Atmospheric Remote Sensing: Overview

Adapted from S. DutchUniv Wisconsin Green Bay

Weather Forecasting

• Cannot exist without telecommunications• Most fundamental ideas are very recent

No Weather Forecasting

• He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. (Luke 12:54-55)

• People could interpret local, immediate weather signs; could guess at the presence of jet streams from cirrus cloud streaks.

No Weather Forecasting

• Little travel• No telecommunications• The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear

its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. (John 3:8)

• As far as anyone knew, weather originated spontaneously and locally

• All meteorology is remote sensing

What Are We Sensing?• 1600’s and 1700’s: Basic weather instruments

invented• 1743: Benjamin Franklin deduces that storms move• 1802-1803: Luke Howard classifies cloud types • 1806: Francis Beaufort introduces his system for

classifying wind speeds.• 1840’s: Telegraph invented• 1854: Jean Joseph Leverrier demonstrated that a

devastating storm could have been tracked and predicted if telegraph had been in use

Weather Mapping• 1849: Smithsonian Institution institutes

observing system in U.S.• 1860: Robert FitzRoy – Produces the first synoptic charts– Coined the term "weather forecast" – Published the first ever daily weather forecasts

• 1873: Army Signal Corps issues first hurricane prediction

• 1900 Galveston blind-sided by hurricane

Weather Map, 1874

1905 Weather Map of US

Modern Weather Forecasting• 1902: Stratosphere discovered• 1902: Radio• Norwegians pioneered modern weather forecasting• World War I inspired the name “front”• 1930: First radiosonde• 1944: First radar detection of hurricane• WWII: Jet streams discovered• 1948: First successful tornado prediction• 1954: Sweden starts first real-time numerical

predictions

First Modern Concept of

Fronts

First U.S. Weather Map With Fronts

Scales in Meteorology

• Microscale: kilometers• Mesoscale: tens of kilometers• Synoptic: hundreds or thousands of

kilometers– Weather Maps

• Global– Wind belts– El Nino and other oscillations

Atmospheric Remote Sensing

• Even in pre-satellite days, weather observing was one of the first applications envisioned for satellites.

• In 1954, a rocket photograph showed a storm system that later caused a flood and inspired creation of a weather satellite program

• Vanguard II (1959) was a prototype weather satellite but only partially successful

TIROS 1

• Television Infrared Observation Satellite• Launched April 1, 1960• First successful weather satellite• Altitude 468 miles

First Weather Satellite Image

Nimbus Series

• 7 satellites, launched 1964-1978• Transmitted data until 1994• Pioneered atmospheric pressure

measurements by satellite– Measures optical effects of pressure on

atmosphere

• Monitored ozone hole depletion

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)

• First launched 1962• Declassified 1972• Most advanced night imaging capabilities• Still active

DMSP Night Image

Aurora over the US

The Perfect Low, 19 April 2006

The “Chi-clone” 26 Oct. 2010

Great Lakes Cyclone

Typhoon Longwang

GOES

• Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

• GOES-11 (West) at 135 W over Pacific• GOES-12 (East at 75 W over Atlantic)• GOES-13 and -14 in storage orbits

GOES

• Imager: Multi-channel visible and IR• Sounder: vertical atmospheric temperature

and moisture profiles, surface and cloud top temperature, and ozone distribution

• Ground-based meteorological platform data collection and relay

• Space environment monitor• Beacon locators for search and rescue

GOES 15 Image (All Bands)

Calculated Band Weighting Functions for Reno

Global Water Vapor, July 2009

Cloud Top temperatures

Cloud Classification

Cloud Top Pressure

Precipitation

Lightning Strikes

Global Lightning

Particulate Matter

• Natural: Volcanic, smoke, wind-blown dust• Anthropogenic: Smoke, exhaust, construction,

agriculture• In pre-industrial times, visibility over 100 km

was normal• Unusual haze was very abnormal and noted– “Dry fogs” are records of volcanic eruptions– Great “Smoky” Mountains

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Pollution over India

The view from Tibet

Sea of pollution Over India

Image from the Shuttle

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Marmin, Nepal March 2001 (V. Ramanathan)

Mottarone, Italy, June 2001

Towards equal distribution of Pollution around the world

Dust and pollution over Lago Magiore, Italy

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POLDER aerosol index Feb. 1997 & population density (Kaufman, Tanré & Boucher, Nature 2002)

Does Population cause Pollution ?

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(Kaufman, Tanré & Boucher, Nature 2002)Strong Aerosol Radiative Forcing In Certain Regions

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(Kaufman, Tanré & Boucher, Nature 2002)Schematic Impact of Aerosol on Cloud and Precipitation

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(Kaufman, Tanré & Boucher, Nature 2002)Schematic Impact of Aerosol on Cloud Brightness

Multi-Angle Scanning

• Intersecting lines of sight allows three-dimensional modeling

• Slant viewing eliminates reflections off water (sun glitter)

• Different viewing angles allows characterization of surfaces– Phase Angle

MISR Images (0, 45, 60, 75 degrees)

MISR and Oil Spill

Limb Viewing

Solar Occultation

GPS Occultation: Senses Water Vapor