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Brightness Temperature Calibration of SAC-D/Aquarius Microwave Radiometer (MWR)
Title
Brightness Temperature Calibration of SAC-D/Aquarius Microwave Radiometer (MWR).
Creator
Biswas, Sayak, Jones, W, Georgiopoulos, Michael, Wahid, Parveen, Wilheit, Thomas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The Aquarius/SAC-D joint international science mission, between the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of United States and the Argentine Space Agency (Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, CONAE), was launched on a polar-orbiting satellite on June 10, 2011. This mission of discovery will provide measurements of the global sea surface salinity, which contributes to understanding climatic changes in the global water cycle and how these variations inuence the general...
Show moreThe Aquarius/SAC-D joint international science mission, between the NationalAeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of United States and the Argentine Space Agency (Comision Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, CONAE), was launched on a polar-orbiting satellite on June 10, 2011. This mission of discovery will provide measurements of the global sea surface salinity, which contributes to understanding climatic changes in the global water cycle and how these variations inuence the general ocean circulation. The Microwave Radiometer (MWR), a three channel Dicke radiometer operating at 23.8 GHz H-Pol and 36.5 GHz V-(&) H-Pol provided by CONAE, will complement Aquarius (NASA's L-band radiometer/scatterometer) by providing simultaneous spatially collocated environmental measurements such as water vapor, cloud liquid water, surface wind speed, rain rate and sea ice concentration.This dissertation focuses on the overall radiometric calibration of MWR instrument.Which means establishing a transfer function that relates the instrument output to the antenna brightness temperature (Tb). To achieve this goal, the dissertation describes a microwave radiative transfer model of the instrument and validates it using the laboratory and thermal-vacuum test data. This involves estimation of the losses and physical temperature profile in the path from the receiver to each antenna feed-horn for all the receivers. As the pre-launch laboratory tests can only provide a simulated environment which is very different from the operational environment in space, an on-orbit calibration of the instrument is very important. Inter-satellite radiometric cross-calibration of MWR using the Naval Research Laboratory's multi-frequency polarimetric microwave radiometer, WindSat, on board the Coriolis satellite is also an important part of this dissertation. Cross-calibration between two different satellite instruments require normalization of Tb's to account for the frequency and incidence angle dierence between the instruments. Also inter-satellite calibration helps to determine accurate antenna pattern correction coefficients and other small instrument biases.
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Date Issued
2012
Identifier
CFE0004200, ucf:49033
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004200
An Emissive Antenna Correction for The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager (TMI)
Title
An Emissive Antenna Correction for The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager (TMI).
Creator
Alquaied, Faisal, Jones, W Linwood, Mikhael, Wasfy, Wei, Lei, Zec, Josko, Wilheit, Thomas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation deals with the radiometric calibration of a satellite microwave radiometer known as the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI), which operated on NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). This multi-frequency, conical-scanning, passive microwave, remote sensor measures the earth's blackbody emissions (brightness temperature, Tb) from a low earth orbit and covers the tropics ((&)#177;35(&)deg; latitude). The original scientific objective for TRMM's 3-year mission was to measure...
Show moreThis dissertation deals with the radiometric calibration of a satellite microwave radiometer known as the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI), which operated on NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). This multi-frequency, conical-scanning, passive microwave, remote sensor measures the earth's blackbody emissions (brightness temperature, Tb) from a low earth orbit and covers the tropics ((&)#177;35(&)deg; latitude). The original scientific objective for TRMM's 3-year mission was to measure the statistics of rainfall in the tropics. However, the mission was quite successful, and TRMM was extended for greater than 17 years to provide a long-term satellite rain measurements, which has contributed significantly to the study of global climate change.A significant part of the extended TRMM mission was the establishment of a constellation of satellite radiometer that provide frequent global rainfall measurements that enable severe storm warnings for operational hazard forecast by the international weather community. TRMM played a key role by serving as the radiometric calibration standard for the TRMM constellation microwave radiometers.The objective of this dissertation is to improve the radiometric calibration of TMI and to provide to NASA a new robust, physics-based algorithm for the legacy data processing of the TRMM brightness temperature data product, which will be called TMI 1B11 V8. Moreover, the results of this new procedure have been validated using the double difference techniques with the Global Precipitation Mission Microwave Imager (GMI), which is the replacement satellite mission to TRMM.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006711, ucf:51900
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006711
On-orbit Inter-satellite Radiometric Calibration of Cross-track Scanning Microwave Radiometers
Title
On-orbit Inter-satellite Radiometric Calibration of Cross-track Scanning Microwave Radiometers.
Creator
Ebrahimi, Hamideh, Jones, W Linwood, Mikhael, Wasfy, Wahid, Parveen, Wang, James, Wilheit, Thomas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
This dissertation concerns the development of an improved algorithm for the inter-satellite radiometric calibration (XCAL) for cross track scanning microwave radiometers in support of NASA's Global Precipitation Mission (GPM). This research extends previous XCAL work to assess the robustness of the CFRSL (")double difference(") technique for sounder X-CAL. In this work, using a two-year of observations, we present a statistical analysis of radiometric biases performed over time and viewing...
Show moreThis dissertation concerns the development of an improved algorithm for the inter-satellite radiometric calibration (XCAL) for cross track scanning microwave radiometers in support of NASA's Global Precipitation Mission (GPM). This research extends previous XCAL work to assess the robustness of the CFRSL (")double difference(") technique for sounder X-CAL. In this work, using a two-year of observations, we present a statistical analysis of radiometric biases performed over time and viewing geometry. In theory, it is possible to apply the same X-CAL procedure developed for conical-scanning radiometers to cross-track scanners; however the implementation is generally more tedious. For example, with the cross-track scan angle, there is a strong response in the observed Tb due to changes in the atmosphere slant path and surface emissivity with the Earth incidence angle. For ocean scenes this is trivial; however for land scenes there is imperfect knowledge of polarized emissivity. However, for the sounder channels the surface emissivity is not the dominant component of top-of-the-atmosphere Tb, which is a mitigating factor. Also, cross-track scanners introduce changes in the radiometer antenna observed polarization with scan angle. The resulting observation is a mixture of un-polarized atmospheric emissions and vertical and horizontal polarized surface emissions. The degree of polarization mixing is known from geometry; however, reasonable estimates of the surface emissivity are required, which complicate over land comparisons. Finally, the IFOV size monotonically increases over the cross-track scan. Thus, when inter-comparing cross-track scanning radiometers, it will be necessary to carefully consider these effects when performing the double difference procedure.
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Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006453, ucf:51411
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006453
Creating a Consistent Oceanic Multi-decadal Intercalibrated TMI-GMI Constellation Data Record
Title
Creating a Consistent Oceanic Multi-decadal Intercalibrated TMI-GMI Constellation Data Record.
Creator
Chen, Ruiyao, Jones, W Linwood, Mikhael, Wasfy, Wei, Lei, Wilheit, Thomas, McKague, Darren, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), launched in late November 1997 into a low earth orbit, produced the longest microwave radiometric data time series of 17-plus years from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The Global Precipitation Measuring (GPM) mission is the follow-on to TRMM, designed to provide data continuity and advance precipitation measurement capabilities. The GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) performs as a brightness temperature (Tb) calibration standard for the intersatellite...
Show moreThe Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), launched in late November 1997 into a low earth orbit, produced the longest microwave radiometric data time series of 17-plus years from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The Global Precipitation Measuring (GPM) mission is the follow-on to TRMM, designed to provide data continuity and advance precipitation measurement capabilities. The GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) performs as a brightness temperature (Tb) calibration standard for the intersatellite radiometric calibration (XCAL) for the other constellation members; and before GPM was launched, TMI was the XCAL standard. This dissertation aims at creating a consistent oceanic multi-decadal Tb data record that ensures an undeviating long-term precipitation record covering TRMM-GPM eras. As TMI and GMI share only a 13-month common operational period, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's WindSat radiometer, launched in 2003 and continuing today provides the calibration bridge between the two. TMI/WindSat XCAL for their (>)9 years' period, and WindSat/GMI XCAL for one year are performed using a robust technique developed by the Central Florida Remote Sensing Lab, named CFRSL XCAL Algorithm, to estimate the Tb bias of one relative to the other. The 3-way XCAL of GMI/TMI/WindSat for their joint overlap period is performed using an extended CFRSL XCAL algorithm. Thus, a multi-decadal oceanic Tb dataset is created. Moreover, an important feature of this dataset is a quantitative estimate of the Tb uncertainty derived from a generic Uncertainty Quantification Model (UQM). In the UQM, various sources contributing to the Tb bias are identified systematically. Next, methods for quantifying uncertainties from these sources are developed and applied individually. Finally, the resulting independent uncertainties are combined into a single overall uncertainty to be associated with the Tb bias on a channel basis. This dissertation work is remarkably important because it provides the science community with a consistent oceanic multi-decadal Tb data record, and also allows the science community to better understand the uncertainty in precipitation products based upon the Tb uncertainties provided.
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Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0006987, ucf:51650
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006987
Investigation of the effect of rain on sea surface salinity
Title
Investigation of the effect of rain on sea surface salinity.
Creator
Santos Garcia, Andrea, Jones, W Linwood, Mikhael, Wasfy, Wahid, Parveen, Junek, William, Asher, William, Wilheit, Thomas, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
The Aquarius/SAC-D mission provided Sea Surface Salinity (SSS), globally over the ocean, for almost 4 years. As a member of the AQ/SAC-D Cal/Val team, the Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory has analyzed these salinity measurements in the presence of precipitation and has noted the high correlation between the spatial patterns of reduced SSS and the spatial distribution of rain. It was determined that this is the result of a cause and effect relation, and not SSS measurement errors....
Show moreThe Aquarius/SAC-D mission provided Sea Surface Salinity (SSS), globally over the ocean, for almost 4 years. As a member of the AQ/SAC-D Cal/Val team, the Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory has analyzed these salinity measurements in the presence of precipitation and has noted the high correlation between the spatial patterns of reduced SSS and the spatial distribution of rain. It was determined that this is the result of a cause and effect relation, and not SSS measurement errors. Thus, it is important to understand these salinity changes due to seawater dilution by rain and the associated near-surface salinity strati?cation. This research addresses the effects of rainfall on the Aquarius (AQ) SSS retrieval using a macro-scale Rain Impact Model (RIM). This model, based on the superposition of a one-dimension eddy diffusion (turbulent diffusion) model, relates SSS to depth, rainfall accumulation and time since rain. To identify instantaneous and prior rainfall accumulations, a Rain Accumulation product was developed. This product, based on the NOAA CMORPH precipitation data set, provides the rainfall history for 24 hours prior to the satellite observation time, which is integrated over each AQ IFOV. In this research results of the RIM validation are presented by comparing AQ and SMOS measured and RIM simulated SSS. The results show the high cross correlation for these comparisons and also with the corresponding SSS anomalies relative to HYCOM.
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Date Issued
2016
Identifier
CFE0006175, ucf:51133
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006175