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