Search results for "albedo"
showing 10 items of 110 documents
Time-variations of zeroth-order vegetation absorption and scattering at L-band
2021
Abstract Surface soil moisture and vegetation optical depth (VOD), as an indicator of vegetation wet biomass, from passive microwave remote sensing have been increasingly applied in global ecology and climate research. Both soil moisture and VOD are retrieved from satellite brightness temperature measurements assuming a zeroth order radiative transfer model, commonly known as the tau-omega model. In this model the emission of a vegetated surface is dependent on soil moisture, vegetation absorption and vegetation scattering. Vegetation scattering is normally represented by the single scattering albedo, ω, and is commonly assumed to be a time-invariant calibration parameter to achieve high ac…
Ultraviolet radiation at Mediterranean latitudes and protection efficacy of intraocular lenses.
2011
Summary Purpose After determining the mean intensity of ultraviolet radiation to which the human eye is exposed at Mediterranean latitudes, this data is used to evaluate the efficacy of the ultraviolet filters incorporated into various intraocular lenses. Methods Ultraviolet radiation measured at Mediterranean latitudes was used as a reference for the theoretical calculation of the amount of radiation to which the human eye is exposed. The spectral transmission curve from 290 to 380 nm was measured for 10 IOLs using a UV/VIS Perkins-Elmer Lambda 800 spectrometer. Results At Mediterranean latitudes, at sea level, with a mean annual solar irradiation of 50 j/cm 2 , the human eye receives a qu…
Columnar aerosol properties in Valencia (Spain) by ground-based Sun photometry
2007
In this paper, we present a climatological study of atmospheric aerosols in coastal eastern Spain, by means of experimental measurements using a Cimel CE318-2 Sun photometer. The aerosol optical depth, Ångström wavelength exponent, size distribution, complex refractive index, asymmetry parameter, and single scattering albedo have been retrieved from these measurements. The columnar water content, as an important parameter for understanding aerosol growth, has also been retrieved. Statistical results of the annual and seasonal variability analysis, mainly related to the usual summer maximum turbidity found in the Mediterranean and European regions, are also shown. The results are linked to t…
Testing two temporal upscaling schemes for the estimation of the time variability of the actual evapotranspiration
2015
Temporal availability of grapes actual evapotranspiration is an emerging issue since vineyards farms are more and more converted from rainfed to irrigated agricultural systems. The manuscript aims to verify the accuracy of the actual evapotranspiration retrieval coupling a single source energy balance approach and two different temporal upscaling schemes. The first scheme tests the temporal upscaling of the main input variables, namely the NDVI, albedo and LST; the second scheme tests the temporal upscaling of the energy balance output, the actual evapotranspiration. The temporal upscaling schemes were implemented on: i) airborne remote sensing data acquired monthly during a whole irrigatio…
Irradiance in polluted cumulus fields: Measured and modeled cloud-aerosol effects
2009
[1] We present a new strategy to validate modeled spectral irradiance of shallow cumulus cloud fields in a polluted background with airborne measurements. The concept is based on a spectral distinction of effects associated with heterogeneous clouds, aerosol particles, and surface albedo. We use measurements from the Gulf of Mexico Atmospheric Composition and Climate Study, conducted in the urban-industrial Houston area. Modeled irradiance fields were obtained from extensive three-dimensional radiative transfer calculations applied to the output of large eddy simulations. We show that the measurements below clouds or cloud gaps can only be reproduced by the calculations when including the a…
The Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis
2011
Information on land surface properties finds applications in a range of areas related to weather forecasting, environmental research, hazard management and climate monitoring. Remotely sensed observations yield the only means of supplying land surface information with adequate time sampling and a wide spatial coverage. The aim of the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (Land-SAF) is to take full advantage of remotely sensed data to support land, land-atmosphere and biosphere applications, with emphasis on the development and implementation of algorithms that allow operational use of data from European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMET…
An atmospheric model for computing direct and diffuse solar radiation
1979
Abstract This paper proposes an atmospheric model, which extends the computation of the direct radiation given by Cole's model to the cloudy sky and shows a method to calculate the diffuse radiation. Therefore the monthly average values of the global radiation incident on a horizontal surface at Palermo are computed by this method. These values are compared with the experimental data provided by the Istituto di Idraulica Agraria, Universita di Palermo and generally exhibit a mean deviation not more than 10 per cent. The deviations become lower than 8 per cent taking into account the effect of the underlying surface albedo. In order to better verify the validity of the proposed method, it sh…
A multi-instrument approach for characterizing the atmospheric aerosol optical thickness during the STAAARTE/DAISEX-99 campaign
2002
This work deals with the retrieval of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) needed to carry out the atmospheric correction of remote sensing data measured in Barrax (Spain) on 4 June 1999 in the framework of 1999 Digital Airbone Imaging Spectrometer Experiment (DAISEX'99). The AOT was estimated through three approaches based on: spectral extinction of direct solar irradiance at ground level, airborne nephelometer measurements at different altitudes, and backscatter lidar in the lower troposphere. We found extremely low AOT values due to a cold Atlantic front that swept across the Iberian Peninsula from west to east producing light rain over the test area on 2 June 1999. The results were solar…
Evaluation of the AVHRR surface reflectance long term data record between 1984 and 2011
2021
Abstract The long-term data record (LTDR) from the Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) provides daily surface reflectance with global coverage from the 1980s to present day, making it a unique source of information for the study of land surface properties and their long-term dynamics. Surface reflectance is a critical input for the generation of products such as vegetation indices, albedo, and land cover. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to quantify its uncertainties to better understand how they might propagate into downstream products. Due to the prolonged length of the surface reflectance LTDR and previous unavailability of a well calibrated reference, no comprehensive …
Der Wärmehaushalt der Atmosphäre
1950
The mean caloric balance of the atmosphere is represented by diagram No. 1, which shows the usual lay-out, but is filled in with new figures according to own calculations based uponS. Fritz's new value of the earth's albedo. Possibilities of exchange between the heat surplus of the earth's surface and the heat deficiency of the atmosphere and between differing spots of the same layer are discussed. Regarding the vertical pattern of heat sources and cold sources, it may be seen that in the humid climates (tropics and temperate zone) the lower troposphere receives considerable amounts of heat and the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere lose heat, while in arid regions (subtropics and the…