Impact of cirrus clouds on remote sensing of surface temperatures

William M. Cornette; Joseph G. Shanks

doi:10.1117/12.154910

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15 September 1993 Impact of cirrus clouds on remote sensing of surface temperatures

William M. Cornette, Joseph G. Shanks

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Proceedings Volume 1934, Passive Infrared Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.154910
Event: Optical Engineering and Photonics in Aerospace Sensing, 1993, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

The surface temperature retrieved from thermal infrared satellite data in the presence (either known or unknown) of cirrus clouds can be in error. This error results from the absorption and scattering by the cirrus cloud of the surface and intervening atmospheric radiation. Using parameterizations of standard and subvisual cirrus cloud micrometeorology (e.g., particle size distributions, density) based on recent observations, the effects of cirrus clouds have been modelled to determine the range of temperature errors. MODTRAN is the primary tool used in this evaluation to establish the temperature difference over the 3 - 14 micrometers spectral region as a function of: optical depth, asymmetry parameter, scattering albedo, cloud temperature, cloud base and thickness, and ground temperature. The advantage to computing temperature differences as a function of scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter is to permit these results to be applied when a more accurate model of scattering by cirrus crystals has been developed. Temperature errors for realistic cirrus clouds may then be derived from the albedo and asymmetry parameter implied by this model.

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William M. Cornette and Joseph G. Shanks "Impact of cirrus clouds on remote sensing of surface temperatures", Proc. SPIE 1934, Passive Infrared Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere, (15 September 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.154910

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