Articles | Volume 15, issue 21
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6467-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6467-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
11 Nov 2022
Research article |
| 11 Nov 2022
| 11 Nov 2022
Quality control and error assessment of the Aeolus L2B wind results from the Joint Aeolus Tropical Atlantic Campaign
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
Benjamin Witschas
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
Alexander Geiß
Meteorological Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 80333 Munich, Germany
Christian Lemmerz
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
Fabian Weiler
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
Uwe Marksteiner
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
Stephan Rahm
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
Andreas Schäfler
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
Oliver Reitebuch
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen
82234, Germany
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This paper summarizes the identification and correction of one of the most important systematic error sources for the wind measurements of the ESA satellite Aeolus. It depicts the effects of small temperature variations in the primary telescope mirror on the quality of the wind products and describes the approach to correct for it in the near-real-time processing. Moreover, the performance of the correction approach is assessed, and alternative approaches are discussed.
Oliver Lux, Christian Lemmerz, Fabian Weiler, Thomas Kanitz, Denny Wernham, Gonçalo Rodrigues, Andrew Hyslop, Olivier Lecrenier, Phil McGoldrick, Frédéric Fabre, Paolo Bravetti, Tommaso Parrinello, and Oliver Reitebuch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6305–6333, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6305-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6305-2021, 2021
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The work assesses the frequency stability of the laser transmitters on board Aeolus and discusses its influence on the quality of the global wind data. Excellent frequency stability of the space lasers is evident, although enhanced frequency noise occurs at certain locations along the orbit due to micro-vibrations that are introduced by the satellite’s reaction wheels. The study elaborates on this finding and investigates the extent to which the enhanced frequency noise increases the wind error.
Fabian Weiler, Thomas Kanitz, Denny Wernham, Michael Rennie, Dorit Huber, Marc Schillinger, Olivier Saint-Pe, Ray Bell, Tommaso Parrinello, and Oliver Reitebuch
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Andreas Schäfler, Andreas Fix, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5217–5234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5217-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5217-2021, 2021
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Anne Martin, Martin Weissmann, Oliver Reitebuch, Michael Rennie, Alexander Geiß, and Alexander Cress
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2167–2183, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2167-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2167-2021, 2021
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This study provides an overview of validation activities to determine the Aeolus HLOS wind errors and to understand the biases by investigating possible dependencies and testing bias correction approaches. To ensure meaningful validation statistics, collocated radiosondes and two different global NWP models, the ECMWF IFS and the ICON model (DWD), are used as reference data. To achieve an estimate for the Aeolus instrumental error the representativeness errors for the comparisons are evaluated.
Sonja Gisinger, Johannes Wagner, and Benjamin Witschas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10091–10109, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10091-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10091-2020, 2020
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2381–2396, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2381-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2381-2020, 2020
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Matthias Wiegner, Alexander Geiß, Ina Mattis, Fred Meier, and Thomas Ruhtz
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-332, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-332, 2020
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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Oliver Lux, Christian Lemmerz, Fabian Weiler, Uwe Marksteiner, Benjamin Witschas, Stephan Rahm, Alexander Geiß, and Oliver Reitebuch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2075–2097, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2075-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2075-2020, 2020
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This work reports on the first airborne validation campaign of ESA’s Earth Explorer mission Aeolus, conducted in central Europe during the commissioning phase in November 2018. After presenting the methodology used to compare the data sets from the satellite, the airborne wind lidar and the ECWMF model, the wind results from the underflights performed are analyzed and discussed, providing a first assessment of the accuracy and precision of the preliminary Aeolus wind data.
Xiaochun Zhai, Uwe Marksteiner, Fabian Weiler, Christian Lemmerz, Oliver Lux, Benjamin Witschas, and Oliver Reitebuch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 445–465, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-445-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-445-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
An airborne prototype called A2D was developed for validating the Aeolus measurement principle based on realistic atmospheric signals. However, the atmospheric and instrumental variability currently limit the reliability and repeatability of the measured Rayleigh response calibration (MRRC), which is a prerequisite for accurate wind retrieval. A procedure for a simulated Rayleigh response calibration (SRRC) is developed and presented to resolve these limitations of the A2D Rayleigh channel MRRC.
Ka Lok Chan, Matthias Wiegner, Harald Flentje, Ina Mattis, Frank Wagner, Josef Gasteiger, and Alexander Geiß
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 3807–3831, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3807-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-3807-2018, 2018
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The paper presents the comparison of ECMWF-IFS model simulation of aerosol backscatter profiles to long-term measurements of an extended ceilometer network. A significant influence of the numerical description of the hygroscopic growth of sea salt aerosols on the agreement between model and observations was found. Consideration of the nonsphericity of dust particles in the model reduced the attenuated backscatter of dust by ~&thinp;30 % and improved the agreement between model and observations.
Oliver Lux, Christian Lemmerz, Fabian Weiler, Uwe Marksteiner, Benjamin Witschas, Stephan Rahm, Andreas Schäfler, and Oliver Reitebuch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3297–3322, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3297-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3297-2018, 2018
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This work reports airborne wind lidar observations performed in a recent field campaign. The deployed lidar system serves as a demonstrator for the satellite instrument ALADIN on board Aeolus, which is scheduled for launch in 2018 and will become the first wind lidar in space. After presenting the measurement principle, operation procedures and wind retrieval algorithm, the obtained wind results are validated and discussed, providing valuable information in preparation for the satellite mission.
Alexander Geiß, Matthias Wiegner, Boris Bonn, Klaus Schäfer, Renate Forkel, Erika von Schneidemesser, Christoph Münkel, Ka Lok Chan, and Rainer Nothard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2969–2988, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2969-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2969-2017, 2017
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Based on measurements with a ceilometer and from an air quality network, the relationship between the mixing layer height (MLH) and near surface concentrations of pollutants was investigated for summer 2014 in Berlin. It was found that the heterogeneity of the concentrations exceeds the differences due to different MLH retrievals. In particular for PM10 it seems to be unrealistic to find correlations between MLH and concentrations representative for an entire metropolitan area in flat terrain.
Benedikt Urbanek, Silke Groß, Andreas Schäfler, and Martin Wirth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1653–1664, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1653-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1653-2017, 2017
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Cirrus evolution from nucleation to cloud breakup can be investigated with a novel classification scheme based on airborne lidar data. Applying it to a case study from the ML-CIRRUS campaign, we investigate the impact of large-scale dynamics and small-scale gravity lee waves on the detailed spatial distribution of evolution stages in individual clouds. Our scheme may help to gain more insights in optical and radiative properties of cirrus under various formation and life cycle conditions.
Johannes Wagner, Andreas Dörnbrack, Markus Rapp, Sonja Gisinger, Benedikt Ehard, Martina Bramberger, Benjamin Witschas, Fernando Chouza, Stephan Rahm, Christian Mallaun, Gerd Baumgarten, and Peter Hoor
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4031–4052, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4031-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4031-2017, 2017
Manuel Gutleben, Silke Gross, Martin Wirth, and Andreas Schäfler
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-333, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2016-333, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
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Shallow marine cumulus convection over the Atlantic ocean is studied with observations by airborne and spaceborne lidar instruments. Cloud top height as well as cloud length and cloud gap length distributions are calculated by use of a newly developed algorithm. The distribution of cloud top heights during wintertime measurements shows a two-layer structure. However, significant differences in cloud top height distributions compared to summertime measurements are found.
Fernando Chouza, Oliver Reitebuch, Angela Benedetti, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 11581–11600, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11581-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11581-2016, 2016
Thomas Trickl, Hannes Vogelmann, Andreas Fix, Andreas Schäfler, Martin Wirth, Bertrand Calpini, Gilbert Levrat, Gonzague Romanens, Arnoud Apituley, Keith M. Wilson, Robert Begbie, Jens Reichardt, Holger Vömel, and Michael Sprenger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8791–8815, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8791-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8791-2016, 2016
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A rather homogeneous deep stratospheric intrusion event was mapped by vertical sounding over central Europe and by model calculations along the transport path. The very low minimum H2O mixing ratios demonstrate almost negligible mixing with tropospheric air during the downward transport. The vertical distributions of O3 and aerosol were transferred from the source region to Europe without major change. A rather shallow outflow from the stratosphere was found.
Fernando Chouza, Oliver Reitebuch, Michael Jähn, Stephan Rahm, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4675–4692, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4675-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4675-2016, 2016
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This study presents the analysis of island induced gravity waves observed by an airborne Doppler wind lidar (DWL). First, the instrumental corrections required for the retrieval vertical wind measurements from an airborne DWL are presented. Then, the method is applied to two case studies to determine, in combination with numerical models and in situ measurements, the main characteristics of the observed waves.
M. Jähn, D. Muñoz-Esparza, F. Chouza, O. Reitebuch, O. Knoth, M. Haarig, and A. Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 651–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-651-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-651-2016, 2016
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Large eddy simulations (LESs) are performed for the area of the Caribbean island Barbados to investigate island effects on boundary layer modification, cloud generation and vertical mixing of aerosols. Incoming Saharan dust layers are analyzed and effects of layer thinning, subsidence and turbulent downward transport become apparent, which are sensitive to atmospheric stability and wind shear. Comparisons of LES model output with lidar data systems are made to validate the modeling results.
S. Groß, V. Freudenthaler, K. Schepanski, C. Toledano, A. Schäfler, A. Ansmann, and B. Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11067–11080, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11067-2015, 2015
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In June and July 2013 dual-wavelength lidar measurements were performed in Barbados to study long-range transported Saharan dust across the Atlantic Ocean and investigate transport-induced changes. The focus of our measurements is the intensive optical properties, the lidar ratio and the particle linear depolarization ratio. While the lidar ratio shows no differences compared to the values of fresh Saharan dust, the particle linear depolarization ratio shows slight differences.
M. Rautenhaus, M. Kern, A. Schäfler, and R. Westermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2329–2353, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2329-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2329-2015, 2015
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This article presents "Met.3D", a new open-source tool for the interactive 3D visualization of numerical ensemble weather predictions. Met.3D builds a bridge from proven 2D visualization methods commonly used in meteorology to 3D visualization and implements approaches to using the ensemble to allow the user to assess forecast uncertainty. The article is the first part of a two-paper study discussing how 3D and ensemble visualization can be used in a meaningful way suited to weather forecasting.
M. Rautenhaus, C. M. Grams, A. Schäfler, and R. Westermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2355–2377, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2355-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2355-2015, 2015
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This article presents the application of interactive 3D visualization of ensemble
weather predictions to forecasting warm conveyor belt situations during aircraft-based atmospheric research campaigns. A method to predict 3D probabilities of the spatial occurrence of WCBs is developed and integrated into the 3D visualization tool "Met.3D", introduced in the first part of this two-paper study. A case study demonstrates the use of 3D and uncertainty visualization for weather forecasting.
F. Chouza, O. Reitebuch, S. Groß, S. Rahm, V. Freudenthaler, C. Toledano, and B. Weinzierl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2909–2926, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2909-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2909-2015, 2015
S. Groß, M. Wirth, A. Schäfler, A. Fix, S. Kaufmann, and C. Voigt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2745–2755, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2745-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2745-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Subject: Others (Wind, Precipitation, Temperature, etc.) | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Scale separation for gravity wave analysis from 3D temperature observations in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region
Estimating the refractivity bias of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation in the deep troposphere
High Spectral Resolution Lidar – generation 2 (HSRL-2) retrievals of ocean surface wind speed: methodology and evaluation
Dual adaptive differential threshold method for automated detection of faint and strong echo features in radar observations of winter storms
Noise filtering options for conically scanning Doppler lidar measurements with low pulse accumulation
Measuring rainfall using microwave links: the influence of temporal sampling
Drone-based photogrammetry combined with deep learning to estimate hail size distributions and melting of hail on the ground
The High lAtitude sNowfall Detection and Estimation aLgorithm for ATMS (HANDEL-ATMS): a new algorithm for snowfall retrieval at high latitudes
Next-generation radiance unfiltering process for the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System instrument
Improved rain event detection in commercial microwave link time series via combination with MSG SEVIRI data
A directional surface reflectance climatology determined from TROPOMI observations
Investigation of gravity waves using measurements from a sodium temperature/wind lidar operated in multi-direction mode
An improved BRDF hotspot model and its use in VLIDORT for studying the impact of atmospheric scattering on hotspot directional signatures in the atmosphere
A multi-decadal time series of upper stratospheric temperature profiles from Odin-OSIRIS limb-scattered spectra
CALOTRITON: a convective boundary layer height estimation algorithm from ultra-high-frequency (UHF) wind profiler data
Enhancing consistency of microphysical properties of precipitation across the melting layer in dual-frequency precipitation radar data
On the temperature stability requirements of free-running Nd:YAG lasers for atmospheric temperature profiling through the rotational Raman technique
A New Non-linearity Correction Method for Spectrum from GIIRS onboard Fengyun-4 Satellites and its Preliminary Assessments
Profiling the molecular destruction rates of temperature and humidity as well as the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation in the convective boundary layer
Improving the Gaussianity of Radar Reflectivity Departures between Observations and Simulations by Using the Symmetric Rain Rate
Forward operator for polarimetric radio occultation measurements
Variance estimations in the presence of intermittent interferences and their applications to incoherent scatter radar signal processing
Assessing atmospheric gravity wave spectra in the presence of observational gaps
Determination of High-Precision Tropospheric Delays Using Crowdsourced Smartphone GNSS Data
Joint 1DVar retrievals of tropospheric temperature and water vapor from Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation (GNSS-RO) and microwave radiometer observations
Sensitivity of thermodynamic profiles retrieved from ground-based microwave and infrared observations to additional input data from active remote sensing instruments and numerical weather prediction models
Mispointing characterization and Doppler velocity correction for the conically scanning WIVERN Doppler radar
Radar and environment-based hail damage estimates using machine learning
A new power-law model for μ–Λ relationships in convective and stratiform rainfall
Global Sensitivity Analysis of simulated polarimetric remote sensing observations over snow
A clustering-based method for identifying and tracking squall line
Suppression of precipitation bias in wind velocities from continuous-wave Doppler lidars
A multi-instrument fuzzy logic boundary-layer top detection algorithm
Difference spectrum fitting of the ion–neutral collision frequency from dual-frequency EISCAT measurements
Performance evaluation of three bio-optical models in aerosol and ocean color joint retrievals
Limitations in Wavelet Analysis of Non-Stationary Atmospheric Gravity Wave Signatures in Temperature Profiles
Observation of horizontal temperature variations by a spatial heterodyne interferometer using single-sided interferograms
Version 8 IMK–IAA MIPAS temperatures from 12–15 µm spectra: Middle and Upper Atmosphere modes
GNSS radio occultation excess-phase processing for climate applications including uncertainty estimation
Impact analysis of processing strategies for long-term GPS zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD)
Irradiance and cloud optical properties from solar photovoltaic systems
Single field-of-view sounder atmospheric product retrieval algorithm: establishing radiometric consistency for hyper-spectral sounder retrievals
Higher-order calibration on WindRAD (Wind Radar) scatterometer winds
On the polarimetric backscatter by a still or quasi-still wind turbine
OH airglow observations with two identical spectrometers: benefits of increased data homogeneity in the identification of variations induced by the 11-year solar cycle, the QBO, and other factors
Broadband radiative quantities for the EarthCARE mission: the ACM-COM and ACM-RT products
Long-term multi-source precipitation estimation with high resolution (RainGRS Clim)
Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations
Unfiltering of the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR) observations: the BM–RAD product
Using optimal estimation to retrieve winds from velocity-azimuth display (VAD) scans by a Doppler lidar
Björn Linder, Peter Preusse, Qiuyu Chen, Ole Martin Christensen, Lukas Krasauskas, Linda Megner, Manfred Ern, and Jörg Gumbel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3829–3841, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3829-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3829-2024, 2024
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The Swedish research satellite MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) is designed to study atmospheric waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. These waves perturb the temperature field, and thus, by observing three-dimensional temperature fluctuations, their properties can be quantified. This pre-study uses synthetic MATS data generated from a general circulation model to investigate how well wave properties can be retrieved.
Gia Huan Pham, Shu-Chih Yang, Chih-Chien Chang, Shu-Ya Chen, and Cheng Yung Huang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3605–3623, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3605-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3605-2024, 2024
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This research examines the characteristics of low-level GNSS radio occultation (RO) refractivity bias over ocean and land and its dependency on the RO retrieval uncertainty, atmospheric temperature, and moisture. We propose methods for estimating the region-dependent refractivity bias. Our methods can be applied to calibrate the refractivity bias under different atmospheric conditions and thus improve the applications of the GNSS RO data in the deep troposphere.
Sanja Dmitrovic, Johnathan W. Hair, Brian L. Collister, Ewan Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Yongxiang Hu, John A. Reagan, Claire E. Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, Taylor J. Shingler, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Holger Vömel, Xubin Zeng, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3515–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, 2024
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This study introduces and evaluates a new ocean surface wind speed product from the NASA Langley Research Center (LARC) airborne High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar – Generation 2 (HSRL-2) during the NASA ACTIVATE mission. We show that HSRL-2 surface wind speed data are accurate when compared to ground-truth dropsonde measurements. Therefore, the HSRL-2 instrument is able obtain accurate, high-resolution surface wind speed data in airborne field campaigns.
Laura M. Tomkins, Sandra E. Yuter, and Matthew A. Miller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3377–3399, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3377-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3377-2024, 2024
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We have created a new method to better identify enhanced features in radar data from winter storms. Unlike the clear-cut features seen in warm-season storms, features in winter storms are often fuzzier with softer edges. Our technique is unique because it uses two adaptive thresholds that change based on the background radar values. It can identify both strong and subtle features in the radar data and takes into account uncertainties in the detection process.
Eileen Päschke and Carola Detring
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3187–3217, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3187-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3187-2024, 2024
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Little noise in radial velocity Doppler lidar measurements can contribute to large errors in retrieved turbulence variables. In order to distinguish between plausible and erroneous measurements we developed new filter techniques that work independently of the choice of a specific threshold for the signal-to-noise ratio. The performance of these techniques is discussed both by means of assessing the filter results and by comparing retrieved turbulence variables versus independent measurements.
Luuk D. van der Valk, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, Aart Overeem, Bas Walraven, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2811–2832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, 2024
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Microwave links, often part of mobile phone networks, can be used to measure rainfall along the link path by determining the signal loss caused by rainfall. We use high-frequency data of multiple microwave links to recreate commonly used sampling strategies. For time intervals up to 1 min, the influence of sampling strategies on estimated rainfall intensities is relatively little, while for intervals longer than 5–15 min, the sampling strategy can have significant influences on the estimates.
Martin Lainer, Killian P. Brennan, Alessandro Hering, Jérôme Kopp, Samuel Monhart, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Urs Germann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2539–2557, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, 2024
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This study uses deep learning (the Mask R-CNN model) on drone-based photogrammetric data of hail on the ground to estimate hail size distributions (HSDs). Traditional hail sensors' limited areas complicate the full HSD retrieval. The HSD of a supercell event on 20 June 2021 is retrieved and contains > 18 000 hailstones. The HSD is compared to automatic hail sensor measurements and those of weather-radar-based MESHS. Investigations into ground hail melting are performed by five drone flights.
Andrea Camplani, Daniele Casella, Paolo Sanò, and Giulia Panegrossi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2195–2217, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2195-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2195-2024, 2024
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The paper describes a new machine-learning-based snowfall retrieval algorithm for Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder observations developed to retrieve high-latitude snowfall events. The main novelty of the approach is the radiometric characterization of the background surface at the time of the overpass, which is ancillary to the retrieval process. The algorithm shows a unique capability to retrieve snowfall in the environmental conditions typical of high latitudes.
Lusheng Liang, Wenying Su, Sergio Sejas, Zachary Eitzen, and Norman G. Loeb
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2147–2163, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2147-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2147-2024, 2024
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This paper describes an updated process to obtain unfiltered radiation from CERES satellite instruments by incorporating the most recent developments in radiative transfer modeling and ancillary input datasets (e.g., realistic representation of land surface radiation and climatology of surface temperatures and aerosols) during the past 20 years. The resulting global mean of instantaneous SW and LW fluxes is changed by less than 0.5 W m−2 with regional differences as large as 2.0 W m−2.
Maximilian Graf, Andreas Wagner, Julius Polz, Llorenç Lliso, José Alberto Lahuerta, Harald Kunstmann, and Christian Chwala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2165–2182, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2165-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2165-2024, 2024
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Commercial microwave links (CMLs) can be used for rainfall retrieval. The detection of rainy periods in their attenuation time series is a crucial processing step. We investigate the usage of rainfall data from MSG SEVIRI for this task, compare this approach with existing methods, and introduce a novel combined approach. The results show certain advantages for SEVIRI-based methods, particularly for CMLs where existing methods perform poorly. Our novel combination yields the best performance.
Lieuwe G. Tilstra, Martin de Graaf, Victor J. H. Trees, Pavel Litvinov, Oleg Dubovik, and Piet Stammes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2235–2256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2235-2024, 2024
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This paper introduces a new surface albedo climatology of directionally dependent Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (DLER) observed by TROPOMI on the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. The database contains monthly fields of DLER for 21 wavelength bands at a relatively high spatial resolution of 0.125 by 0.125 degrees. The anisotropy of the surface reflection is handled by parameterisation of the viewing angle dependence.
Bing Cao and Alan Z. Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2123–2146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2123-2024, 2024
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A narrow-band sodium lidar measures atmospheric waves but is limited to vertical variations. We propose to utilize phase shifts among observations from different laser beams to derive horizontal wave information. Two gravity wave packets were identified by this method. Both waves were found to interact with thin evanescent layers, partially reflected, but transmitted energy to higher altitudes. The method can detect more medium-frequency gravity waves for similar lidar systems worldwide.
Xiaozhen Xiong, Xu Liu, Robert Spurr, Ming Zhao, Qiguang Yang, Wan Wu, and Liqiao Lei
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1965–1978, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1965-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1965-2024, 2024
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The term “hotspot” refers to the sharp increase in reflectance occurring when incident (solar) and reflected (viewing) directions coincide in the backscatter direction. The accurate simulation of hotspot directional signatures is important for many remote sensing applications, but current models typically require large values of computations to represent the hotspot accurately. This paper provides a numerically improved hotspot BRDF model that converges much faster and is used in VLIDORT.
Daniel Zawada, Kimberlee Dubé, Taran Warnock, Adam Bourassa, Susann Tegtmeier, and Douglas Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1995–2010, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1995-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1995-2024, 2024
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There remain large uncertainties in long-term changes of stratospheric–atmospheric temperatures. We have produced a time series of more than 20 years of satellite-based temperature measurements from the OSIRIS instrument in the upper–middle stratosphere. The dataset is publicly available and intended to be used for a better understanding of changes in stratospheric temperatures.
Alban Philibert, Marie Lothon, Julien Amestoy, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Solène Derrien, Yannick Bezombes, Bernard Campistron, Fabienne Lohou, Antoine Vial, Guylaine Canut-Rocafort, Joachim Reuder, and Jennifer K. Brooke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1679–1701, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1679-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1679-2024, 2024
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We present a new algorithm, CALOTRITON, for the retrieval of the convective boundary layer depth with ultra-high-frequency radar measurements. CALOTRITON is partly based on the principle that the top of the convective boundary layer is associated with an inversion and a decrease in turbulence. It is evaluated using ceilometer and radiosonde data. It is able to qualify the complexity of the vertical structure of the low troposphere and detect internal or residual layers.
Kamil Mroz, Alessandro Battaglia, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1577–1597, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, 2024
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In this study, we examine the extent to which radar measurements from space can inform us about the properties of clouds and precipitation. Surprisingly, our analysis showed that the amount of ice turning into rain was lower than expected in the current product. To improve on this, we came up with a new way to extract information about the size and concentration of particles from radar data. As long as we use this method in the right conditions, we can even estimate how dense the ice is.
José Alex Zenteno-Hernández, Adolfo Comerón, Federico Dios, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Michaël Sicard, Noemi Franco, Andreas Behrendt, and Paolo Di Girolamo
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-32, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-32, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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We study how the spectral characteristics of a solid-state laser in an atmospheric temperature profiling lidar using the Raman technique impact the temperature retrieval accuracy. We find that the spectral widening, with respect to a seeded laser, has virtually no impact, while crystal-rod temperature variations in the laser must be kept within 1 K for the uncertainty in the atmospheric temperature be kept below 1 K. The study is carried out through spectroscopy simulations.
Qiang Guo, Yuning Liu, Xin Wang, and Wen Hui
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-242, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-242, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Non-linearity (NL) correction is a critical procedure to guarantee the calibration accuracy of a spaceborne sensor to approach a good level. Different from the classical NL correction method, a new NL correction method for a spaceborne Fourier transform spectrometer is proposed. To overcome the inaccurate linear coefficient from two-point calibration influencing the NL correction, an iteration algorithm is established which is suitable for NL correction of both infrared and microwave sensors.
Volker Wulfmeyer, Christoph Senff, Florian Späth, Andreas Behrendt, Diego Lange, Robert M. Banta, W. Alan Brewer, Andreas Wieser, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1175–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, 2024
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A simultaneous deployment of Doppler, temperature, and water-vapor lidar systems is used to provide profiles of molecular destruction rates and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation in the convective boundary layer (CBL). The results can be used for the parameterization of turbulent variables, TKE budget analyses, and the verification of weather forecast and climate models.
Yudong Gao, Lidou Huyan, Zheng Wu, and Bojun Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-15, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-15, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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This study uses the rain rate data to build the symmetric error model for radar reflectivity. The result shows the symmetric error model can improve the Gaussianity of radar reflectivity error, which is more consistent with most current data assimilation algorithms.
Daisuke Hotta, Katrin Lonitz, and Sean Healy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1075–1089, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1075-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1075-2024, 2024
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Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) is a new type of GNSS observations that can detect heavy precipitation along the ray path between the emitter and receiver satellites. As a first step towards using these observations in numerical weather prediction (NWP), we developed a computer code that simulates GNSS-PRO observations from forecast fields produced by an NWP model. The quality of the developed simulator is evaluated with a number of case studies.
Qihou Zhou, Yanlin Li, and Yun Gong
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-256, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-256, 2024
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We discuss several robust estimators to compute the variance of a normally distributed random variable to deal with interferences. Compared to the rank-based estimators, the methods based on the geometric mean are more accurate and are computationally more efficient. We apply three robust estimators to incoherent scatter power and velocity processing along with the traditional sample mean estimator. The best estimator is a hybrid estimator that combines the sample mean and a robust estimator.
Mohamed Mossad, Irina Strelnikova, Robin Wing, and Gerd Baumgarten
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 783–799, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-783-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-783-2024, 2024
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This numerical study addresses observational gaps' impact on atmospheric gravity wave spectra. Three methods, fast Fourier transform (FFT), generalized Lomb–Scargle periodogram (GLS), and Haar structure function (HSF), were tested on synthetic data. HSF is best for spectra with negative slopes. GLS excels for flat and positive slopes and identifying dominant frequencies. Accurately estimating these aspects is crucial for understanding gravity wave dynamics and energy transfer in the atmosphere.
Yuanxin Pan, Grzegorz Kłopotek, Laura Crocetti, Rudi Weinacker, Tobias Sturn, Linda See, Galina Dick, Gregor Möller, Markus Rothacher, Ian McCallum, Vicente Navarro, and Benedikt Soja
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-66, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-66, 2024
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The crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data were processed with a dedicated data processing pipeline and could produce mm-level accurate estimates of Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) – a critical atmospheric variable. This breakthrough not only demonstrates the feasibility of using ubiquitous devices for high-precision atmospheric monitoring but also underscores the potential for a global, cost-effective tropospheric monitoring network.
Kuo-Nung Wang, Chi O. Ao, Mary G. Morris, George A. Hajj, Marcin J. Kurowski, Francis J. Turk, and Angelyn W. Moore
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 583–599, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-583-2024, 2024
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In this article, we described a joint retrieval approach combining two techniques, RO and MWR, to obtain high vertical resolution and solve for temperature and moisture independently. The results show that the complicated structure in the lower troposphere can be better resolved with much smaller biases, and the RO+MWR combination is the most stable scenario in our sensitivity analysis. This approach is also applied to real data (COSMIC-2/Suomi-NPP) to show the promise of joint RO+MWR retrieval.
Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Ludovic Bariteau, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, Sergio Pezoa, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-263, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-263, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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The Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation physical retrieval is used to retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from various combinations of data collected by passive and active remote sensing instruments, surface platforms, and numerical weather prediction models. These retrieved profiles are assessed against collocated radiosonde profiles under non-cloudy conditions to assess the sensitivity of the TROPoe retrievals to different input combinations.
Filippo Emilio Scarsi, Alessandro Battaglia, Frederic Tridon, Paolo Martire, Ranvir Dhillon, and Anthony Illingworth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 499–514, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-499-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-499-2024, 2024
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The WIVERN mission, one of the two candidates to be the ESA's Earth Explorer 11 mission, aims at providing measurements of horizontal winds in cloud and precipitation systems through a conically scanning W-band Doppler radar. This work discusses four methods that can be used to characterize and correct the Doppler velocity error induced by the antenna mispointing. The proposed methodologies can be extended to other Doppler concepts featuring conically scanning or slant viewing Doppler systems.
Luis Ackermann, Joshua Soderholm, Alain Protat, Rhys Whitley, Lisa Ye, and Nina Ridder
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 407–422, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-407-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-407-2024, 2024
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The paper addresses the crucial topic of hail damage quantification using radar observations. We propose a new radar-derived hail product that utilizes a large dataset of insurance hail damage claims and radar observations. A deep neural network was employed, trained with local meteorological variables and the radar observations, to better quantify hail damage. Key meteorological variables were identified to have the most predictive capability in this regard.
Christos Gatidis, Marc Schleiss, and Christine Unal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 235–245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024, 2024
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A common method to retrieve important information about the microphysical structure of rain (DSD retrievals) requires a constrained relationship between the drop size distribution parameters. The most widely accepted empirical relationship is between μ and Λ. The relationship shows variability across the different types of rainfall (convective or stratiform). The new proposed power-law model to represent the μ–Λ relation provides a better physical interpretation of the relationship coefficients.
Gabriel Harris Myers, Nan Chen, and Matteo Ottaviani
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3023, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3023, 2024
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We analyze simulated polarization observations over snow, to investigate the capabilities of remote sensing to determine surface and atmospheric properties in snow-covered regions. Polarization measurements are demonstrated to aid in the determination of snow grain shape, ice crystal roughness, and the vertical distribution of impurities in the snow-atmosphere system, data critical to estimate snow albedo for use in climate models.
Zhao Shi, Yuxiang Wen, and Jianxing He
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-216, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-216, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Squall line is a type of convective system. Squall lines are often associated with damaging weather, so the Identifying and tracking of squall lines plays an important role in early meteorological disaster warnings. A clustering-based method is proposed in this article. It can identify the squall lines in radar scanning range with a accuracy rate of 95.93 %. It can also provide the three-dimensional structure and movement tracking result of each squall lines.
Liqin Jin, Jakob Mann, Nikolas Angelou, and Mikael Sjöholm
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6007–6023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6007-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6007-2023, 2023
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By sampling the spectra from continuous-wave Doppler lidars very fast, the rain-induced Doppler signal can be suppressed and the bias in the wind velocity estimation can be reduced. The method normalizes 3 kHz spectra by their peak values before averaging them down to 50 Hz. Over 3 h, we observe a significant reduction in the bias of the lidar data relative to the reference sonic data when the largest lidar focus distance is used. The more it rains, the more the bias is reduced.
Elizabeth N. Smith and Jacob T. Carlin
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2050, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2050, 2023
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Boundary-layer height observations remain sparse in time and space. In this study we create a new fuzzy-logic method for synergistically combining boundary-layer height estimates from a suite of instruments. These estimates generally compare well to those from radiosondes, plus the approach offers near-continuous estimates through the entire diurnal cycle. Suspected reasons for discrepancies are discussed. The code for the newly presented fuzzy logic method is provided for the community to use.
Florian Günzkofer, Gunter Stober, Dimitry Pokhotelov, Yasunobu Miyoshi, and Claudia Borries
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5897–5907, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5897-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5897-2023, 2023
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Electric currents in the ionosphere can impact both satellite and ground-based infrastructure. These currents depend strongly on the collisions of ions and neutral particles. Measuring ion–neutral collisions is often only possible via certain assumptions. The direct measurement of ion–neutral collision frequencies is possible with multifrequency incoherent scatter radar measurements. This paper presents one analysis method of such measurements and discusses its advantages and disadvantages.
Neranga K. Hannadige, Peng-Wang Zhai, Meng Gao, Yongxiang Hu, P. Jeremy Werdell, Kirk Knobelspiesse, and Brian Cairns
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5749–5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, 2023
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We evaluated the impact of three ocean optical models with different numbers of free parameters on the performance of an aerosol and ocean color remote sensing algorithm using the multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) measurements. It was demonstrated that the three- and seven-parameter bio-optical models can be used to accurately represent both open and coastal waters, whereas the one-parameter model has smaller retrieval uncertainty over open water.
Robert Reichert, Natalie Kaifler, and Bernd Kaifler
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-240, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-240, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Imagine you want to determine how quickly the pitch of a passing ambulance’s siren changes. If the car is traveling slowly, the pitch changes only slightly, but if it is traveling fast, the pitch also changes rapidly. In a similar way, the wind in the middle atmosphere modulates the wavelength of atmospheric gravity waves. We have investigated the question of how strong the wind may be at maximum so that the change in wavelength can still be determined with the help the wavelet transformation.
Konstantin Ntokas, Jörn Ungermann, Martin Kaufmann, Tom Neubert, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5681–5696, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5681-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5681-2023, 2023
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A nanosatellite was developed to obtain 1-D vertical temperature profiles in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, which can be used to derive wave parameters needed for atmospheric models. A new processing method is shown, which allows one to extract two 1-D temperature profiles. The location of the two profiles is analyzed, as it is needed for deriving wave parameters. We show that this method is feasible, which however will increase the requirements of an accurate calibration and processing.
Maya García-Comas, Bernd Funke, Manuel López-Puertas, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Andrea Linden, Belén Martínez-Mondéjar, Gabriele P. Stiller, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5357–5386, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5357-2023, 2023
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We have released version 8 of MIPAS IMK–IAA temperatures and pointing information retrieved from MIPAS Middle and Upper Atmosphere mode version 8.03 calibrated spectra, covering 20–115 km altitude. We considered non-local thermodynamic equilibrium emission explicitly for each limb scan, essential to retrieve accurate temperatures above the mid-mesosphere. Comparisons of this temperature dataset with SABER measurements show excellent agreement, improving those of previous MIPAS versions.
Josef Innerkofler, Gottfried Kirchengast, Marc Schwärz, Christian Marquardt, and Yago Andres
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5217–5247, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5217-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5217-2023, 2023
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Atmosphere remote sensing using GNSS radio occultation provides a highly valuable basis for atmospheric and climate science. For the highest-quality demands, the Wegener Center set up a rigorous system for processing low-level measurement data. This excess-phase processing setup includes integrated quality control and uncertainty estimation. It was successfully evaluated and inter-compared, ensuring the capability of producing reliable long-term data records for climate applications.
Jingna Bai, Yidong Lou, Weixing Zhang, Yaozong Zhou, Zhenyi Zhang, Chuang Shi, and Jingnan Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5249–5259, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5249-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5249-2023, 2023
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Homogenized atmospheric water vapor data are an important prerequisite for climate analysis. Compared to other techniques, GPS has an inherent homogeneity advantage but requires reprocessing and homogenization to eliminate impacts of applied strategy and observation environmental changes. The low-elevation cut-off angles are suggested for the best estimates of zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) reprocessing time series when compared to homogenized radiosonde data or ERA5 reference time series.
James Barry, Stefanie Meilinger, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Anna Herman-Czezuch, Nicola Kimiaie, Christopher Schirrmeister, Rone Yousif, Tina Buchmann, Johannes Grabenstein, Hartwig Deneke, Jonas Witthuhn, Claudia Emde, Felix Gödde, Bernhard Mayer, Leonhard Scheck, Marion Schroedter-Homscheidt, Philipp Hofbauer, and Matthias Struck
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4975–5007, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4975-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4975-2023, 2023
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Measured power data from solar photovoltaic (PV) systems contain information about the state of the atmosphere. In this work, power data from PV systems in the Allgäu region in Germany were used to determine the solar irradiance at each location, using state-of-the-art simulation and modelling. The results were validated using concurrent measurements of the incoming solar radiation in each case. If applied on a wider scale, this algorithm could help improve weather and climate models.
Wan Wu, Xu Liu, Liqiao Lei, Xiaozhen Xiong, Qiguang Yang, Qing Yue, Daniel K. Zhou, and Allen M. Larar
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4807–4832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4807-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4807-2023, 2023
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We present a new operational physical retrieval algorithm that is used to retrieve atmospheric properties for each single field-of-view measurement of hyper-spectral IR sounders. The physical scheme includes a cloud-scattering calculation in its forward-simulation part. The data product generated using this algorithm has an advantage over traditional IR sounder data production algorithms in terms of improved spatial resolution and minimized error due to cloud contamination.
Zhen Li, Ad Stoffelen, Anton Verhoef, Zhixiong Wang, Jian Shang, and Honggang Yin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4769–4783, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4769-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4769-2023, 2023
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WindRAD (Wind Radar) is the first dual-frequency rotating fan-beam scatterometer in orbit. We observe non-linearity in the backscatter distribution. Therefore, higher-order calibration (HOC) is proposed, which removes the non-linearities per incidence angle. The combination of HOC and NOCant is discussed. It can remove not only the non-linearity but also the anomalous harmonic azimuth dependencies caused by the antenna rotation; hence the optimal winds can be achieved with this combination.
Marco Gabella, Martin Lainer, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Jacopo Grazioli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4409–4422, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4409-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4409-2023, 2023
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A still wind turbine observed with a fixed-pointing radar antenna has shown distinctive polarimetric signatures: the correlation coefficient between the two orthogonal polarization states was persistently equal to 1. The differential reflectivity and the radar reflectivity factors were also stable in time. Over 2 min (2000 Hz, 128 pulses were used; consequently, the sampling time was 64 ms), the standard deviation of the differential backscattering phase shift was only a few degrees.
Carsten Schmidt, Lisa Küchelbacher, Sabine Wüst, and Michael Bittner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4331–4356, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4331-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4331-2023, 2023
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Two identical instruments in a parallel setup were used to observe the mesospheric OH airglow for more than 10 years (2009–2020) at 47.42°N, 10.98°E. This allows unique analyses of data quality aspects and their impact on the obtained results. During solar cycle 24 the influence of the sun was strong (∼6 K per 100 sfu). A quasi-2-year oscillation (QBO) of ±1 K is observed mainly during the maximum of the solar cycle. Unlike the stratospheric QBO the variation has a period of or below 24 months.
Jason N. S. Cole, Howard W. Barker, Zhipeng Qu, Najda Villefranque, and Mark W. Shephard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4271–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023, 2023
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Measurements from the EarthCARE satellite mission will be used to retrieve profiles of cloud and aerosol properties. These retrievals are combined with auxiliary information about surface properties and atmospheric state, e.g., temperature and water vapor. This information allows computation of 1D and 3D solar and thermal radiative transfer for small domains, which are compared with coincident radiometer observations to continually assess EarthCARE retrievals.
Anna Jurczyk, Katarzyna Ośródka, Jan Szturc, Magdalena Pasierb, and Agnieszka Kurcz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4067–4079, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4067-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4067-2023, 2023
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A data-processing algorithm, RainGRS Clim, has been developed to work on precipitation accumulations such as daily or monthly totals. The algorithm makes the most of additional opportunities: access to high-quality data that are not operationally available and greater efficiency of the algorithms for data quality control and merging for longer accumulations. Monthly accumulations estimated by RainGRS Clim were found to be significantly more reliable than accumulations generated operationally.
Sophie Rosenburg, Charlotte Lange, Evelyn Jäkel, Michael Schäfer, André Ehrlich, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3915–3930, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023, 2023
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Snow layer melting and melt pond formation on Arctic sea ice are important seasonal processes affecting the surface reflection and energy budget. Sea ice reflectivity was surveyed by airborne imaging spectrometers in May–June 2017. Adapted retrieval approaches were applied to find snow layer liquid water fraction, snow grain effective radius, and melt pond depth. The retrievals show the potential and limitations of spectral airborne imaging to map melting snow layer and melt pond properties.
Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Edward Baudrez, Nicolas Clerbaux, and Carlos Domenech
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-170, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-170, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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The BBR measures shortwave and totalwave radiances filtered by the spectral response of the instrument. To obtain unfiltered solar and thermal radiances, it is needed to correct for the effect of the spectral response. This is done within the BM-RAD processor. Errors in the unfiltering are propagated into the fluxes, thus, an accurate unfiltering is required for a proper estimation of the fluxes (within BMA-FLX). Unfiltering errors are estimated to be <0.5 % for the SW and <0.1 % for the LW.
Sunil Baidar, Timothy J. Wagner, David D. Turner, and W. Alan Brewer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3715–3726, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3715-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3715-2023, 2023
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This paper provides a new method to retrieve wind profiles from coherent Doppler lidar (CDL) measurements. It takes advantage of layer-to-layer correlation in wind profiles to provide continuous profiles of up to 3 km by filling in the gaps where the CDL signal is too small to retrieve reliable results by itself. Comparison with the current method and collocated radiosonde wind measurements showed excellent agreement with no degradation in results where the current method gives valid results.
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Short summary
We discuss the influence of different quality control schemes on the results of Aeolus wind product validation and present statistical tools for ensuring consistency and comparability among diverse validation studies with regard to the specific error characteristics of the Rayleigh-clear and Mie-cloudy winds. The developed methods are applied for the validation of Aeolus winds against an ECMWF model background and airborne wind lidar data from the Joint Aeolus Tropical Atlantic Campaign.
We discuss the influence of different quality control schemes on the results of Aeolus wind...
