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The Global Energy and Water cycle Exchanges (GEWEX) Data and Assessments Panel (GDAP) initiated the GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment (G-VAP), which has the main objectives to quantify the current state of art in water vapour products being constructed for climate applications and to support the selection process of suitable water vapour products by GDAP for its production of globally consistent water and energy cycle products. During the construction of the G-VAP data archive, freely available and mature satellite and reanalysis data records with a minimum temporal coverage of 10 years were considered. The archive contains total column water vapour (TCWV) as well as specific humidity and temperature at four pressure levels (1000, 700, 500, 300 hPa) from 22 different data records. All data records were remapped to a regular longitude/latitude grid of 2°x2°. The archive consists of four different folders: 22 TCWV data records covering the period 2003-2008, 11 TCWV data records covering the period 1988-2008, as well as seven specific humidity and seven temperature data records covering the period 1988-2009. The G-VAP data archive is referenced under the following digital object identifier (doi): http://dx.doi.org/10.5676/EUM SAF CM/GVAP/V001. Within G-VAP, the characterisation of water vapour products is, among other ways, achieved through intercomparisons of the considered data records, as a whole and grouped into three classes of predominant retrieval condition: clear-sky, cloudy-sky and all-sky. Associated results are shown using the 22 TCWV data records. The standard deviations among the 22 TCWV data records have been analysed and exhibit distinct maxima over central Africa and the tropical warm pool (in absolute terms) as well as over the poles and mountain regions (in relative terms). The variability in TCWV within each class can be large and prohibits conclusions on systematic differences in TCWV between the classes.
RESUMO
We optimize a general class of complete multispectral polarimeters with respect to signal-to-noise ratio, stability against alignment errors, and the minimization of errors regarding a given set of polarization states. The class of polarimeters that are dealt with consists of at least four polarization optics each with a multispectral detector. A polarization optic is made of an azimuthal oriented wave plate and a polarizing filter. A general, but not unique, analytic solution that minimizes signal-to-noise ratio is introduced for a polarimeter that incorporates four simultaneous measurements with four independent optics. The optics consist of four sufficient wave plates, where at least one is a quarter-wave plate. The solution is stable with respect to the retardance of the quarter-wave plate; therefore, it can be applied to real-world cases where the retardance deviates from lambda/4. The solution is a set of seven rotational parameters that depends on the given retardances of the wave plates. It can be applied to a broad range of real world cases. A numerical method for the optimization of arbitrary polarimeters of the type discussed is also presented and applied for two cases. First, the class of polarimeters that were analytically dealt with are further optimized with respect to stability and error performance with respect to linear polarized states. Then a multispectral case for a polarimeter that consists of four optics with real achromatic wave plates is presented. This case was used as the theoretical background for the development of the Airborne Multi-Spectral Sunphoto- and Polarimeter (AMSSP), which is an instrument for the German research aircraft HALO.
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Motivated by several observations of the degree of linear polarization of skylight in the oxygen A (O(2)A) band that do not yet have a quantitative explanation, we analyze the influence of aerosol altitude, microphysics, and optical thickness on the degree of linear polarization of the zenith skylight in the spectral region of the O(2)A band, between 755 to 775 nm. It is shown that the degree of linear polarization inside the O(2)A band is particularly sensitive to aerosol altitude. The sensitivity is strongest for aerosols within the troposphere and depends also on their microphysical properties and optical thickness. The polarization of the O(2)A band can be larger than the polarization of the continuum, which typically occurs for strongly polarizing aerosols in an elevated layer, or smaller, which typically occurs for depolarizing aerosols or cirrus clouds in an elevated layer. We show that in the case of a single aerosol layer in the atmosphere a determination of the aerosol layer altitude may be obtained. Furthermore, we show limitations of the aerosol layer altitude determination in case of multiple aerosol layers. To perform these simulations we developed a fast method for multiple scattering radiative transfer calculations in gaseous absorption bands including polarization. The method is a combination of doubling-adding and k-binning methods. We present an error estimation of this method by comparing with accurate line-by-line radiative transfer simulations. For the Motivated by several observations of the degree of linear polarization of skylight in the oxygen A (O(2)A) band that do not yet have a quantitative explanation, we analyze the influence of aerosol altitude, microphysics, and optical thickness on the degree of linear polarization of the zenith skylight in the spectral region of the O(2)A band, between 755 to 775 nm. It is shown that the degree of linear polarization inside the O(2)A band is particularly sensitive to aerosol altitude. The sensitivity is strongest for aerosols within the troposphere and depends also on their microphysical properties and optical thickness. The polarization of the O(2)A band can be larger than the polarization of the continuum, which typically occurs for strongly polarizing aerosols in an elevated layer, or smaller, which typically occurs for depolarizing aerosols or cirrus clouds in an elevated layer. We show that in the case of a single aerosol layer in the atmosphere a determination of the aerosol layer altitude may be obtained. Furthermore, we show limitations of the aerosol layer altitude determination in case of multiple aerosol layers. To perform these simulations we developed a fast method for multiple scattering radiative transfer calculations in gaseous absorption bands including polarization. The method is a combination of doubling-adding and k-binning methods. We present an error estimation of this method by comparing with accurate line-by-line radiative transfer simulations. For the O(2)A band, the errors in the degree of linear polarization are less than 0.11% for transmitted light, and less than 0.31% for reflected light. band, the errors in the degree of linear polarization are less than 0.11% for transmitted light, and less than 0.31% for reflected light.
RESUMO
We have designed an airborne spectrometer system for the simultaneous measurement of the direct sun irradiance and the aureole radiance in two different solid angles. The high-resolution spectral radiation measurements are used to derive vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties. Combined measurements in two solid angles provide better information about the aerosol type without additional and elaborate measuring geometries. It is even possible to discriminate between absorbing and nonabsorbing aerosol types. Furthermore, they allow to apply additional calibration methods and simplify the detection of contaminated data (e.g., by thin cirrus clouds). For the characterization of the detected aerosol type a new index is introduced that is the slope of the aerosol phase function in the forward scattering region. The instrumentation is a flexible modular setup, which has already been successfully applied in airborne and ground-based field campaigns. We describe the setup as well as the calibration of the instrument. In addition, example vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties--including the aureole measurements--are shown and discussed.
RESUMO
We analyze the sensitivity of the degree of linear polarization in the Sun's principal plane as a function of aerosol microphysical parameters: the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index, the median radius and geometric standard deviation of the bimodal size distribution (both fine and coarse modes), and the relative number weight of the fine mode at a wavelength of 675 nm. We use Mie theory for single-scattering simulations and the doubling-adding method with the inclusion of polarization for multiple scattering. It is shown that the behavior of the degree of linear polarization is highly sensitive to both the small mode of the bimodal size distribution and the real part of the refractive index of aerosols, as well as to the aerosol optical thickness; whereas not all parameters influence the polarization equally. A classification of the importance of the input parameters is given. This sensitivity study is applied to an analysis of ground-based polarization measurements. For the passive remote sensing of microphysical and optical properties of aerosols, a ground-based spectral polarization measuring system was built, which aims to measure the Stokes parameters I, Q, and U in the visible (from 410 to 789 nm) and near-infrared (from 674 to 995 nm) spectral range with a spectral resolution of 7 nm in the visible and 2.4 nm in the near infrared. We compare polarization measurements taken with radiative transfer simulations under both clear- and hazy-sky conditions in an urban area (Cabauw, The Netherlands, 51.58 degrees N, 4.56 degrees E). Conclusions about the microphysical properties of aerosol are drawn from the comparison.
