Aerosol characterization using satellite remote sensing of light pollution sources at night

ABSTRACT A demanding challenge in atmospheric research is the night-time characterization of aerosols using passive techniques, that is, by extracting information from scattered light that has not been emitted by the observer. Satellite observations of artificial night-time lights have been used to retrieve some basic integral parameters, like the aerosol optical depth. However, a thorough analysis of the scattering processes allows one to obtain substantially more detailed information on aerosol properties. In this letter, we demonstrate a practicable approach for determining the aerosol particle size number distribution function in the air column, based on the measurement of the angular radiance distribution of the scattered light emitted by night-time lights of cities and towns, recorded from low Earth orbit. The method is self-calibrating and does not require the knowledge of the absolute city emissions. The input radiance data are readily available from several spaceborne platforms, like the VIIRS-DNB radiometer onboard the Suomi-NPP satellite.

Two-index model for characterizing site-specific night sky brightness patterns

ABSTRACT The determination of the all-sky radiance distribution produced by artificial light sources is a computationally demanding task that generally requires intensive calculations. In this paper, we develop an analytical formulation that provides the all-sky radiance distribution produced by an artificial light source as an explicit and analytical function of the observation direction, depending on two single parameters that characterize the overall effects of the atmosphere. One of these parameters is related to the effective attenuation of the light beams, whereas the other accounts for the overall asymmetry of the combined scattering processes in molecules and aerosols. Using this formulation, a wide range of all-sky radiance distributions can be efficiently and accurately calculated in a short time. This substantial reduction in the number of required parameters, in comparison with other approaches that are currently used, is expected to facilitate the development of new applications in the field of light pollution research.

Eruptive Styles Recognition Using High Temporal Resolution Geostationary Infrared Satellite Data

The high temporal resolution of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) instrument aboard Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) provides the opportunity to investigate eruptive processes and discriminate different styles of volcanic activity. To this goal, a new detection method based on the wavelet transform of SEVIRI infrared data is proposed. A statistical analysis is performed on wavelet smoothed data derived from SEVIRI Mid-Infrared( MIR) radiances collected from 2011 to 2017 on Mt Etna (Italy) volcano. Time-series analysis of the kurtosis of the radiance distribution allows for reliable hot-spot detection and precise timing of the start and end of eruptive events. Combined kurtosis and gradient trends allow for discrimination of the different activity styles of the volcano, from effusive lava flow, through Strombolian explosions, to paroxysmal fountaining. The same data also allow for the prediction, at the onset of an eruption, of what will be its dominant eruptive style at later stages. The results obtained have been validated against ground-based and literature data.

Measuring and Modeling the Polarized Upwelling Radiance Distribution in Clear and Coastal Waters

The upwelling spectral radiance distribution is polarized, and this polarization varies with the optical properties of the water body. Knowledge of the polarized, upwelling, bidirectional radiance distribution function (BRDF) is important for generating consistent, long-term data records for ocean color because the satellite sensors from which the data are derived are sensitive to polarization. In addition, various studies have indicated that measurement of the polarization of the radiance leaving the ocean can used to determine particle characteristics (Tonizzo et al., 2007; Ibrahim et al., 2016; Chami et al., 2001). Models for the unpolarized BRDF (Morel et al., 2002; Lee et al., 2011) have been validated (Voss et al., 2007; Gleason et al., 2012), but variations in the polarization of the upwelling radiance due to the sun angle, viewing geometry, dissolved material, and suspended particles have not been systematically documented. In this work, we simulated the upwelling radiance distribution using a Monte Carlo-based radiative transfer code and measured it using a set of fish-eye cameras with linear polarizing filters. The results of model-data comparisons from three field experiments in clear and turbid coastal conditions showed that the degree of linear polarization (DOLP) of the upwelling light field could be determined by the model with an absolute error of ±0.05 (or 5% when the DOLP was expressed in %). This agreement was achieved even with a fixed scattering Mueller matrix, but did require in situ measurements of the other inherent optical properties, e.g., scattering coefficient, absorption coefficient, etc. This underscores the difficulty that is likely to be encountered using the particle scattering Mueller matrix (as indicated through the remote measurement of the polarized radiance) to provide a signature relating to the properties of marine particles beyond the attenuation/absorption coefficient.

Sky radiance at a coastline and effects of land and ocean reflectivities

We present a unique case study of the spectral sky radiance distribution above a coastline. Results are shown from a measurement campaign in Italy involving three diode array spectroradiometers which are compared to 3-D model simulations from the Monte Carlo model MYSTIC. On the coast, the surrounding is split into two regions, a diffusely reflecting land surface and a water surface which features a highly anisotropic reflectance function. The reflectivities and hence the resulting radiances are a nontrivial function of solar zenith and azimuth angle and wavelength. We show that for low solar zenith angles (SZAs) around noon, the higher land albedo causes the sky radiance at 20° above the horizon to increase by 50 % in the near infrared at 850 nm for viewing directions towards the land with respect to the ocean. Comparing morning and afternoon radiances highlights the effect of the ocean's sun glint at high SZA, which contributes around 10 % to the measured radiance ratios. The model simulations generally agree with the measurements to better than 10 %. We investigate the individual effects of model input parameters representing land and ocean albedo and aerosols. Different land and ocean bi-directional reflectance functions (BRDFs) do not generally improve the model agreement. However, consideration of the uncertainties in the diurnal variation of aerosol optical depth can explain the remaining discrepancies between measurements and model. We further investigate the anisotropy effect of the ocean BRDF which is featured in the zenith radiances. Again, the uncertainty of the aerosol loading is dominant and obscures the modelled sun glint effect of 7 % at 650 nm. Finally, we show that the effect on the zenith radiance is restricted to a few kilometres from the coastline by model simulations along a perpendicular transect and by comparing the radiances at the coast to those measured at a site 15 km inland. Our findings are relevant to, for example, ground-based remote sensing of aerosol characteristics, since a common technique is based on sky radiance measurements along the solar almucantar.

Sky radiance at a coastline and effects of land and ocean reflectivities

We present a unique case study of the spectral sky radiance distribution above a coastline. Results are shown from a measurement campaign in Italy involving three diode array spectroradiometers which are compared to 3-D model simulations from the Monte Carlo model MYSTIC. On the coast, the surrounding is split into two regions, a diffusely reflecting land surface and a water surface which features a highly anisotropic reflectance function. The reflectivities and hence the resulting radiances are a nontrivial function of solar zenith and azimuth angle and wavelength. We show that for low solar zenith angles (SZA) around noon, the higher land albedo causes the sky radiance at 20° above the horizon to increase by 50 % in the near infrared at 850 nm for viewing directions towards the land with respect to the ocean. Comparing morning and afternoon radiances highlights the effect of the ocean’s sun glint at high SZA which contributes around 10 % to the measured radiance ratios. The model simulations generally agree with the measurements to better than 10 %. We investigate the individual effects of model input parameters representing land and ocean albedo and aerosols. Different land and ocean BRDFs do not generally improve the model agreement. However, consideration of the uncertainties in the diurnal variation of aerosol optical depth can explain the remaining discrepancies between measurements and model. We further investigate the anisotropy effect of the ocean BRDF which is featured in the zenith radiances. Again, the uncertainty of the aerosol loading is dominant and obscures the modelled sun glint effect of 7 % at 650 nm. Finally, we show that the effect on the zenith radiance is restricted to a few kilometres from the coast line by model simulations along a perpendicular transect and by comparing the radiances at the coast to those measured at a site 15 km inland. Our findings are relevant to, for example, ground based remote sensing of aerosol characteristics since a common technique is based on sky radiance measurements along the solar almucantar.