Estimation of the influence of cloudiness on the Earth observation from space through a gap in a cloudy field

V. V. Belov; I. V. Kirnos; M. V. Tarasenkov

doi:10.1117/12.2205761

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19 November 2015 Estimation of the influence of cloudiness on the Earth observation from space through a gap in a cloudy field

V. V. Belov, I. V. Kirnos, M. V. Tarasenkov

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Proceedings Volume 9680, 21st International Symposium Atmospheric and Ocean Optics: Atmospheric Physics; 96801V (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2205761
Event: XXI International Symposium Atmospheric and Ocean Optics. Atmospheric Physics, 2015, Tomsk, Russian Federation

Abstract

For atmospheric correction of satellite images, the problem is formulated to estimate the distance from a cloud at which its influence on the satellite image of the Earth surface can be neglected. The Monte Carlo method of conjugate trajectories is used. The gap radius in the field of continuous cloudiness at which the influence of the cloudy medium on the received signal intensity does not exceed 10 % is obtained. It is revealed that for the Lambert law of radiation reflection from the Earth surface, the curve of the dependence of the received signal intensity on the gap radius has a maximum caused by the opposite influence of light scattering by the cloudy medium and radiation reflection by the surface (adjacency effect). To further generalize the examined problem to a stochastic cloud field, the method of direct simulation of photon trajectories in a stochastic medium is compared with G. A. Titov’s method of closed equations in the gap vicinity. A comparison is carried out with the model of the stochastic medium in the form of a cloud field of constant geometric thickness consisting of rectangular clouds whose boundaries are determined by the stationary Poisson flow of points. It is demonstrated that results of calculations can differ at most by 20‒30 %; however, in some cases (for some sets of initial data), the difference for the entire region of cloud cover indices is within 7 %.

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V. V. Belov, I. V. Kirnos, and M. V. Tarasenkov "Estimation of the influence of cloudiness on the Earth observation from space through a gap in a cloudy field", Proc. SPIE 9680, 21st International Symposium Atmospheric and Ocean Optics: Atmospheric Physics, 96801V (19 November 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2205761

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