Assessment of the initial sea surface temperature product of the scanning microwave radiometer aboard on HY-2 satellite

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.

Improvement of Mono-window Algorithm for Retrieving Land Surface Temperature from HJ-1B Satellite Data

The thermal infrared channel (IRS4) of HJ-1B satellite obtains view zenith angles (VZA) up to ±33°. The view angle should be taken into account when retrieving land surface temperature (LST) from IRS4 data. This study aims at improving the mono-window algorithm for retrieving LST from IRS4 data. Based on atmospheric radiative transfer simulations,a model for correcting the VZA effects on atmospheric transmittance is proposed. In addition,a generalized model for calculating the effective mean atmospheric temperature is developed. Validation with the simulated dataset based on standard atmospheric profiles reveals that the improved mono-window algorithm for IRS4 obtains high accuracy for LST retrieval,with the mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) being 1.0 K and 1.1 K,respectively. Numerical experiment with the radiosonde profile acquired in Beijing in winter demonstrates that the improved mono-window algorithm exhibits excellent ability for LST retrieval,with MAE and RMSE being 0.6 K and 0.6 K,respectively. Further application in Qinghai Lake and comparison with the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST product suggest that the improved mono-window algorithm is applicable and feasible in actual conditions.

Estimating the Retrievability of Temperature Profiles from Satellite Infrared Measurements

A method is developed to assess retrievability, namely the retrieval potential for atmospheric temperature profiles, from satellite infrared measurements in clear-sky conditions. This technique is based upon generalized linear inverse theory and empirical orthogonal function analysis. Utilizing the NCEP global temperature reanalysis data in January and July from 1999 to 2003, the retrievabilities obtained with the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder （AIRS） and the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder/3 （HIRS/3） sounding channel data are derived respectively for each standard pressure level on a global scale. As an incidental result of this study, the optimum truncation number in the method of generalized linear inverse is deduced too. The results show that the retrievabilities of temperature obtained with the two datasets are similar in spatial distribution and seasonal change characteristics. As for the vertical distribution, the retrievabilities are low in the upper and lower atmosphere, and high between 400 hPa and 850 hPa. For the geographical distribution, the retrievabilities are low in the low-latitude oceanic regions and in some regions in Antarctica, and relatively high in mid-high latitudes and continental regions. Compared with the HIRS/3 data, the retrievability obtained with the AIRS data can be improved by an amount between 0.15 and 0.40.

Missing Data Imputations for Upper Air Temperature at 24 Standard Pressure Levels over Pakistan Collected from Aqua Satellite

This research was an effort to select best imputation method for missing upper air temperature data over 24 standard pressure levels. We have implemented four imputation techniques like inverse distance weighting, Bilinear, Natural and Nearest interpolation for missing data imputations. Performance indicators for these techniques were the root mean square error (RMSE), absolute mean error (AME), correlation coefficient and coefficient of determination ( R2 ) adopted in this research. We randomly make 30% of total samples (total samples was 324) predictable from 70% remaining data. Although four interpolation methods seem good (producing <1 RMSE, AME) for imputations of air temperature data, but bilinear method was the most accurate with least errors for missing data imputations. RMSE for bilinear method remains <0.01 on all pressure levels except 1000 hPa where this value was 0.6. The low value of AME (<0.1) came at all pressure levels through bilinear imputations. Very strong correlation (>0.99) found between actual and predicted air temperature data through this method. The high value of the coefficient of determination (0.99) through bilinear interpolation method, tells us best fit to the surface. We have also found similar results for imputation with natural interpolation method in this research, but after investigating scatter plots over each month, imputations with this method seem to little obtuse in certain months than bilinear method.

Evaluating the contribution of satellite measurements to the reconstruction of three-dimensional ocean temperature fields in combination with Argo profiles

Assimilation systems absorb both satellite measurements and Argo observations.This assimilation is essential to diagnose and evaluate the contribution from each type of data to the reconstructed analysis,allowing for better configuration of assimilation parameters.To achieve this,two comparative reconstruction schemes were designed under the optimal interpolation framework.Using a static scheme,an in situ-only field of ocean temperature was derived by correcting climatology with only Argo profiles.Through a dynamic scheme,a synthetic field was first derived from only satellite sea surface height and sea surface temperature measurements through vertical projection,and then a combined field was reconstructed by correcting the synthetic field with in situ profiles.For both schemes,a diagnostic iterative method was performed to optimize the background and observation error covariance statics.The root mean square difference(RMSD)of the in situ-only field,synthetic field and combined field were analyzed toward assimilated observations and independent observations,respectively.The rationale behind the distribution of RMSD was discussed using the following diagnostics:(1)The synthetic field has a smaller RMSD within the global mixed layer and extratropical deep waters,as in the Northwest Pacific Ocean;this is controlled by the explained variance of the vertical surface-underwater regression that reflects the ocean upper mixing and interior baroclinicity.(2)The in situ-only field has a smaller RMSD in the tropical upper layer and at midlatitudes;this is determined by the actual noise-to-signal ratio of ocean temperature.(3)The satellite observations make a more significant contribution to the analysis toward independent observations in the extratropics;this is determined by both the geographical feature of the synthetic field RMSD(smaller at depth in the extratropics)and that of the covariance correlation scales(smaller in the extratropics).

Estimation of Land Surface Temperature from Landsat-8 OLI Thermal Infrared Satellite Data. A Comparative Analysis of Two Cities in Ghana

This study employs Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) thermal infrared satellite data to compare land surface temperature of two cities in Ghana: Accra and Kumasi. These cities have human populations above 2 million and the corresponding anthropogenic impact on their environments significantly. Images were acquired with minimum cloud cover (<10%) from both dry and rainy seasons between December to August. Image preprocessing and rectification using ArcGIS 10.8 software were used. The shapefiles of Accra and Kumasi were used to extract from the full scenes to subset the study area. Thermal band data numbers were converted to Top of Atmospheric Spectral Radiance using radiance rescaling factors. To determine the density of green on a patch of land, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was calculated by using red and near-infrared bands i.e. Band 4 and Band 5. Land surface emissivity (LSE) was also calculated to determine the efficiency of transmitting thermal energy across the surface into the atmosphere. Results of the study show variation of temperatures between different locations in two urban areas. The study found Accra to have experienced higher and lower dry season and wet season temperatures, respectively. The temperature ranges corresponding to the dry and wet seasons were found to be 21.0985oC to 46.1314oC, and, 18.3437oC to 30.9693oC respectively. Results of Kumasi also show a higher range of temperatures from 32.6986oC to 19.1077oC during the dry season. In the wet season, temperatures ranged from 26.4142oC to -0.898728oC. Among the reasons for the cities of Accra and Kumasi recorded higher than corresponding rural areas’ values can be attributed to the urban heat islands’ phenomenon.

The Study of In-Orbit Calibration Accuracy of NOAA Satellite Infrared Sounder and Its Effect on Temperature Profile Retrievals

The calibration accuracy of High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder Mod. 2 (HIRS / 2) on NOAA-10 satellite is analyzed in this paper. The non-linear effect in the linear calibration curve induces a deviation of 1.5 degrees (k) of brightness temperature in the tenth channel (8.3 um, water vapor absorption) of the HIRS/2 and the non-linear effect affects the other channels to a different extent. Based on analyzing non- linearity in two-point calibration curve, a tri-point calibration equation is given. A numerical test of effects of the linear and non-linear calibration models on the accuracy of atmospheric temperature retrievals is carried out.

A Three-Dimensional Satellite Retrieval Method for Atmospheric Temperature and Moisture Profiles

A three-dimensional variational method is proposed to simultaneously retrieve the 3-D atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles from satellite radiance measurements. To include both vertical structure and the horizontal patterns of the atmospheric temperature and moisture, an EOF technique is used to decompose the temperature and moisture field in a 3-D space. A number of numerical simulations are conducted and they demonstrate that the 3-D method is less sensitive to the observation errors compared to the 1-D method. When the observation error is more than 2.0 K, to get the best results, the truncation number for the EOF＇s expansion have to be restricted to 2 in the 1-D method, while it can be set as large as 40 in a 3-D method. This results in the truncation error being reduced and the retrieval accuracy being improved in the 3-D method. Compared to the 1-D method, the rms errors of the 3-D method are reduced by 48% and 36% for the temperature and moisture retrievals, respectively. Using the real satellite measured brightness temperatures at 0557 UTC 31 July 2002, the temperature and moisture profiles are retrieved over a region （20°-45°N, 100°- 125°E） and compared with 37 collocated radiosonde observations. The results show that the retrieval accuracy with a 3-D method is significantly higher than those with the 1-D method.

Estimation of Land Surface Temperature of Yola, North Eastern Nigeria Using Landsat-7 ETM+ Satellite Image

The land surface temperature of Yola (latitude 9&deg11'N to 9&deg20'N and longitude 12&deg23'E to 12&deg33'E) North-eastern Nigeria was estimated using landsat-7 ETM+ satellite images. ENVI 4.5 software, and Thermal band 6.2 were used for the estimation, land surface temperature, from Landsat-7 ETM+ imagery sensors acquired as a digital number (DN) range from 0 - 255 in thermal band. DNs were first converted to radiance values in Wm-2·sr-1·μm-1, using the bias and gain values specific to an individual pixel, then the radiance was converted eventually to surface temperature (in Kelvin). The results indicate that there is a significant variation in land surface temperature between the two different seasons in Yola. The mean surface temperatures estimated are 307.9 K and 298.1 K during the dry and rainy seasons respectively. The result obtained was compared with data obtained from Meteorological Department. The estimated land surface temperature showed a good correlation, with a difference of 2 K to 3 K.

Vegetation Cover Density and Land Surface Temperature Interrelationship Using Satellite Data, Case Study of Wadi Bisha, South KSA

The aim of this study is to identify the relationship between Vegetation Cover (VC) and the land Surface Temperature (LST), using satellite data of Wadi Bisha, south the Kingdome of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The Landsat 7 Thematic Mapper (ETM) thermal band (band 6) was used for calculating the (LST) values. The near-infrared (NIR) and red band (bands 3 and 4 respectively) were used for estimating the vegetation cover. ERDAS Imagine 9.3 and ArcGIS 10.2 were used in the current study. The results of the study show that the increase of vegetation cover (VC) coincides with decrease of (LST), while the decrease in vegetation cover is linked with increase of (LST). It was found that there was no vegetation observed in areas practiced the highest temperature of 49℃, while areas of lowest temperature of 28℃ were characterized by dense vegetation cover. Thus, a quite significant correlation is approved between the (VC) and the (LST), based on the validation of (50) locations. It was concluded that availability and continuity of Satellite remote sensing data was required for elaborating a continuous monitoring of vegetation cover conditions and mapping was recommended in Wadi Bisha. Operational monitoring is recommended to ensure the adoption of flexible land cover validation protocols.

SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING OF SEA-ICE AND SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Sea-ice and Sea Surface Temperature in offshore seas are important terms for operational monitoring and forecasting marine environment in China. The software system of regional marine environmental application designed by author is used for realtime operational monitoring sea-ice, SST, oceanic current and colours and characters of land surface. This software system processes quantitative AVHRR data from NOAA satellite to calculate calibration coefficient, solar angle correction, earth location parameter and atmospheric attenuation correction, then SST field will be produced through calculation using special SST model, and top-quality of colour composite imagery of satellite with variable spacial resolution (1, 2 or 5km) will be produced via image processing. Inside front covor Figure 1 is colour enhanced imagery with 5km resolution of NOAA satellite in offshore

Study of High-Temperature Superconductor Diplexers for Satellite Communications

The high-temperature superconductor （HTSC） resonator and diplexer are simulated by full-wave tools. A newly developed miniature HTSC diplexer is designed and fabricated on double sided YBa2Cu3O7 （YBCO） film （YBCO/LaAlO3/YBCO）, the thickness of which is 400 nm for YBCO and 0.5 mm for the LaAlO3. The measured results show a good agreement with the simulation. The volume and mass of the diplexers are greatly reduced by miniaturized configuration.

GYRO BIAS ON-ORBIT CALIBRATION FOR MICRO SATELLITES

According to gyro application in micro-satellites, a new gyro bias real-time on-orbit calibration technology is presented and it is independent of any other sensors. The approach relies on gyro on-orbit measurements restricted by satellite attitude dynamics and estimates the gyro bias generated when the gyro is electrified. Observability of the calibration model is analyzed and applicable conditions of the technology are derived. Simulation results indicate that the calibration algorithm is accurate and robust at gyro sampling rate, and its convergence speed is fast. Within the given attitude dynamics model error, the convergence time is less than 100 s and the convergence accuracy is about 1.0 （°）/h. Calibration performance can meet requirements of spacecraft operations.

On-orbit target tracking and inspection by satellite formation

A new type of estimator is developed for the satellite formation to track and inspect on-orbit targets. The follower satellite in the formation works without relative sensors, and its target pointing commands are derived based on relative orbital dynamics. The centralized estimator based on truth measurement is designed, however, this estimator is proved unstable because of the lack of necessary measurement information. After that, an alternative estimator based on pseudo measurement is designed, and its observability and controllability are analyzed to qualitatively evaluate the convergence performance. Finally, an on-orbit target inspection scenario is numerically simulated to verify the performance of the estimator based on pseudo measurement.

On-orbit Geometric Calibration of Linear Push-broom Optical Satellite Based on Sparse GCPs

The paper presents a geometric calibration method based on the sparse ground control points (GCPs), aiming to the linear push-broom optical satellite. This method can achieve the optimal estimate of internal and external parameters with two overlapped image pair along the charge-coupled device (CCD), and sparse GCPs in the image region, further get rid of the dependence on the expensive calibration site data. With the calibrated parameters, the line of sight (LOS) of all CCD detectors can be recovered. This paper firstly establishes the rigorous imaging model of linear push-broom optical satellite based on its imaging mechanism. And then the calibration model is constructed by improving the internal sensor model with a viewing-angle model after an analysis on systematic errors existing in the imaging model is performed. A step-wise solution is applied aiming to the optimal estimate of external and internal parameters. At last, we conduct a set of experiments on the ZY-3 NAD camera and verify the accuracy and effectiveness of the presented method by comparison.

On-orbit Geometric Calibration and Preliminary Accuracy Evaluation of GF-14 Satellite

GF-14 satellite is a new generation of sub-meter stereo surveying and mapping satellite in China,carrying dual-line array stereo mapping cameras to achieve 1∶10000 scale topographic mapping without Ground Control Points(GCPs).In fact,space-based high-precision mapping without GCPs is a challenging task that depends on the close cooperation of several payloads and links,of which on-orbit geometric calibration is one of the most critical links.In this paper,the on-orbit geometric calibration of the dual-line array cameras of GF-14 satellite was performed using the control points collected in the high-precision digital calibration field,and the calibration parameters of the dual-line array cameras were solved as a whole by alternate iterations of forward and backward intersection.On this basis,the location accuracy of the stereo images using the calibration parameters was preliminarily evaluated by using several test fields around the world.The evaluation result shows that the direct forward intersection accuracy of GF-14 satellite images without GCPs after on-orbit geometric calibration reaches 2.34 meters(RMS)in plane and 1.97 meters(RMS)in elevation.

Prediction of Petroleum Prospect in the South Yellow Sea Basin Using Satellite Remote Sensing

Using satellite remote sensing to measure the sea surface temperature of the East China Sea Shelf Basin can serve the purpose of predicting the petroleum prospect in the South Yellow Sea Basin. The satellite thermal infrared temperature anomaly area always repeats in the same position as the proved oil prospect area in the East China Sea Shelf Basin, and coincides well with both the CH4 content curve at the water-atmosphere interface and the seafloor geochemical anomaly. The sea surface temperature anomaly areas of the South Yellow Sea Basin in the satellite remote sensing image go banded along 123030, in the S-N direction, and naturally follow the aeromagnetically interpreted eastern nose-type uplift that shows a S-N strike. The north and south ends of the eastern nose are considered as good oil prospect areas because temperature anomaly often occurs there.

An operational satellite remote sensing system for ocean fishery

Ocean environmental information is very important to supporting the fishermen in fishing and satellite remote sensing technology can provide it in large scale and in near real-time. Ocean fishery locations are always far away beyond the coverage of the satellite data received by a land-based satellite receiving station. A nice idea is to install the satellite ground station on a fishing boat. When the boat moves to a fishery location, the station can receive the satellite data to cover the fishery areas. One satellite remote sensing system was once installed in a fishing boat and served fishing in the North Pacific fishery areas when the boat stayed there. The system can provide some oceanic environmental charts such as sea surface temperature (SST) and relevant derived products which are in most popular use in fishery industry. The accuracy of SST is the most important and affects the performance of the operational system, which is found to be dissatisfactory. Many factors affect the accuracy of SST and it is difficult to increase the accuracy by SST retrieval algorithms and clouds detection technology. A new technology of temperature error control is developed to detect the abnormity of satellite-measured SST. The performance of the technology is evaluated to change the temperature bias from -3.04 to 0.05 ℃ and the root mean square (RMS) from 5.71 to 1.75℃. It is suitable for employing in an operational satellite-measured SST system and improves the performance of the system in fishery applications. The system has been running for 3 a and proved to be very useful in fishing. It can help to locate the candidates of the fishery areas and monitor the typhoon which is very dangerous to the safety of fishing boats.

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 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.