A linearized vector radiative transfer model for atmospheric trace gas retrieval

We present a plane parallel radiative transfer model for polarized light, that provides the intensity vector as well as the derivatives of the four Stokes parameters with respect to atmospheric trace gas profiles. These derivatives are essential for retrieval of height resolved trace gas information from satellite measurements of backscattered sunlight. The model uses the Gauss-Seidel iteration technique for solving the radiative transfer equation. For the first time, the forward-adjoint radiative perturbation theory is applied for the linearization of a radiative transfer model including polarization. The accuracy of the model is better than 0.025% for all four Stokes parameters and better than 0.03% for the derivatives.     

中高层OH自由基在紫外波段的临边散射辐射正演模拟与敏感性分析

OH自由基是中高层大气中重要的氧化剂，决定着臭氧以及其他温室气体的浓度变化，甚至气候变化。为了实现中高层大气OH自由基的精细探测与精确反演，需要构造正演模型，模拟得到仪器接收到的大气中的A2Σ+-X2Π(0，0) 309 nm波段的太阳共振荧光发射信号。本文基于分子光谱能级跃迁理论计算得到OH(0,0)振动能级上的荧光发射率因子g，结合辐射传输模型SCIATRAN模拟出的太阳辐照度和观测视线路径上的OH柱量，模拟出OH荧光发射光谱，叠加上大气背景光谱并卷积仪器函数，最终模拟得到仪器接收的包含OH浓度信息的光谱。模拟结果与国外在轨仪器MAHRSI(Middle Atmosphere High-Resolution Spectrograph Investigation)，SHIMMER(Spatial Heterodyne Imager for Mesospheric Radicals)的在轨实测结果一致性较好。还分析了影响模拟结果的因素，在之后的正演过程中加以修正，使正演模型更接近实际辐射传输过程。     

VLIDORT: A linearized pseudo-spherical vector discrete ordinate radiative transfer code for forward model and retrieval studies in multilayer multiple scattering media

We describe a new vector discrete ordinate radiative transfer model with a full linearization facility. The VLIDORT model is designed to generate simultaneous output of Stokes vector light fields and their derivatives with respect to any atmospheric or surface property. We develop new implementations for the linearization of the vector radiative transfer solutions, and go on to show that the complete vector discrete ordinate solution is analytically differentiable for a stratified multilayer multiply scattering atmospheric medium. VLIDORT will generate all output at arbitrary viewing geometry and optical depth. The model has the ability to deal with attenuation of solar and line-of-sight paths in a curved atmosphere, and includes an exact treatment of the single scatter computation. VLIDORT also contains a linearized treatment for non-Lambertian surfaces. A number of performance enhancements have been implemented, including a facility for multiple solar zenith angle output. The model has been benchmarked against established results in the literature.     

Qualifying IMG tropical spectra for clear sky

The problem of cloud detection for the Interferometric Monitoring of Greenhouse Gases spectrometer has been addressed by considering a set of thresholding tests which takes full advantage of the high spectral resolution of the sensor. The methodology has been applied to a case study consisting of spectra recorded in the tropics on sea surface, although the scheme may be easily extended to other latitudes. The algorithm is very efficient because it uses only the observed spectrum and no on-line radiative transfer calculation is needed. Based on this cloud detection scheme a set of clear-sky tropical spectra have been identified to be used by the scientific community for further studies such as retrieval of atmospheric properties and high spectral resolution radiative transfer modeling.     

Linearization of the interaction principle: Analytic Jacobians in the “Radiant” model

In this paper we present a new linearization of the Radiant radiative transfer model. Radiant uses discrete ordinates for solving the radiative transfer equation in a multiply-scattering anisotropic medium with solar and thermal sources, but employs the adding method (interaction principle) for the stacking of reflection and transmission matrices in a multilayer atmosphere. For the linearization, we show that the entire radiation field is analytically differentiable with respect to any surface or atmospheric parameter for which we require Jacobians (derivatives of the radiance field). Derivatives of the discrete ordinate solutions are based on existing methods developed for the LIDORT radiative transfer models. Linearization of the interaction principle is completely new and constitutes the major theme of the paper. We discuss the application of the Radiant model and its linearization in the Level 2 algorithm for the retrieval of columns of carbon dioxide as the main target of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) mission.     

Simultaneous retrieval of aerosols and ocean properties: A classic inverse modeling approach. I. Analytic Jacobians from the linearized CAO-DISORT model

In this paper and the sequel, we investigate the application of classic inverse methods based on iterative least-squares cost-function minimization to the simultaneous retrieval of aerosol and ocean properties from visible and near infrared spectral radiance measurements such as those from the SeaWiFS and MODIS instruments. Radiance measurements at the satellite are simulated directly using an accurate coupled atmosphere-ocean-discrete-ordinate radiative transfer (CAO-DISORT) code as the main component of the forward model. For this kind of cost-function inverse problem, we require the forward model to generate weighting functions (radiance partial derivatives) with respect to the aerosol and marine properties to be retrieved, and to other model parameters which are sources of error in the retrievals.In this paper, we report on the linearization of the CAO-DISORT model. This linearization provides a complete analytic differentiation of the coupled-media radiative transfer theory, and it allows the model to generate analytic weighting functions for any atmospheric or marine parameter. For high solar zenith angles, we give an implementation of the pseudo-spherical (P-S) approach to solar beam attenuation in the atmosphere in the linearized model. We summarize a number of performance enhancements such as the use of an exact single-scattering calculation to improve accuracy. We derive inherent optical property inputs for the linearized CAO-DISORT code for a simple 2-parameter bio-optical model for the marine environment coupled to a 2-parameter bimodal atmospheric aerosol medium.     

Line parameter validation using ground-based solar occultation measurements: Water vapor—A case study

Water vapor spectroscopy data for the 720 nm absorption band (4ν polyad) are validated in the context of atmospheric radiative transfer calculations. We validate line parameters from the HITRAN-2000 database and from the ULB-UFR-BIRA database which have been used for the 2004 release of HITRAN. For this purpose, ground-based high resolution observations of the direct solar radiation are compared with simulated spectra. Line parameters are selected for validation based on a full error characterization including instrument noise and uncertainties in the atmospheric profile data. For a subset of the line parameters validated in the present study independent high-accuracy data are available. The comparison with these independent reference data confirms the capability of our approach to improve water vapor spectroscopic data.     

采用加权函数修正的差分光学吸收光谱反演环境大气中的CO2垂直柱浓度

采用加权函数修正的差分光学吸收光谱技术(weighting function modified differential optical absorption spectroscopy, WFM-DOAS)测量环境大气中的CO₂垂直柱浓度. 以直射太阳光测量光谱为例, 演示了WFM-DOAS算法的实现过程. 将环境大气分为50层, 借助辐射传输模拟软件SCIATRAN对各个测量光谱进行了模拟计算, 获得了最小二乘法拟合所需的目标气体CO₂及干扰气体H₂O、CH₄ 的柱权重函数和太阳归一化光谱常量. 采用WFM-DOAS方法对一整天的直射太阳光测量光谱进行了反演, 得到的反演误差均小于3%. 最后比较了两种不同DOAS算法对同一条测量光谱的反演结果, 验证了WFM-DOAS算法在红外被动气体遥感的优越性. 关键词： 环境污染监测 光学测量技术 红外光谱 温室气体     

基于振动拉曼散射的差分水Ring效应系数卷积计算模型

利用被动差分吸收光谱算法反演水体上方尤其是海洋上方的大气痕量气体浓度时, 水体的振动拉曼散射导致对太阳光谱中夫琅禾费线的填充.若不考虑这种类似大气Ring效应的水Ring效应, 会直接影响反演精度. 参考OMI传感器对大气Ring效应校正的卷积算法, 针对痕量气体OClO的反演, 利用经过大气消光计算后的太阳 360–400 nm入射光谱和对应波段的水体后向振动拉曼散射系数,通过卷积差分计算,得到了差分水 Ring效应系数. 与Vasilkov模型计算得到的结果比较,二者的相关系数R 达到0.9665. 关键词： 水Ring效应 振动拉曼散射 卷积 被动差分吸收光谱算法     

Layer-edge conditions for multislab atmospheric radiative transfer problems

We derive nonstandard layer-edge conditions for efficient solution of multislab atmospheric radiative transfer problems. We begin by defining a local radiative transfer problem on the lowermost layer of a multislab model atmosphere and we consider a standard discrete ordinates version of this local problem. We then make use of a recently developed computational method in order to derive layer-edge conditions involving incident, reflected and transmitted radiation. These layer-edge conditions for the lowermost layer are given in terms of inherent optical properties of the layer, the solar zenith angle and the quadrature set used in the discrete ordinates approach. They can be used to increase the efficiency of our computational method in solving practical problems in atmospheric radiative transfer. Moreover, they are amenable to incorporation into other discrete ordinates methods. To illustrate, we report numerical results for two atmospheric model problems.     

大气折射对可见光波段辐射传输特性的影响

折射是影响辐射传输的重要因素. 为分析大气折射对辐射传输的影响, 基于Monte Carlo方法, 给出了考虑大气折射的矢量辐射传输模型, 实现了均匀气层和耦合面处光子随机运动过程的模拟, 实现了直射光及漫射光Stokes矢量、偏振度和辐射通量等参数的计算. 在考虑和不考虑大气折射两种条件下, 验证了模型的准确性; 在纯瑞利散射条件下, 讨论了大气折射对不同方向漫射光Stokes矢量的影响; 在不同太阳天顶角、大气廓线、气溶胶及含云大气条件下, 分析了大气折射对辐射传输过程的影响. 结果表明: 大气折射对漫射光Stokes矢量的影响主要体现在天顶角70°–110°区间, 且随着太阳入射角增大, 其影响更为显著; 不同大气廓线情形下, 大气折射对Stokes矢量的影响不一致, 其原因是不同大气廓线对应的折射率廓线存在差异. 含云及含气溶胶大气条件下, 大气折射对辐射传输的影响变弱, 沙尘型及海盐型气溶胶条件下, 折射对辐射传输的影响强于可溶型气溶胶情形; 不同形状气溶胶条件下, 大气折射对辐射传输的影响也存在显著差异; 不同云高条件下, 大气折射对漫射光Stokes矢量的影响无显著差异, 但随着云光学厚度增大, 大气折射的影响减弱.     

Polarization imaging in atmospheric environment based on polarized reflectance retrieval

A method for calculating the atmospheric parameters measurement accuracy requirement based on polarized reflectance retrieval is proposed. The at-sensor polarization states with different atmospheric parameters content are simulated based on the atmospheric radiative transfer model in order to select the key parameter affecting the polarization observation. The accuracy requirement of atmospheric parameters is derived through the polarized reflectance retrieval method. Experiment results show that retrieval accuracy of polarized reflectance of typical ground objects can be up to 90%. The atmospheric parameters measurement accuracy requirement when the retrieval accuracy is more than 75% is derived.     

Simultaneous derivation of intensities and weighting functions in a general pseudo-spherical discrete ordinate radiative transfer treatment

The retrieval of atmospheric constituents from measurements of backscattered light requires a radiative transfer forward model that can simulate both intensities and weighting functions (partial derivatives of intensity with respect to atmospheric parameters being retrieved). The radiative transfer equation is solved in a multi-layer multiply-scattering atmosphere using the discrete ordinate method. In an earlier paper dealing with the upwelling top-of-the-atmosphere radiation field, it was shown that a full internal perturbation analysis of the plane-parallel discrete ordinate solution leads in a natural way to the simultaneous generation of analytically-derived weighting functions with respect to a wide range of atmospheric variables. In the present paper, a more direct approach is used to evaluate explicitly all partial derivatives of the intensity field. A generalization of the post-processing function is developed for the derivation of weighting functions at arbitrary optical depth and stream angles for both upwelling and downwelling directions. Further, a complete treatment is given for the pseudo-spherical approximation of the direct beam attenuation; this is an important extension to the range of viewing geometries encountered in practical radiative transfer applications. The numerical model LIDORT developed for this work is able to generate intensities and weighting functions for a wide range of retrieval scenarios, in addition to the passive remote sensing application from space. We present a number of examples in an atmosphere with O₃ absorption in the UV, for satellite (upwelling radiation) and ground-based (downwelling radiation) applications. In particular, we examine the effect of various pseudo-spherical parameterizations on backscatter intensities and weighting functions with respect to O₃ volume mixing ratio. In addition, the use of layer-integrated multiple scatter output from the model is shown to be important for satellite instruments with wide-angle off-nadir viewing geometries.     

Numerical consistency check between two approaches to radiative corrections for neutrino masses and mixings

We briefly outline the two popular approaches on radiative corrections to neutrino masses and mixing angles, and then carry out a detailed numerical analysis for a consistency check between them in MSSM. We find that the two approaches are nearly consistent with a discrepancy factor of 4.2% with running vacuum expectation value (VEV) (13% for scale-independent VEV) in mass eigenvalues at low-energy scale but the predictions on mixing angles are almost consistent. We check the stability of the three types of neutrino models, i.e., hierarchical, inverted hierarchical and degenerate models, under radiative corrections, using both approaches, and find consistent conclusions. The neutrino mass models which are found to be stable under radiative corrections in MSSM are the normal hierarchical model and the inverted hierarchical model with opposite CP parity. We also carry out numerical analysis on some important conjectures related to radiative corrections in the MSSM, viz., radiative magnification of solar and atmospheric mixings in the case of nearly degenerate model having same CP parity (MPR conjecture) and radiative generation of solar mass scale in exactly two-fold degenerate model with opposite CP parity and non-zero U_e3 (JM conjecture). We observe certain exceptions to these conjectures. We find a new result that both solar mass scale and U_e3 can be generated through radiative corrections at low energy scale. Finally the effect of scaledependent vacuum expectation value in neutrino mass renormalisation is discussed     

A new approach to the retrieval of surface properties from earthshine measurements

Instruments such as the MODIS and MISR radiometers on EOS AM-1, and POLDER on ADEOS have been deployed for the remote sensing retrieval of surface properties. Typically, retrieval algorithms use linear combinations of semi-empirical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) kernels to model surface reflectance. The retrieval proceeds in two steps; first, an atmospheric correction relates surface BRDF to top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectances, then regression is used to establish the linear coefficients used in the kernel combination. BRDF kernels may also depend on a number of physical or empirical non-linear parameters (e.g. ocean wind speed for a specular BRDF); such parameters are usually assumed known. A major source of error in this retrieval comes from lack of knowledge of planetary boundary layer (PBL) aerosol properties.In this paper, we present a different approach to surface property retrieval. For the radiative transfer simulations, we use the discrete ordinate LIDORT model, which has the capability to generate simultaneous fields of radiances and weighting functions in a multiply scattering multi-layer atmosphere. Surface-atmosphere coupling due to multiple scattering and reflection effects is treated in full; the use of an atmospheric correction is not required. Further, it is shown that sensitivities of TOA reflectances to both linear and non-linear surface BRDF parameters may be established directly by explicit analytic differentiation of the discrete ordinate radiative transfer equations. Surface properties may thus be retrieved directly and conveniently from satellite measurements using standard non-linear fitting methods. In the fitting for BRDF parameters, lower-boundary aerosol properties can either be retrieved as auxiliary parameters, or they can be regarded as forward model parameter errors. We present examples of simulated radiances and surface/aerosol weighting functions for combinations of multi-angle measurements at several different wavelengths, and we perform some examples of self-consistent non-linear fitting to demonstrate feasibility for this kind of surface property retrieval.     

Sensitivity of trace gas abundances retrievals from infrared limb emission spectra to simplifying approximations in radiative transfer modelling

The accuracy of trace gas abundances retrieved from spectrally resolved infrared limb emission measurements relies, among other things, on the appropriate modelling of radiative transfer through the actual atmosphere. We quantify the mapping of several commonly applied simplifications in radiative transfer modelling on the trace gas abundances retrieval error at the example of the Michelson interferometer for passive atmospheric sounding (MIPAS)/environmental satellite (ENVISAT) space borne Fourier transform infra-red limb emission experiment. The Karlsruhe optimized and precise radiative transfer algorithm (KOPRA) which was used as a tool for this study will be introduced. KOPRA supports accurate modelling of the particular instrument requirements of MIPAS and the observation scenarios during the ENVISAT mission, in particular with respect to its viewing direction and its altitude coverage of the atmosphere. We show that disregarding of horizontal temperature inhomogeneities and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium effects, insufficient accuracy in modelling of field-of-view and apodisation effects, and disregarding individual profiles of isotopic species play the key roles in radiative transfer modelling and lead to systematic retrieval errors which can by far exceed the expected random retrieval error caused by measurement noise.     

A radiative transfer model for an idealized and non-scattering atmosphere and its application for ground-based remote sensing

Inversion of tropospheric profiles from ground-based microwave measurements requires a simple and accurate model for calculating the brightness temperatures as received by the radiometer. In the first part, an analytic solution of the radiative transfer equation is derived for an exponentially decaying absorption coefficient and a linear temperature gradient. Based on the obtained analytic expressions, a discretized radiative transfer scheme is developed in the second part. The new scheme incorporates the generic behavior of the atmosphere with the effect that brightness temperatures can be modeled more accurately and with fewer grid points compared to commonly used radiative transfer schemes. The brightness temperature modeling accuracy was improved by a factor of six. The results suggest that the model could be employed for the retrieval of temperature and humidity profiles.     

Many polarized radiative transfer models

This note is an introduction to the reprint of the 1991 JQSRT article “A new polarized atmospheric radiative transfer model” by K.F. Evans and G.L. Stephens. We discuss the significance of the article, how our two plane-parallel polarized radiative transfer codes came about, how our codes have been used, and more recent developments in polarized radiative transfer modeling.     

辐射传输中的一个伪极限问题及其数学物理原理

当太阳入射角度和观测角都趋向于水平时,由平面平行大气辐射传输方程计算得到的大气顶的反射辐射值不唯一,其值依赖于太阳和观测角的趋近于水平方向的路径曲线,即从数学角度称为出现极限的不唯一或极限不连续.事实上这违背了辐射场物理原理,这种不连续是由于常规算法中忽略了大气辐射传输中一个隐含的物理原理而导出的.在极限条件下必须引入满足Snell光学定律的界面边界条件,否则会导致错误的结论. 关键词： 辐射传输 局地热力学平衡 大气光学 Snell定律