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Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
An interactive open-access journal of the European Geosciences Union
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- About
- Editorial board
- Articles
- Special issues
- Highlight articles
- Manuscript tracking
- Subscribe to alerts
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IF 3.668
3.707CiteScore
6.3SNIP 1.383
SJR 1.525
index 77h5-index 49
Abstracted/indexed
Abstracted/indexed
Volume 9, issue 8
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3467–3475, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3467-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3467-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3467–3475, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3467-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3467-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article 01 Aug 2016
Research article | 01 Aug 2016
The Moon as a photometric calibration standard for microwave sensors
Martin Burgdorf et al.
Related authors
Martin Burgdorf, Imke Hans, Marc Prange, Theresa Lang, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4005–4014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4005-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4005-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We analysed observations of the Moon with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B on the NOAA-16 satellite in order to search for bias in the sounding channels. Significant bias had been detected in the past on the basis of simultaneous nadir overpasses. With the Moon providing a quite different reference flux than the on-board calibration target and Earth scenes, radio-frequency interference emerged as the best explanation for the anomalies of channel 20 of AMSU-B on NOAA-16.
Manfred Brath, Stuart Fox, Patrick Eriksson, R. Chawn Harlow, Martin Burgdorf, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 611–632, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-611-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-611-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A method to estimate the amounts of ice, liquid water, and water vapor from aircraft radiation measurements at wavelengths just over and under 1 mm is presented and its performance is estimated. The method uses an ensemble of artificial neural networks. It strongly benefits from the submillimeter frequencies reducing the error for the estimated amount of ice by a factor of 2 compared to a traditional microwave method. The method was applied to measurement of a precipitating frontal system.
Imke Hans, Martin Burgdorf, Viju O. John, Jonathan Mittaz, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4927–4945, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4927-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4927-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In our article we present the evolution of the noise of 11 microwave radiometers used for meteorological remote sensing. We used the Allan deviation to compute an estimate of the noise on the calibration measurements. We provide graphics as an overview to enable the users of the data to decide on the usability of the data for their purposes. Moreover, our analysis enters the production of new FCDRs (Fundamental Climate Data Records) within the FIDUCEO project.
Manfred Brath, Robin Ekelund, Patrick Eriksson, Oliver Lemke, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2309–2333, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2309-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2309-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave dual-polarization observations consistently show that larger atmospheric ice particles tend to have a preferred orientation. We provide a publicly available database of microwave and submillimeter wave scattering properties of oriented ice particles based on discrete dipole approximation scattering calculations. Detailed radiative transfer simulations, recreating observed polarization patterns, are additionally presented in this study.
Patrick Eriksson, Bengt Rydberg, Vinia Mattioli, Anke Thoss, Christophe Accadia, Ulf Klein, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 53–71, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-53-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-53-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Ice Cloud Imager (ICI) will be the first operational satellite sensor operating at sub-millimetre wavelengths and this novel mission will thus provide important new data to weather forecasting and climate studies. The series of ICI instruments will together cover about 20 years. This article presents the basic technical characteristics of the sensor and outlines the day-one operational retrievals. An updated estimation of the expected retrieval performance is also presented.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Patrick Eriksson, Stefan A. Buehler, Manfred Brath, David Duncan, Richard Larsson, and Robin Ekelund
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2019-369, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2019-369, 2019
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
The next generation of European operational weather satellites will carry a novel microwave sensor, the Ice Cloud Imager (ICI), which will provide observations of clouds at microwave frequencies that were not available before. We investigate the potential benefits of combining observations from ICI with that of a radar. We find that such combined observations provide additional information on the properties of the cloud and help to reduce uncertainties in retrieved mass and number densities.
Jörg Burdanowitz, Stefan A. Buehler, Stephan Bakan, and Christian Klepp
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9241–9252, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9241-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9241-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Sensitivity of precipitation to sea surface temperature over the ocean determines how precipitation potentially changes in a warming climate. This relationship has hardly been studied over ocean due to a lack of long-term oceanic data. Our study shows how the precipitation sensitivity depends on resolution, what process limits oceanic precipitation and how the event duration depends on temperature. This provides valuable information for future climate observations, modeling and understanding.
Patrick Eriksson, Robin Ekelund, Jana Mendrok, Manfred Brath, Oliver Lemke, and Stefan A. Buehler
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1301–1326, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1301-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1301-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A main application of microwave remote sensing is to observe atmospheric particles consisting of ice. This application requires data on how particles with different shapes and sizes affect the observations. A database of such properties has been developed. The database is the most comprehensive of its type. Main strengths are a good representation of particles of aggregate type and broad frequency coverage.
Verena Grützun, Stefan A. Buehler, Lukas Kluft, Jana Mendrok, Manfred Brath, and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4217–4237, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4217-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4217-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The global observation of ice clouds is crucial because they are important factors in the climate system but still are amongst the greatest uncertainties for estimating the Earth's energy budget in a changing climate. However, reliable global long-term measurements are scarce. Using atmospheric model data from the ICON model in combination with the radiative transfer simulator ARTS we explore the potential of passive millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength measurements to fill that gap.
Martin Burgdorf, Imke Hans, Marc Prange, Theresa Lang, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4005–4014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4005-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4005-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We analysed observations of the Moon with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B on the NOAA-16 satellite in order to search for bias in the sounding channels. Significant bias had been detected in the past on the basis of simultaneous nadir overpasses. With the Moon providing a quite different reference flux than the on-board calibration target and Earth scenes, radio-frequency interference emerged as the best explanation for the anomalies of channel 20 of AMSU-B on NOAA-16.
Stefan A. Buehler, Jana Mendrok, Patrick Eriksson, Agnès Perrin, Richard Larsson, and Oliver Lemke
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1537–1556, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1537-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1537-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) is a public domain
software for simulating how radiation in the microwave to infrared
spectral range travels through an atmosphere. The program can simulate
satellite observations, in cloudy and clear atmospheres, and can also
be used to calculate radiative energy fluxes. The main feature of this
release is a planetary toolbox that allows simulations for the
planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, in addition to Earth.
Manfred Brath, Stuart Fox, Patrick Eriksson, R. Chawn Harlow, Martin Burgdorf, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 611–632, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-611-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-611-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A method to estimate the amounts of ice, liquid water, and water vapor from aircraft radiation measurements at wavelengths just over and under 1 mm is presented and its performance is estimated. The method uses an ensemble of artificial neural networks. It strongly benefits from the submillimeter frequencies reducing the error for the estimated amount of ice by a factor of 2 compared to a traditional microwave method. The method was applied to measurement of a precipitating frontal system.
Imke Hans, Martin Burgdorf, Viju O. John, Jonathan Mittaz, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4927–4945, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4927-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4927-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In our article we present the evolution of the noise of 11 microwave radiometers used for meteorological remote sensing. We used the Allan deviation to compute an estimate of the noise on the calibration measurements. We provide graphics as an overview to enable the users of the data to decide on the usability of the data for their purposes. Moreover, our analysis enters the production of new FCDRs (Fundamental Climate Data Records) within the FIDUCEO project.
Richard Larsson, Mathias Milz, Patrick Eriksson, Jana Mendrok, Yasuko Kasai, Stefan Alexander Buehler, Catherine Diéval, David Brain, and Paul Hartogh
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 6, 27–37, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-6-27-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-6-27-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
By computer simulations, we explore and quantify how to use radiation emitted by molecular oxygen in the Martian atmosphere to measure the magnetic field from the crust of the planet. This crustal magnetic field is important to understand the past evolution of Mars. Our method can measure the magnetic field at lower altitudes than has so far been done, which could give important information on the characteristics of the crustal sources if a mission with the required instrument is launched.
Hélène Brogniez, Stephen English, Jean-François Mahfouf, Andreas Behrendt, Wesley Berg, Sid Boukabara, Stefan Alexander Buehler, Philippe Chambon, Antonia Gambacorta, Alan Geer, William Ingram, E. Robert Kursinski, Marco Matricardi, Tatyana A. Odintsova, Vivienne H. Payne, Peter W. Thorne, Mikhail Yu. Tretyakov, and Junhong Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2207–2221, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2207-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2207-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Because a systematic difference between measurements of water vapor performed by space-borne observing instruments in the microwave spectral domain and their numerical modeling was recently highlighted, this work discusses and gives an overview of the various errors and uncertainties associated with each element in the comparison process. Indeed, the knowledge of absolute errors in any observation of the climate system is key, more specifically because we need to detect small changes.
Richard Larsson, Mathias Milz, Peter Rayer, Roger Saunders, William Bell, Anna Booton, Stefan A. Buehler, Patrick Eriksson, and Viju O. John
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 841–857, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-841-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-841-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
By modeling the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder's mesospheric measurements, inversions methods can be applied to retreive mesospheric temperatures. We compare the fast forward model used by Met Office with reference simulations and find that there is a reasonable agreement between both models and measurements. Thus we recommend that the fast model is used in data assimilation to improve mesospheric temperature retrievals.
P. Eriksson, M. Jamali, J. Mendrok, and S. A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1913–1933, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1913-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1913-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The optical properties of randomly oriented ice hydrometeors are reviewed from a perspective of microwave mass retrievals. The soft particle approximation is found to be highly problematic, and the alternative approach presented by Geer and Baordo (2014) should instead be used. We present a simplified version of this approach, and point out several critical limitations of existing DDA data.
F. Navas-Guzmán, N. Kämpfer, A. Murk, R. Larsson, S. A. Buehler, and P. Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1863–1874, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1863-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1863-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
In this work we study the Zeeman effect on stratospheric O2 using ground-based microwave radiometer measurements. The interaction of the Earth magnetic field with the oxygen dipole leads to a splitting of O2 energy states which polarizes the emission spectra. A special campaign was carried out in order to measure for the first time the polarization state of the radiation due to the Zeeman effect in the main isotopologue of oxygen from ground-based microwave measurements.
R. Rüfenacht, A. Murk, N. Kämpfer, P. Eriksson, and S. A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4491–4505, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4491-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4491-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
Only very few techniques for wind measurements in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere exist. Moreover, none of these instruments is running on a continuous basis. This paper describes the development of ground-based microwave Doppler radiometry. Time series of daily wind profile measurements from four different locations at polar, mid- and tropical latitudes are presented. The agreement with ECMWF model data is good in the stratosphere, but discrepancies were found in the mesosphere.
V. O. John, D. E. Parker, S. A. Buehler, J. Price, and R. W. Saunders
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-13-10547-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-13-10547-2013, 2013
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
Related subject area
Subject: Others (Wind, Precipitation, Temperature, etc.) | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Validation and Intercomparisons
Evaluation of the 15-year ROM SAF monthly mean GPS radio occultation climate data record
Consistency and structural uncertainty of multi-mission GPS radio occultation records
First validation of Aeolus wind observations by airborne Doppler wind lidar measurements
Intercomparison of wind observations from the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite mission and the ALADIN Airborne Demonstrator
Calibration and validation of the Polarimetric Radio Occultation and Heavy Precipitation experiment aboard the PAZ satellite
Automatic quality control of the Meteosat First Generation measurements
Concurrent satellite and ground-based lightning observations from the Optical Lightning Imaging Sensor (ISS-LIS), the low-frequency network Meteorage and the SAETTA Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) in the northwestern Mediterranean region
Using ground radar overlaps to verify the retrieval of calibration bias estimates from spaceborne platforms
A geometry-dependent surface Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity product for UV–Vis retrievals – Part 2: Evaluation over open ocean
On the zero-level offset in the GOSAT TANSO-FTS O2 A band and the quality of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF): comparison of SIF between GOSAT and OCO-2
Gradient Boosting Machine Learning to Improve Satellite-Derived Column Water Vapor Measurement Error
Evaluation of GPM-DPR precipitation estimates with WegenerNet gauge data
A study of a two-dimensional scanned lunar image for Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) geometric calibration
Multistatic meteor radar observations of gravity-wave–tidal interaction over southern Australia
A geometry-dependent surface Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity product for UV–Vis retrievals – Part 1: Evaluation over land surfaces using measurements from OMI at 466 nm
Retrieval of convective available potential energy from INSAT-3D measurements: comparison with radiosonde data and their spatial–temporal variations
Lidar temperature series in the middle atmosphere as a reference data set – Part 2: Assessment of temperature observations from MLS/Aura and SABER/TIMED satellites
Potential of INSAT-3D sounder-derived total precipitable water product for weather forecast
Lidar temperature series in the middle atmosphere as a reference data set – Part 1: Improved retrievals and a 20-year cross-validation of two co-located French lidars
Enhancing the consistency of spaceborne and ground-based radar comparisons by using beam blockage fraction as a quality filter
Rainfall retrieval with commercial microwave links in São Paulo, Brazil
Evaluating two methods of estimating error variances using simulated data sets with known errors
Estimation of turbulence dissipation rate and its variability from sonic anemometer and wind Doppler lidar during the XPIA field campaign
Inter-channel uniformity of a microwave sounder in space
From model to radar variables: a new forward polarimetric radar operator for COSMO
Evaluating tropospheric humidity from GPS radio occultation, radiosonde, and AIRS from high-resolution time series
Reducing representativeness and sampling errors in radio occultation–radiosonde comparisons
Evaluating the lower-tropospheric COSMIC GPS radio occultation sounding quality over the Arctic
Validation of new satellite rainfall products over the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia
Intercomparison of middle-atmospheric wind in observations and models
Uncertainty characterization of HOAPS 3.3 latent heat-flux-related parameters
Comparisons of the tropospheric specific humidity from GPS radio occultations with ERA-Interim, NASA MERRA, and AIRS data
An intercomparison of stratospheric gravity wave potential energy densities from METOP GPS radio occultation measurements and ECMWF model data
Assessment of surface solar irradiance derived from real-time modelling techniques and verification with ground-based measurements
Sensitivity of airborne radio occultation to tropospheric properties over ocean and land
Intercomparison of AIRS and HIRDLS stratospheric gravity wave observations
The importance of atmospheric correction for airborne hyperspectral remote sensing of shallow waters: application to depth estimation
Combining ground-based microwave radiometer and the AROME convective scale model through 1DVAR retrievals in complex terrain: an Alpine valley case study
The high-resolution extraterrestrial solar spectrum (QASUMEFTS) determined from ground-based solar irradiance measurements
Comparison of global datasets of sodium densities in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere from GOMOS, SCIAMACHY and OSIRIS measurements and WACCM model simulations from 2008 to 2012
A variational technique to estimate snowfall rate from coincident radar, snowflake, and fall-speed observations
An assessment of the impact of ATMS and CrIS data assimilation on precipitation prediction over the Tibetan Plateau
Inter-technique validation of tropospheric slant total delays
A new voxel-based model for the determination of atmospheric weighted mean temperature in GPS atmospheric sounding
Assessing the accuracy of microwave radiometers and radio acoustic sounding systems for wind energy applications
Comparison of aerosol lidar retrieval methods for boundary layer height detection using ceilometer aerosol backscatter data
Long-term assessment of the CALIPSO Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) calibration and stability through simulated and observed comparisons with MODIS/Aqua and SEVIRI/Meteosat
Validating precision estimates in horizontal wind measurements from a Doppler lidar
Assessment of virtual towers performed with scanning wind lidars and Ka-band radars during the XPIA experiment
VHF antenna pattern characterization by the observation of meteor head echoes
Hans Gleisner, Kent B. Lauritsen, Johannes K. Nielsen, and Stig Syndergaard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3081–3098, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3081-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3081-2020, 2020
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Data from GPS radio occultation (RO) instruments aboard a series of satellites have been reprocessed by the ROM SAF. We describe the monthly mean RO climate data records (CDRs) and the methods for removing sampling errors. The quality of the CDRs is evaluated, with a focus on systematic differences between satellite missions. Between 8 and 30 km, the data quality and the inter-mission differences are small enough to allow the generation of combined multi-mission data records starting in 2001.
Andrea K. Steiner, Florian Ladstädter, Chi O. Ao, Hans Gleisner, Shu-Peng Ho, Doug Hunt, Torsten Schmidt, Ulrich Foelsche, Gottfried Kirchengast, Ying-Hwa Kuo, Kent B. Lauritsen, Anthony J. Mannucci, Johannes K. Nielsen, William Schreiner, Marc Schwärz, Sergey Sokolovskiy, Stig Syndergaard, and Jens Wickert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2547–2575, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2547-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2547-2020, 2020
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High-quality observations are critically important for monitoring the Earth’s changing climate. We provide information on the consistency and long-term stability of observations from GPS radio occultation (RO). We assess, for the first time, RO records from multiple RO missions and all major RO data providers. Our results quantify where RO can be used for reliable trend assessment and confirm its climate quality.
Benjamin Witschas, Christian Lemmerz, Alexander Geiß, Oliver Lux, Uwe Marksteiner, Stephan Rahm, Oliver Reitebuch, and Fabian Weiler
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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Aeolus, the first ever wind lidar in space, has been providing wind profiles on a global scale since its launch. In order to validate the quality of Aeolus wind observations, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) recently performed two airborne campaigns over central Europe deploying two different Doppler wind lidars. A total of 10 satellite underflights were performed and used to validate the early-stage wind data product of Aeolus by means of collocated airborne wind lidar observations.
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.
Ramon Padullés, Chi O. Ao, F. Joseph Turk, Manuel de la Torre Juárez, Byron Iijima, Kuo Nung Wang, and Estel Cardellach
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1299–1313, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1299-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1299-2020, 2020
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In this study we thoroughly address the calibration and validation of the new polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) observables. These represent an innovative way to obtain vertical profiles of precipitation along with thermodynamic observations of the same scene. First we perform the on-orbit calibration of the measurement. Then, we show how the PRO observables are sensitive to the presence and intensity of rain by looking for coincident precipitation measurements from independent missions.
Freek Liefhebber, Sarah Lammens, Paul W. G. Brussee, André Bos, Viju O. John, Frank Rüthrich, Jacobus Onderwaater, Michael G. Grant, and Jörg Schulz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1167–1179, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1167-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1167-2020, 2020
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The paper addresses the need for automatic quality control of a whole series of Earth observation (EO) time series extending a period of over 40 years. Such a dataset is valuable and may provide important information about trends related to geo-physical processes. Furthermore, as the dataset is that large, there is a need to completely automate the processes, as otherwise the effort would become impracticable. The result is a system with a high probability of detection and low false alarm rate.
Felix Erdmann, Eric Defer, Olivier Caumont, Richard J. Blakeslee, Stéphane Pédeboy, and Sylvain Coquillat
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 853–875, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-853-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-853-2020, 2020
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This article compares lightning observations from an optical sensor onboard the International Space Station to two ground-based networks using different radio frequencies. The location and timing of coincident flashes agree well for the three instruments. Differences exist for the detected number of flashes and the characteristics. Small flashes in particular are not always detected by all three instruments. About half of the flashes at altitudes below 10 km are not seen by the satellite sensor.
Irene Crisologo and Maik Heistermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 645–659, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-645-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-645-2020, 2020
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Archives of radar observations often suffer from errors, one of which is calibration. However, it is possible to correct them after the fact by using satellite radars as a calibration reference. We propose improvements to this calibration method by considering factors that affect the data quality, such that poor quality data gets filtered out in the bias calculation by assigning weights. We also show that the bias can be interpolated in time even for days when there are no satellite data.
Zachary Fasnacht, Alexander Vasilkov, David Haffner, Wenhan Qin, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay Krotkov, Andrew M. Sayer, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6749–6769, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6749-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6749-2019, 2019
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The anisotropy of Earth's surface reflection plays an important role in satellite-based retrievals of cloud, aerosol, and trace gases. Most current ultraviolet and visible satellite retrievals utilize climatological surface reflectivity databases that do not account for surface anisotropy. The GLER concept was introduced to account for such features. Here we evaluate GLER for water surfaces by comparing with OMI measurements and show that it captures these surface anisotropy features.
Haruki Oshio, Yukio Yoshida, and Tsuneo Matsunaga
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6721–6735, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6721-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6721-2019, 2019
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We investigate the radiance offset in the O2 A band of GOSAT spectrometer and quality of the offset-corrected solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). An analysis of temporal variation of the offset suggests that the radiometric sensitivity of the spectrometer changed after switching the optics path selector in January 2015. Comparisons at multiple spatial scales show good agreement between GOSAT SIF and OCO-2 SIF, which supports the consistency among the present satellite SIF data.
Allan C. Just, Yang Liu, Meytar Sorek-Hamer, Johnathan Rush, Michael Dorman, Robert Chatfield, Yujie Wang, Alexei Lyapustin, and Itai Kloog
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2019-308, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2019-308, 2019
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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A flexible machine-learning model was fit to explain the differences between estimates of water vapor from satellites versus ground stations in the Northeastern USA. We use nine variables derived from the satellite acquisition and ground characteristics to explain this measurement error. Our results showed overall good agreement but data from the Terra satellite were drifting too high in recent summers. Our model reduces measurement error and works well in new locations in the Northeast.
Martin Lasser, Sungmin O, and Ulrich Foelsche
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5055–5070, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5055-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5055-2019, 2019
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This paper evaluates the rain rate estimates from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's radar instrument by comparing them to the data of the WegenerNet, a local-scale high-resolution network of meteorological stations. Our results show that the GPM-DPR estimates basically match with the WegenerNet measurements, but absolute quantities are biased.
Jun Zhou and Hu Yang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4983–4992, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4983-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4983-2019, 2019
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Evaluating the on-orbit geolocation accuracy of the ATMS is of great importance. The widely used Earth-target-dependent methods are crippled by the strong atmospheric absorption at sounding channels and cloud contamination at window channels. To solve these issues, this study developed a geolocation evaluation algorithm based on a unique 2-D lunar scan dataset captured by the ATMS during a NOAA-20 pitch-over maneuver operation. The results are validated by the coastline inflection point method.
Andrew John Spargo, Iain Murray Reid, and Andrew David MacKinnon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4791–4812, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4791-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4791-2019, 2019
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We simulate the ability of a recently installed multistation meteor detection radar to measure characteristics of turbulence in the Earth's lower ionosphere. After verifying that it performs reasonably well, we use the radar's data to study an interaction between turbulence and tidal effects. We performed the study because no one has yet applied a multistation radar to this problem before and because multistation radars like this are becoming increasingly common worldwide.
Wenhan Qin, Zachary Fasnacht, David Haffner, Alexander Vasilkov, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay Krotkov, Bradford Fisher, and Robert Spurr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3997–4017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3997-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3997-2019, 2019
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Satellite observations depend on Sun and view angles due to anisotropy of the Earth's atmosphere and surface reflection. But most of the ultraviolet and visible cloud, aerosol, and trace-gas algorithms utilize surface reflectivity databases that do not account for surface anisotropy. We create a surface database using the GLER concept which adequately accounts for surface anisotropy, validate it with independent satellite data, and provide a simple implementation to the current algorithms.
Uriya Veerendra Murali Krishna, Subrata Kumar Das, Kizhathur Narasimhan Uma, and Govindan Pandithurai
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 777–790, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-777-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-777-2019, 2019
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Convective available potential energy (CAPE) is an indicator of the occurrence of extreme weather. For the first time over India, this study estimated CAPE from high spatial–temporal resolution measurements of the geostationary satellite, INSAT-3D. INSAT-3D estimates that CAPE reasonably represents the radiosonde CAPE. This study allows the atmospheric science community to select the best available dataset for their use in nowcasting and making severe weather warnings based on numerical models.
Robin Wing, Alain Hauchecorne, Philippe Keckhut, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Sergey Khaykin, and Emily M. McCullough
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6703–6717, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6703-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6703-2018, 2018
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We have compared 2433 nights of OHP lidar temperatures (2002–2018) to temperatures derived from the satellites SABER and MLS. We have found a winter stratopause cold bias in the satellite measurements with respect to the lidar (−6 K for SABER and −17 K for MLS), a summer mesospheric warm bias for SABER (6 K near 60 km), and a vertically structured bias for MLS (−4 to 4 K). We have corrected the satellite data based on the lidar-determined stratopause height and found a significant improvement.
Shailesh Parihar, Ashim Kumar Mitra, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, and Rajjev Bhatla
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6003–6012, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6003-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6003-2018, 2018
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This paper is based on operational work carried out at IMD, New Delhi using the INSAT-3D satellite-derived sounder product TPW for weather events such as rainfall and thunderstorms. The INSAT-3D TPW has been used by forecasters as well as many other users over the last 2 years. This work mainly brings out an in-depth validation with in situ ground measurement data as well as a GNSS system for its suitability in weather prediction. This paper can be utilized operationally for weather purposes.
Robin Wing, Alain Hauchecorne, Philippe Keckhut, Sophie Godin-Beekmann, Sergey Khaykin, Emily M. McCullough, Jean-François Mariscal, and Éric d'Almeida
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5531–5547, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5531-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5531-2018, 2018
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The objective of this work is to minimize the errors at the highest altitudes of a lidar temperature profile which arise due to background estimation and a priori choice. The systematic method in this paper has the effect of cooling the temperatures at the top of a lidar profile by up to 20 K – bringing them into better agreement with satellite temperatures. Following the description of the algorithm is a 20-year cross-validation of two lidars which establishes the stability of the technique.
Irene Crisologo, Robert A. Warren, Kai Mühlbauer, and Maik Heistermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5223–5236, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5223-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5223-2018, 2018
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The calibration of ground-based weather radar (GR) can be improved a posteriori by comparing observed GR reflectivity to well-established spaceborne radar platforms (SR), such as TRMM or GPM. Our study shows that the consistency between GR and SR reflectivity measurements can be enhanced by considering the quality of GR data from areas where signals may have been blocked due to the surrounding terrain, and provides an open-source toolset to carry out corresponding analyses.
Manuel F. Rios Gaona, Aart Overeem, Timothy H. Raupach, Hidde Leijnse, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4465–4476, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4465-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4465-2018, 2018
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Rainfall estimates from commercial microwave links were obtained for the city of Sao Paulo (Brazil). The results show the potential of such networks as complementary rainfall measurements for more robust networks (e.g. radars, gauges, satellites).
Therese Rieckh and Richard Anthes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4309–4325, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4309-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4309-2018, 2018
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We compare the two-cornered hat (2CH) and three-cornered hat (3CH) method for estimating the error variances of two or more independent data sets using simulated data with various error correlations and biases.
We assess the accuracy of the 3CH and 2CH estimates and examine the sensitivity of the estimated error variances to the degree of error correlation between the data sets as well as sample size. The 3CH method is less sensitive to these factors and hence more accurate.
Nicola Bodini, Julie K. Lundquist, and Rob K. Newsom
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4291–4308, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4291-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4291-2018, 2018
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Turbulence within the atmospheric boundary layer is critically important to transfer heat, momentum, and moisture. Currently, improved turbulence parametrizations are crucially needed to refine the accuracy of model results at fine horizontal scales. In this study, we calculate turbulence dissipation rate from sonic anemometers and discuss a novel approach to derive turbulence dissipation from profiling lidar measurements.
Martin Burgdorf, Imke Hans, Marc Prange, Theresa Lang, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4005–4014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4005-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4005-2018, 2018
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We analysed observations of the Moon with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B on the NOAA-16 satellite in order to search for bias in the sounding channels. Significant bias had been detected in the past on the basis of simultaneous nadir overpasses. With the Moon providing a quite different reference flux than the on-board calibration target and Earth scenes, radio-frequency interference emerged as the best explanation for the anomalies of channel 20 of AMSU-B on NOAA-16.
Daniel Wolfensberger and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3883–3916, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3883-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3883-2018, 2018
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This work presents a polarimetric forward operator for the COSMO weather prediction model. This tool is able to simulate radar observables from the state of the atmosphere simulated by the model, taking into account most physical aspects of radar beam propagation and backscattering. This operator was validated with a large dataset of radar observations from several instruments and it was shown that is able to simulate a realistic radar signature in liquid precipitation.
Therese Rieckh, Richard Anthes, William Randel, Shu-Peng Ho, and Ulrich Foelsche
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3091–3109, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3091-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3091-2018, 2018
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Water vapor is the most important tropospheric greenhouse gas and is also highly variable in space and time. We study the vertical structure and variability of tropospheric humidity using various observing techniques (GPS radio occultation, radiosondes, Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) and models. Time–height cross sections reveal seasonal biases for different pressure layers. We find that radio occultation humidity has high accuracy and can contribute valuable information in data assimilation.
Shay Gilpin, Therese Rieckh, and Richard Anthes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2567–2582, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2567-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2567-2018, 2018
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Comparing observational systems when observations are not taken at the exact same time or location can introduce sampling errors that can be come significant during error analysis. In this study, we develop two methods to reduce sampling errors: using ellipse distance constraints rather than circles and subtracting model background. We found that both the ellipses and subtracting model background from
the observations reduce sampling errors caused by spatial and temporal differences.
Xiao Yu, Feiqin Xie, and Chi O. Ao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2051–2066, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2051-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2051-2018, 2018
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Atmospheric observations from GPS receiver satellites offer uniform spatial coverage over the Arctic. The GPS profiles sensing deep into the lowest 300 m of the atmosphere only reach 50–60 % in summer but over 70 % in other seasons. The profile uncertainty due to different data centers is within 0.07 % in refractivity, 0.72 K in temperature, and 0.05 g kg-1 in humidity below 10 km. A systematic negative bias of 1 % in refractivity below 2 km is only seen in the summer due to moisture impact.
Getachew Tesfaye Ayehu, Tsegaye Tadesse, Berhan Gessesse, and Tufa Dinku
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1921–1936, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1921-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1921-2018, 2018
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The intent of this research paper is to rigorously validate the performance of satellite rainfall products to be used for various operational applications in data-scarce regions of the Upper Blue Nile (UBN) basin in Ethiopia. It was found that satellite rainfall products could be used as an alternative source of rainfall data in areas with no or poor ground observations. Their reliable performance could make more appropriate for various functions in complex topographic areas of the UBN basin.
Rolf Rüfenacht, Gerd Baumgarten, Jens Hildebrand, Franziska Schranz, Vivien Matthias, Gunter Stober, Franz-Josef Lübken, and Niklaus Kämpfer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1971–1987, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1971-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1971-2018, 2018
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Wind information throughout the middle-atmosphere is crucial for the understanding of atmospheric dynamics but became available only recently, thanks to developments in remote sensing and modelling approaches. We present the first thorough assessment of the quality of the wind estimates by comparing co-located observations from lidar and microwave radiometry and opposing them to the major atmospheric models. Moreover we evaluated a new approach for measuring mesopause region wind by radiometry.
Julian Liman, Marc Schröder, Karsten Fennig, Axel Andersson, and Rainer Hollmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1793–1815, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1793-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1793-2018, 2018
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Latent heat fluxes (LHF) play a major role in the climate system. Over open ocean, they are increasingly observed by satellite instruments. To access their quality, this research focuses on thorough uncertainty analysis of all LHF-related variables of the HOAPS satellite climatology, in parts making use of novel analysis approaches. Results indicate climatological LHF uncertainies up to 50 W m−2, whereby underlying specific humidities tend to be more uncertain than contributing wind speeds.
Panagiotis Vergados, Anthony J. Mannucci, Chi O. Ao, Olga Verkhoglyadova, and Byron Iijima
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1193–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1193-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1193-2018, 2018
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This study cross-compares the 10-year record of GPS radio occultation (GPS-RO) specific humidity product against independent databases (e.g., AIRS satellite, NASA/MERRA, and ERA-Interim). Our objective is to investigate the suitability of the GPS-RO humidity as a climate variable, which the science community could use in climate research. GPS-RO offers high vertical resolution, low sensitivity to clouds, and long-term stability making GPS-RO humidity a valuable complementary data set.
Markus Rapp, Andreas Dörnbrack, and Bernd Kaifler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1031–1048, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1031-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1031-2018, 2018
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Temperature profiles from operational weather satellites are used to determine the global distribution of gravity wave activity. This is an important information to constrain global climate models. The quality of this data set is assessed by
systematic comparison to model fields from ECMWF which are considered very high quality. This reveals good agreement between model and observations, albeit the model misses localized centers of wave activity if model resolution is too low.
Panagiotis G. Kosmopoulos, Stelios Kazadzis, Michael Taylor, Panagiotis I. Raptis, Iphigenia Keramitsoglou, Chris Kiranoudis, and Alkiviadis F. Bais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 907–924, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-907-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-907-2018, 2018
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Continuous monitoring of solar energy from space is critical for its efficient exploitation and distribution. For this reason we developed neural-network- and function-based real-time models, which are capable of producing massive radiation outputs in high spectral, spatial and temporal resolution. The models' performance against ground-based measurements revealed a dependence on input quality and resolution, and an overall accuracy under cloudless and high solar energy potential conditions.
Feiqin Xie, Loknath Adhikari, Jennifer S. Haase, Brian Murphy, Kuo-Nung Wang, and James L. Garrison
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 763–780, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-763-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-763-2018, 2018
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The GPS signal going through the atmosphere will experience refraction or bending, which can be precisely measured and used to infer the atmospheric properties. This paper demonstrates that high-quality atmospheric measurement with less than ~ 0.4 K is achievable from a GPS recording system with a simple antenna mounted on top of an aircraft cruising at ~ 13 km. Such a simple airborne GPS system can be implemented on commercial aircraft to provide valuable data for weather models in the future.
Catrin I. Meyer, Manfred Ern, Lars Hoffmann, Quang Thai Trinh, and M. Joan Alexander
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 215–232, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-215-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-215-2018, 2018
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We investigate stratospheric gravity wave observations by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) and the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS). Waves seen by AIRS contribute significantly to momentum flux, which indicates a calculated momentum flux factor. AIRS and HIRDLS agree well in the phase structure of the wave events and also in the seasonal and latitudinal patterns of gravity wave activity and can be used complementary to each other.
Elena Castillo-López, Jose Antonio Dominguez, Raúl Pereda, Julio Manuel de Luis, Ruben Pérez, and Felipe Piña
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3919–3929, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3919-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3919-2017, 2017
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This work is part of a project funded by the government of Spain, whose objective was to develop a methodology that would allow the grain size and heavy metals estimation in the sediments of the intertidal zone (Bay of Santander) and depth estimation in the subtidal area, using information (VNIR) captured by the hyperspectral sensor, CASI-2, a spectroradiometer ASD-FR (350–2500 nm) in field and laboratory and classical and robust statistic algorithms.
Pauline Martinet, Domenico Cimini, Francesco De Angelis, Guylaine Canut, Vinciane Unger, Remi Guillot, Diane Tzanos, and Alexandre Paci
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3385–3402, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3385-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3385-2017, 2017
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Microwave radiometers have the capability of observing temperature and humidity profiles with a few minute time resolution. This study investigates the potential benefit of this instrument to improve weather forecasts thanks to a better initialization of the model. Our results show that a significant improvement can be expected in the model initialization in the first 3 km with potential impacts on weather forecasts.
Julian Gröbner, Ingo Kröger, Luca Egli, Gregor Hülsen, Stefan Riechelmann, and Peter Sperfeld
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3375–3383, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3375-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3375-2017, 2017
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We have produced a benchmark high-resolution solar extraterrestrial spectrum from ground-based measurements of direct solar irradiance in the wavelength range 300 to 500 nm. This spectrum can be used for model calculations and for validating solar spectra measured in space. The metrological traceability of this solar spectrum to the International System of Units (SI) is assured by an unbroken chain of calibrations traceable to the primary spectral irradiance standard of PTB.
Martin P. Langowski, Christian von Savigny, John P. Burrows, Didier Fussen, Erin C. M. Dawkins, Wuhu Feng, John M. C. Plane, and Daniel R. Marsh
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2989–3006, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2989-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2989-2017, 2017
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Meteoric metals form metal layers in the upper atmosphere anandplay a role in the formation of middle-atmospheric clouds and aerosols. However, the total metal influx rate is not well known. Global Na datasets from measurements and a model are available, which had not been compared yet on a global scale until this paper. Overall the agreement is good, and many differences between measurements are also found in the model simulations. However, the modeled layer altitude is too low.
Steven J. Cooper, Norman B. Wood, and Tristan S. L'Ecuyer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2557–2571, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2557-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2557-2017, 2017
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Estimates of snowfall rate as derived from radar observations can suffer large uncertainties due to great natural variability in snowflake microphysical properties. We used in situ observations of particle size, shape, and fall speed to refine radar-based estimates of snowfall for five snow events at the ARM Barrow Climate Research Facility. Estimated snowfall amounts agreed well with nearby snow gauge observations and demonstrated significant sensitivity to both particle shape and fall speed.
Tong Xue, Jianjun Xu, Zhaoyong Guan, Han-Ching Chen, Long S. Chiu, and Min Shao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2517–2531, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2517-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2517-2017, 2017
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In this study, we used diagnostic methods to analyze the impact of data assimilation on the monthly precipitation distribution over the Tibetan Plateau and then focused on one heavy-rainfall case study that occurred from 3 to 6 July 2015. It is conspicuous that the ATMS assimilation showed better performance than the control experiment, conventional assimilation, and CrIS assimilation. Overall, the satellite data assimilation can enhance the WRF-ARW model’s ability to predict precipitation.
Michal Kačmařík, Jan Douša, Galina Dick, Florian Zus, Hugues Brenot, Gregor Möller, Eric Pottiaux, Jan Kapłon, Paweł Hordyniec, Pavel Václavovic, and Laurent Morel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2183–2208, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2183-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2183-2017, 2017
Changyong He, Suqin Wu, Xiaoming Wang, Andong Hu, Qianxin Wang, and Kefei Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2045–2060, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2045-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2045-2017, 2017
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Atmospheric weighted mean temperature (Tm) is a key parameter in precipitable water vapour (PWV) detection using GPS technique. This paper develops a new voxel-based empirical Tm model, which takes into consideration the lapse rate and diurnal variations of Tm. The theoretical RMS error of PWV resulting from the new model is generally less than 0.8 m over the globe. Therefore, it can be used as an alternative Tm determination method in the real-time GPS-based water vapour detection system.
Laura Bianco, Katja Friedrich, James M. Wilczak, Duane Hazen, Daniel Wolfe, Ruben Delgado, Steven P. Oncley, and Julie K. Lundquist
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1707–1721, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1707-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1707-2017, 2017
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XPIA is a study held in 2015 at NOAA's Boulder Atmospheric Observatory facility, aimed at assessing remote-sensing capabilities for wind energy applications. We use well-defined reference systems to validate temperature retrieved by two microwave radiometers (MWRs) and virtual temperature measured by wind profiling radars with radio acoustic sounding systems (RASSs). Water vapor density and relative humidity by the MWRs were also compared with similar measurements from the reference systems.
Vanessa Caicedo, Bernhard Rappenglück, Barry Lefer, Gary Morris, Daniel Toledo, and Ruben Delgado
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1609–1622, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1609-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1609-2017, 2017
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Three methods for estimating the boundary layer height using aerosol backscatter measurements are evaluated here. Radiosonde profiles are used to evaluate aerosol-backscatter-derived boundary layer heights. Overall good agreement between radiosonde and all aerosol-derived boundary layer heights was found, and specific limitations to each method are discussed. A recommended method is given for future aerosol backscatter retrieval of the boundary layer height.
Anne Garnier, Noëlle A. Scott, Jacques Pelon, Raymond Armante, Laurent Crépeau, Bruno Six, and Nicolas Pascal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1403–1424, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1403-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1403-2017, 2017
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An assessment of IIR radiances after 9.5 years of nearly continuous operation since June 2006 is presented. First, IIR is compared with similar MODIS or SEVIRI channels in various conditions. Second, clear sky measurements in each channel are compared with simulations. The first approach detects biases and/or trends, and the second approach contributes to identifying which channel deviates from the other. The analyses are based on simulations using the 4A/OP radiative transfer model.
Rob K. Newsom, W. Alan Brewer, James M. Wilczak, Daniel E. Wolfe, Steven P. Oncley, and Julie K. Lundquist
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1229–1240, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1229-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1229-2017, 2017
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Doppler lidars are remote sensing instruments that use infrared light to measure wind velocity in the lowest 2 to 3 km of the atmosphere. Quantifying the uncertainty in these measurements is crucial for applications ranging from wind resource assessment to model data assimilation. In this study, we evaluate three methods for estimating the random uncertainty by comparing the lidar wind measurements with nearly collocated in situ wind measurements at multiple levels on a tall tower.
Mithu Debnath, Giacomo Valerio Iungo, W. Alan Brewer, Aditya Choukulkar, Ruben Delgado, Scott Gunter, Julie K. Lundquist, John L. Schroeder, James M. Wilczak, and Daniel Wolfe
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1215–1227, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1215-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1215-2017, 2017
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The XPIA experiment was conducted in 2015 at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory to estimate capabilities of various remote-sensing techniques for the characterization of complex atmospheric flows. Among different tests, XPIA provided the unique opportunity to perform simultaneous virtual towers with Ka-band radars and scanning Doppler wind lidars. Wind speed and wind direction were assessed against lidar profilers and sonic anemometer data, highlighting a good accuracy of the data retrieved.
Toralf Renkwitz, Carsten Schult, and Ralph Latteck
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 527–535, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-527-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-527-2017, 2017
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The knowledge of the actual radiation pattern is crucial for the analysis of radar echoes and is also an important indicator of the radar's health status. The method described here allows the radiation pattern to be characterized by observing meteor head echoes. In contrast to previous studies we generate angular occurrence maps of meteor trajectory points for periods of normal and limited radar functionality to derive the radiation pattern and compare them thorough simulation results.
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The upper-tropospheric humidity is an essential climate variable, which can be measured with microwave sounders in polar orbits. A stable photometric calibration of these instruments is indispensable for detecting long-term trends. We demonstrate that this can be achieved by using the Moon in a fixed phase as a flux standard for dedicated pitch maneuver observations. This method is particularly suited for future sensors with small beamwidths.
The upper-tropospheric humidity is an essential climate variable, which can be measured with...
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
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