Jana Mendrok

At the Dawn of a New Era in Terahertz Technology

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) started the Terahertz Project in April 2006. Its fundamental purpose in the next five years is to enable a nationwide technical infrastructure to be created for diverse applications of terahertz technology. The technical infrastructure includes the development of semiconductor devices such as terahertz quantum cascade lasers, terahertz-range quantum well photodetectors, and high-precision tunable continuous wave sources. It also includes pulsed terahertz measurement systems, modeling and measurement of atmospheric propagation, and the establishment of a framework to construct a materials database in the terahertz range including standardization of the measurement protocol. These are common technical infrastructure even in any terahertz systems. In this article, we report the current status of developments in these fields such as terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz-QCLs) (with peak power of 30 mW, 3.1 THz), terahertz-range quantum well photodetectors (THz-QWPs) (tuned at 3 THz) an ultrawideband terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) system (with measurement range of from 0.1 to 15 THz), an example of a database for materials of fine art, and results obtained from measuring atmospheric propagation.

SPARE‐ICE: Synergistic ice water path from passive operational sensors

This article presents SPARE-ICE, the Synergistic Passive Atmospheric Retrieval Experiment-ICE. SPARE-ICE is the first Ice Water Path (IWP) product combining infrared and microwave radiances. By using only passive operational sensors, the SPARE-ICE retrieval can be used to process data from at least the NOAA 15 to 19 and MetOp satellites, obtaining time series from 1998 onward. The retrieval is developed using collocations between passive operational sensors (solar, terrestrial infrared, microwave), the CloudSat radar, and the CALIPSO lidar. The collocations form a retrieval database matching measurements from passive sensors against the existing active combined radar-lidar product 2C-ICE. With this retrieval database, we train a pair of artificial neural networks to detect clouds and retrieve IWP. When considering solar, terrestrial infrared, and microwave-based measurements, we show that any combination of two techniques performs better than either single-technique retrieval. We choose not to include solar reflectances in SPARE-ICE, because the improvement is small, and so that SPARE-ICE can be retrieved both daytime and nighttime. The median fractional error between SPARE-ICE and 2C-ICE is around a factor 2, a figure similar to the random error between 2C-ICE ice water content (IWC) and in situ measurements. A comparison of SPARE-ICE with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Pathfinder Atmospheric Extended (PATMOS-X), and Microwave Surface and Precipitation Products System (MSPPS) indicates that SPARE-ICE appears to perform well even in difficult conditions. SPARE-ICE is available for public use.

Information content on hydrometeors from millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths

ABSTRACT This study examines the information content on hydrometeors that could be provided by a future HYperspectral Microwave Sensor (HYMS) with frequencies ranging from 6.9 to 874 GHz (millimeter and sub-millimeter regions). Through optimal estimation theory the information content is expressed quantitatively in terms of degrees of freedom for signal (DFS). For that purpose the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) and its Jacobians are used with a set of 25 cloudy and precipitating profiles and their associated errors from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) global numerical weather prediction model. In agreement with previous studies it is shown that frequencies between 10 and 40 GHz are the most informative ones for liquid and rain water contents. Similarly, the absorption band at 118 GHz contains significant information on liquid precipitation. A set of new window channels (15.37-, 40.25-, 101-GHz) could provide additional information on the liquid phase. The most informative channels on cloud ice water are the window channels at 664 and 874 GHz and the water vapour absorption bands at 325 and 448 GHz. Regarding snow water contents, the channels having the largest DFS values are located in window regions (150-, 251-, 157-, 101-GHz). However it is necessary to consider 90 channels in order to represent 90% of the DFS. The added value of HYMS has been assessed against current Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMI/S) onboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) and future (Microwave Imager/Ice Cloud Imager (MWI/ICI) onboard European Polar orbiting Satellite – Second Generation (EPS-SG)) microwave sensors. It appears that with a set of 276 channels the information content on hydrometeors would be significantly enhanced: the DFS increases by 1.7 against MWI/ICI and by 3 against SSMI/S. A number of tests have been performed to examine the robustness of the above results. The most informative channels on solid hydrometeors remain the same over land and over ocean surfaces. On the other hand, the database is not large enough to produce robust results over land surfaces for liquid hydrometeors. The sensitivity of the results to the microphysical properties of frozen hydrometeors has been investigated. It appears that a change in size distribution and scattering properties can move the large information content of the channels at 664 and 874 GHz from cloud ice to solid precipitation.

Studying the Potential of Terahertz Radiation for Deriving Ice Cloud Microphysical Information

With wavelengths in the order of the size of typical ice cloud particles and therefore being sensitive to ice clouds, the Terahertz (THz) region is expected to bear a high potential concerning measuring ice cloud properties, in particular microphysical parameters. In this paper we give an introduction to the characteristics of atmospheric THz radiation between 0-5THz (wavelengths >60 μm and wavenumber<170 cm-1 respectively) as well as ice cloud optical properties and cloud effects in the THz region. Using radiative transfer model simulations we analyze the sensitivity of THz spectra to ice content and particle size. For tropical cases cloud effects in the order of 0.1 K/(g/m2) are found. Assuming instrumental sensitivities of typically around 1K these effects allow for detection of clouds with columnar ice content of 10 g/m2. It is demonstrated that submillimeter (SMM) instruments are sensitive to particles with sizes larger than 100 μm, while THz observations potentially can measure particles as small as 10 μm.

JEM/SMILES observation capability

A new generation of sub-millimeter-wave receivers employing sensitive SIS (Superconductor-Insulator- Superconductor) detector technology will provide new opportunities for precise passive remote sensing observation of minor constituents in atmosphere. Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) was designed to be onbord the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) on the International Space Station (ISS) as a collaboration project of National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). SMILES scheduled to be launch in September 11, 2009 by the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). Mission Objectives are: i) Space demonstration of superconductive mixer and 4-K mechanical cooler for the submillimeter limb emission sounding, and ii) global observations of atmospheric minor constituents. JEM/SMILES will allow to observe the atmospheric species such as O3, H35Cl, H37 Cl, ClO, BrO, HOCl, HO2, and HNO3, CH3CN, and Ozone isotope species with the precisions in a few to several tens percents from upper troposphere to the mesosphere. We have estimated the observation capabilities of JEM/SMILES. This new technology may allow us to open new issues in atmospheric science.

Airborne validation of radiative transfer modelling of ice clouds atmillimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths

The next generation of European polar orbiting weather satellites will carry a novel instrument, the Ice Cloud Imager (ICI), which uses passive observations between 183 and 664 GHz to make daily global observations of cloud ice. Successful use of these observations requires accurate modelling of cloud ice scattering, and this study uses airborne observations from two flights of the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe 146 research aircraft to validate radiative transfer simulations of cirrus clouds at frequencies between 325 and 664 GHz using the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) and a stateof-the-art database of cloud ice optical properties. Particular care is taken to ensure that the inputs to the radiative transfer model are representative of the true atmospheric state by combining both remote-sensing and in situ observations of the same clouds to create realistic vertical profiles of cloud properties that are consistent with both observed particle size distributions and bulk ice mass. The simulations are compared to measurements from the International Submillimetre Airborne Radiometer (ISMAR), which is an airborne demonstrator for ICI. It is shown that whilst they are generally able to reproduce the observed cloud signals, for a given ice water path (IWP) there is considerable sensitivity to the cloud microphysics, including the distribution of ice mass within the cloud and the ice particle habit. Accurate retrievals from ICI will therefore require realistic representations of cloud microphysical properties. Copyright statement. The works published in this journal are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. This license does not affect the Crown copyright work, which is re-usable under the Open Government Licence (OGL). The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and the OGL are interoperable and do not conflict with, reduce or limit each other.

Sub-millimeter wave radiometer for observation of cloud ice: a proposal for Japanese mission

Ice clouds play an important role in the energy budget of the atmosphere as well as in the hydrological cycle. Currently cloud ice is one of the largest remaining uncertainties in climate models. Large discrepancies arise from different assumptions on ice cloud properties, in particular on microphysics, which are not sufficiently constrained by measurements. Passive sub-millimeter wave (SMM) techniques have the potential of providing direct information on ice content and particle sizes with daily global coverage. Here we introduce a concept for a compact 2-receiver SMM sensor and demonstrate its capabilities on measurements of ice content, mean particle size, and cloud altitude.

Tropospheric water vapor retrieval from a nadir THz/FIR sounder

This work presents clear-sky simulations to study water vapor (H2O) retrieval from a nadir sounder operating in the TeraHertz (THz) and Far-Infrared (FIR) spectral domains (100-500 cm-1). The THz/FIR retrieval is compared with retrieval from the mid-InfraRed (IR) 7μm H2O band (1200-2000 cm-1). The THz/FIR observations are more sensitive in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere than the IR measurements. On the other hand, the IR sounder has better performance in the lower troposphere. The retrieval error due to uncertainties on the temperature profile are of the same order of magnitude in the THz/FIR and IR bands. No significant retrieval errors from contaminating species have been found. The calculations for several atmospheric scenarios show that retrieval performances are not only dependent on the H2O abundance but also on the temperature gradient. Hence, sensitivity in the UT/LS layer, with a low temperature gradient, is poor. The combination of FIR and IR merges the advantages of both bands, and allows to slightly decorrelate temperature and H2O VMR.