Improving Cloud Optical Property Retrievals for Partly Cloudy Pixels Using Coincident Higher-Resolution Single Band Measurements: A Feasibility Study Using ASTER Observations
Abstract
Clear-sky contamination is a challenging and long-lasting problem for cloud optical thickness (τ) and effective droplet radius (reff) retrievals using passive satellite sensors. This study explores the feasibility of improving both τ and reff retrievals for partly cloudy (PCL) pixels by using available subpixel samples in a visible to near-infrared band, which many satellite sensors offer. Data are provided by high-resolution reflectance (R ) observations and cloud property retrievals by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) at horizontal resolutions between 30-960m. For partly cloudy 960-m observations, the clear-sky component of the pixels induces significant underestimations of up to 58% for τ, while overestimations in reff can exceed 41%. This yields underestimations in the derived liquid water path and cloud droplet number concentration of up to 68% and 72%, respectively. By means of three different assumptions it is shown that subpixel R observations in the visible to near-infrared band can be used to estimate higher-resolution R for the second band in the retrieval scheme, as well as the subpixel cloud cover. Here, the estimated values compare well to actually observed ASTER results and are used to retrieve cloud properties, which are unbiased by the clear-sky component of PCLmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[3];
[4]
- Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, Baltimore, MD (United States)
- Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (United States)
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1612254
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0014641; CNS‐0821258; CNS‐1228778
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 123; Journal Issue: 21; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Citation Formats
Werner, Frank, Zhang, Z., Wind, G., Miller, D. J., Platnick, S., and Di Girolamo, L. Improving Cloud Optical Property Retrievals for Partly Cloudy Pixels Using Coincident Higher-Resolution Single Band Measurements: A Feasibility Study Using ASTER Observations. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1029/2018jd028902.
Werner, Frank, Zhang, Z., Wind, G., Miller, D. J., Platnick, S., & Di Girolamo, L. Improving Cloud Optical Property Retrievals for Partly Cloudy Pixels Using Coincident Higher-Resolution Single Band Measurements: A Feasibility Study Using ASTER Observations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jd028902
Werner, Frank, Zhang, Z., Wind, G., Miller, D. J., Platnick, S., and Di Girolamo, L. Fri .
"Improving Cloud Optical Property Retrievals for Partly Cloudy Pixels Using Coincident Higher-Resolution Single Band Measurements: A Feasibility Study Using ASTER Observations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jd028902. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1612254.
@article{osti_1612254,
title = {Improving Cloud Optical Property Retrievals for Partly Cloudy Pixels Using Coincident Higher-Resolution Single Band Measurements: A Feasibility Study Using ASTER Observations},
author = {Werner, Frank and Zhang, Z. and Wind, G. and Miller, D. J. and Platnick, S. and Di Girolamo, L.},
abstractNote = {Clear-sky contamination is a challenging and long-lasting problem for cloud optical thickness (τ) and effective droplet radius (reff) retrievals using passive satellite sensors. This study explores the feasibility of improving both τ and reff retrievals for partly cloudy (PCL) pixels by using available subpixel samples in a visible to near-infrared band, which many satellite sensors offer. Data are provided by high-resolution reflectance (R ) observations and cloud property retrievals by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) at horizontal resolutions between 30-960m. For partly cloudy 960-m observations, the clear-sky component of the pixels induces significant underestimations of up to 58% for τ, while overestimations in reff can exceed 41%. This yields underestimations in the derived liquid water path and cloud droplet number concentration of up to 68% and 72%, respectively. By means of three different assumptions it is shown that subpixel R observations in the visible to near-infrared band can be used to estimate higher-resolution R for the second band in the retrieval scheme, as well as the subpixel cloud cover. Here, the estimated values compare well to actually observed ASTER results and are used to retrieve cloud properties, which are unbiased by the clear-sky component of PCL pixels. While the presented retrieval approach is only evaluated for marine boundary layer clouds, it is computationally efficient and can be easily applied to observations from different imagers. As an example, the PCL retrieval scheme is applied to data by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, where similar biases for PCL pixels are observed.},
doi = {10.1029/2018jd028902},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
number = 21,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Fri Nov 09 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
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