combinations, a wind speed retrieval algorithm is developed and compared with Wind Sat all-weather wind speed product, HY-2 RM original wind speed product and buoy in situ data. The wind speed retrieval accuracy is better than 2 m/s for rainy conditions, which is evidently superior to HY-2 RM original product. The applicability of this new algorithm is testified for the wind speed measuring in rainy weather with HY-2 RM.
基金supported by the National Science and Technology Support Plan of China (2015BAD07B02)
文摘Detecting near-surface soil freeze-thaw cycles in high-altitude cold regions is important for understanding the Earth's surface system, but such studies are rare. In this study, we detected the spatial-temporal variations in near-surface soil freeze-thaw cycles in the source region of the Yellow River(SRYR) during the period 2002–2011 based on data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing System(AMSR-E). Moreover, the trends of onset dates and durations of the soil freeze-thaw cycles under different stages were also analyzed. Results showed that the thresholds of daytime and nighttime brightness temperatures of the freeze-thaw algorithm for the SRYR were 257.59 and 261.28 K, respectively. At the spatial scale, the daily frozen surface(DFS) area and the daily surface freeze-thaw cycle surface(DFTS) area decreased by 0.08% and 0.25%, respectively, and the daily thawed surface(DTS) area increased by 0.36%. At the temporal scale, the dates of the onset of thawing and complete thawing advanced by 3.10(±1.4) and 2.46(±1.4) days, respectively; and the dates of the onset of freezing and complete freezing were delayed by 0.9(±1.4) and 1.6(±1.1) days, respectively. The duration of thawing increased by 0.72(±0.21) day/a and the duration of freezing decreased by 0.52(±0.26) day/a. In conclusion, increases in the annual minimum temperature and winter air temperature are the main factors for the advanced thawing and delayed freezing and for the increase in the duration of thawing and the decrease in the duration of freezing in the SRYR.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41475019 and 41705007.
文摘Compared with traditional real aperture microwave radiometers,one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometers have higher spatial resolution.In this paper,we proposed to retrieve sea surface temperature using a one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer that operates at frequencies of 6.9 GHz,10.65 GHz,18.7 GHz and 23.8 GHz at multiple incidence angles.We used the ERA5 reanalysis data provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and a radiation transmission forward model to calculate the model brightness temperature.The brightness temperature measured by the spaceborne one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer was simulated by adding Gaussian noise to the model brightness temperature.Then,a backpropagation(BP)neural network algorithm,a random forest(RF)algorithm and two multiple linear regression algorithms(RE1 and RE2)were developed to retrieve sea surface temperature from the measured brightness temperature within the incidence angle range of 0°-65°.The results show that the retrieval errors of the four algorithms increase with the increasing Gaussian noise.The BP achieves the lowest retrieval errors at all incidence angles.The retrieval error of the RE1 and RE2 decrease first and then increase with the incidence angle and the retrieval error of the RF is contrary to that of RE1 and RE2.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(41475019,41631072)
文摘One-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometers have higher spatial resolution and record measurements at multiple incidence angles.In this paper,we propose a multiple linear regression method to retrieve sea surface wind speed at an incidence angle between 0°65°.We assume that a one-dimensional synthetic aperture microwave radiometer operates at frequencies of 6.9,10.65,18.7,23.8 and 36.5 GHz.Then,the microwave radiative transfer forward model is used to simulate the measured brightness temperatures.The sensitivity of the brightness temperatures at 0°65°to the sea surface wind speed is calculated.Then,vertical polarization channels(VR),horizontal polarization channels(HR)and all channels(AR)are used to retrieve the sea surface wind speed via a multiple linear regression algorithm at 0°65°,and the relationship between the retrieval error and incidence angle is obtained.The results are as follows:(1)The sensitivity of the vertical polarization brightness temperature to the sea surface wind speed is smaller than that of the horizontal polarization.(2)The retrieval error increases with Gaussian noise.The retrieval error of VR first increases and then decreases with increasing incidence angle,the retrieval error of HR gradually decreases with increasing incidence angle,and the retrieval error of AR first decreases and then increases with increasing incidence angle.(3)The retrieval error of AR is the lowest and it is necessary to retrieve the sea surface wind speed at a larger incidence angle for AR.
基金The Project supported by National National Science Foundation
文摘The microwave radiactivproperty of snow is studied using self-developed three band microwave radiometers. Experiments were carried out repeatedly from 1986 to 1989 in Northeast China The relation between brightness temperature and observation angle was obtained with both vertical and horizontal polarizations. The curves corresponding brightness temperature and snow depth were also drawn out for different frequency bands. The results demonstrate the application potential of the multifrequency microwave radiometer in this area.
文摘The sounding data of a multi-channel parallel ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR) in Fuzhou station in July and August in 2016 were compared with the sounding data of a radiosonde in the same position in the same period. The results showed that the correlations between the two types of temperature or humidity detected by the microwave radiometer and the radiosonde were significant at 0.05 level, indicating that the overall changing trends of temperature or humidity detected by the two devices were similar. The temperature detected by the microwave radiometer and the radiosonde decreased with the increase of height. The difference between the changes in the height of the zero layer detected by the micro- wave radiometer and the radiosonde was not significant, and their trends were basically the same.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11173038)
文摘The microwave radiometer (MRM) onboard the Chang' E-1 (CE-I) lu- nar orbiter is a 4-frequency microwave radiometer, and it is mainly used to obtain the brightness temperature (TB) of the lunar surface, from which the thickness, temperature, dielectric constant and other related properties of the lunar regolith can be derived. The working mode of the CE-1 MRM, the ground calibration (including the official calibration coefficients), as well as the acquisition and processing of the raw data are introduced. Our data analysis shows that TB increases with increasing frequency, decreases towards the lunar poles and is significantly affected by solar illumination. Our analysis also reveals that the main uncertainty in TB comes from ground calibration.
基金supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(STEP)(Grant Nos.2019QZKK0103 and 2019QZKK0105)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41975009,42230610,41840650 and U2242208)the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(Wang Binbin,2022069).
文摘Ground-based microwave radiometers(MWRs)operating in the K-and V-bands(20–60 GHz)can help us obtain temperature and humidity profiles in the troposphere.Aside from some soundings from local meteorological observatories,the tropospheric atmosphere over the Tibetan Plateau(TP)has never been continuously observed.As part of the Chinese Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program(STEP),the Tibetan Plateau Atmospheric Profile(TPPROFILE)project aims to construct a comprehensive MWR troposphere observation network to study the synoptic processes and environmental changes on the TP.This initiative has collected three years of data from the MWR network.This paper introduces the data information,the data quality,and data downloading.Some applications of the data obtained from these MWRs were also demonstrated.Our comparisons of MWR against the nearest radiosonde observation demonstrate that the TP-PROFILE MWR system is adequate for monitoring the thermal and moisture variability of the troposphere over the TP.The continuous temperature and moisture profiles derived from the MWR data provide a unique perspective on the evolution of the thermodynamic structure associated with the heating of the TP.The TP-PROFILE project reveals that the low-temporal resolution instruments are prone to large uncertainties in their vapor estimation in the mountain valleys on the TP.
基金The International Science and Technology Cooperation Project of China under contract No.2011DFA22260the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No.41276191+1 种基金the Public Science and Technology Research Funds Projects of Ocean by the State Oceanic Administration under contract No.201205007-05the Chinese Polar Environment Comprehensive Investigation & Assessment Program by the State Oceanic Administration under contract Nos 2013-02-04 and 2012-04-03-02
文摘A retrieval algorithm of arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) based on the brightness temperature data of “HY-2” scanning microwave radiometer has been constructed. The tie points of the brightness temperature were selected based on the statistical analysis of a polarization gradient ratio and a spectral gradient ratio over open water (OW), first-year ice (FYI), and multiyear ice (MYI) in arctic. The thresholds from two weather filters were used to reduce atmospheric effects over the open ocean. SIC retrievals from the “HY-2” radiom-eter data for idealized OW, FYI, and MYI agreed well with theoretical values. The 2012 annual SIC was calcu-lated and compared with two reference operational products from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) and the University of Bremen. The total ice-covered area yielded by the “HY-2” SIC was consistent with the results from the reference products. The assessment of SIC with the aerial photography from the fifth Chinese national arctic research expedition (CHINARE) and six synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from the National Ice Service was carried out. The “HY-2” SIC product was 16% higher than the values de-rived from the aerial photography in the central arctic. The root-mean-square (RMS) values of SIC between “HY-2” and SAR were comparable with those between the reference products and SAR, varying from 8.57% to 12.34%. The “HY-2” SIC is a promising product that can be used for operational services.
基金supported by the National Key Laboratory of Metrology and Calibration Technologythe Second Academy Institute of China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp
文摘The blackbody calibration targets applied for microwave radiometer's prelaunch calibration are optimized with its electromagnetic and thermal characteristics. Based on the method of emissivity optimization with radar cross section (RCS) simulation and the method of subgrid finite difference time domain (FDTD), the following design rules are summarized: that the round wedge is better than the square one, the best ratio from height to bottom radius is 4:1, for wide band calibration, the multilayer absorbing material coating is efficient to increase the emissivity, and the gradual thickness absorbing material coating is helpful to guarantee the uniform distribution of surface temperature even as it keeps a higher emissivity. Finally following the above conclusions, a new type of blackbody calibration target with the cellular array is preferred to improve the uniformity of polarization, which will increase the performance of the calibration targets further.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China (42030608 and 42075079)。
文摘Microwave Radiometer Imager(MWRI) is a key payload of China’s second generation polar meteorological satellite, i.e., Fengyun-3 series(FY-3). Up to now, 5 satellites including FY-3A(2008), FY-3B(2010), FY-3C(2013), FY-3D(2018), and FY-3E(2021) have been launched successfully to provide multiwavelength, all-weather, and global data for decades. Much progress has been made on the calibration of MWRI and a recalibrated MWRI brightness temperature(BT) product(V2) was recently released. This study thoroughly evaluates the accuracy of this new product from FY-3B, 3C, and 3D by using the simultaneous collocated Global Precipitation Measurement(GPM)Microwave Imager(GMI) measurements as a reference. The results show that the mean biases(MBEs) of the BT between MWRI and GMI are generally less than 0.5 K and the root mean squares(RMSs) between them are less than1.5 K. The previous notable ascending and descending difference of the MWRI has disappeared. This indicates that the new MWRI recalibration procedure is very effective in removing potential errors associated with the emission of the hot-load reflector. Analysis of the dependence of MBE on the latitude and earth scene temperature shows that MBE decreases with decreasing latitude over ocean. Furthermore, MBE over ocean decreases linearly with increasing scene temperature for almost all channels, whereas this does not occur over land. A linear regression fitting is then used to modify MWRI, which can reduce the MBE over ocean to be within 0.2 K. The standard deviation of error of GMI, FY-3B, and FY-3D MWRI BT data derived by using the three-cornered hat method(TCH) shows that GMI has the best overall performance over ocean except at 10.65 GHz where its standard deviation of error is slightly larger than that of FY-3D. Over land, the standard deviation of error of FY-3D is the lowest at almost all channels except at 89V. MWRI onboard FY-3 series satellites would serve as an important passive microwave radiometer member of the constellation to monitor key surface and atmospheric properties.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants No. 42174001
文摘The calibration of the sea surface height(SSH)measured by satellite altimeters is essential to understand altimeter biases.Many factors affects the construction and maintenance of a permanent calibration site.In order to calibrate Chinese satellite altimetry missions,the feasibility of maintaining a calibration site based on the Qianliyan islet in Yellow Sea of China is taken into account.The related calibration facilities,such as the permanent tide gauge,GNSS reference station and meteorological station,were already operated by the Ministry of Natural Resources of China.The data could be fully used for satellite altimeter calibration with small fiscal expenditure.In addition,the location and marine environments of Qianliyan were discussed.Finally,we used the Jason-3 mission to check the possibility of calibration works.The result indicates that the brightness temperatures of three channels measured by microwave radiometer(MWR)and the derived wet tropospheric correction varies smoothly,which means the land contamination to MWR could be ignored.The high frequency waveforms at the Qianliyan site present no obvious difference from the normal waveforms received by satellite radar altimeter over the open ocean.In conclusion,the Qianliyan islet will not influence satellite altimetry observation.Following these analyses,a possible layout and mechanism of the Qianliyan calibration site are proposed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 42122047)the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant no. 2018YFC1406103)the Basic Fund of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science (Grant no. 2021Z006)。
文摘Satellite-borne microwave radiometers provide essential measurements to study the surface melt state of ice sheets. Therefore, selecting suitable microwave radiometer data is critical to characterize the spatial distribution of surface melt. In this study, we investigated the Greenland Ice Sheet and evaluated the usefulness, as climate indicators, of data acquired by microwave radiometers onboard the F17 satellite of the United States of America Defense Meteorological Satellite Program(DMSP) and the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity(SMOS) satellite of the European Space Agency. First, surface melt was simulated using the DMSP dataset as input for a brightness temperature threshold algorithm, the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks(MEMLS2), and the SMOS dataset as input for the L-band Specific MEMLS(LS-MEMLS). For accuracy evaluation, the simulation results were then compared with surface melt estimates derived from air temperature measurements at Automatic Weather Stations and from ice surface temperature measurements from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) satellite-borne instrument. Our results show that global(over Greenland) MEMLS2 simulation performance(overall accuracy 83%) was higher than that of LS-MEMLS(overall accuracy 78%). However, in southeastern Greenland, MEMLS2 omission error was markedly higher than that of LS-MEMLS, whereas LS-MEMLS could detect longer-lasting surface melt than MEMLS2. This analysis showed that DMSP-based surface melt simulations are more accurate than SMOS-based simulations, thereby providing a data selection reference for surface melt studies of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
基金The Marine Public Welfare Project of China under contract No.201105032-1the National High-Tech Project of China under contract No.2013AA09A505
文摘Wet tropospheric path delay (PD) is a highly variable term for the altimeter measurement of a sea surface height, caused by the refraction effect of atmospheric water vapor and cloud liquid water. In order to esti- mate PD values, the "HY-2" system includes a calibration microwave radiometer (CMR) operating at 18.7, 23.8 and 37 GHz. The PD data of the CMR were compared and validated by coincident radiosonde profiles from ten globally distributed radiosonde stations during October 2011 to August 2012. The temporal interval was 1 h. In order to avoid land contamination, different spatial intervals between these two data sets were tested. The empirical fit function of PD uncertainty and spatial interval was found and extrapolated to the ideal situation that the data of CMR and radiosonde were totally coincident. The stability of the brightness temperature of the CMR and its impact on the PD correction was also studied. Consequently, the uncertainty of the PD algorithm of the CMR was estimated to be 2.1 cm.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41105012 and 41576171
文摘Nearshore wind speeds retrieved by WindSat are validated by a comparison with the moored buoy observations near the U.S. west and east coasts. A 30 min and 25 km collection window is used for the WindSat wind data and buoy measurements from ]anuary 2004 to December 2014. Comparisons show that the overall root-mean-square error is better than 1.44 m/s near the U.S. coasts, and the result for the east coast is better than that for the west coast. The retrieval accuracy of the descending portions is slightly better than that of the ascending portions. Most buoy-to-buoy variations are not significantly correlated with the coastal topography, the longitude and the distance from the shore or satellite-buoy separation distance. In addition, comparisons between a polarimetric microwave radiometer and a microwave scatterometer are accomplished with the nearshore buoy observations from 2007 to 2008. The WindSat-derived winds tend to be lower than the buoy observations near the U.S. coasts. In contrast, the QuikSCAT-derived winds tend to be higher than the buoy observations. Overall, the retrieval accuracy of WindSat is slightly better than that of QuikSCAT, and these satellite-derived winds are sufficiently accurate for scientific studies.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No.41105012
文摘To evaluate the ocean surface wind vector and the sea surface temperature obtained from WindSat, we compare these quantities over the time period from January 2004 to December 2013 with moored buoy measurements. The mean bias between the WindSat wind speed and the buoy wind speed is low for the low frequency wind speed product (WSPD_LF), ranging from -0.07 to 0.08 m/s in different selected areas. The overall RMS error is 0.98 m/s for WSPD_LF, ranging from 0.82 to 1.16 m/s in different selected regions. The wind speed retrieval result in the tropical Ocean is better than that of the coastal and offshore waters of the United States. In addition, the wind speed retrieval accuracy ofWSPD LF is better than that of the medium frequency wind speed product. The crosstalk analysis indicates that the WindSat wind speed retrieval contains some cross influences from the other geophysical parameters, such as sea surface temperature, water vapor and cloud liquid water. The mean bias between the WindSat wind direction and the buoy wind direction ranges from -0.46° to 1.19° in different selected regions. The overall RMS error is 19.59° when the wind speed is greater than 6 m/s. Measurements of the tropical ocean region have a better accuracy than those of the US west and east coasts. Very good agreement is obtained between sea surface temperatures of WindSat and buoy measurements in the tropical Pacific Ocean; the overall RMS error is only 0.36℃, and the retrieval accuracy of the low latitudes is better than that of the middle and high latitudes.