Showing papers on "Zenith published in 2015"

Development of an improved empirical model for slant delays in the troposphere (GPT2w)

Abstract: Global pressure and temperature 2 wet (GPT2w) is an empirical troposphere delay model providing the mean values plus annual and semiannual amplitudes of pressure, temperature and its lapse rate, water vapor pressure and its decrease factor, weighted mean temperature, as well as hydrostatic and wet mapping function coefficients of the Vienna mapping function 1. All climatological parameters have been derived consistently from monthly mean pressure level data of ERA-Interim fields (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis) with a horizontal resolution of 1°, and the model is suitable to calculate slant hydrostatic and wet delays down to 3° elevation at sites in the vicinity of the earth surface using the date and approximate station coordinates as input. The wet delay estimation builds upon gridded values of the water vapor pressure, the weighted mean temperature, and the water vapor decrease factor, with the latter being tuned to ray-traced zenith wet delays. Comparisons with zenith delays at 341 globally distributed global navigation satellite systems stations show that the mean bias over all stations is below 1 mm and the mean standard deviation is about 3.6 cm. The GPT2w model with the gridded input file is provided at http://ggosatm.hg.tuwien.ac.at/DELAY/SOURCE/GPT2w/.

Muons in air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory: Mean number in highly inclined events

Abstract: We present the first hybrid measurement of the average muon number in air showers at ultrahigh energies, initiated by cosmic rays with zenith angles between 62° and 80°. The measurement is based on 174 hybrid events recorded simultaneously with the surface detector array and the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The muon number for each shower is derived by scaling a simulated reference profile of the lateral muon density distribution at the ground until it fits the data. A 1019eV shower with a zenith angle of 67°, which arrives at the surface detector array at an altitude of 1450 m above sea level, contains on average (2.68±0.04±0.48(sys))×107 muons with energies larger than 0.3 GeV. The logarithmic gain dlnNμ/dlnE of muons with increasing energy between 4×1018eV and 5×1019eV is measured to be (1.029±0.024±0.030(sys)).

Improved limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract: Neutrinos in the cosmic ray flux with energies near 1 EeV and above are detectable with the Surface Detector array (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We report here on searches through Auger data from 1 January 2004 until 20 June 2013. No neutrino candidates were found, yielding a limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos that challenges the Waxman-Bahcall bound predictions. Neutrino identification is attempted using the broad time structure of the signals expected in the SD stations, and is efficiently done for neutrinos of all flavors interacting in the atmosphere at large zenith angles, as well as for "Earth-skimming" neutrino interactions in the case of tau neutrinos. In this paper the searches for downward-going neutrinos in the zenith angle bins 60°-75°and 75°-90°as well as for upward-going neutrinos, are combined to give a single limit. The 90% C.L. single-flavor limit to the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy neutrinos with an E-2 spectrum in the energy range 1.0×1017eV-2.5×1019eV is Eν2dNν/dEν<6.4×10-9GeVcm-2s-1sr-1.

Large Scale Distribution of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays Detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory with Zenith Angles up to 80

Abstract: We present the results of an analysis of the large angular scale distribution of the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energy above 4 EeV detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory including for the first time events with zenith angle between 60 degrees and 80 degrees. We perform two Rayleigh analyses, one in the right ascension and one in the azimuth angle distributions, that are sensitive to modulations in right ascension and declination, respectively. The largest departure from isotropy appears in the E > 8 EeV energy bin, with an amplitude for the first harmonic in right ascension r^α_1= (4.4 +/- 1.0) x 10^-2, that has a chance probability P(>= r_1^α) = 6.4 x 10^-5, reinforcing the hint previously reported with vertical events alone.

Surface normal reconstruction using circularly polarized light.

Abstract: The polarization properties of reflected light capture important information about the object’s inherent properties: material composition, i.e. index of refraction and scattering properties, and shape of the object, i.e. surface normal. Polarization information therefore has been used for surface reconstruction using a single-view camera with unpolarized incident light. However, this surface normal reconstruction technique suffers from a zenith angle ambiguity. In this paper, we have utilized circularly polarized light to solve for the zenith ambiguity by developing a detailed model using Mueller matrix formulism and division of focal plane polarization imaging technology. Experiment results validate our model for accurate surface reconstruction.

Shape and light directions from shading and polarization

Abstract: We introduce a method to recover the shape of a smooth dielectric object from polarization images taken with a light source from different directions. We present two constraints on shading and polarization and use both in a single optimization scheme. This integration is motivated by the fact that photometric stereo and polarization-based methods have complementary abilities. The polarization-based method can give strong cues for the surface orientation and refractive index, which are independent of the light direction. However, it has ambiguities in selecting between two ambiguous choices of the surface orientation, in the relationship between refractive index and zenith angle (observing angle), and limited performance for surface points with small zenith angles, where the polarization effect is weak. In contrast, photometric stereo method with multiple light sources can disambiguate the surface orientation and give a strong relationship between the surface normals and light directions. However, it has limited performance for large zenith angles, refractive index estimation, and faces the ambiguity in case the light direction is unknown. Taking their advantages, our proposed method can recover the surface normals for both small and large zenith angles, the light directions, and the refractive indexes of the object. The proposed method is successfully evaluated by simulation and real-world experiments.

An observational study of the influence of solar zenith angle on properties of the M1 layer of the Mars ionosphere

Abstract: The variations in peak properties of the M1 layer (the lower photochemical plasma layer) with solar zenith angle (SZA) are important relationships for understanding the physical processes which control this region of the Mars ionosphere. The behavior of the M1 layer has been poorly characterized to date. Here we introduce an automated and repeatable method for determining properties of the M1 and M2 layers simultaneously in 5600 Mars Global Surveyor radio occultation profiles of dayside electron density. The results support previous findings for M1 and M2 subsolar peak densities and the dependence of peak densities on solar zenith angle. The ratio of M1 peak density to M2 peak density remains constant at 0.4 for 70°

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×1018 eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract: A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding 4x10(18) eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than 60 degrees detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above 5.3x10(18) eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law E-gamma with index gamma = 2.70 +/- 0.02 (stat) +/- 0.1 (sys) followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy (E-s) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find E-s = (5.12 +/- 0.25 (stat)(-1.2)(+1.0) (sys)) x10(19) eV.

Joint retrievals of cloud and drizzle in marine boundary layer clouds using ground-based radar, lidar and zenith radiances

Abstract: . Active remote sensing of marine boundary-layer clouds is challenging as drizzle drops often dominate the observed radar reflectivity. We present a new method to simultaneously retrieve cloud and drizzle vertical profiles in drizzling boundary-layer clouds using surface-based observations of radar reflectivity, lidar attenuated backscatter, and zenith radiances under conditions when precipitation does not reach the surface. Specifically, the vertical structure of droplet size and water content of both cloud and drizzle is characterised throughout the cloud. An ensemble optimal estimation approach provides full error statistics given the uncertainty in the observations. To evaluate the new method, we first perform retrievals using synthetic measurements from large-eddy simulation snapshots of cumulus under stratocumulus, where cloud water path is retrieved with an error of 31 g m−2. The method also performs well in non-drizzling clouds where no assumption of the cloud profile is required. We then apply the method to observations of marine stratocumulus obtained during the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement MAGIC deployment in the Northeast Pacific. Here, retrieved cloud water path agrees well with independent three-channel microwave radiometer retrievals, with a root mean square difference of 10–20 g m−2.

The Impact of Sunlight Conditions on the Consistency of Vegetation Indices in Croplands—Effective Usage of Vegetation Indices from Continuous Ground-Based Spectral Measurements

Abstract: A ground-based network of spectral observations is useful for ecosystem monitoring and validation of satellite data. However, these observations contain inherent uncertainties due to the change of sunlight conditions. This study investigated the impact of changing solar zenith angles and diffuse/direct light conditions on the consistency of vegetation indices (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and green-red vegetation index (GRVI)) derived from ground-based spectral measurements in three different types of cropland (paddy field, upland field, cultivated grassland) in Japan. In general, the vegetation indices decreased with decreasing solar zenith angle. This response was affected significantly by the growth stage and diffuse/direct light conditions. The decreasing response of the NDVI to the decreasing solar zenith angle was high during the middle growth stage (0.4 < NDVI < 0.8). On the other hand, a similar response of the GRVI was evident except in the early growth stage (GRVI < 0). The response of vegetation indices to the solar zenith angle was evident under clear sky conditions but almost negligible under cloudy sky conditions. At large solar zenith angles, neither the NDVI nor the GRVI were affected by diffuse/direct light conditions in any growth stage. These experimental results were supported well by the results of simulations based on a physically-based canopy reflectance model (PROSAIL). Systematic selection of the data from continuous diurnal spectral measurements in consideration of the solar light conditions would be effective for accurate and consistent assessment of the canopy structure and functioning.

High-resolution and Monte Carlo additions to the SASKTRAN radiative transfer model

Abstract: . The Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imaging System (OSIRIS) instrument on board the Odin spacecraft has been measuring limb-scattered radiance since 2001. The vertical radiance profiles measured as the instrument nods are inverted, with the aid of the SASKTRAN radiative transfer model, to obtain vertical profiles of trace atmospheric constituents. Here we describe two newly developed modes of the SASKTRAN radiative transfer model: a high-spatial-resolution mode and a Monte Carlo mode. The high-spatial-resolution mode is a successive-orders model capable of modelling the multiply scattered radiance when the atmosphere is not spherically symmetric; the Monte Carlo mode is intended for use as a highly accurate reference model. It is shown that the two models agree in a wide variety of solar conditions to within 0.2 %. As an example case for both models, Odin–OSIRIS scans were simulated with the Monte Carlo model and retrieved using the high-resolution model. A systematic bias of up to 4 % in retrieved ozone number density between scans where the instrument is scanning up or scanning down was identified. The bias is largest when the sun is near the horizon and the solar scattering angle is far from 90°. It was found that calculating the multiply scattered diffuse field at five discrete solar zenith angles is sufficient to eliminate the bias for typical Odin–OSIRIS geometries.

Astronomical Observing Conditions at Xinglong Observatory from 2007 to 2014

Abstract: Xinglong Observatory of the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), is one of the major optical observatories in China, which hosts nine optical telescopes including the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) and the 2.16 m reflector. Scientific research from these telescopes is focused on stars, galaxies, and exoplanets using multicolor photometry and spectroscopic observations. Therefore, it is important to provide the observing conditions of the site, in detail, to the astronomers for an efficient use of these facilities. In this article, we present the characterization of observing conditions at Xinglong Observatory based on the monitoring of meteorology, seeing and sky brightness during the period from 2007 to 2014. Meteorological data were collected from a commercial Automatic Weather Station (AWS), calibrated by China Meteorological Administration. Mean and median wind speed are almost constant during the period analyzed and ranged from 1.0 to 3.5 m s-1. However, high wind speed (≥15 m s-1) interrupts observations, mainly, during the winter and spring. Statistical analysis of air temperature showed the temperature difference between daytime and nighttime, which can be solved by opening the ventilation device and the slit of the dome at least 1 hr before observations. Analysis resulted in average percentage of photometric nights and spectroscopic nights are 32% and 63% per year, respectively. The distribution of photometric nights and spectroscopic nights has a significant seasonal tendency, worse in summer due to clouds, dust, and high humidity. Seeing measurements were obtained using the Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM). Mean and median values of seeing over 1 year are around 1.9'' and 1.7'', respectively. Eighty percent of nights with seeing values are below 2.6'', whereas the distribution peaks around 1.8''. The measurements of sky brightness are acquired from the Sky Quality Meter (SQM) and photometric observations. Analysis shows that sky brightness at the zenith is around 21.1 mag arcsec-2 and becomes brighter with a larger zenith angle. Sky brightness increases due to the light pollution of the surrounding cities, Beijing, Tangshan, and Chengde. Significant influence toward the direction of Beijing, at an altitude of 30°, can increase the sky brightness up to 20.0 mag arcsec-2. Sky brightness reduces after midnight, mainly because of the influence of city lights and the artificial acts. The above results suggest that Xinglong Observatory is still a good site for astronomical observations. Our analysis of the observing conditions at Xinglong Observatory can be used as a reference to the observers on targets selection, observing strategy, and telescope operation.

On the relation between zenith sky brightness and horizontal illuminance

Abstract: The effects of artificial light at night are an emergent research topic for astronomers, physicists, engineers and biologists around the world. This leads to a need for measurements of the night sky brightness (= diffuse luminance of the night sky) and nocturnal illuminance. Currently, the most sensitive light meters measure the zenith sky brightness in magV/arcsec or – less frequently – in cd m−2. However, the horizontal illuminance resulting only from the night sky is an important source of information that is difficult to obtain with common instruments. Here we present a set of approximations to convert the zenith luminance into horizontal illuminance. Three different approximations are presented for three idealized atmospheric conditions: homogeneous sky brightness, an isotropically scattering atmosphere and a turbid atmosphere. We also apply the resulting conversion formulae to experimental data on night sky luminance, obtained during the past three years.

On Determining the Zenith‐Angle Dependence of the Martian Radiation Environment at Gale Crater Altitudes

Abstract: We report the zenith angle dependence of the radiation environment at Gale Crater on Mars. This is the first determination of this dependence on another planet than Earth and is important for future human exploration of Mars and understanding radiation effects in the Martian regolith.

Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) Link Validation During Operations from the ISS

Abstract: In mid-2014 several day and nighttime links under diverse atmospheric conditions were completed using the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) flight system on-board the International Space Station (ISS). In this paper we compare measured optical power and its variance at either end of the link with predictions that include atmospheric propagation models. For the 976 nm laser beacon mean power transmitted from the ground to the ISS the predicted mean irradiance of tens of microwatts per square meter close to zenith and its decrease with range and increased air mass shows good agreement with predictions. The irradiance fluctuations sampled at 100 Hz also follow the expected increase in scintillation with air mass representative of atmospheric coherence lengths at zenith at 500 nm in the 3-8 cm range. The downlink predicted power of hundreds of nanowatts was also reconciled within the uncertainty of the atmospheric losses. Expected link performance with uncoded bit-error rates less than 1E-4 required for the Reed- Solomon code to correct errors for video, text and file transmissions was verified. The results of predicted and measured powers and fluctuations suggest the need for further study and refinement.

Automated rain rate estimates using the Ka-band ARM zenith radar (KAZR)

Abstract: . The use of millimeter wavelength radars for probing precipitation has recently gained interest. However, estimation of precipitation variables is not straightforward due to strong signal attenuation, radar receiver saturation, antenna wet radome effects and natural microphysical variability. Here, an automated algorithm is developed for routinely retrieving rain rates from the profiling Ka-band (35-GHz) ARM (Atmospheric Radiation Measurement) zenith radars (KAZR). A 1-dimensional, simple, steady state microphysical model is used to estimate impacts of microphysical processes and attenuation on the profiles of radar observables at 35-GHz and thus provide criteria for identifying situations when attenuation or microphysical processes dominate KAZR observations. KAZR observations are also screened for signal saturation and wet radome effects. The algorithm is implemented in two steps: high rain rates are retrieved by using the amount of attenuation in rain layers, while low rain rates are retrieved from the reflectivity–rain rate (Ze–R) relation. Observations collected by the KAZR, rain gauge, disdrometer and scanning precipitating radars during the DYNAMO/AMIE field campaign at the Gan Island of the tropical Indian Ocean are used to validate the proposed approach. The differences in the rain accumulation from the proposed algorithm are quantified. The results indicate that the proposed algorithm has a potential for deriving continuous rain rate statistics in the tropics.

Sand dune ridge alignment effects on surface BRF over the Libya-4 CEOS calibration site.

Abstract: The Libya-4 desert area, located in the Great Sand Sea, is one of the most important bright desert CEOS pseudo-invariant calibration sites by its size and radiometric stability. This site is intensively used for radiometer drift monitoring, sensor intercalibration and as an absolute calibration reference based on simulated radiances traceable to the SI standard. The Libya-4 morphology is composed of oriented sand dunes shaped by dominant winds. The effects of sand dune spatial organization on the surface bidirectional reflectance factor is analyzed in this paper using Raytran, a 3D radiative transfer model. The topography is characterized with the 30 m resolution ASTER digital elevation model. Four different regions-of-interest sizes, ranging from 10 km up to 100 km, are analyzed. Results show that sand dunes generate more backscattering than forward scattering at the surface. The mean surface reflectance averaged over different viewing and illumination angles is pretty much independent of the size of the selected area, though the standard deviation differs. Sun azimuth position has an effect on the surface reflectance field, which is more pronounced for high Sun zenith angles. Such 3D azimuthal effects should be taken into account to decrease the simulated radiance uncertainty over Libya-4 below 3% for wavelengths larger than 600 nm.

Evaluation of Medium Spatial Resolution BRDF-Adjustment Techniques Using Multi-Angular SPOT4 (Take5) Acquisitions

Abstract: High-resolution sensor Surface Reflectance (SR) data are affected by surface anisotropy but are difficult to adjust because of the low temporal frequency of the acquisitions and the low angular sampling. This paper evaluates five high spatial resolution Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) adjustment techniques. The evaluation is based on the noise level of the SR Time Series (TS) corrected to a normalized geometry (nadir view, 45° sun zenith angle) extracted from the multi-angular acquisitions of SPOT4 over three study areas (one in Arizona, two in France) during the five-month SPOT4 (Take5) experiment. Two uniform techniques (Cst, for Constant, and Av, for Average), relying on the Vermote–Justice–Breon (VJB) BRDF method, assume no variation in space of the BRDF shape. Two methods (VI-dis, for NDVI-based disaggregation and LC-dis, for Land-Cover based disaggregation) are based on disaggregation of the MODIS-derived BRDF VJB parameters using vegetation index and land cover, respectively. The last technique (LUM, for Look-Up Map) relies on the MCD43 MODIS BRDF products and a crop type data layer. The VI-dis technique produced the lowest level of noise corresponding to the most effective adjustment: reduction from directional to normalized SR TS noises by 40% and 50% on average, for red and near-infrared bands, respectively. The uniform techniques displayed very good results, suggesting that a simple and uniform BRDF-shape assumption is good enough to adjust the BRDF in such geometric configuration (the view zenith angle varies from nadir to 25°). The most complex techniques relying on land cover (LC-dis and LUM) displayed contrasting results depending on the land cover.

Scintillation characteristics of annular beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence along a slanted path

Abstract: Scintillation characteristics of annular beams propagating through atmospheric turbulence along a slanted path are studied by using the numerical simulation method and some new results are obtained, which are explained in physical terms. It is found that, when the zenith angle is not large enough, the saturation phenomenon of the scintillation index never appears even if the propagation distance is large enough, which is quite different from the behavior for the horizontal propagation case. However, under the same condition (i.e. the zenith angle is not large enough), the on-axis scintillation index still approaches an asymptotical value, which increases as the zenith angle increases, and depends on the obscure ratio of annular beams. Furthermore, the relation of the on-axis scintillation index between annular beams and flat-topped beams is also examined in this paper. It is shown that their relation will change as the zenith angle changes.

Attitude Determination Based on Location of Astronomical Markers With Skylight Polarization Pattern

Abstract: Many social insects, such as desert ant and honeybees, are able to utilize the natural skylight polarization information for navigation, which has advantages in immunity to the interference of external environment and thus shows higher stability and accuracy. Inspired by it, we attempt to explore a new bionic method for attitude determination by use of polarization pattern. In practice, we first capture the polarization data and based on it, to figure out the location of the sun through clustering. Then, with respect to the relatively consistent spatio-temporal relation between the sun and the zenith, the location of the zenith is accordingly determined. The coordinate of the zenith is adopted to establish the attitude rotation matrix and by which to work out the vehicle’s attitude. Finally, we set up a simulation vehicle platform to test the effectiveness of the approach with the theoretical polarization pattern derived from the Rayleigh single-scattering theory and actually detected pattern by the polarization analyzer.

Map of low-frequency electromagnetic noise in the sky

Abstract: The Earth's natural electromagnetic environment is disturbed by anthropogenic electromagnetic noise. Here we report the first results from an electromagnetic noise survey of the sky. The locations of electromagnetic noise sources are mapped on the hemisphere above a distributed array of wideband receivers that operate in a small aperture configuration. It is found that the noise sources can be localized at elevation angles up to ∼60° in the sky, well above the horizon. The sky also exhibits zones with little or no noise that are found toward the local zenith and the southwest of the array. These results are obtained by a rigorous analysis of the residuals from the classic dispersion relation for electromagnetic waves using an array analysis of electric field measurements in the frequency range from ∼20 to 250 kHz. The observed locations of the noise sources enable detailed observations of ionospheric modification, for example, caused by particle precipitation and lightning discharges, while the observed exclusion zones enable the detection of weak natural electromagnetic emissions, for example, from streamers in transient luminous events above thunderclouds.

Simultaneous ground‐based optical and HF radar observations of the ionospheric footprint of the open/closed field line boundary along the geomagnetic meridian

Abstract: Previous studies have confirmed that the equatorward boundaries of OI 630.0 nm auroral emissions and broad Doppler spectral widths in Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) data, the so-called spectral width boundary (SWB), are good empirical proxies for the dayside open/closed field line boundary (OCB) in the ionosphere. However, both observational techniques are associated with mapping errors. SuperDARN uses a virtual height model for mapping, but it is not well known how the mapping error responds to a changing background ionosphere or transient reconnection events. Optical instruments, such as the meridian-scanning photometers, have high spatial resolution near zenith, where the mapping error due to the assumed OI 630.0 nm auroral emission height becomes small by comparison. In this work, an adjusted method is introduced to identify the SWB, which does not require temporal smoothing across several scans. The difference in latitude between the SWB, as identified using this method, and the simultaneously observed OI 630.0 nm auroral emission boundary along a common line of sight is compared. Utilizing the OI 630.0 nm boundary as a reference location, we present two case studies observed at different levels of solar activity. In both instances the latitude offset of SWB from the reference location is discussed in relation to the background ionospheric electron density. The compared results indicate that the intake of high-density solar extreme ultraviolet ionized plasma from subauroral latitudes causes a refraction of the HF radar beam path, which results in an overestimation of range mapping. The adjusted method would thus be a useful tool for identifying the OCB under changing ionospheric conditions in the cusp region.

Accounting for the effects of sastrugi in the CERES clear-sky Antarctic shortwave angular distribution models

Abstract: . The Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments on NASA's Terra, Aqua and Soumi NPP satellites are used to provide a long-term measurement of Earth's energy budget. To accomplish this, the radiances measured by the instruments must be inverted to fluxes by the use of a scene-type-dependent angular distribution model (ADM). For permanent snow scenes over Antarctica, shortwave (SW) ADMs are created by compositing radiance measurements over the full viewing zenith and azimuth range. However, the presence of small-scale wind blown roughness features called sastrugi cause the BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) of the snow to vary significantly based upon the solar azimuth angle and location. This can result in monthly regional biases between −12 and 7.5 Wm−2 in the inverted TOA (top-of-atmosphere) SW flux. The bias is assessed by comparing the CERES shortwave fluxes derived from nadir observations with those from all viewing zenith angles, as the sastrugi affect fluxes inverted from the oblique viewing angles more than for the nadir viewing angles. In this paper we further describe the clear-sky Antarctic ADMs from Su et al. (2015). These ADMs account for the sastrugi effect by using measurements from the Multi-Angle Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MISR) instrument to derive statistical relationships between radiance from different viewing angles. We show here that these ADMs reduce the bias and artifacts in the CERES SW flux caused by sastrugi, both locally and Antarctic-wide. The regional monthly biases from sastrugi are reduced to between −5 and 7 Wm−2, and the monthly-mean biases over Antarctica are reduced by up to 0.64 Wm−2, a decrease of 74 %. These improved ADMs are used as part of the Edition 4 CERES SSF (Single Scanner Footprint) data.

Incidence angle dependence of Langmuir turbulence and artificial ionospheric layers driven by high-power HF-heating

Abstract: We have numerically investigated the development of strong Langmuir turbulence (SLT) and associated electron acceleration at different angles of incidence of ordinary (O) mode pump waves. For angles of incidence within the Spitze cone, the turbulence initially develops within the first maximum of the Airy pattern near the plasma resonance altitude. After a few milliseconds, the turbulent layer shifts downwards by about 1 km. For injections outside the Spitze region, the turning point of the pump wave is at lower altitudes. Yet, an Airy-like pattern forms here, and the turbulence development is quite similar to that for injections within the Spitze. SLT leads to the acceleration of 10–20 eV electrons that ionize the neutral gas thereby creating artificial ionospheric layers. Our numerical modeling shows that most efficient electron acceleration and ionization occur at angles between the magnetic and geographic zenith, where SLT dominates over weak turbulence. Possible effects of the focusing of the electromagnetic beam on magnetic field-aligned density irregularities and the finite heating beam width at the magnetic zenith are also discussed. The results have relevance to ionospheric heating experiments using ground-based, high-power radio transmitters to heat the overhead plasma, where recent observations of artificial ionization layers have been made.

Airborne system for multispectral, multiangle polarimetric imaging

Abstract: In this paper, we describe the design, fabrication, calibration, and deployment of an airborne multispectral polarimetric imager. The motivation for the development of this instrument was to explore its ability to provide information about water constituents, such as particle size and type. The instrument is based on four 16 MP cameras and uses wire grid polarizers (aligned at 0°, 45°, 90°, and 135°) to provide the separation of the polarization states. A five-position filter wheel provides for four narrow-band spectral filters (435, 550, 625, and 750 nm) and one blocked position for dark-level measurements. When flown, the instrument is mounted on a programmable stage that provides control of the view angles. View angles that range to ±65° from the nadir have been used. Data processing provides a measure of the polarimetric signature as a function of both the view zenith and view azimuth angles. As a validation of our initial results, we compare our measurements, over water, with the output of a Monte Carlo code, both of which show neutral points off the principle plane. The locations of the calculated and measured neutral points are compared. The random error level in the measured degree of linear polarization (8% at 435) is shown to be better than 0.25%.