Inversion, error analysis, and validation of GPS/MET occultation data

The global positioning system meteorology (GPS/MET) experiment was the first practical demonstration of global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based active limb sounding employing the radio occultation technique. This method measures, as principal observable and with millimetric accuracy, the excess phase path (relative to propagation in vacuum) of GNSS-transmitted radio waves caused by refraction during passage through the Earth’s neutral atmosphere and ionosphere in limb geometry. It shows great potential utility for weather and climate system studies in providing an unique combination of global coverage, high vertical resolution and accuracy, long-term stability, and all-weather capability. We first describe our GPS/MET data processing scheme from excess phases via bending angles to the neutral atmospheric parameters refractivity, density, pressure and temperature. Special emphasis is given to ionospheric correction methodology and the inversion of bending angles to refractivities, where we introduce a matrix inversion technique (instead of the usual integral inversion). The matrix technique is shown to lead to identical results as integral inversion but is more directly extendable to inversion by optimal estimation. The quality of GPS/MET-derived profiles is analyzed with an error estimation analysis employing a Monte Carlo technique. We consider statistical errors together with systematic errors due to upper-boundary initialization of the retrieval by a priori bending angles. Perfect initialization and properly smoothed statistical errors allow for better than 1 K temperature retrieval accuracy up to the stratopause. No initialization and statistical errors yield better than 1 K accuracy up to 30 km but less than 3 K accuracy above 40 km. Given imperfect initialization, biases ≫ 2 K propagate down to below 30 km height in unfavorable realistic cases. Furthermore, results of a statistical validation of GPS/MET profiles through comparison with atmospheric analyses of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) are presented. The comparisons indicate the high utility of the occultation data in that very good agreement of upper troposphere/lower stratosphere temperature (better than 1.5 K rms, ≪ 0.5 K bias) is found for a region (Europe+USA) where the ECMWF analyses are known to be good, but poorer agreement for a region (Southern Pacific) where the analyses are known to be degraded.     

遥感技术预测地震灾害的初步研究——以福州市为例

本文通过对福州市多种遥感卫星图片(包括美国专题制图卫星的TM三波段假彩色合成图片,时相为一九八八年四月十八日;美国地球资源卫星CCCT计算机处理,采用比例拉伸、矩阵变换、对数直方化、北东向增强、北西向增强等方法处理的不同图片),对福州市所处的地理位置、地形地貌特征、地震地质构造背景、水文地质条件,工程地质特征进行解释,结合野外地震地质调查,评判潜在的地震地质灾害。     

遥感技术在全球环境变化研究中的作用

具有快速、多波段、周期性、大面积覆盖等观测能力的空间遥感技术,是全球环境变化研究中不可替代的重要手段。随着遥感技术在国际上的蓬勃发展,遥感技术在我国全球环境变化研究中也开始得到了广泛的应用。简述了遥感技术在我国土地覆盖、森林与草场、海洋调查与灾害监测方面的应用情况以及所取得的成果。这些研究为遥感技术在全球环境变化研究中的深入应用奠定了基础。     

STUDIES OF THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE MODEL AND THE MICROWAVE ATTENUATION OF CLOUDS AND PRECIPITATION OVER TROPICAL OCEAN AREA*

Using radiosonde data and other related observations in the TOGA-COARE IOP(from November 1,1992 to February 28,1993),the microwave attenuation of non-precipitating clouds is investigated based on microwave radiative transfer model(MRTM) at the specific frequencies of 6.8,10.65,13.9,19.35,22.235,37.0,85.5 and 90.0 GHz.Besides,utilizing the data of the airborne radar and radiometer at 13.8 GHz in the IOP(Intensive Observation Period),vertical structure models for different types of precipitating clouds are obtained,and also the microwave attenuation of precipitating cloud is studied.Some statistical characteristics of 13.8 GHz microwave path integrated attenuation for stratiform and convective precipitating clouds are presented.The results given here are valuable for the spaceborne microwave remote sensing of precipitation,and the cloud and precipitation attenuation corrections in the spaceborne microwave remote sensing of earth surface over tropical ocean area.     

NUMERICAL STUDY OF REMOTE SENSING OF CLOUD LIQUID WATER CONTENT BY SPACE-BORNE COMBINED RADAR-RADIOMETER

A retrieval method of microwave(MW)space-borne remote sensing of cloud liquid watercontent by the combined radar-radiometer is suggested.A three-layer cloud model is chosen torepresent the typical stratified precipitating cloud.The retrieval method mainly follows ourpreviously suggested scheme with some modifications.Numerical comparative study shows that inspace-borne remote sensing of cloud liquid water content by the combined method is much betterthan by radar only;Also the retrieval accuracy of cloud liquid water content may be improvedwhen using the three-layer cloud model in the combined method.     

全球稻谷主产国遥感估产可行性研究

利用NOAA气象卫星的序列资料,对全球稻谷遥感估产的可行性进行了探讨。并以泰国、美国、越南为例,分别对NDVI植被指数与产量进行相关分析,取得良好的应用效果。此外,还应用数理统计方法对全球稻谷的历史产量进行数学模拟,达到较高的拟合精度。     

THE STUDY OF RETRIEVAL THEORY AND METHODS FROM SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING FOR METEOROLOGICAL PARAMETERS OVER EASTERN ASIA—PART Ⅱ:ISPRM AND VSPRM2

Based on the practice of improved simultaneous physical retrieval model(ISPRM),in the lightof the functional analysis approach,the variational simultaneous physical retrieval model(VSPRM)has been developed.Its approximation of 1st degree is VSPRM1,which is identicalwith the ISPRM.Its approximation of 2nd degree is VSPRM2,more advanced than the VSPRM1.This paper has analyzed the function of VSPRM2,pointing out the potentiality of synergy retrievalof this model.Also,it has dealt with the problem of parameterization of water vapor's kernelfunctions and retrieval of water vapor remote sensing.Because of the characteristics of this strong ill posed inverse problem,prior information mustbe used wisely in order to get the accurate calculation of radiance R.In the previous paper,wediscussed how to build the best first guess field,the way to determine the P_s and to correct thecalculation of radiance.In this paper,we continue discussing in depth about the calculation oftransmittance,the determination of surface parameters and the selection for an optimumcombination of channels for the low-level sounding.The long-term experiment and comparison work under operational environment have shownthat the ISPRM is useful for retrieval of temperature and water vapor parameters over Chinaincluding the Tibetan Plateau,and it further proves the scientific nature of well-posed inversetheory.     

基于Windows 2003远程终端服务的气象信息共享平台的开发和应用

Windows 2003 Server提供的远程终端服务功能实现了多用户同时操作,远程终端多用户通过远程终端功能可以同时在远程终端服务上运行程序、保存文件和使用网络资源等,为业务应用提供了便捷.介绍利用Windows Server 2003远程终端(包括远程桌面和终端服务),开发了气象业务中多用户共享MICAPS20、雷达PUP产品及其它气象应用系统的信息服务平台,在实际应用中发挥了很好的应用效果.     

Land cover change detection in West Jilin using ETM ＋ images

In order to assess the information content and accuracy of Landsat ETM digital images in land cover change detection,change-detection techniques of image differencing, normalized difference vegetation index,principal components analysis and tasseled-cap transformation were applied to yield 13 images. These images were thresholded into change and no change areas. The thresholded images were then checked in terms of various accuracies. The experiment results show that kappa coefficients of the 13 images range from 48.05-78.09. Different images do detect different types of changes. Images associated with changes in the near-inflared-reflectance or greenness detects crop-type changes and changes between vegetative and non-vegetative features. A unique means of using only Landsat imagery without reference data for the assessment of change in arid land are presented. Images of 12t June, 2000 and 2‘d June, 2002 are used to validate the means. Analyses of standard accuracy and spatial agreement are performed to compare the new images (hereafter called “change images” ) representing the change between the two dates. Spatial agreement evaluates the conformity in the classified “change pixels” and “no-change pixels” at the same location on different change images and comprehensively examines the different techniques. This method would enable authorities to monitor land degradation efficiently and aeculately.     

Reconstruction of fire spread within wildland fire events in Northern Eurasia from the MODIS active fire product

Russian boreal forests have been reshaped by wildland fire for millennia. While fire is a natural component of boreal ecosystems, it impacts various aspects of the environment and affects human well-being. Often fires occur over large remote areas with limited access, which makes their ground-based observation difficult. A significant progress has been made in mapping burned area from satellite imagery, which provides consistent and fairly unbiased estimates of fire impact on areas of interest at multiple scales. Although the information provided by burned area products is highly important, the spatio-temporal dynamics of individual fire events and their impact are less known. In high northern latitudes of Northern Eurasia, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) makes up to four daily observations from each of the Terra and Aqua satellites providing consistent data on fire development with high temporal frequency. Here we introduce an approach to reconstruct the development of fire events based on active fire detections from MODIS. Fire Spread Reconstruction (FSR) provides a means for characterization of fire occurrence over large territories from remotely sensed data. Individual fire detections are clustered within a GIS environment based on a set of rules determining proximity between fire observations in space and time. FSR determines the number of fire events, their approximate size, duration, and fire spread rate and allows for the analysis of fire occurrence and spread as a function of vegetation, fire season, fire weather and other parameters. FSR clusters were compared to burned scars mapped from Landsat7/ETM+ imagery over Yakutia (Russia). While some smaller burn scars were found to be formed through a continuous burning of a single fire event, large burned areas in Siberia were created by a constellation of fire events incorporating over 100 individual fire clusters. Geographic regions were found to have a stronger influence on the rates of fire activity in the area compared to vegetation zones. In addition, fire spread rates do not directly correlate with the intensity of a given fire season. FSR is also used to identify the points of ignition for individual fire events in spatio-temporal domain for fire danger and fire threat modeling. This approach presents another step towards the more complete characterization of fire events from remotely sensed data.