Claire Pettersen

July 2012 Greenland melt extent enhanced by low-level liquid clouds

Melting of the world’s major ice sheets can affect human and environmental conditions by contributing to sea-level rise. In July 2012, an historically rare period of extended surface melting was observed across almost the entire Greenland ice sheet, raising questions about the frequency and spatial extent of such events. Here we show that low-level clouds consisting of liquid water droplets (‘liquid clouds’), via their radiative effects, played a key part in this melt event by increasing near-surface temperatures. We used a suite of surface-based observations, remote sensing data, and a surface energy-balance model. At the critical surface melt time, the clouds were optically thick enough and low enough to enhance the downwelling infrared flux at the surface. At the same time they were optically thin enough to allow sufficient solar radiation to penetrate through them and raise surface temperatures above the melting point. Outside this narrow range in cloud optical thickness, the radiative contribution to the surface energy budget would have been diminished, and the spatial extent of this melting event would have been smaller. We further show that these thin, low-level liquid clouds occur frequently, both over Greenland and across the Arctic, being present around 30–50 per cent of the time. Our results may help to explain the difficulties that global climate models have in simulating the Arctic surface energy budget, particularly as models tend to under-predict the formation of optically thin liquid clouds at supercooled temperatures—a process potentially necessary to account fully for temperature feedbacks in a warming Arctic climate.

On-Orbit Absolute Radiance Standard for the Next Generation of IR Remote Sensing Instruments

The next generation of infrared remote sensing satellite instrumentation, including climate benchmark missions will require better absolute measurement accuracy than now available, and will most certainly rely on the emerging capability to fly SI traceable standards that provide irrefutable absolute measurement accuracy. As an example, instrumentation designed to measure spectrally resolved infrared radiances with an absolute brightness temperature error of better than 0.1 K will require high-emissivity (<0.999) calibration blackbodies with emissivity uncertainty of better than 0.06%, and absolute temperature uncertainties of better than 0.045K (k=3). Key elements of an On-Orbit Absolute Radiance Standard (OARS) meeting these stringent requirements have been demonstrated in the laboratory at the University of Wisconsin (UW) and refined under the NASA Instrument Incubator Program (IIP). This work recently culminated with an integrated subsystem that was used in the laboratory to demonstrate end-to-end radiometric accuracy verification for the UW Absolute Radiance Interferometer. Along with an overview of the design, we present details of a key underlying technology of the OARS that provides on-orbit absolute temperature calibration using the transient melt signatures of small quantities (<1g) of reference materials (gallium, water, and mercury) imbedded in the blackbody cavity. In addition we present performance data from the laboratory testing of the OARS.

On-orbit absolute temperature calibration using multiple phase change materials: overview of recent technology advancements

NASAs anticipated plan for a mission dedicated to Climate (CLARREO) will hinge upon the ability to fly SI traceable standards that provide irrefutable absolute measurement accuracy. As an example, instrumentation designed to measure spectrally resolved infrared radiances will require high-emissivity calibration blackbodies that have absolute temperature uncertainties of better than 0.045K (3 sigma). A novel scheme to provide absolute calibration of temperature sensors onorbit, that uses the transient melt signatures from multiple phase change materials, has been demonstrated in the laboratory at the University of Wisconsin and is now undergoing technology advancement under NASA Instrument Incubator Program funding. Using small quantities of phase change material (less than half of a percent of the mass of the cavity), melt temperature accuracies of better than 10 mK have been demonstrated for mercury, water, and gallium (providing calibration from 233K to 303K). Refinements currently underway focus on ensuring that the melt materials in their sealed confinement housings perform as expected in the thermal and microgravity environment of a multi-year spaceflight mission. Thermal soak and cycling tests are underway to demonstrate that there is no dissolution from the housings into the melt materials that could alter melt temperature, and that there is no liquid metal embrittlement of the housings from the metal melt materials. In addition, NASA funding has been recently secured to conduct a demonstration of this scheme in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station.

Results from recent vacuum testing of an on-orbit absolute radiance standard (OARS) intended for the next generation of infrared remote sensing instruments

Future NASA infrared remote sensing missions will require better absolute measurement accuracies than now available, and will most certainly rely on the emerging capability to fly SI traceable standards that provide irrefutable absolute measurement accuracy. To establish a CLARRREO-type climate benchmark, instrumentation will need to measure spectrally resolved infrared radiances with an absolute brightness temperature error of better than 0.1 K, verified onorbit. This will require an independent high-emissivity (<0.999) verification blackbody with an emissivity uncertainty of better than 0.06%, an absolute temperature uncertainty of better than 0.045K (3 sigma), and the capability of operation over a wide range of (Earth scene) temperatures. Key elements of an On-Orbit Absolute Radiance Standard (OARS) meeting these stringent requirements have been demonstrated in the laboratory at the University of Wisconsin and have undergone further refinement under funding from NASA’s Earth Science and Technology Office, culminating in an end-to-end demonstration under vacuum with a prototype climate benchmark instrument. We present the new technologies that underlie the OARS, and the results of testing that demonstrate the required accuracy is being met in a vacuum environment. The underlying technologies include: on-orbit absolute temperature calibration using the transient melt signatures of small quantities (<1g) of reference materials (gallium, water, and mercury) imbedded in the blackbody cavity; and on-orbit cavity spectral emissivity measurement using a carefully baffled heated halo placed in front of the OARS blackbody viewed by the infrared spectrometer system. Emissivity is calculated from the radiance measured from the blackbody combined with the knowledge of key temperatures and radiometric view factors.

Laboratory Results From an On-Orbit Absolute Radiance Standard (OARS)

An on-orbit absolute radiance standard (OARS) traceable to SI standards on-orbit has been developed to provide end-to-end calibration verification of high accuracy IR spectral radiance measurements, to better than 0.1K brightness temperature error.

A New Class of Advanced Accuracy Satellite Instrumentation for Earth Observation

The prototype was developed for a new class of advanced accuracy FTS satellite instrumentation to make high-accuracy measurements of the earth& rsquo;s outgoing thermal radiance, for benchmarking climate change and testing climate models.

On-Orbit Absolute Radiance Standard for Future IR Remote Sensing Instruments - Overview of Recent Technology Advancements

A summary of the development and recent advancements of the On-Orbit Absolute Radiance Standard at the University of Wisconsin Space Science and Engineering Center. This work is funded under the NASA Instrument Incubator Program.