R. Chomko

Atmospheric correction of ocean color imagery through thick layers of Saharan dust

Airborne plumes of desert dust from North Africa are observable all year on satellite images over the Tropical Atlantic. In addition to its radiative impact, it has been suggested that this mineral dust has a substantial influence on the marine productivity. This effect is however difficult to gauge because present atmospheric correction algorithms for ocean color sensors are not capable of handling absorbing mineral dust. We apply a new approach to atmospheric correction in which the atmosphere is removed and the case 1 water properties are derived simultaneously. Analysis of SeaWiFS images acquired off Western Africa during a dust storm demonstrates the efficacy of this approach in terms of increased coverage and more reliable pigment retrievals.

Atmospheric correction of ocean color imagery: use of the Junge power-law aerosol size distribution with variable refractive index to handle aerosol absorption

When strongly absorbing aerosols are present in the atmosphere, the usual two-step procedure of processing ocean color data-(1) atmospheric correction to provide the water-leaving reflectance (rho(w)), followed by (2) relating rho(w) to the water constituents-fails and simultaneous estimation of the ocean and aerosol optical properties is necessary. We explore the efficacy of using a simple model of the aerosol-a Junge power-law size distribution consisting of homogeneous spheres with arbitrary refractive index-in a nonlinear optimization procedure for estimating the relevant oceanic and atmospheric parameters for case 1 waters. Using simulated test data generated from more realistic aerosol size distributions (sums of log-normally distributed components with different compositions), we show that the oceans pigment concentration (C) can be retrieved with good accuracy in the presence of weakly or strongly absorbing aerosols. However, because of significant differences in the scattering phase functions for the test and power-law distributions, large error is possible in the estimate of the aerosol optical thickness. The positive result for C suggests that the detailed shape of the aerosol-scattering phase function is not relevant to the atmospheric correction of ocean color sensors. The relevant parameters are the aerosol single-scattering albedo and the spectral variation of the aerosol optical depth. We argue that the assumption of aerosol sphericity should not restrict the validity of the algorithm and suggest an avenue for including colored aerosols, e.g., wind-blown dust, in the procedure. A significant advantage of the new approach is that realistic multicomponent aerosol models are not required for the retrieval of C.

Simultaneous retrieval of oceanic and atmospheric parameters for ocean color imagery by spectral optimization: a validation

We report application and validation of a spectral optimization algorithm for processing SeaWiFS data in Case 1 waters. The algorithm couples a simplified aerosol model with a sophisticated water-reflectance model to simultaneously retrieve both atmospheric and ocean parameters. Two of the retrieved ocean properties—the absorption coefficient of colored detrital material and the chlorophyll a concentration—are validated by comparison with ‘‘surface’’ truth obtained with airborne and space-borne sensors. We show that employing a more complete water reflectance model significantly improves the decoupling between the oceanic and atmospheric optical signals. Methodologies for applying the algorithm to Case 2 waters and for delineating terrestrial vs. marine chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) are suggested. D 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Atmospheric correction of ocean color imagery: test of the spectral optimization algorithm with the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor

We implemented the spectral optimization algorithm [SOA; Appl. Opt. 37, 5560 (1998)] in an image-processing environment and tested it with Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) imagery from the Middle Atlantic Bight and the Sargasso Sea. We compared the SOA and the standard SeaWiFS algorithm on two days that had significantly different atmospheric turbidities but, because of the location and time of the year, nearly the same water properties. The SOA-derived pigment concentration showed excellent continuity over the two days, with the relative difference in pigments exceeding 10% only in regions that are characteristic of high advection. The continuity in the derived water-leaving radiances at 443 and 555 nm was also within ~10%. There was no obvious correlation between the relative differences in pigments and the aerosol concentration. In contrast, standard processing showed poor continuity in derived pigments over the two days, with the relative differences correlating strongly with atmospheric turbidity. SOA-derived atmospheric parameters suggested that the retrieved ocean and atmospheric reflectances were decoupled on the more turbid day. On the clearer day, for which the aerosol concentration was so low that relatively large changes in aerosol properties resulted in only small changes in aerosol reflectance, water patterns were evident in the aerosol properties. This result implies that SOA-derived atmospheric parameters cannot be accurate in extremely clear atmospheres.

Micromagnetics of a soft underlayer

The micromagnetic properties of a soft underlayer in perpendicular media are studied. It is shown that stray fields from a recording layer can substantially modify magnetic properties of soft underlayer material. The degree of modification is determined by the characteristic bit size in the recording layer and by the soft underlayer material magnetic characteristics. It is found that there exists a thin layer within a soft underlayer with reduced permeability. The effects of the presence of such a reduced permeability region within a soft underlayer on both reading and writing processes are discussed.

Dynamics of perpendicular recording heads

3D modeling and inductance measurements were used to design an ultra-high frequency perpendicular system. Kerr microscopy and spin-stand experiments with focused ion beam (FIB) trimmed perpendicular heads and perpendicular media directly verified the high frequency concepts.

Patterned Soft Underlayers for Perpendicular Media

Perpendicular recording may be the most viable, near future, replacement for the longitudinal core technology in ultrahigh-density magnetic disk storage. Central to this mode of recording is a soft underlayer (SUL) which facilitates flux flow between writer poles, and is responsible for an effective increase in recording field. However, there are controversies concerning the effectiveness and limitations of using soft underlayers; among which are readback noise and inadequate switching torque. Patterned SUL is proposed as a new and viable approach to SUL limitations in perpendicular media, with improved system performance. Numerical models have been developed using commercially available FEM and BEM software suites (ANSYS and Ampere) to demonstrate key advantages of patterned SUL in perpendicular media

Perpendicular Recording with Reduced Skew Angle Sensitivity

A detailed analysis to the problem of skew angle sensitivity in perpendicular magnetic recording is presented. A proposed analytical model is supported by numerical simulations with a commercial boundary element software program. According to the presented equivalent magnetic circuit model, a single pole recording head with a laminated composition involving two layers of different magnetic materials could be used to localize adequately strong magnetic field in the vicinity of the trailing edge of the recording head. It is shown that the recording field generated under each lamination layer is proportion to the relative magnetic permeability of the respective layer. Such localization of the magnetic flux results in substantially reduced skew angle sensitivity.