3D radiative transfer effects in multi-angle/multispectral radio-polarimetric signals from a mixture of clouds and aerosols viewed by a non-imaging sensor

Anthony B. Davis; Michael J. Garay; Feng Xu; Zheng Qu; Claudia Emde

doi:10.1117/12.2023733

27 September 2013 3D radiative transfer effects in multi-angle/multispectral radio-polarimetric signals from a mixture of clouds and aerosols viewed by a non-imaging sensor

Anthony B. Davis, Michael J. Garay, Feng Xu, Zheng Qu, Claudia Emde

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8873, Polarization Science and Remote Sensing VI; 887309 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2023733
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

When observing a spatially complex mix of aerosols and clouds in a single relatively large field-of-view, nature entangles their signals non-linearly through polarized radiation transport processes that unfold in the 3D position and direction spaces. In contrast, any practical forward model in a retrieval algorithm will use only 1D vector radiative transfer (vRT) in a linear mixing technique. We assess the difference between the observed and predicted signals using synthetic data from a high-fidelity 3D vRT model with clouds generated using a Large Eddy Simulation model and an aerosol climatology. We find that this difference is signal—not noise—for the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS), an instrument developed by NASA. Moreover, the worst case scenario is also the most interesting case, namely, when the aerosol burden is large, hence hase the most impact on the cloud microphysics and dynamics. Based on our findings, we formulate a mitigation strategy for these unresolved cloud adjacency effects assuming that some spatial information is available about the structure of the clouds at higher resolution from “context” cameras, as was planned for NASA’s ill-fated Glory mission that was to carry the APS but failed to reach orbit. Application to POLDER (POLarization and Directionality of Earth Reflectances) data from the period when PARASOL (Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations from a Lidar) was in the A-train is briefly discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Anthony B. Davis, Michael J. Garay, Feng Xu, Zheng Qu, and Claudia Emde "3D radiative transfer effects in multi-angle/multispectral radio-polarimetric signals from a mixture of clouds and aerosols viewed by a non-imaging sensor", Proc. SPIE 8873, Polarization Science and Remote Sensing VI, 887309 (27 September 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2023733

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