Fast Monte Carlo-assisted simulation of cloudy Earth backgrounds

Steven Adler-Golden; Steven C. Richtsmeier; Alexander Berk; James W. Duff

doi:10.1117/12.978221

Abstract

A calculation method has been developed for rapidly synthesizing radiometrically accurate ultraviolet through longwavelengthinfrared spectral imagery of the Earth for arbitrary locations and cloud fields. The method combines cloudfree surface reflectance imagery with cloud radiance images calculated from a first-principles 3-D radiation transport model. The MCScene Monte Carlo code [1-4] is used to build a cloud image library; a data fusion method is incorporated to speed convergence. The surface and cloud images are combined with an upper atmospheric description with the aid of solar and thermal radiation transport equations that account for atmospheric inhomogeneity. The method enables a wide variety of sensor and sun locations, cloud fields, and surfaces to be combined on-the-fly, and provides hyperspectral wavelength resolution with minimal computational effort. The simulations agree very well with much more time-consuming direct Monte Carlo calculations of the same scene.

Citation Download Citation

Steven Adler-Golden, Steven C. Richtsmeier, Alexander Berk, and James W. Duff "Fast Monte Carlo-assisted simulation of cloudy Earth backgrounds", Proc. SPIE 8534, Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XVII; and Lidar Technologies, Techniques, and Measurements for Atmospheric Remote Sensing VIII, 85340F (1 November 2012); doi: 10.1117/12.978221; https://doi.org/10.1117/12.978221

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