Kenneth J. Voss

An emerging ground‐based aerosol climatology: Aerosol optical depth from AERONET

Long-term measurements by the AERONET program of spectral aerosol optical depth, precipitable water, and derived Angstrom exponent were analyzed and compiled into an aerosol optical properties climatology. Quality assured monthly means are presented and described for 9 primary sites and 21 additional multiyear sites with distinct aerosol regimes representing tropical biomass burning, boreal forests, midlatitude humid climates, midlatitude dry climates, oceanic sites, desert sites, and background sites. Seasonal trends for each of these nine sites are discussed and climatic averages presented.

Validation of atmospheric correction over the oceans

By validation of atmospheric correction, we mean quantification of the uncertainty expected to be associated with the retrieval of the water-leaving radiance from the measurement of the total radiance exiting the ocean-atmosphere system. This uncertainty includes that associated with the measurement or estimation of auxiliary data required for the retrieval process, for example, surface wind speed, surface atmospheric pressure, and total ozone concentration. For a definitive validation this quantification should be carried out over the full range of atmospheric types expected to be encountered. However, funding constraints require that the individual validation campaigns must be planned to address the individual components of the atmospheric correction algorithm believed to represent the greatest potential sources of error. In this paper we develop a strategy for validation of atmospheric correction over the oceans that is focused on EOS/MODIS. We also provide a description of the instrumentation and methods to be used in the implementation of the plan.

Measurement of the Mueller matrix for ocean water

The normalized light scattering polarization matrix has been measured for ocean water using an electrooptic light scattering polarimeter. Measurements were done on samples from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. The polarization effects in the matrices were found to have, in general, a form which is similar to polarization effects in the Rayleigh scattering approximation; for example, all off-diagonal matrix elements except S12 and S21 were zero. Mueller matrix elements were calculated using a Mie computer code and compared to the measured matrices for ocean water. A simple one-component distribution was found to produce a reasonably good fit.

Spectral reflectance of whitecaps: Their contribution to water-leaving radiance

A radiometric system, deployed from a ship, is used to measure directly the influence of the presence of breaking waves (whitecaps) on the upwelling radiance above the sea surface. Estimates of their remote sensing augmented spectral reflectance, i.e., the temporally averaged or spatially averaged increase in the oceans reflectance over and above the reflectance in the absence of breaking waves, are provided from measurements in the tropical Pacific. The accuracy of these estimates is dependent on their ability to determine radiometrically the background reflectance of the water. In the visible the remote sensing augmented spectral reflectance of whitecaps measured in the open ocean was found to be essentially independent of wavelength and in the range 0.001- 0.002 for wind speeds of 9 -12 m s 21 . This is in reasonably good agreement (within a factor of 2) with earlier predictions based on the statistical relationship between fractional coverage and wind speed and the estimated average reflectance of individual whitecaps. In the near infrared (860 nm) the remote sensing augmented spectral reflectance falls to ;80% of its value in the visible.

Dominant aerosol chemical components and their contribution to extinction during the Aerosols99 cruise across the Atlantic

The Aerosols99 cruise crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Norfolk, Virginia, to Cape Town, South Africa, during January and February of 1999. On the basis of back trajectories, aerosol number concentrations and size distributions, and trace gas concentrations, seven “air mass” regions were encountered. These included North America, Northern Hemisphere (NH) marine, African dust, a mixture of dust and biomass burning from Africa, biomass burning from Africa, Southern Hemisphere (SH) marine tropics, and SH marine temperate. Simultaneous measurements of aerosol chemical composition, number size distribution, scattering and absorption coefficients, vertical profiles, and optical depth allowed for a thorough characterization of the aerosol. Presented here are the concentrations and mass fractions of the aerosol chemical components that were dominant in each region and the aerosol scattering and absorption coefficients, single scattering albedos, Angstrom exponents, and optical depths measured in each region. Also presented is the percent of the extinction measured at the surface due to each chemical component and mass extinction efficiencies of the individual aerosol components estimated from Mie calculations and a multiple linear regression. All results are reported at the measurement relative humidity of 55±5%. Non-sea-salt (nss) SO4= aerosol was a significant contributor to the submicron mass concentration in all air mass regions (mean mass fractions ranged from 20 to 67%). It made the largest contribution to submicron extinction in the North America region (45±30%, mean and 1σ standard deviation). Sea-salt mean submicron mass fractions ranged from 9 to 49% with the lowest value in the biomass burning region and highest values in the NH marine and dust regions. Its contribution to submicron extinction ranged from a mean of 29 to 66%. Sea-salt mean supermicron mass fractions ranged from 52 to 98% with the highest values in the marine regions. Its contribution to supermicron extinction ranged from 60 to 98%. Mean submicron and supermicron mass fractions of dust in the dust region were 22±3.3% (mean and 95% uncertainty) and 26±3.9%, respectively. Corresponding submicron and supermicron extinction contributions were 24±7.5 and 18±4.0%, respectively. Submicron mass fractions of particulate organic matter (POM) ranged from below detection limits in the dust region to 18±11% in the biomass burning region. Contributions to submicron extinction ranged from below detection limits to 24% in the North America region. In the biomass burning region the black carbon mean submicron mass fraction was 6.7±1.3% with a contribution of 6.4±2.7% to the submicron extinction. Extinction fractions of each component for particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 μm also are reported in the paper. Sea salt dominated the extinction measured at the surface due to sub-10 μm aerosol for all air mass regions, even those influenced by continental sources. The fraction of the measured column aerosol optical depth due to aerosol within the boundary layer was estimated for the NH marine, dust, biomass burning, and SH marine tropics regions. Mean values ranged from 35±15% for the biomass burning region to 95±46% for the NH marine region.

Polarized radiance distribution measurements of skylight. I. System description and characterization

A new system to measure the natural skylight polarized radiance distribution has been developed. The system is based on a fish-eye lens, CCD camera system, and filter changer. With this system sequences of images can be combined to determine the linear polarization components of the incident light field. Calibration steps to determine the system s polarization characteristics are described. Comparisons of the radiance measurements of this system and a simple pointing radiometer were made in the field and agreed within 10 % for measurements at 560 and 670 nm and 25 % at 860 nm. Polarization tests were done in the laboratory. The accuracy of the intensity measurements is estimated to be 10 %, while the accuracy of measurements of elements of the Mueller matrix are estimated to be 2 %.

Polarized radiance distribution measurement of skylight. II. Experiment and data.

Measurements of the skylight polarized radiance distribution were performed at different measurement sites, atmospheric conditions, and three wavelengths with our newly developed Polarization Radiance Distribution Camera System (RADS-IIP), an analyzer-type Stokes polarimeter. Three Stokes parameters of skylight (I, Q, U), the degree of polarization, and the plane of polarization are presented in image format. The Arago point and neutral lines have been observed with RADS-IIP. Qualitatively, the dependence of the intensity and polarization data on wavelength, solar zenith angle, and surface albedo is in agreement with the results from computations based on a plane-parallel Rayleigh atmospheric model.

An inherent-optical-property-centered approach to correct the angular effects in water-leaving radiance

Remote-sensing reflectance (R(rs)), which is defined as the ratio of water-leaving radiance (L(w)) to downwelling irradiance just above the surface (E(d)(0⁺)), varies with both water constituents (including bottom properties of optically-shallow waters) and angular geometry. L(w) is commonly measured in the field or by satellite sensors at convenient angles, while E(d)(0⁺) can be measured in the field or estimated based on atmospheric properties. To isolate the variations of R(rs) (or L(w)) resulting from a change of water constituents, the angular effects of R(rs) (or L(w)) need to be removed. This is also a necessity for the calibration and validation of satellite ocean color measurements. To reach this objective, for optically-deep waters where bottom contribution is negligible, we present a system centered on waters inherent optical properties (IOPs). It can be used to derive IOPs from angular Rrs and offers an alternative to the system centered on the concentration of chlorophyll. This system is applicable to oceanic and coastal waters as well as to multiband and hyperspectral sensors. This IOP-centered system is applied to both numerically simulated data and in situ measurements to test and evaluate its performance. The good results obtained suggest that the system can be applied to angular R(rs) to retrieve IOPs and to remove the angular variation of R(rs).

Lidar measurements during Aerosols99

The Aerosols99 cruise (January 14 to February 8, 1999) went between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cape Town, South Africa. A Micropulse lidar system was used almost continually during this cruise to profile the aerosol vertical structure. Inversions of this data illustrated a varying vertical structure depending on the dominant air mass. In clean maritime aerosols in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres the aerosols were capped at 1 km. When a dust event from Africa was encountered, the aerosol extinction increased its maximum height to above 2 km. During a period in which the air mass was dominated by biomass burning from southern Africa, the aerosol layer extended to 4 km. Comparisons of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) derived from lidar inversion and surface Sun photometers showed an agreement within 0.05 RMS. Similar comparisons between the extinction measured with a nephelometer and particle soot absorption photometer (at 19 m altitude) and the lowest lidar measurement (75 m) showed good agreement (0.014 km 1 ). The lidar underestimated surface extinction during periods when an elevated aerosol layer (total AOD 0.10) was present over a relatively clean (aerosol extinction 0.05 km 1 ) surface layer, but otherwise gave accurate results.

Instrument to measure the bidirectional reflectance distribution function of surfaces

A new instrument to measure the in situ bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of surfaces is described. This instrument measures the BRDF for eight illumination angles from 0 to 65 deg, three colors (475, 570, and 658 nm), and at over 100 selected viewing angles. The viewing zenith angles range from 5 to 65 deg, and the azimuth angles, relative to the illumination direction, range from 0 to ?180 deg. Many tests of the system have been run and show that for flat surfaces the BRDF of a sample surface can be measured with a precision of 1-5% and an accuracy of 10% of the measured reflectance. The BRDF for a dry and wet sand sample is presented as a demonstration of the instrument.