Date of Award

1-1-2017

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (ii, x, 54 pages) : color illustrations, color maps.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Qilong Min

Committee Members

Paul Roundy

Keywords

Cloud top height, DSCOVR, EPIC, oxygen A-band, oxygen b-band, Clouds, Satellite meteorology, Radiation

Subject Categories

Atmospheric Sciences | Meteorology | Remote Sensing

Abstract

Using simulations and numerical fitting, this work sought to describe the satellite-retrieved radiance of clouds as a function of their thermodynamic and optical properties. Subsequently, this understanding can then be used in a look-up-table to determine the properties of clouds imaged by the EPIC sensor in the NASA DSCOVR satellite. In this study, background oxygen absorption was modeled in a radiative transfer model and convolved with EPIC filter functions for two absorption-reference pairs for Oxygen A- and B-band. This absorption profile was established as the primary vertical coordinate in this study, leveraging the similarity principle to allow for intercomparison of cloud cases. Cloud cases were taken from a modeled dataset from WRF-SBM which calculated a variety of stratiform and convective measurements. Radiance was simulated for the oxygen A- and B-narrowbands and their reference bands using the Discrete Ordinates Radiative Transfer Model from a wide array of atmospheric parameters and determined the best way to functionally describe their behavior. The resulting non-linear fitting model incorporates solar zenith angle, surface albedo, cloud geometry, and cloud optical depth to describe a strong fit for the log-ratio of each absorption/reference pair. The Oxygen A-band model S-value was 0.037 for log-ratio values ranging from 0.3 through 3.0, and the Oxygen B-band model S-value was 0.023 for log-ratio values ranging from 0.3 through 1.3.

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