Articles | Volume 16, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
25 Sep 2023
Research article |
| 25 Sep 2023
| 25 Sep 2023
Broadband radiative quantities for the EarthCARE mission: the ACM-COM and ACM-RT products
Jason N. S. Cole
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
Howard W. Barker
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Victoria, ON, Canada
Zhipeng Qu
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
Najda Villefranque
Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, Météo France/CNRS, Toulouse, France
Mark W. Shephard
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON, Canada
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
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This study shows that an alternate snow cover fraction (SCF) parameterization significantly improves SCF simulated in the CLASSIC model in mountainous areas for all three choices of meteorological datasets. Annual mean bias, unbiased root mean squared area, and correlation improve by 75 %, 32 %, and 7 % when evaluated with MODIS SCF observations over the Northern Hemisphere. We also link relative biases in the meteorological forcing data to differences in simulated snow water equivalent and SCF.
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This paper describes how lightning was added as a process in the Canadian Earth System Model in order to interactively respond to climate changes. As lightning is an important cause of global wildfires, this new model development allows for more realistic projections of how wildfires may change in the future, responding to a changing climate.
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Measurements made by three instruments aboard EarthCARE are used to retrieve estimates of cloud and aerosol properties. A radiative closure assessment of these retrievals is performed by the ACMB-DF processor. Radiative transfer models acting on retrieved information produce broadband radiances commensurate with measurements made by EarthCARE’s broadband radiometer. Measured and modelled radiances for small domains are compared and the likelihood of them differing by 10 W/m2 defines the closure.
Shannon L. Mason, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Nicole Docter, David P. Donovan, Robin J. Hogan, Anja Hünerbein, Pavlos Kollias, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Zhipeng Qu, Ulla Wandinger, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 875–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, 2024
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When the EarthCARE mission enters its operational phase, many retrieval data products will be available, which will overlap both in terms of the measurements they use and the geophysical quantities they report. In this pre-launch study, we use simulated EarthCARE scenes to compare the coverage and performance of many data products from the European Space Agency production model, with the intention of better understanding the relation between products and providing a compact guide to users.
Michael Sigmond, James Anstey, Vivek Arora, Ruth Digby, Nathan Gillett, Viatcheslav Kharin, William Merryfield, Catherine Reader, John Scinocca, Neil Swart, John Virgin, Carsten Abraham, Jason Cole, Nicolas Lambert, Woo-Sung Lee, Yongxiao Liang, Elizaveta Malinina, Landon Rieger, Knut von Salzen, Christian Seiler, Clint Seinen, Andrew Shao, Reinel Sospedra-Alfonso, Libo Wang, and Duo Yang
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6553–6591, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6553-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6553-2023, 2023
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We present a new activity which aims to organize the analysis of biases in the Canadian Earth System model (CanESM) in a systematic manner. Results of this “Analysis for Development” (A4D) activity includes a new CanESM version, CanESM5.1, which features substantial improvements regarding the simulation of dust and stratospheric temperatures, a second CanESM5.1 variant with reduced climate sensitivity, and insights into potential avenues to reduce various other model biases.
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The EarthCARE satellite mission Level 2 algorithm development requires realistic 3D cloud and aerosol scenes along the satellite orbits. One of the best ways to produce these scenes is to use a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model to simulate atmospheric conditions at 250 m horizontal resolution. This paper describes the production and validation of three EarthCARE test scenes.
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The Canadian Atmospheric Model version 5 (CanAM5) is used to simulate on a global scale the climate of Earth's atmosphere, land, and lakes. We document changes to the physics in CanAM5 since the last major version of the model (CanAM4) and evaluate the climate simulated relative to observations and CanAM4. The climate simulated by CanAM5 is similar to CanAM4, but there are improvements, including better simulation of temperature and precipitation over the Amazon and better simulation of cloud.
Zhipeng Qu, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, and Mark W. Shephard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2319–2331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, 2023
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This paper describes EarthCARE’s L2 product ACM-3D. It includes the scene construction algorithm (SCA) used to produce the indexes for reconstructing 3D atmospheric scene based on satellite nadir retrievals. It also provides the information about the buffer zone sizes of 3D assessment domains and the ranking scores for selecting the best 3D assessment domains. These output variables are needed to run 3D radiative transfer models for the radiative closure assessment of EarthCARE’s L2 retrievals.
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
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Surface NO2 concentrations are obtained across North America using satellite data and machine learning, and compared to traditional approaches to determine surface NO2 from satellite observations.
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This study shows that an alternate snow cover fraction (SCF) parameterization significantly improves SCF simulated in the CLASSIC model in mountainous areas for all three choices of meteorological datasets. Annual mean bias, unbiased root mean squared area, and correlation improve by 75 %, 32 %, and 7 % when evaluated with MODIS SCF observations over the Northern Hemisphere. We also link relative biases in the meteorological forcing data to differences in simulated snow water equivalent and SCF.
Paul A. Makar, Philip Cheung, Christian Hogrefe, Ayodeji Akingunola, Ummugulsum Alyuz, Jesse O. Bash, Michael D. Bell, Roberto Bellasio, Roberto Bianconi, Tim Butler, Hazel Cathcart, Olivia E. Clifton, Alma Hodzic, Ioannis Kioutsioukis, Richard Kranenburg, Aurelia Lupascu, Jason A. Lynch, Kester Momoh, Juan L. Perez-Camanyo, Jonathan Pleim, Young-Hee Ryu, Roberto San Jose, Donna Schwede, Thomas Scheuschner, Mark W. Shephard, Ranjeet S. Sokhi, and Stefano Galmarini
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The large range of sulfur and nitrogen deposition estimates from air quality models results in a large range of predicted impacts. We used models and deposition diagnostics to identify the processes controlling atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen deposition variability. Controlling factors included the uptake of gases and aerosols by hydrometeors, aerosol inorganic chemistry, particle dry deposition, ammonia bidirectional fluxes, gas deposition via plant cuticles and soil, and land use data.
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This study examines the impact of incorporating secondary ice production (SIP) parameterizations into high-resolution numerical weather prediction simulations for mid-latitude continental winter conditions. Aircraft in situ and remote sensing observations are used to evaluate the simulations. Results show that including SIP improves the representation of cloud and freezing rain properties, with its impact varying based on cloud regime, such as convective or stratiform.
Alexei Korolev, Zhipeng Qu, Jason Milbrandt, Ivan Heckman, Mélissa Cholette, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Greg M. McFarquhar, Paul Lawson, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11849–11881, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11849-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11849-2024, 2024
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The phenomenon of high ice water content (HIWC) occurs in mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) when a large number of small ice particles with typical sizes of a few hundred micrometers is found at high altitudes. It was found that secondary ice production in the vicinity of the melting layer plays a key role in the formation and maintenance of HIWC. This study presents a conceptual model of the formation of HIWC in tropical MCSs based on in situ observations and numerical simulation.
Cynthia Whaley, Montana Etten-Bohm, Courtney Schumacher, Ayodeji Akingunola, Vivek Arora, Jason Cole, Michael Lazare, David Plummer, Knut von Salzen, and Barbara Winter
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7141–7155, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7141-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7141-2024, 2024
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This paper describes how lightning was added as a process in the Canadian Earth System Model in order to interactively respond to climate changes. As lightning is an important cause of global wildfires, this new model development allows for more realistic projections of how wildfires may change in the future, responding to a changing climate.
Jieying Ding, Ronald van der A, Henk Eskes, Enrico Dammers, Mark Shephard, Roy Wichink Kruit, Marc Guevara, and Leonor Tarrason
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10583–10599, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10583-2024, 2024
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Here we applied the existing Daily Emissions Constrained by Satellite Observations (DECSO) inversion algorithm to NH3 observations from the CrIS satellite instrument to estimate NH3 emissions. As NH3 in the atmosphere is influenced by NOx, we implemented DECSO to estimate NOx and NH3 emissions simultaneously. The emissions are derived over Europe for 2020 at a spatial resolution of 0.2° using daily observations from CrIS and TROPOMI. Results are compared to bottom-up emission inventories.
Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Najda Villefranque, Zhipeng Qu, Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Carlos Domenech, Shannon L. Mason, and Robin J. Hogan
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1651, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1651, 2024
Short summary
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Measurements made by three instruments aboard EarthCARE are used to retrieve estimates of cloud and aerosol properties. A radiative closure assessment of these retrievals is performed by the ACMB-DF processor. Radiative transfer models acting on retrieved information produce broadband radiances commensurate with measurements made by EarthCARE’s broadband radiometer. Measured and modelled radiances for small domains are compared and the likelihood of them differing by 10 W/m2 defines the closure.
Shannon L. Mason, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Nicole Docter, David P. Donovan, Robin J. Hogan, Anja Hünerbein, Pavlos Kollias, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Zhipeng Qu, Ulla Wandinger, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 875–898, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-875-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
When the EarthCARE mission enters its operational phase, many retrieval data products will be available, which will overlap both in terms of the measurements they use and the geophysical quantities they report. In this pre-launch study, we use simulated EarthCARE scenes to compare the coverage and performance of many data products from the European Space Agency production model, with the intention of better understanding the relation between products and providing a compact guide to users.
Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Xuehui Guo, Rui Wang, April B. Leytem, Chase Calkins, Elizabeth Berry, Kang Sun, Markus Müller, Armin Wisthaler, Vivienne H. Payne, Mark W. Shephard, Mark A. Zondlo, and Valentin Kantchev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 15–36, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-15-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-15-2024, 2024
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Ammonia is a significant precursor of PM2.5 particles and thus contributes to poor air quality in many regions. Furthermore, ammonia concentrations are rising due to the increase of large-scale, intensive agricultural activities. Here we evaluate satellite measurements of ammonia against aircraft and surface network data, and show that there are differences in magnitude, but the satellite data are spatially and temporally well correlated with the in situ data.
Michael Sigmond, James Anstey, Vivek Arora, Ruth Digby, Nathan Gillett, Viatcheslav Kharin, William Merryfield, Catherine Reader, John Scinocca, Neil Swart, John Virgin, Carsten Abraham, Jason Cole, Nicolas Lambert, Woo-Sung Lee, Yongxiao Liang, Elizaveta Malinina, Landon Rieger, Knut von Salzen, Christian Seiler, Clint Seinen, Andrew Shao, Reinel Sospedra-Alfonso, Libo Wang, and Duo Yang
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6553–6591, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6553-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6553-2023, 2023
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We present a new activity which aims to organize the analysis of biases in the Canadian Earth System model (CanESM) in a systematic manner. Results of this “Analysis for Development” (A4D) activity includes a new CanESM version, CanESM5.1, which features substantial improvements regarding the simulation of dust and stratospheric temperatures, a second CanESM5.1 variant with reduced climate sensitivity, and insights into potential avenues to reduce various other model biases.
Zhipeng Qu, David P. Donovan, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Mark W. Shephard, and Vincent Huijnen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4927–4946, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The EarthCARE satellite mission Level 2 algorithm development requires realistic 3D cloud and aerosol scenes along the satellite orbits. One of the best ways to produce these scenes is to use a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model to simulate atmospheric conditions at 250 m horizontal resolution. This paper describes the production and validation of three EarthCARE test scenes.
Jason Neil Steven Cole, Knut von Salzen, Jiangnan Li, John Scinocca, David Plummer, Vivek Arora, Norman McFarlane, Michael Lazare, Murray MacKay, and Diana Verseghy
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 5427–5448, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5427-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-5427-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Canadian Atmospheric Model version 5 (CanAM5) is used to simulate on a global scale the climate of Earth's atmosphere, land, and lakes. We document changes to the physics in CanAM5 since the last major version of the model (CanAM4) and evaluate the climate simulated relative to observations and CanAM4. The climate simulated by CanAM5 is similar to CanAM4, but there are improvements, including better simulation of temperature and precipitation over the Amazon and better simulation of cloud.
Zhipeng Qu, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, and Mark W. Shephard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2319–2331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes EarthCARE’s L2 product ACM-3D. It includes the scene construction algorithm (SCA) used to produce the indexes for reconstructing 3D atmospheric scene based on satellite nadir retrievals. It also provides the information about the buffer zone sizes of 3D assessment domains and the ranking scores for selecting the best 3D assessment domains. These output variables are needed to run 3D radiative transfer models for the radiative closure assessment of EarthCARE’s L2 retrievals.
Zhipeng Qu, Alexei Korolev, Jason A. Milbrandt, Ivan Heckman, Yongjie Huang, Greg M. McFarquhar, Hugh Morrison, Mengistu Wolde, and Cuong Nguyen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12287–12310, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, 2022
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Secondary ice production (SIP) is an important physical phenomenon that results in an increase in the cloud ice particle concentration and can have a significant impact on the evolution of clouds. Here, idealized simulations of a tropical convective system were conducted. Agreement between the simulations and observations highlights the impacts of SIP on the maintenance of tropical convection in nature and the importance of including the modelling of SIP in numerical weather prediction models.
Michael Sitwell, Mark W. Shephard, Yves Rochon, Karen Cady-Pereira, and Enrico Dammers
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6595–6624, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6595-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6595-2022, 2022
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Observations of ammonia made using the satellite-borne CrIS instrument were used to improve the ammonia emissions used in the GEM-MACH model. These observations were used to refine estimates of the monthly mean ammonia emissions over North America for May to August 2016. The updated ammonia emissions reduced biases of GEM-MACH surface ammonia fields with surface observations and showed some improvements in the forecasting of species involved in inorganic particulate matter formation.
Yongjie Huang, Wei Wu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Ming Xue, Hugh Morrison, Jason Milbrandt, Alexei V. Korolev, Yachao Hu, Zhipeng Qu, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, and Ivan Heckman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2365–2384, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, 2022
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Numerous small ice crystals in tropical convective storms are difficult to detect and could be potentially hazardous for commercial aircraft. Previous numerical simulations failed to reproduce this phenomenon and hypothesized that key microphysical processes are still lacking in current models to realistically simulate the phenomenon. This study uses numerical experiments to confirm the dominant role of secondary ice production in the formation of these large numbers of small ice crystals.
Shelley van der Graaf, Enrico Dammers, Arjo Segers, Richard Kranenburg, Martijn Schaap, Mark W. Shephard, and Jan Willem Erisman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 951–972, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-951-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-951-2022, 2022
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CrIS NH3 satellite observations are assimilated into the LOTOS-EUROS model using two different methods. In the first method the data are used to fit spatially varying NH3 emission time factors. In the second method a local ensemble transform Kalman filter is used. Compared to in situ observations, combining both methods led to the most significant improvements in the modeled concentrations and deposition, illustrating the usefulness of CrIS NH3 to improve the spatiotemporal distribution of NH3.
Jing Feng, Yi Huang, and Zhipeng Qu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5717–5734, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5717-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5717-2021, 2021
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It is challenging to measure the atmospheric conditions above convective storms. In this study, a method of retrieving thermodynamic variables above convective storms using a combination of satellite-based observations from a hyperspectral infrared sounder and active sensors is developed. We find that this method captures the spatial distributions of thermodynamic anomalies above convective clouds well. This method is potentially applicable to observations from current and future satellites.
Nikolaos Evangeliou, Yves Balkanski, Sabine Eckhardt, Anne Cozic, Martin Van Damme, Pierre-François Coheur, Lieven Clarisse, Mark W. Shephard, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, and Didier Hauglustaine
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4431–4451, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4431-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4431-2021, 2021
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Ammonia, a substance that has played a key role in sustaining life, has been increasing in the atmosphere, affecting climate and humans. Understanding the reasons for this increase is important for the beneficial use of ammonia. The evolution of satellite products gives us the opportunity to calculate ammonia emissions easier. We calculated global ammonia emissions over the last 10 years, incorporated them into a chemistry model and recorded notable improvement in reproducing observations.
Florian Tornow, Carlos Domenech, Howard W. Barker, René Preusker, and Jürgen Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3909–3922, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3909-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3909-2020, 2020
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Clouds reflect sunlight unevenly, which makes it difficult to quantify the portion reflected back to space via satellite observation. To improve quantification, we propose a new statistical model that incorporates more satellite-inferred cloud and atmospheric properties than state-of-the-art models. We use concepts from radiative transfer theory that we statistically optimize to fit observations. The new model often explains past satellite observations better and predicts reflection plausibly.
Mark W. Shephard, Enrico Dammers, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Shailesh K. Kharol, Jesse Thompson, Yonatan Gainariu-Matz, Junhua Zhang, Chris A. McLinden, Andrew Kovachik, Michael Moran, Shabtai Bittman, Christopher E. Sioris, Debora Griffin, Matthew J. Alvarado, Chantelle Lonsdale, Verica Savic-Jovcic, and Qiong Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2277–2302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2277-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2277-2020, 2020
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Presented is a description and survey demonstrating the capabilities of the CrIS ammonia product for monitoring, air quality forecast model evaluation, dry deposition estimates, and emission estimates of an agricultural hotspot.
Zhipeng Qu, Yi Huang, Paul A. Vaillancourt, Jason N. S. Cole, Jason A. Milbrandt, Man-Kong Yau, Kaley Walker, and Jean de Grandpré
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2143–2159, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2143-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2143-2020, 2020
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This study aims to better understand the mechanism of transport of water vapour through the mid-latitude tropopause. The results affirm the strong influence of overshooting convection on lower-stratospheric water vapour and highlight the importance of both dynamics and cloud microphysics in simulating water vapour distribution in the region of the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere.
Camille Viatte, Tianze Wang, Martin Van Damme, Enrico Dammers, Frederik Meleux, Lieven Clarisse, Mark W. Shephard, Simon Whitburn, Pierre François Coheur, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, and Cathy Clerbaux
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 577–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-577-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-577-2020, 2020
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We study concentrations and spatiotemporal variabilities of atmospheric NH3 from the agricultural sector to gain insights on its effects on the Paris megacity air quality using satellite data from IASI and CrIS.
We evaluate the regional CHIMERE model capacity to reproduce NH3 and particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations and variabilities in the domain of study.
We quantify the main meteorological parameters driving the optimal conditions involved in the PM2.5 formation from NH3 in Paris.
Dong Liu, Sijie Chen, Chonghui Cheng, Howard W. Barker, Changzhe Dong, Ju Ke, Shuaibo Wang, and Zhuofan Zheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6541–6556, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6541-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6541-2019, 2019
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Aerosols are one of the drivers of climate change, and more information about aerosol vertical distribution is needed to analyze the role of aerosols in the atmosphere. In this work, we match and substitute a pixel along the lidar ground track for every pixel that is not on the track based on the radiance measured by a passive imager, therefore expanding the atmosphere profiles to a nearby region. The accuracy of the construction is confirmed through a procedure mimicking the construction.
Enrico Dammers, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Mark W. Shephard, Shelley Van Der Graaf, Erik Lutsch, Martijn Schaap, Yonatan Gainairu-Matz, Vitali Fioletov, Martin Van Damme, Simon Whitburn, Lieven Clarisse, Karen Cady-Pereira, Cathy Clerbaux, Pierre Francois Coheur, and Jan Willem Erisman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12261–12293, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12261-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12261-2019, 2019
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Ammonia is an essential molecule in the environment, but at its current levels it is unsustainable. However, the emissions are highly uncertain. We explore the use of satellites to estimate the ammonia lifetime and emissions around point sources to help improve the budget. The same method applied to different satellite instruments shows consistent results. Comparison to the emission inventories shows that those are underestimating emissions of point sources by on average a factor of 2.5.
Cristen Adams, Chris A. McLinden, Mark W. Shephard, Nolan Dickson, Enrico Dammers, Jack Chen, Paul Makar, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Naomi Tam, Shailesh K. Kharol, Lok N. Lamsal, and Nickolay A. Krotkov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2577–2599, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2577-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2577-2019, 2019
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We estimated how much carbon monoxide, ammonia, and nitrogen oxides were emitted in the smoke from the Fort McMurray Horse River wildfire using satellite data and air quality models. The fire emitted amounts of carbon monoxide that were similar to anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions for all of Alberta over a full year. We also estimated large amounts of ammonia and nitrogen oxides emitted from the fire. These results can be used to evaluate the performance of air quality forecasting models.
Cynthia H. Whaley, Paul A. Makar, Mark W. Shephard, Leiming Zhang, Junhua Zhang, Qiong Zheng, Ayodeji Akingunola, Gregory R. Wentworth, Jennifer G. Murphy, Shailesh K. Kharol, and Karen E. Cady-Pereira
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2011–2034, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2011-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2011-2018, 2018
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Using a modified air quality forecasting model, we have found that a significant fraction (> 50 %) of ambient ammonia comes from re-emission from plants and soils in the broader Athabasca Oil Sands region and much of Alberta and Saskatchewan. We also found that about 20 % of ambient ammonia in Alberta and Saskatchewan came from forest fires in the summer of 2013. The addition of these two processes improved modelled ammonia, which was a motivating factor in undertaking this research.
Enrico Dammers, Mark W. Shephard, Mathias Palm, Karen Cady-Pereira, Shannon Capps, Erik Lutsch, Kim Strong, James W. Hannigan, Ivan Ortega, Geoffrey C. Toon, Wolfgang Stremme, Michel Grutter, Nicholas Jones, Dan Smale, Jacob Siemons, Kevin Hrpcek, Denis Tremblay, Martijn Schaap, Justus Notholt, and Jan Willem Erisman
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2645–2667, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2645-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2645-2017, 2017
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Presented here is the validation of the CrIS fast physical retrieval (CFPR) NH3 column and profile measurements using ground-based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) observations. The overall FTIR and CrIS total columns have a positive correlation of r = 0.77 (N = 218) with very little bias (a slope of 1.02). Furthermore, we find that CrIS and FTIR profile comparison differences are mostly within the range of the estimated retrieval uncertainties, with differences in the range of ~ 20 to 40 %.
Shailesh K. Kharol, Chris A. McLinden, Christopher E. Sioris, Mark W. Shephard, Vitali Fioletov, Aaron van Donkelaar, Sajeev Philip, and Randall V. Martin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5921–5929, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5921-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5921-2017, 2017
Christopher E. Sioris, Chris A. McLinden, Mark W. Shephard, Vitali E. Fioletov, and Ihab Abboud
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 1931–1943, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1931-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1931-2017, 2017
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The contribution of the oil sands region to the local aerosol optical depth (AOD) is sought. Satellite data are used since they provide spatial coverage over many years. Satellites measure AOD with high correlation and small biases relative to coincident AERONET AODs. Trends are determined using annual mean AODs, and an increasing trend is found near the Shell mines. Spatially variable and high surface albedo is challenging for some sensors. Measuring polarization appears to be an asset.
M. W. Shephard, C. A. McLinden, K. E. Cady-Pereira, M. Luo, S. G. Moussa, A. Leithead, J. Liggio, R. M. Staebler, A. Akingunola, P. Makar, P. Lehr, J. Zhang, D. K. Henze, D. B. Millet, J. O. Bash, L. Zhu, K. C. Wells, S. L. Capps, S. Chaliyakunnel, M. Gordon, K. Hayden, J. R. Brook, M. Wolde, and S.-M. Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 5189–5211, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5189-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5189-2015, 2015
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This study provides direct validations of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) satellite retrieved profiles against coincident aircraft profiles of carbon monoxide, ammonia, methanol, and formic acid, all of which are of interest for air quality. The comparisons are performed over the Canadian oil sands region during an intensive field campaign in support of the Joint Canada-Alberta Implementation Plan for the Oil Sands Monitoring (JOSM). Initial model evaluations are also provided.
L. Zhu, D. Henze, J. Bash, G.-R. Jeong, K. Cady-Pereira, M. Shephard, M. Luo, F. Paulot, and S. Capps
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12823–12843, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12823-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12823-2015, 2015
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We implement new diurnal variation scheme for ammonia livestock emissions and bidirectional exchange scheme and its adjoint in the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model. Updated diurnal variability improves modeled-to-hourly in situ measurements comparison. The ammonium soil pool in the bidirectional exchange model largely extends the ammonia lifetime in the atmosphere. Large model biases remain as livestock emissions are still underestimated.
M. W. Shephard and K. E. Cady-Pereira
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1323–1336, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1323-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1323-2015, 2015
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Presented is a robust retrieval algorithm that demonstrates the capabilities of utilizing Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) satellite observations to globally retrieval ammonia (NH3) concentrations. Initial NH3 retrieval results show that CrIS is (i) sensitive to NH3 in the boundary layer, with peak vertical sensitivity typically around 850–750hPa (~2km), (ii) has a minimum detection limit of ~1ppbv (peak profile value typically at the surface), and (iii) typically has up to ~1 DOFS.
K. E. Cady-Pereira, S. Chaliyakunnel, M. W. Shephard, D. B. Millet, M. Luo, and K. C. Wells
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2297–2311, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2297-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2297-2014, 2014
K. C. Wells, D. B. Millet, K. E. Cady-Pereira, M. W. Shephard, D. K. Henze, N. Bousserez, E. C. Apel, J. de Gouw, C. Warneke, and H. B. Singh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2555–2570, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2555-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2555-2014, 2014
M. J. Alvarado, V. H. Payne, E. J. Mlawer, G. Uymin, M. W. Shephard, K. E. Cady-Pereira, J. S. Delamere, and J.-L. Moncet
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 6687–6711, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6687-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6687-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Others (Wind, Precipitation, Temperature, etc.) | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Gravity waves above the northern Atlantic and Europe during streamer events using Aeolus
Observations of tall-building wakes using a scanning Doppler lidar
Mid-Atlantic nocturnal low-level jet characteristics: a machine learning analysis of radar wind profiles
Mitigating radome-induced bias in X-band weather radar polarimetric moments using an adaptive discrete Fourier transform algorithm
GNSS-RO residual ionospheric error (RIE): a new method and assessment
Benchmarking KDP in rainfall: a quantitative assessment of estimation algorithms using C-band weather radar observations
Comparative experimental validation of microwave hyperspectral atmospheric soundings in clear-sky conditions
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation climatologies mapped by machine learning and Bayesian interpolation
Determination of low-level temperature profiles from microwave radiometer observations during rain
Aeolus lidar surface return (LSR) at 355 nm as a new Aeolus Level-2A product
Sampling the diurnal and annual cycles of the Earth's energy imbalance with constellations of satellite-borne radiometers
Retrieval of top-of-atmosphere fluxes from combined EarthCARE lidar, imager, and broadband radiometer observations: the BMA-FLX product
Analysis of the measurement uncertainty for a 3D wind lidar
Improving solution availability and temporal consistency of an optimal-estimation physical retrieval for ground-based thermodynamic boundary layer profiling
An improved geolocation methodology for spaceborne radar and lidar systems
Combining low- and high-frequency microwave radiometer measurements from the MOSAiC expedition for enhanced water vapour products
Characterizing Urban Planetary Boundary Layer Dynamics Using 3-Year Doppler Wind Lidar Measurements in a Western Yangtze River Delta City, China
HAMSTER: Hyperspectral Albedo Maps dataset with high Spatial and TEmporal Resolution
Improved consistency in solar-induced fluorescence retrievals from GOME-2A with the SIFTER v3 algorithm
Global-scale gravity wave analysis methodology for the ESA Earth Explorer 11 candidate CAIRT
Retrieval of pseudo-BRDF-adjusted surface reflectance at 440 nm from the Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)
Combining commercial microwave links and weather radar for classification of dry snow and rainfall
Drop size distribution retrieval using dual-polarization radar at C-band and S-band
An information content approach to diagnosing and improving CLIMCAPS retrievals across instruments and satellites
Thermal tides in the middle atmosphere at mid-latitudes measured with a ground-based microwave radiometer
Global sensitivity analysis of simulated remote sensing polarimetric observations over snow
Improving the Gaussianity of radar reflectivity departures between observations and simulations using symmetric rain rates
On the temperature stability requirements of free-running Nd:YAG lasers for atmospheric temperature profiling through the rotational Raman technique
Limitations in wavelet analysis of non-stationary atmospheric gravity wave signatures in temperature profiles
A new non-linearity correction method for the spectrum from the Geostationary Inferometric Infrared Sounder on board Fengyun-4 satellites and its preliminary assessments
Determination of high-precision tropospheric delays using crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data
Unfiltering of the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR) observations: the BM-RAD product
Variance estimations in the presence of intermittent interference and their applications to incoherent scatter radar signal processing
A clustering-based method for identifying and tracking squall lines
A multi-instrument fuzzy logic boundary-layer-top detection algorithm
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
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
Observed impact of the GNSS clock data rate on Radio Occultation bending angles for Sentinel-6A and COSMIC-2
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
Sabine Wüst, Lisa Küchelbacher, Franziska Trinkl, and Michael Bittner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1591–1607, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1591-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1591-2025, 2025
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Information on the energy transported by atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) is crucial for improving atmosphere models. Most space-based studies report the potential energy. We use Aeolus wind data to estimate the kinetic energy (density). However, the data quality is a challenge for such analyses, as the accuracy of the data is in the range of typical GW amplitudes. We find a temporal coincidence between enhanced or breaking planetary waves and enhanced gravity wave kinetic energy density.
Natalie E. Theeuwes, Janet F. Barlow, Antti Mannisenaho, Denise Hertwig, Ewan O'Connor, and Alan Robins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1355–1371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1355-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1355-2025, 2025
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A Doppler lidar was placed in a highly built-up area in London to measure wakes from tall buildings during a period of 1 year. We were able to detect wakes and assess their dependence on wind speed, wind direction, and atmospheric stability.
Maurice Roots, John T. Sullivan, and Belay Demoz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1269–1282, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1269-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1269-2025, 2025
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This paper presents a supervised-machine-learning approach for the automatic isolation of nocturnal low-level jets (NLLJs) using observations from a radar wind profiler. This analysis isolated 90 southwesterly NLLJs observed from May to September 2017–2021, highlighting key features in the evolution and morphology of the mid-Atlantic NLLJ.
Padmanabhan Thiruvengadam, Guillaume Lesage, Ambinintsoa Volatiana Ramanamahefa, and Joël Van Baelen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1185–1191, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1185-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1185-2025, 2025
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This study explores how the joints in a weather radar's protective cover affect its measurements. We developed a new method to correct these errors, improving the accuracy of the radar's data. Our method was tested during an intense cyclone on Réunion Island, demonstrating significant improvements in data accuracy. This research is crucial for enhancing weather predictions and understanding, particularly in challenging terrains.
Dong L. Wu, Valery A. Yudin, Kyu-Myong Kim, Mohar Chattopadhyay, Lawrence Coy, Ruth S. Lieberman, C. C. Jude H. Salinas, Jae N. Lee, Jie Gong, and Guiping Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 843–863, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-843-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-843-2025, 2025
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Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation data help monitor climate and weather prediction but are affected by residual ionospheric errors (RIEs). A new excess-phase-gradient method detects and corrects RIEs, showing both positive and negative values, varying by latitude, time, and solar activity. Tests show that RIE impacts polar stratosphere temperatures in models, with differences up to 3–4 K. This highlights the need for RIE correction to improve the accuracy of data assimilation.
Miguel Aldana, Seppo Pulkkinen, Annakaisa von Lerber, Matthew R. Kumjian, and Dmitri Moisseev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 793–816, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-793-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-793-2025, 2025
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Accurate KDP estimates are crucial in radar-based applications. We quantify the uncertainties of several publicly available KDP estimation methods for multiple rainfall intensities. We use C-band weather radar observations and employed a self-consistency KDP, estimated from reflectivity and differential reflectivity, as a framework for the examination. Our study provides guidance for the performance, uncertainties, and optimisation of the methods, focusing mainly on accuracy and robustness.
Lei Liu, Natalia Bliankinshtein, Yi Huang, John R. Gyakum, Philip M. Gabriel, Shiqi Xu, and Mengistu Wolde
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 471–485, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-471-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-471-2025, 2025
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This study evaluates and compares a new microwave hyperspectrometer with an infrared hyperspectrometer for clear-sky temperature and water vapor retrievals. The analysis reveals that the information content of the infrared hyperspectrometer exceeds that of the microwave hyperspectrometer and provides higher vertical resolution in ground-based zenith measurements. Leveraging the ground–airborne synergy between the two instruments yielded optimal sounding results.
Endrit Shehaj, Stephen Leroy, Kerri Cahoy, Alain Geiger, Laura Crocetti, Gregor Moeller, Benedikt Soja, and Markus Rothacher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 57–72, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-57-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-57-2025, 2025
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This work investigates whether machine learning (ML) can offer an alternative to existing methods to map radio occultation (RO) products, allowing the extraction of information not visible in direct observations. ML can further improve the results of Bayesian interpolation, a state-of-the-art method to map RO observations. The results display improvements in horizontal and temporal domains, at heights ranging from the planetary boundary layer up to the lower stratosphere, and for all seasons.
Andreas Foth, Moritz Lochmann, Pablo Saavedra Garfias, and Heike Kalesse-Los
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7169–7181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7169-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7169-2024, 2024
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Microwave radiometers are usually not able to provide atmospheric quantities such as temperature profiles during rain. We present a method based on a selection of specific frequencies and elevation angles from microwave radiometer observations. A comparison with a numerical weather prediction model shows the presented method allows low-level temperature profiles during rain to be resolved, with rain rates of up to 2.5 mm h−1,, which was not possible before with state-of-the-art retrievals.
Lev D. Labzovskii, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, Jos de Kloe, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, Ad Stoffelen, Damien Josset, and Piet Stammes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7183–7208, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7183-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7183-2024, 2024
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The Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) on the Aeolus satellite was the first of its kind to measure high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosols and cloud properties from space. We present an algorithm that produces Aeolus lidar surface returns (LSRs), containing useful information for measuring UV reflectivity. Aeolus LSRs matched well with existing UV reflectivity data from other satellites, like GOME-2 and TROPOMI, and demonstrated excellent sensitivity to modeled snow cover.
Thomas Hocking, Thorsten Mauritsen, and Linda Megner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7077–7095, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7077-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7077-2024, 2024
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The imbalance between the energy the Earth absorbs from the Sun and the energy the Earth emits back into space gives rise to climate change, but measuring the small imbalance is challenging. We simulate satellites in various orbits to investigate how well they sample the imbalance and find that the best option is to combine at least two satellites that see complementary parts of the Earth and cover the daily and annual cycles. This information is useful when planning future satellite missions.
Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Carlos Domenech, Edward Baudrez, Nicolas Clerbaux, Carla Salas Molar, and Nils Madenach
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7007–7026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7007-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7007-2024, 2024
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This paper focuses on the BMA-FLX processor, in which thermal and solar top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes are obtained from longwave and shortwave radiances measured along track by the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR). The BBR measurements, at three fixed viewing angles (fore, nadir, aft), are co-registered either at the surface or at a reference level. A combined flux from the three BRR views is obtained. The algorithm has been successfully validated against test scenes.
Wolf Knöller, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Philipp von Olshausen, and Michael Wilczek
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6913–6931, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6913-2024, 2024
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Three-dimensional (3D) wind velocity measurements are of major importance for the characterization of atmospheric turbulence. This paper presents a detailed study of the measurement uncertainty of a three-beam wind lidar designed for mounting on airborne platforms. Considering the geometrical constraints, the analysis provides quantitative estimates for the measurement uncertainty of all components of the 3D wind vector. As a result, we propose optimized post-processing for error reduction.
Bianca Adler, David D. Turner, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6603–6624, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6603-2024, 2024
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Continuous profile observations of temperature and humidity in the lowest part of the atmosphere are essential for the evaluation of numerical weather prediction models and data assimilation for better weather forecasts. Such profiles can be retrieved from passive ground-based remote sensing instruments like infrared spectrometers and microwave radiometers. In this study, we describe three recent modifications to the retrieval framework TROPoe for improved temperature and humidity profiles.
Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6301–6314, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6301-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6301-2024, 2024
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The paper presents a comprehensive approach to improve the geolocation accuracy of spaceborne radar and lidar systems, crucial for the successful interpretation of data from the upcoming EarthCARE mission. The paper details the technical background of the presented methods and various examples of geolocation analyses, including a short period of CloudSat observations when the star tracker was not operating properly and lifetime statistics from the CloudSat and CALIPSO missions.
Andreas Walbröl, Hannes J. Griesche, Mario Mech, Susanne Crewell, and Kerstin Ebell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6223–6245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6223-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6223-2024, 2024
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We developed retrievals of integrated water vapour (IWV), temperature profiles, and humidity profiles from ground-based passive microwave remote sensing measurements gathered during the MOSAiC expedition. We demonstrate and quantify the benefit of combining low- and high-frequency microwave radiometers to improve humidity profiling and IWV estimates by comparing the retrieved quantities to single-instrument retrievals and reference datasets (radiosondes).
Tianwen Wei, Mengya Wang, Kenan Wu, Jinlong Yuan, Haiyun Xia, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-178, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-178, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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This study uses three years of wind lidar measurements to investigate the dynamics of the urban PBL in Hefei, China. Results show that nocturnal low-level jets occur most frequently in spring and intensify in summer, significantly increasing turbulence and shear intensity near the ground level, especially during the night. Cloud cover raises the MLH by around 100 m during the night due to the greenhouse effect and decreases it by up to 200 m in the afternoon by obstructing solar radiation.
Giulia Roccetti, Luca Bugliaro, Felix Gödde, Claudia Emde, Ulrich Hamann, Mihail Manev, Michael Fritz Sterzik, and Cedric Wehrum
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6025–6046, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6025-2024, 2024
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The amount of sunlight reflected by the Earth’s surface (albedo) is vital for the Earth's radiative system. While satellite instruments offer detailed spatial and temporal albedo maps, they only cover seven wavelength bands. We generate albedo maps that fully span the visible and near-infrared range using a machine learning algorithm. These maps reveal how the reflectivity of different land surfaces varies throughout the year. Our dataset enhances the understanding of the Earth's energy balance.
Juliëtte C. S. Anema, K. Folkert Boersma, Lieuwe G. Tilstra, Olaf N. E. Tuinder, and Willem W. Verstraeten
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2666, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2666, 2024
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Long-term records of plant fluorescence offer vital insights into changing vegetation activity. The GOME-2A sensor provides extensive global observations but suffers from calibration and instrument degradation that affect data consistency. This study presents the SIFTER v3 algorithm, which effectively resolves these issues and includes other improvements, resulting in robust, accurate, and consistent GOME-2A fluorescence measurements from 2007 to 2017.
Sebastian Rhode, Peter Preusse, Jörn Ungermann, Inna Polichtchouk, Kaoru Sato, Shingo Watanabe, Manfred Ern, Karlheinz Nogai, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5785–5819, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5785-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5785-2024, 2024
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We investigate the capabilities of a proposed satellite mission, CAIRT, for observing gravity waves throughout the middle atmosphere and present the necessary methodology for in-depth wave analysis. Our findings suggest that such a satellite mission is highly capable of resolving individual wave parameters and could give new insights into the role of gravity waves in general atmospheric circulation and atmospheric processes.
Suyoung Sim, Sungwon Choi, Daeseong Jung, Jongho Woo, Nayeon Kim, Sungwoo Park, Honghee Kim, Ukkyo Jeong, Hyunkee Hong, and Kyung-Soo Han
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5601–5618, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5601-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5601-2024, 2024
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This study evaluates the use of background surface reflectance (BSR) derived from a semi-empirical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model based on GEMS satellite images. Analysis shows that BSR provides improved accuracy and stability compared to Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (LER). These results indicate that BSR can significantly enhance climate analysis and air quality monitoring, making it a promising tool for accurate environmental satellite applications.
Erlend Øydvin, Renaud Gaban, Jafet Andersson, Remco van de Beek, Mareile Astrid Wolff, Nils-Otto Kitterød, Christian Chwala, and Vegard Nilsen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2625, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2625, 2024
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We present a novel method for classifying rain and snow by combining data from Commercial Microwave Links (CMLs) with weather radar. We compare this to a reference method using dew point temperature for precipitation type classification. Evaluations with nearby disdrometers show that CMLs improve the classification of dry snow and rainfall, outperforming the reference method.
Daniel Durbin, Yadong Wang, and Pao-Liang Chang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5397–5411, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5397-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5397-2024, 2024
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A method for determining drop size distributions (DSDs) for rain using radar measurements from two frequencies at two polarizations is presented. Following some preprocessing and quality control, radar measurements are incorporated into a model that uses swarm intelligence to seek the most suitable DSD to produce the input measurements.
Nadia Smith and Christopher D. Barnet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2448, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2448, 2024
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CLIMCAPS extends the Aqua AIRS+AMSU record with retrievals from CrIS+ATMS on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and Joint Polar Satellite System series (JPSS-1 to JPSS-4). With “continuous” we mean a data record that is consistent in its characterization of natural variation despite changes in source instrumentation. Here we investigate how sounding continuity can improved across the full CLIMCAPS record (2002 to present day) spanning multiple instruments and satellites.
Witali Krochin, Axel Murk, and Gunter Stober
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5015–5028, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5015-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5015-2024, 2024
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Atmospheric tides are global-scale oscillations with periods of a fraction of a day. Their observation in the middle atmosphere is challenging and rare, as it requires continuous measurements with a high temporal resolution. In this paper, temperature time series of a ground-based microwave radiometer were analyzed with a spectral filter to derive thermal tide amplitudes and phases in an altitude range of 25–50 km at the geographical locations of Payerne and Bern (Switzerland).
Matteo Ottaviani, Gabriel Harris Myers, and Nan Chen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4737–4756, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4737-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4737-2024, 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 that are critical for estimating snow albedo for use in climate models.
Yudong Gao, Lidou Huyan, Zheng Wu, and Bojun Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4675–4686, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4675-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4675-2024, 2024
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A symmetric error model built by symmetric rain rates handles the non-Gaussian error structure of the reflectivity error. The accuracy and linearization of rain rates can further improve the Gaussianity.
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., 17, 4687–4694, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4687-2024, 2024
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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 a range of 1 K for the uncertainty in the atmospheric temperature below 1 K. The study is carried out through spectroscopy simulations.
Robert Reichert, Natalie Kaifler, and Bernd Kaifler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4659–4673, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4659-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4659-2024, 2024
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Imagine you want to determine how quickly the pitch of a passing ambulance’s siren changes. If the vehicle 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 maximum wind may be so that the change in wavelength can still be determined with the help of wavelet transformation.
Qiang Guo, Yuning Liu, Xin Wang, and Wen Hui
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4613–4627, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4613-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4613-2024, 2024
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Non-linearity (NL) correction is a critical procedure to guarantee that the calibration accuracy of a spaceborne sensor approaches a reasonable level. Different from the classical 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 NL correction, an iteration algorithm is established that is suitable for NL correction of both infrared and microwave sensors.
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
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4303–4316, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4303-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4303-2024, 2024
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Crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data were processed with a dedicated data processing pipeline and could produce millimeter-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.
Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Edward Baudrez, Nicolas Clerbaux, and Carlos Domenech
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4245–4256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4245-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4245-2024, 2024
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The Broadband Radiometer measures shortwave and total-wave radiances filtered by the spectral response of the instrument. To obtain unfiltered solar and thermal radiances, the effect of the spectral response needs to be corrected for, done within the BM-RAD processor. Errors in the unfiltering are propagated into fluxes; thus, accurate unfiltering is required for their proper estimation (within BMA-FLX). Unfiltering errors are estimated to be <0.5 % for the shortwave and <0.1 % for the longwave.
Qihou Zhou, Yanlin Li, and Yun Gong
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4197–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4197-2024, 2024
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We discuss several robust estimators to compute the variance of a normally distributed random variable to deal with interference. Compared to 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.
Zhao Shi, Yuxiang Wen, and Jianxin He
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4121–4135, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4121-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4121-2024, 2024
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The squall line is a type of convective system. Squall lines are often associated with damaging weather, so identifying and tracking 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 within the radar scanning range with an accuracy rate of 95.93 %. It can also provide the three-dimensional structure and movement tracking results for each squall line.
Elizabeth N. Smith and Jacob T. Carlin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4087–4107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4087-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4087-2024, 2024
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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.
Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Ludovic Bariteau, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, Sergio Pezoa, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, 2024
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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 passive and active remote sensing instruments, surface platforms, and numerical weather prediction models. The retrieved profiles are assessed against collocated radiosonde in non-cloudy conditions to assess the sensitivity of the retrievals to different input combinations. Case studies with cloudy conditions are also inspected.
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.
Sebastiano Padovan, Axel Von Engeln, Saverio Paolella, Yago Andres, Chad R. Galley, Riccardo Notarpietro, Veronica Rivas Boscán, Francisco Sancho, Francisco Martin Alemany, Nicolas Morew, and Christian Marquardt
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-80, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-80, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Radio Occultation (RO) measurements are an important contribution to numerical weather predictions and long-term climate studies. Using more than a hundred thousand occultations recorded by instruments onboard the Sentinel-6A and Cosmic-2 satellites, this work studies the effects of the clock data rate of the Global Navigation Satellite System on the RO data quality. GLONASS occultations benefit of high-rate clock data (1 second), GPS occultation have high quality already at 30 seconds.
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.
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Short summary
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.
Measurements from the EarthCARE satellite mission will be used to retrieve profiles of cloud and...
Special issue