Search

Samples from soil and leaf litter were obtained at a site located in the savanna biome of South Africa (Skukuza; 25.0°S, 31.5°E) and their bidirectional reflectance distribution functions (BRDF) were measured using the out-of-plane scatterometer located in the National Aeronautics and Sp ace Administration’s (NASA’s) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Diffuser Calibration Facility (DCaF). BRDF was measur ed using P and S incident polarized light over a range of incident and scatter angles. A monochromator-based broadband light source was used in the ultraviolet (uv) and visible (vis) spectral ranges. The diffuse scattered light wa s collected using an uv-enhanced silicon photodiode detector with output fed to a computer-controlled lock-in amplifier. Typical measurement uncertainties of the reported laboratory BRDF measurements are found to be less than 1% (k=1). These laboratory results were compared with airborne measurements of BRDF from NASA’s Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) instrument over the same general site where the samples were obtained. This study presents preliminary results of the comparison between these laboratory and airborne BRDF measurements and identifies areas for future laboratory and airborne BRDF measurements. This paper presents initial results in a study to try to understa nd BRDF measurements from laboratory, airborne, and satellite measurements in an attempt to improve the consistency of remote sensing models. Keywords: Remote sensing, Optical scatte ring, BRDF, Reflectance spectroscopy.

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) retrievals of cloud optical thickness and effective particle radius employ well-known solar reflectance techniques using pre-calculated reflectance look-up tables. We evaluate the quantitative uncertainty in simultaneous retrievals of cloud optical thickness and particle size for this type of algorithm. The technique uses sensitivity calculations derived from the reflectance look-up tables, coupled with estimates for the effect of various error terms on the uncertainty in inferring the actual cloud-top reflectance. The error terms include the effects of instrument calibration, surface spectral albedo, and atmospheric corrections on both water and ice cloud retrievals. Because particle shapes in ice clouds are highly variable, the effect of particle shape is analyzed separately with a more approximate method. Results will deal exclusively with pixel-level uncertainties associated with plane-parallel clouds; real-world radiative departures from a plane-parallel model are an additional consideration. While we demonstrate the uncertainty technique with operational 1 km MODIS retrievals from the Terra and Aqua satellite platforms, the technique is applicable to any reflectance-based satellite- or air-borne sensor retrieval using similar spectral channels.

Over the past few years, the MODIS airborne simulator (MAS) has been providing imagery for EOS scientific algorithm development. Primarily flown aboard NASA's ER-2 aircraft, the MAS provides high spatial resolution (50 m at nadir) in 50 spectral channels from 0.55 to 14.2 micrometer, overlapping many MODIS and ASTER channels. This paper focuses on calibration of the short-wave (0.55 - 2.38 micrometer) channels, both radiometric and spectral, and calibration of the integrating sources. Also discussed is the dependence of the short-wave calibration on instrument temperature, showing significant reduction in the thermal sensitivity after recent instrument enhancements and upgrades. The procedures for intercomparison of MAS and AVIRIS (airborne visible/infrared imaging spectrometer) data are also discussed. Some limited comparisons for flights over Alaska (June 1995) are presented, although this analysis is in its initial stages and quantitative results are preliminary.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Multiple photon scatterings inside an integrating sphere can result in significant path lengths compared with line-of- sight sources. In strong water vapor absorption channels, such as those on MODIS and the MODIS airborne simulator, these internal path lengths can result in a significant reduction in sphere output radiance. Path length probability distributions for photons exiting a sphere are determined using Monte Carlo calculations. Approximate analytic expressions are also derived. Results are used to determine the effect of water vapor absorption on integrating sphere sensor calibrations in several pertinent channels.

The MODIS airborne simulator (MAS), a scanning spectrometer built by Daedalus Enterprises for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Ames Research Center, is used for measuring reflected solar and emitted thermal radiation in 50 narrowband channels between 0.55 and 14.3 micrometers . The instrument provides multispectral images of outgoing radiation for purposes of developing and validating algorithms for the remote sensing of cloud, aerosol, water vapor, and surface properties from space. Nineteen of the channels on MAS have corresponding spectral channels on the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), an instrument being developed for the Earth Observing system (EOS) to be launched in the late 1990s. Flown aboard NASA's ER-2 aircraft, the MAS has a 2.5 mrad instantaneous field of view and scans perpendicular to the aircraft flight track with an angle of +/- 43 degree(s) about nadir. From a nominal ER-2 altitude of 20 km, images have a spatial resolution of 50 m at nadir and a 37 km swath width. We report on the status of the instrument, discuss recent design changes, and provide comparisons with MODIS. We also summarize MAS calibration work, especially efforts to calibrate those channels with strong water vapor absorption.

Images as well as statistical properties of the cloud optical thickness and effective particle radius derived from reflected solar radiation measurements at 0.75, 1.65, and 2.16 micron are presented. The remote-sensing-derived cloud optical thickness and effective radius are compared with the values inferred from nearly simultaneous in situ microphysical measurements obtained from an aircraft. A good spatial correlation is observed for both the optical thickness and effective radius, it is noted that the remote sensing has a tendency to overestimate the effective radius; the optical thickness is overestimated for small optical thicknesses and underestimated for large optical thicknesses. The marginal probability density functions of optical thickness and effective radius are derived from the remote-sensing results and discussed.