Analysis of Surface Albedo to Improve Upper-Ocean Heat Budget Calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hogikyan, A.; Zhang, D.; Cronin, M. F.

2016-12-01

Over 90% of the Earth's energy imbalance is stored in the oceans, so it is important to understand the ocean-atmosphere heat transfer. The Ocean Climate Stations group (OCS) at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory maintains two moored surface buoys in the North Pacific (PAPA and KEO) as air-sea flux reference sites. The goal of the reference sites is to validate global air-sea flux products from atmospheric reanalyses and satellite products, that are critical to understand and model the variability and trend of the earth climate. As other air-sea flux reference buoys in the world ocean, PAPA and KEO only measure downward shortwave radiation (SWdown), but utilize the albedo and the directly measured SWdown to calculate the SWup. Since the open ocean albedo is small, the errors associated with this practice are thought to be comparable or smaller than the instrumentation errors in the air-sea flux measurements. In addition, it is generally accepted that ocean surface albedos can be derived with reasonable confidence from surface radiative fluxes in satellite products such as the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). This project developed a CERES-based albedo product for derivation of SWnet at PAPA and KEO, and assessed the impact of CERES-based albedo on the net surface heat fluxes relative to the currently used ISCCP-based albedo in the OCS air-sea flux data (http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/ocs/data/fluxdisdel/). The high-resolution surface fluxes from CERES are more frequently updated, and consider more physical factors in the approximation, than those from ISCCP. There was a greater change between ISCCP and CERES albedo during wintertime than during summer. There was a greater change at Station PAPA in the northeastern sub-Arctic Pacific, than at Station KEO in the northwestern subtropical Pacific. The rate of temperature change of the mixed-layer is shown to increase based on the

Improvement of Mars Surface Snow Albedo Modeling in LMD Mars GCM With SNICAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, D.; Flanner, M. G.; Millour, E.

2018-03-01

The current version of Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) Mars GCM (original-MGCM) uses annually repeating (prescribed) CO2 snow albedo values based on the Thermal Emission Spectrometer observations. We integrate the Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiation (SNICAR) model with MGCM (SNICAR-MGCM) to prognostically determine H2O and CO2 snow albedos interactively in the model. Using the new diagnostic capabilities of this model, we find that cryospheric surfaces (with dust) increase the global surface albedo of Mars by 0.022. Over snow-covered regions, SNICAR-MGCM simulates mean albedo that is higher by about 0.034 than prescribed values in the original-MGCM. Globally, shortwave flux into the surface decreases by 1.26 W/m2, and net CO2 snow deposition increases by about 4% with SNICAR-MGCM over one Martian annual cycle as compared to the original-MGCM simulations. SNICAR integration reduces the mean global surface temperature and the surface pressure of Mars by about 0.87% and 2.5%, respectively. Changes in albedo also show a similar distribution to dust deposition over the globe. The SNICAR-MGCM model generates albedos with higher sensitivity to surface dust content as compared to original-MGCM. For snow-covered regions, we improve the correlation between albedo and optical depth of dust from -0.91 to -0.97 with SNICAR-MGCM as compared to the original-MGCM. Dust substantially darkens Mars's cryosphere, thereby reducing its impact on the global shortwave energy budget by more than half, relative to the impact of pure snow.

Impacts of Satellite-Based Snow Albedo Assimilation on Offline and Coupled Land Surface Model Simulations.

PubMed

Wang, Tao; Peng, Shushi; Krinner, Gerhard; Ryder, James; Li, Yue; Dantec-Nédélec, Sarah; Ottlé, Catherine

2015-01-01

Seasonal snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere is the largest component of the terrestrial cryosphere and plays a major role in the climate system through strong positive feedbacks related to albedo. The snow-albedo feedback is invoked as an important cause for the polar amplification of ongoing and projected climate change, and its parameterization across models is an important source of uncertainty in climate simulations. Here, instead of developing a physical snow albedo scheme, we use a direct insertion approach to assimilate satellite-based surface albedo during the snow season (hereafter as snow albedo assimilation) into the land surface model ORCHIDEE (ORganizing Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic EcosystEms) and assess the influences of such assimilation on offline and coupled simulations. Our results have shown that snow albedo assimilation in both ORCHIDEE and ORCHIDEE-LMDZ (a general circulation model of Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique) improve the simulation accuracy of mean seasonal (October throughout May) snow water equivalent over the region north of 40 degrees. The sensitivity of snow water equivalent to snow albedo assimilation is more pronounced in the coupled simulation than the offline simulation since the feedback of albedo on air temperature is allowed in ORCHIDEE-LMDZ. We have also shown that simulations of air temperature at 2 meters in ORCHIDEE-LMDZ due to snow albedo assimilation are significantly improved during the spring in particular over the eastern Siberia region. This is a result of the fact that high amounts of shortwave radiation during the spring can maximize its snow albedo feedback, which is also supported by the finding that the spatial sensitivity of temperature change to albedo change is much larger during the spring than during the autumn and winter. In addition, the radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere induced by snow albedo assimilation during the spring is estimated to be -2.50 W m-2, the magnitude of

XCO2 retrieval error over deserts near critical surface albedo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qiong; Shia, Run-Lie; Sander, Stanley P.; Yung, Yuk L.

2016-02-01

Large retrieval errors in column-weighted CO2 mixing ratio (XCO2) over deserts are evident in the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 version 7 L2 products. We argue that these errors are caused by the surface albedo being close to a critical surface albedo (αc). Over a surface with albedo close to αc, increasing the aerosol optical depth (AOD) does not change the continuum radiance. The spectral signature caused by changing the AOD is identical to that caused by changing the absorbing gas column. The degeneracy in the retrievals of AOD and XCO2 results in a loss of degrees of freedom and information content. We employ a two-stream-exact single scattering radiative transfer model to study the physical mechanism of XCO2 retrieval error over a surface with albedo close to αc. Based on retrieval tests over surfaces with different albedos, we conclude that over a surface with albedo close to αc, the XCO2 retrieval suffers from a significant loss of accuracy. We recommend a bias correction approach that has significantly improved the XCO2 retrieval from the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing data in the presence of aerosol loading.

Impacts of Satellite-Based Snow Albedo Assimilation on Offline and Coupled Land Surface Model Simulations

PubMed Central

Wang, Tao; Peng, Shushi; Krinner, Gerhard; Ryder, James; Li, Yue; Dantec-Nédélec, Sarah; Ottlé, Catherine

2015-01-01

Seasonal snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere is the largest component of the terrestrial cryosphere and plays a major role in the climate system through strong positive feedbacks related to albedo. The snow-albedo feedback is invoked as an important cause for the polar amplification of ongoing and projected climate change, and its parameterization across models is an important source of uncertainty in climate simulations. Here, instead of developing a physical snow albedo scheme, we use a direct insertion approach to assimilate satellite-based surface albedo during the snow season (hereafter as snow albedo assimilation) into the land surface model ORCHIDEE (ORganizing Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic EcosystEms) and assess the influences of such assimilation on offline and coupled simulations. Our results have shown that snow albedo assimilation in both ORCHIDEE and ORCHIDEE-LMDZ (a general circulation model of Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique) improve the simulation accuracy of mean seasonal (October throughout May) snow water equivalent over the region north of 40 degrees. The sensitivity of snow water equivalent to snow albedo assimilation is more pronounced in the coupled simulation than the offline simulation since the feedback of albedo on air temperature is allowed in ORCHIDEE-LMDZ. We have also shown that simulations of air temperature at 2 meters in ORCHIDEE-LMDZ due to snow albedo assimilation are significantly improved during the spring in particular over the eastern Siberia region. This is a result of the fact that high amounts of shortwave radiation during the spring can maximize its snow albedo feedback, which is also supported by the finding that the spatial sensitivity of temperature change to albedo change is much larger during the spring than during the autumn and winter. In addition, the radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere induced by snow albedo assimilation during the spring is estimated to be -2.50 W m-2, the magnitude of

Experimental evidence that microbial activity lowers the albedo of glacier surfaces: the cryoconite casserole experiment.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Musilova, M.; Tranter, M.; Takeuchi, N.; Anesio, A. M.

2014-12-01

Darkened glacier and ice sheet surfaces have lower albedos, absorb more solar radiation and consequently melt more rapidly. The increase in glacier surface darkening is an important positive feedback to warming global temperatures, leading to ever growing world-wide ice mass loss. Most studies focus primarily on glacial albedo darkening caused by the physical properties of snow and ice surfaces, and the deposition of dark impurities on glaciers. To date, however, the important effects of biological activity have not been included in most albedo reduction models. This study provides the first experimental evidence that microbial activity can significantly decrease the albedo of glacier surfaces. An original laboratory experiment, the cryoconite casserole, was designed to test the microbial darkening of glacier surface debris (cryoconite) under simulated Greenlandic summer conditions. It was found that minor fertilisation of the cryoconite (at nutrient concentrations typical of glacial ice melt) stimulated extensive microbial activity. Microbes intensified their organic carbon fixation and even mined phosphorous out of the glacier surface sediment. Furthermore, the microbial organic carbon production, accumulation and transformation caused the glacial debris to darken further by 17.3% reflectivity (albedo analogue). These experiments are consistent with the hypothesis that enhanced fertilisation by anthropogenic inputs results in substantial amounts of organic carbon fixation, debris darkening and ultimately to a considerable decrease in the ice albedo of glacier surfaces on global scales. The sizeable amounts of microbially produced glacier surface organic matter and nutrients can thus be a vital source of bioavailable nutrients for subglacial and downstream environments.

An energy balance model exploration of the impacts of interactions between surface albedo, cloud cover and water vapor on polar amplification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Södergren, A. Helena; McDonald, Adrian J.; Bodeker, Gregory E.

2017-11-01

We examine the effects of non-linear interactions between surface albedo, water vapor and cloud cover (referred to as climate variables) on amplified warming of the polar regions, using a new energy balance model. Our simulations show that the sum of the contributions to surface temperature changes due to any variable considered in isolation is smaller than the temperature changes from coupled feedback simulations. This non-linearity is strongest when all three climate variables are allowed to interact. Surface albedo appears to be the strongest driver of this non-linear behavior, followed by water vapor and clouds. This is because increases in longwave radiation absorbed by the surface, related to increases in water vapor and clouds, and increases in surface absorbed shortwave radiation caused by a decrease in surface albedo, amplify each other. Furthermore, our results corroborate previous findings that while increases in cloud cover and water vapor, along with the greenhouse effect itself, warm the polar regions, water vapor also significantly warms equatorial regions, which reduces polar amplification. Changes in surface albedo drive large changes in absorption of incoming shortwave radiation, thereby enhancing surface warming. Unlike high latitudes, surface albedo change at low latitudes are more constrained. Interactions between surface albedo, water vapor and clouds drive larger increases in temperatures in the polar regions compared to low latitudes. This is in spite of the fact that, due to a forcing, cloud cover increases at high latitudes and decreases in low latitudes, and that water vapor significantly enhances warming at low latitudes.

Surface albedo observations at Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum, Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, J. F.; Rice, M. S.; Johnson, J. R.; Hare, T. M.

2008-05-01

During the Mars Exploration Rover mission, the Pancam instrument has periodically acquired large-scale panoramic images with its broadband (739 +/- 338 nm) filter in order to estimate the Lambert bolometric albedo of the surface along each rover's traverse. In this work we present the full suite of such estimated albedo values measured to date by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers along their traverses in Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum, respectively. We include estimated bolometric albedo values of individual surface features (e.g., outcrops, dusty plains, aeolian bed forms, wheel tracks, light-toned soils, and crater walls) as well as overall surface averages of the 43 total panoramic albedo data sets acquired to date. We also present comparisons to estimated Lambert albedo values taken from the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) along the rovers' traverses, and to the large-scale bolometric albedos of the sites from the Viking Orbiter Infrared Thermal Mapper (IRTM) and Mars Global Surveyor/Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). The ranges of Pancam-derived albedos at Gusev Crater (0.14 to 0.25) and in Meridiani Planum (0.10 to 0.18) are in good agreement with IRTM, TES, and MOC orbital measurements. These data sets will be a useful tool and benchmark for future investigations of albedo variations with time, including measurements from orbital instruments like the Context Camera and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Long-term, accurate albedo measurements could also be important for future efforts in climate modeling as well as for studies of active surface processes.

[Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of Lake Taihu Surface Albedo and Its Impact Factors].

PubMed

Cao, Chang; Li, Xu-hui; Zhang, Mi; Liu, Shou-dong; Xiao, Wei; Xiao, Qi-tao; Xu, Jia-ping

2015-10-01

Lake surface albedo determines energy balance of water-atmospheric interface and water physical environment. Solar elevation angle, cloudiness, wind speed, water quality and other factors can affect lake surface albedo. Using solar radiation, wind speed, and water quality data (turbidity and chlorophyll-a concentration) which were observed in four eddy covariance sites (Meiliangwan, Dapukou, Bifenggang and Xiaoleishan i. e. MLW, DPK, BFG and XLS) in Lake Taihu and clearness index (k(t)), the influence of these factors on Lake Taihu surface albedo and the reasons that led to its spatial difference were investigated. The results showed that solar elevation angle played a leading role in the diurnal and seasonal change of lake surface albedo; lake surface albedo reached two peaks in 0 < k(t) < 0.1 and 0.4 < k(t) < 0.6 respectively, when solar elevation angle was below 35 degrees. The surface albedo increased with the increasing wind speed, turbidity and chlorophyll-a concentration. However, wind could indirectly affect surface albedo through leading to the changes in sediment resuspension and chlorophyll-a distribution. The sequence of albedo in the four sites was XLS > BFG > DPK > MLW. XLS and BFG belonged to the higher albedo group, while DPK and MLW belonged to the lower albedo group. The different biological environments caused by aquatic macrophytes and algae resulting in the spatial variation of Lake Taihu surface albedo. The relationship between albedo and chlorophyll-a concentration was not a very sensitive factor for indicating the outbreak of algae. This study can provide theoretical reference for lake albedo parameterization.

Retrieving Single Scattering Albedos and Temperatures from CRISM Hyperspectral Data Using Neural Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, L.; Arvidson, R. E.; O'Sullivan, J. A.

2018-04-01

We use a neural network (NN) approach to simultaneously retrieve surface single scattering albedos and temperature maps for CRISM data from 1.40 to 3.85 µm. It approximates the inverse of DISORT which simulates solar and emission radiative streams.

Coarse Scale In Situ Albedo Observations over Heterogeneous Land Surfaces and Validation Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Q.; Wu, X.; Wen, J.; BAI, J., Sr.

2017-12-01

To evaluate and improve the quality of coarse-pixel land surface albedo products, validation with ground measurements of albedo is crucial over the spatially and temporally heterogeneous land surface. The performance of albedo validation depends on the quality of ground-based albedo measurements at a corresponding coarse-pixel scale, which can be conceptualized as the "truth" value of albedo at coarse-pixel scale. The wireless sensor network (WSN) technology provides access to continuously observe on the large pixel scale. Taking the albedo products as an example, this paper was dedicated to the validation of coarse-scale albedo products over heterogeneous surfaces based on the WSN observed data, which is aiming at narrowing down the uncertainty of results caused by the spatial scaling mismatch between satellite and ground measurements over heterogeneous surfaces. The reference value of albedo at coarse-pixel scale can be obtained through an upscaling transform function based on all of the observations for that pixel. We will devote to further improve and develop new method that that are better able to account for the spatio-temporal characteristic of surface albedo in the future. Additionally, how to use the widely distributed single site measurements over the heterogeneous surfaces is also a question to be answered. Keywords: Remote sensing; Albedo; Validation; Wireless sensor network (WSN); Upscaling; Heterogeneous land surface; Albedo truth at coarse-pixel scale

Assimilation of MODIS Ice Surface Temperature and Albedo into the Snow and Ice Model CROCUS Over the Greenland Ice Sheet Along the K-transect Stations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Navari, M.; Margulis, S. A.; Bateni, S. M.; Alexander, P. M.; Tedesco, M.

2016-12-01

Estimating the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface mass balance (SMB) is an important component of current and future projections of sea level rise. In situ measurement provides direct estimates of the SMB, but are inherently limited by their spatial extent and representativeness. Given this limitation, physically based regional climate models (RCMs) are critical for understanding GrIS physical processes and estimating of the GrIS SMB. However, the uncertainty in estimates of SMB from RCMs is still high. Surface remote sensing (RS) has been used as a complimentary tool to characterize various aspects related to the SMB. The difficulty of using these data streams is that the links between them and the SMB terms are most often indirect and implicit. Given the lack of in situ information, imperfect models, and under-utilized RS data it is critical to merge the available data in a systematic way to better characterize the spatial and temporal variation of the GrIS SMB. This work proposes a data assimilation (DA) framework that yields temporally-continuous and physically consistent SMB estimates that benefit from state-of-the-art models and relevant remote sensing data streams. Ice surface temperature (IST) is the most important factor that regulates partitioning of the net radiation into the subsurface snow/ice, sensible and latent heat fluxes and plays a key role in runoff generation. Therefore it can be expected that a better estimate of surface temperature from a data assimilation system would contribute to a better estimate of surface mass fluxes. Albedo plays an important role in the surface energy balance of the GrIS. However, even advanced albedo modules are not adequate to simulate albedo over the GrIS. Therefore, merging remotely sensed albedo product into a physically based model has a potential to improve the estimates of the GrIS SMB. In this work a MODIS-derived IST and a 16-day albedo product are independently assimilated into the snow and ice model CROCUS

Direct determination of surface albedos from satellite imagery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mekler, Y.; Joseph, J. H.

1983-01-01

An empirical method to measure the spectral surface albedo of surfaces from Landsat imagery is presented and analyzed. The empiricism in the method is due only to the fact that three parameters of the solution must be determined for each spectral photograph of an image on the basis of independently known albedos at three points. The approach is otherwise based on exact solutions of the radiative transfer equation for upwelling intensity. Application of the method allows the routine construction of spectral albedo maps from satelite imagery, without requiring detailed knowledge of the atmospheric aerosol content, as long as the optical depth is less than 0.75, and of the calibration of the satellite sensor.

Spatially Complete Global Surface Albedos Derived from Terra/MODIS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Michael D.; Moody, Eric G.; Platnick, Steven; Schaaf, Crystal B.

2005-01-01

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. Recent production of land surface anisotropy, diffuse bihemispherical (white-sky) albedo and direct beam directional hemispherical (black-sky) albedo from observations acquired by the MODIS instruments aboard NASA's Terra and &la satellite platforms have provided researchers with unprecedented spatial, spectral, and temporal information on the land surface's radiative characteristics. Cloud cover, which curtails retrievals, and the presence of ephemeral and seasonal snow limit the snow-free data to approximately half the global land surfaces on an annual equal-angle basis. This precludes the MOD43B3 albedo products from being used in some remote sensing and ground-based applications, &mate models, and global change research projects.

Surface albedo observations at Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum, Mars

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bell, J.F.; Rice, M.S.; Johnson, J. R.; Hare, T.M.

2008-01-01

During the Mars Exploration Rover mission, the Pancam instrument has periodically acquired large-scale panoramic images with its broadband (739??338 nm) filter in order to estimate the Lambert bolometric albedo of the surface along each rover's traverse. In this work we present the full suite of such estimated albedo values measured to date by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers along their traverses in Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum, respectively. We include estimated bolometric albedo values of individual surface features (e.g., outcrops, dusty plains, aeolian bed forms, wheel tracks, light-toned soils, and crater walls) as well as overall surface averages of the 43 total panoramic albedo data sets acquired to date. We also present comparisons to estimated Lambert albedo values taken from the Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) along the rovers' traverses, and to the large-scale bolometric albedos of the sites from the Viking Orbiter Infrared Thermal Mapper (IRTM) and Mars Global Surveyor/Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). The ranges of Pancam-derived albedos at Gusev Crater (0.14 to 0.25) and in Meridiani Planum. (0.10 to 0.18) are in good agreement with IRTM, TES, and MOC orbital measurements. These data sets will be a useful tool and benchmark for future investigations of albodo variations with time, including measurements from orbital instruments like the Context Camera and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Long-term, accurate albedo measurements could also be important for future efforts in climate modeling as well as for studies of active surface processes. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Potential effects of forest management on surface albedo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otto, J.; Bréon, F.-M.; Schelhaas, M.-J.; Pinty, B.; Luyssaert, S.

2012-04-01

Currently 70% of the world's forests are managed and this figure is likely to rise due to population growth and increasing demand for wood based products. Forest management has been put forward by the Kyoto-Protocol as one of the key instruments in mitigating climate change. For temperate and boreal forests, the effects of forest management on the stand-level carbon balance are reasonably well understood, but the biophysical effects, for example through changes in the albedo, remain elusive. Following a modeling approach, we aim to quantify the variability in albedo that can be attributed to forest management through changes in canopy structure and density. The modelling approach chains three separate models: (1) a forest gap model to describe stand dynamics, (2) a Monte-Carlo model to estimate the probability density function of the optical path length of photons through the canopy and (3) a physically-based canopy transfer model to estimate the interaction between photons and leaves. The forest gap model provides, on a monthly time step the position, height, diameter, crown size and leaf area index of individual trees. The Monte-Carlo model computes from this the probability density function of the distance a photon travels through crown volumes to determine the direct light reaching the forest floor. This information is needed by the canopy transfer model to calculate the effective leaf area index - a quantity that allows it to correctly represent a 3D process with a 1D model. Outgoing radiation is calculated as the result of multiple processes involving the scattering due to the canopy layer and the forest floor. Finally, surface albedo is computed as the ratio between incident solar radiation and calculated outgoing radiation. The study used two time series representing thinning from below of a beech and a Scots pine forest. The results show a strong temporal evolution in albedo during stand establishment followed by a relatively stable albedo once the canopy

Evaluation of coarse scale land surface remote sensing albedo product over rugged terrain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, J.; Xinwen, L.; You, D.; Dou, B.

2017-12-01

Satellite derived Land surface albedo is an essential climate variable which controls the earth energy budget and it can be used in applications such as climate change, hydrology, and numerical weather prediction. The accuracy and uncertainty of surface albedo products should be evaluated with a reliable reference truth data prior to applications. And more literatures investigated the validation methods about the albedo validation in a flat or homogenous surface. However, the albedo performance over rugged terrain is still unknow due to the validation method limited. A multi-validation strategy is implemented to give a comprehensive albedo validation, which will involve the high resolution albedo processing, high resolution albedo validation based on in situ albedo, and the method to upscale the high resolution albedo to a coarse scale albedo. Among them, the high resolution albedo generation and the upscale method is the core step for the coarse scale albedo validation. In this paper, the high resolution albedo is generated by Angular Bin algorithm. And a albedo upscale method over rugged terrain is developed to obtain the coarse scale albedo truth. The in situ albedo located 40 sites in mountain area are selected globally to validate the high resolution albedo, and then upscaled to the coarse scale albedo by the upscale method. This paper takes MODIS and GLASS albedo product as a example, and the prelimarily results show the RMSE of MODIS and GLASS albedo product over rugged terrain are 0.047 and 0.057, respectively under the RMSE with 0.036 of high resolution albedo.

Albedo of surface CO2 deposits in Mars' Residual South Polar Cap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, P. B.; Wolff, M. J.; Bonev, B.

2013-12-01

The albedo of surface CO2 deposits in the Residual South Polar Cap (RSPC) controls their net condensation / sublimation over a martian year and is therefore a crucial parameter in determining RSPC stability. The Lambert albedo used in previous analyses is obtained by dividing I/F, determined from radiometrically calibrated imaging data, by the cosine of the incidence angle. Because of atmospheric dust, this albedo calculated from I/F above the atmosphere is not the surface albedo that enters into stability considerations. In order to investigate the real surface albedo, we interpolate optical depths determined from CRISM EPF measurements to provide estimates of the opacites over the RSPC and use these to determine the actual surface albedos from MARCI images using the radiative transport program DISORT (Stamnes et al., 1988). The assumption that the surface is a Lambertian diffuse reflector can then also be tested. MARCI images acquired in one-day span a significant range of emission angles; the set of images acquired during one sol is similar to EPF observations except that diurnal opacity variations could be important.

Surface Albedo Darkening from wildfires in Northern Sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gatebe, C. K.; Ichoku, C. M.; Poudal, R.; Roman, M. O.; Wilcox, E.

2014-01-01

Wildfires are recognized as a key physical disturbance of terrestrial ecosystems and a major source of atmospheric trace gases and aerosols. They are known to produce changes in landscape patterns and lead to changes in surface albedo that can persist for long periods. Here, we estimate the darkening of surface albedo due to wildfires in different land cover ecosystems in the Northern Sub-Saharan Africa using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We determined a decrease in albedo after fires over most land cover types (e.g. woody savannas: (-0.00352 0.00003) and savannas: (- 0.003910.00003), which together accounted for >86% of the total MODIS fire count between 2003 and 2011). Grasslands had a higher value (-0.00454 0.00003) than the savannas, but accounted for only about 5% of the total fire count. A few other land cover types (e.g. Deciduous broad leaf: (0.00062 0.00015), and barren: 0.00027 0.00019), showed an increase in albedo after fires, but accounted for less than 1% of the total fires. Albedo change due to wildfires is more important during the fire season (October-February). The albedo recovery progresses rapidly during the first year after fires, where savannas show the greatest recovery (>77%) within one year, while deciduous broadleaf, permanent wetlands and barren lands show the least one-year recovery (56%). The persistence of surface albedo darkening in most land cover types is limited to about six to seven years, after which at least 98% of the burnt pixels recover to their pre-fire albedo.

Albedo of Surface CO2 Deposits in Mars' Residual South Polar Cap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, P. B.; Wolff, M. J.; Bonev, B.

2014-12-01

The albedo of surface CO2 deposits in the Residual South Polar Cap (RSPC) of Mars controls their net condensation / sublimation over a martian year and is therefore a crucial parameter in determining RSPC stability. The albedo used in previous analyses is obtained by dividing I/F, determined from radiometrically calibrated imaging data, by the cosine of the incidence angle. Because of atmospheric aerosols, the albedo calculated from I/F above the atmosphere is not the surface albedo that enters into stability considerations. In order to determine the surface albedo, we interpolate optical depths determined from CRISM EPF measurements to provide estimates of the dust and ice opacities over the RSPC (Wolff et al., 2009) and use these to determine the actual surface albedos from MARCI images using the radiative transport program DISORT (Stamnes et al., 1988). Assuming that dust is the only contributor to atmospheric opacity, the retrieved surface albedos for the longer wavelength MARCI filters in MY 28 and 29 are found to be consistent despite very different dust opacities in the two years (James et al., 2014). However, this model fails to reproduce the short wavelength behavior in early summer. We consider possible modifications of the dust only model that could explain the discrepancy.

Monitoring surface albedo change with Landsat

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otterman, J.

1977-01-01

A pronounced decrease of the surface albedo (reflectivity) has been observed in an area in the Northern Sinai, fenced-in in the summer of 1974. Analysis of the Landsat Multispectral Scanner System digital data from an April 1977 pass indicates a reduction in the albedo in the exclosure by 13%, as compared to the outside, which continues to be subjected to overgrazing and anthropogenic pressures. The reduction of reflectivity is approximately the same in all the spectral bands, and is therefore attributable to accumulation of dead plants and plant debris, and not directly to live vegetation.

Areal-Averaged Spectral Surface Albedo in an Atlantic Coastal Area: Estimation from Ground-Based Transmission

DOE PAGES

Kassianov, Evgueni; Barnard, James; Flynn, Connor; ...

2017-07-12

Tower-based data combined with high-resolution satellite products have been used to produce surface albedo at various spatial scales over land. Because tower-based albedo data are available at only a few sites, surface albedos using these combined data are spatially limited. Moreover, tower-based albedo data are not representative of highly heterogeneous regions. To produce areal-averaged and spectrally-resolved surface albedo for regions with various degrees of surface heterogeneity, we have developed a transmission-based retrieval and demonstrated its feasibility for relatively homogeneous land surfaces. Here we demonstrate its feasibility for a highly heterogeneous coastal region. We use the atmospheric transmission measured during amore » 19-month period (June 2009 – December 2010) by a ground-based Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) at five wavelengths (0.415, 0.5, 0.615, 0.673 and 0.87 µm) at the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) site located on Graciosa Island. We compare the MFRSR-retrieved areal-averaged surface albedo with albedo derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations, and also a composite-based albedo. Lastly, we demonstrate that these three methods produce similar spectral signatures of surface albedo; however, the MFRSR-retrieved albedo, is higher on average (≤0.04) than the MODIS-based areal-averaged surface albedo and the largest difference occurs in winter.« less

Areal-Averaged Spectral Surface Albedo in an Atlantic Coastal Area: Estimation from Ground-Based Transmission

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kassianov, Evgueni; Barnard, James; Flynn, Connor

Tower-based data combined with high-resolution satellite products have been used to produce surface albedo at various spatial scales over land. Because tower-based albedo data are available at only a few sites, surface albedos using these combined data are spatially limited. Moreover, tower-based albedo data are not representative of highly heterogeneous regions. To produce areal-averaged and spectrally-resolved surface albedo for regions with various degrees of surface heterogeneity, we have developed a transmission-based retrieval and demonstrated its feasibility for relatively homogeneous land surfaces. Here we demonstrate its feasibility for a highly heterogeneous coastal region. We use the atmospheric transmission measured during amore » 19-month period (June 2009 – December 2010) by a ground-based Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) at five wavelengths (0.415, 0.5, 0.615, 0.673 and 0.87 µm) at the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF) site located on Graciosa Island. We compare the MFRSR-retrieved areal-averaged surface albedo with albedo derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations, and also a composite-based albedo. Lastly, we demonstrate that these three methods produce similar spectral signatures of surface albedo; however, the MFRSR-retrieved albedo, is higher on average (≤0.04) than the MODIS-based areal-averaged surface albedo and the largest difference occurs in winter.« less

Simulation and Analysis of Topographic Effect on Land Surface Albedo over Mountainous Areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hao, D.; Wen, J.; Xiao, Q.

2017-12-01

Land surface albedo is one of the significant geophysical variables affecting the Earth's climate and controlling the surface radiation budget. Topography leads to the formation of shadows and the redistribution of incident radiation, which complicates the modeling and estimation of the land surface albedo. Some studies show that neglecting the topography effect may lead to significant bias in estimating the land surface albedo for the sloping terrain. However, for the composite sloping terrain, the topographic effects on the albedo remain unclear. Accurately estimating the sub-topographic effect on the land surface albedo over the composite sloping terrain presents a challenge for remote sensing modeling and applications. In our study, we focus on the development of a simplified estimation method for land surface albedo including black-sky albedo (BSA) and white-sky albedo (WSA) of the composite sloping terrain at a kilometer scale based on the fine scale DEM (30m) and quantitatively investigate and understand the topographic effects on the albedo. The albedo is affected by various factors such as solar zenith angle (SZA), solar azimuth angle (SAA), shadows, terrain occlusion, and slope and aspect distribution of the micro-slopes. When SZA is 30°, the absolute and relative deviations between the BSA of flat terrain and that of rugged terrain reaches 0.12 and 50%, respectively. When the mean slope of the terrain is 30.63° and SZA=30°, the absolute deviation of BSA caused by SAA can reach 0.04. The maximal relative and relative deviation between the WSA of flat terrain and that of rugged terrain reaches 0.08 and 50%. These results demonstrate that the topographic effect has to be taken into account in the albedo estimation.

First Retrieval of Surface Lambert Albedos From Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGuire, P. C.; Arvidson, R. E.; Murchie, S. L.; Wolff, M. J.; Smith, M. D.; Martin, T. Z.; Milliken, R. E.; Mustard, J. F.; Pelkey, S. M.; Lichtenberg, K. A.; Cavender, P. J.; Humm, D. C.; Titus, T. N.; Malaret, E. R.

2006-12-01

We have developed a pipeline-processing software system to convert radiance-on-sensor for each of 72 out of 544 CRISM spectral bands used in global mapping to the corresponding surface Lambert albedo, accounting for atmospheric, thermal, and photoclinometric effects. We will present and interpret first results from this software system for the retrieval of Lambert albedos from CRISM data. For the multispectral mapping modes, these pipeline-processed 72 spectral bands constitute all of the available bands, for wavelengths from 0.362-3.920 μm, at 100-200 m/pixel spatial resolution, and ~ 0.006\\spaceμm spectral resolution. For the hyperspectral targeted modes, these pipeline-processed 72 spectral bands are only a selection of all of the 544 spectral bands, but at a resolution of 15-38 m/pixel. The pipeline processing for both types of observing modes (multispectral and hyperspectral) will use climatology, based on data from MGS/TES, in order to estimate ice- and dust-aerosol optical depths, prior to the atmospheric correction with lookup tables based upon radiative-transport calculations via DISORT. There is one DISORT atmospheric-correction lookup table for converting radiance-on-sensor to Lambert albedo for each of the 72 spectral bands. The measurements of the Emission Phase Function (EPF) during targeting will not be employed in this pipeline processing system. We are developing a separate system for extracting more accurate aerosol optical depths and surface scattering properties. This separate system will use direct calls (instead of lookup tables) to the DISORT code for all 544 bands, and it will use the EPF data directly, bootstrapping from the climatology data for the aerosol optical depths. The pipeline processing will thermally correct the albedos for the spectral bands above ~ 2.6 μm, by a choice between 4 different techniques for determining surface temperature: 1) climatology, 2) empirical estimation of the albedo at 3.9 μm from the measured albedo

Surface albedo in relation to disturbance and early stand dynamics in the boreal forest: Implications for climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halim, M. A.; Thomas, S. C.

2017-12-01

Surface albedo is the most important biophysical radiative forcing in the boreal forest. General Circulation Model studies have suggested that harvesting of boreal forest has a net cooling effect, in contrast to other terrestrial biomes, by increasing surface albedo. However, albedo estimation in these models has been achieved by simplifying processes governing albedo at a coarse scale (both spatial and temporal). Biophysical processes that determine albedo likely operate on small spatial and temporal scales, requiring more direct estimates of effects of landcover change on net radiation. We established a chronosequence study in post-fire and post-clearcut sites (2013, 2006, 1998), logging data from July 2013 to July 2017 in boreal forest sites in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Each age-class X disturbance had 3 three replicates, matched to 18 permanent circular plots (10-m radius) each with an instrumented tower measuring surface albedo, air and soil temperature, and soil moisture. We also measured leaf area index, species composition and soil organic matter content at each site. BRDF-corrected surface albedo was calculated from daily 30m x 30m reflectance data fused from the MODIS MOD09GA product and Landsat 7 reflectance data. Calculated albedo was verified using ground-based measurements. Results show that fire sites generally had lower (15-25%) albedo than clearcut sites in all seasons. Because of rapid forest regrowth, large perturbations of clearcut harvests on forest albedo started to fade out within a year. Albedo differences between fire and clearcut sites also declined sharply with stand age. Younger stands generally had higher albedo than older stands mainly due to the presence of broadleaf species (for example, Populus tremuloides). In spring, snow melted 10-12 days earlier in recent (2013) clearcut sites compared to closed-canopy sites, causing a sharp reduction in surface albedo in comparison to old clearcut/fire sites (2006 and 1998). Snow melted

Interpretation of surface and planetary directional albedos for vegetated regions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cess, Robert D.; Vulis, Inna L.

1989-01-01

An atmospheric solar radiation model has been coupled with surface reflectance measurements for two vegetation types, pasture land and savannah, in order to address several issues associated with understanding the directional planetary albedo; i.e., the dependence of planetary albedo upon solar zenith angle. These include an elucidation of processes that influence the variation of planetary albedo with solar zenith angle, as well as emphasizing potential problems associated with converting narrowband planetary albedo measurements to broadband quantities. It is suggested that, for vegetated surfaces, this latter task could be somewhat formidable, since the model simulations indicate that narrowband to broadband conversions strongly depend upon vegetation type. A further aspect of this paper is to illustrate a procedure by which reciprocity inconsistencies within a bidirectional reflectance dataset, if they are not too severe, can be circumvented.

Evaluation of MuSyQ land surface albedo based on LAnd surface Parameters VAlidation System (LAPVAS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dou, B.; Wen, J.; Xinwen, L.; Zhiming, F.; Wu, S.; Zhang, Y.

2016-12-01

satellite derived Land surface albedo is an essential climate variable which controls the earth energy budget and it can be used in applications such as climate change, hydrology, and numerical weather prediction. However, the accuracy and uncertainty of surface albedo products should be evaluated with a reliable reference truth data prior to applications. A new comprehensive and systemic project of china, called the Remote Sensing Application Network (CRSAN), has been launched recent years. Two subjects of this project is developing a Multi-source data Synergized Quantitative Remote Sensin g Production System ( MuSyQ ) and a Web-based validation system named LAnd surface remote sensing Product VAlidation System (LAPVAS) , which aims to generate a quantitative remote sensing product for ecosystem and environmental monitoring and validate them with a reference validation data and a standard validation system, respectively. Land surface BRDF/albedo is one of product datasets of MuSyQ which has a pentad period with 1km spatial resolution and is derived by Multi-sensor Combined BRDF Inversion ( MCBI ) Model. In this MuSyQ albedo evaluation, a multi-validation strategy is implemented by LAPVAS, including directly and multi-scale validation with field measured albedo and cross validation with MODIS albedo product with different land cover. The results reveal that MuSyQ albedo data with a 5-day temporal resolution is in higher sensibility and accuracy during land cover change period, e.g. snowing. But results without regard to snow or changed land cover, MuSyQ albedo generally is in similar accuracy with MODIS albedo and meet the climate modeling requirement of an absolute accuracy of 0.05.

Mapping Global Ocean Surface Albedo from Satellite Observations: Models, Algorithms, and Datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, X.; Fan, X.; Yan, H.; Li, A.; Wang, M.; Qu, Y.

2018-04-01

Ocean surface albedo (OSA) is one of the important parameters in surface radiation budget (SRB). It is usually considered as a controlling factor of the heat exchange among the atmosphere and ocean. The temporal and spatial dynamics of OSA determine the energy absorption of upper level ocean water, and have influences on the oceanic currents, atmospheric circulations, and transportation of material and energy of hydrosphere. Therefore, various parameterizations and models have been developed for describing the dynamics of OSA. However, it has been demonstrated that the currently available OSA datasets cannot full fill the requirement of global climate change studies. In this study, we present a literature review on mapping global OSA from satellite observations. The models (parameterizations, the coupled ocean-atmosphere radiative transfer (COART), and the three component ocean water albedo (TCOWA)), algorithms (the estimation method based on reanalysis data, and the direct-estimation algorithm), and datasets (the cloud, albedo and radiation (CLARA) surface albedo product, dataset derived by the TCOWA model, and the global land surface satellite (GLASS) phase-2 surface broadband albedo product) of OSA have been discussed, separately.

Spatially Complete Global Surface Albedos Derived from Terra/MODIS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Michael D.; Moody, Eric G.; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Platnick, Steven

2006-01-01

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. , Over five years of land surface anisotropy, diffuse bihemispherical (white-sky) albedo and direct beam directional hemispherical (black-sky) albedo from observations acquired by the MODIS instruments aboard NASA s Terra and Aqua satellite platforms have provided researchers with unprecedented spatial, spectral, and temporal information on the land surface s radiative characteristics. However, roughly 30% of the global land surface, on an annual equal-angle basis, is obscured due to persistent and transient cloud cover, while another 207% is obscured due to ephemeral and seasonal snow effects. This precludes the MOD43B3 albedo products from being directly used in some remote sensing and ground-based applications, climate models, and global change research projects. To provide researchers with the requisite spatially complete global snow-free land surface albedo dataset, an ecosystem-dependent temporal interpolation technique was developed to fill missing or lower quality data and snow covered values from the official MOD43B3 dataset with geophysically realistic values. The method imposes pixel-level and local regional ecosystem-dependent phenological behavior onto retrieved pixel temporal data in such a way as to maintain pixel-level spatial and spectral detail and integrity. The phenological curves are derived from statistics based on the MODIS MOD12Q1 IGBP land cover classification product geolocated with the MOD43B3 data.

Global Albedo

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2013-04-19

... the albedo. Bright surfaces have albedo near unity, and dark surfaces have albedo near zero. The DHR refers to the amount of spectral ... Atmospheric Science Data Center's  MISR Level 3 Imagery web site . The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit ...

Arctic sea ice albedo from AVHRR

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindsay, R. W.; Rothrock, D. A.

1994-01-01

The seasonal cycle of surface albedo of sea ice in the Arctic is estimated from measurements made with the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on the polar-orbiting satellites NOAA-10 and NOAA-11. The albedos of 145 200-km-square cells are analyzed. The cells are from March through September 1989 and include only those for which the sun is more than 10 deg above the horizon. Cloud masking is performed manually. Corrections are applied for instrument calibration, nonisotropic reflection, atmospheric interference, narrowband to broadband conversion, and normalization to a common solar zenith angle. The estimated albedos are relative, with the instrument gain set to give an albedo of 0.80 for ice floes in March and April. The mean values for the cloud-free portions of individual cells range from 0.18 to 0.91. Monthly averages of cells in the central Arctic range from 0.76 in April to 0.47 in August. The monthly averages of the within-cell standard deviations in the central Arctic are 0.04 in April and 0.06 in September. The surface albedo and surface temperature are correlated most strongly in March (R = -0.77) with little correlation in the summer. The monthly average lead fraction is determined from the mean potential open water, a scaled representation of the temperature or albedo between 0.0 (for ice) and 1.0 (for water); in the central Arctic it rises from an average 0.025 in the spring to 0.06 in September. Sparse data on aerosols, ozone, and water vapor in the atmospheric column contribute uncertainties to instantaneous, area-average albedos of 0.13, 0.04, and 0.08. Uncertainties in monthly average albedos are not this large. Contemporaneous estimation of these variables could reduce the uncertainty in the estimated albedo considerably. The poor calibration of AVHRR channels 1 and 2 is another large impediment to making accurate albedo estimates.

[Characteristics and numerical simulation of surface albedo in temperate desert steppe in Inner Mongolia].

PubMed

Yang, Fu-lin; Zhou, Guang-sheng; Zhang, Feng; Wang, Feng-yu; Bao, Fang; Ping, Xiao-yan

2009-12-01

Based on the meteorological and biological observation data from the temperate desert steppe ecosystem research station in Sunitezuoqi of Inner Mongolia during growth season (from May 1st to October 15th, 2008), the diurnal and seasonal characteristics of surface albedo in the steppe were analyzed, with related model constructed. In the steppe, the diurnal variation of surface albedo was mainly affected by solar altitude, being higher just after sunrise and before sunset and lower in midday. During growth season, the surface albedo was from 0.20 to 0.34, with an average of 0.25, and was higher in May, decreased in June, kept relatively stable from July to September, and increased in October. This seasonal variation was related to the phenology of canopy leaf, and affected by precipitation process. Soil water content (SWC) and leaf area index (LAI) were the key factors affecting the surface albedo. A model for the surface albedo responding to SWC and LAI was developed, which showed a good performance in consistent between simulated and observed surface albedo.

Spatially Complete Global Surface Albedos Derived from Terra/MODIS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

King, Michael D.; Moody, Eric G.; Platnick, Steven; Schaaf, Crystal B.

2004-01-01

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. Recent production of land surface anisotropy, diffuse bihemispherical (white-sky) albedo and direct beam directional hemispherical (black-sky) albedo from observations acquired by the MODIS instruments aboard NASA s Terra and Aqua satellite platforms have provided researchers with unprecedented spatial, spectral, and temporal information on the land surface's radiative characteristics. Cloud cover, which cutails retrievals, and the presence of ephemeral and seasonal snow limit the snow-free data to approximately half the global land surfaces on an annual equal-angle basis. This precludes the MOD43B3 albedo products from being used in some remote sensing and ground-based applications, climate models, and global change research projects. An ecosystem-dependent temporal interpolation technique is described that has been developed to fill missing or seasonally snow-covered data in the official MOD43B3 albedo product. The method imposes pixel-level and local regional ecosystem-dependent phenological behavior onto retrieved pixel temporal data in such a way as to maintain pixel-level spatial and spectral detail and integrity. The phenological curves are derived from statistics based on the MODIS MOD12Q1 IGBP land cover classification product geolocated with the MOD43B3 data. The resulting snow-free value-added products provide the scientific community with spatially and temporally complete global white- and black-sky surface albedo maps and

Quantifying the ice-albedo feedback through decoupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kravitz, B.; Rasch, P. J.

2017-12-01

The ice-albedo feedback involves numerous individual components, whereby warming induces sea ice melt, inducing reduced surface albedo, inducing increased surface shortwave absorption, causing further warming. Here we attempt to quantify the sea ice albedo feedback using an analogue of the "partial radiative perturbation" method, but where the governing mechanisms are directly decoupled in a climate model. As an example, we can isolate the insulating effects of sea ice on surface energy and moisture fluxes by allowing sea ice thickness to change but fixing Arctic surface albedo, or vice versa. Here we present results from such idealized simulations using the Community Earth System Model in which individual components are successively fixed, effectively decoupling the ice-albedo feedback loop. We isolate the different components of this feedback, including temperature change, sea ice extent/thickness, and air-sea exchange of heat and moisture. We explore the interactions between these different components, as well as the strengths of the total feedback in the decoupled feedback loop, to quantify contributions from individual pieces. We also quantify the non-additivity of the effects of the components as a means of investigating the dominant sources of nonlinearity in the ice-albedo feedback.

Differential response of surface temperature and atmospheric temperature to the biogeophysical effects of deforestation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winckler, J.; Reick, C. H.; Lejeune, Q.; Pongratz, J.

2017-12-01

Deforestation influences temperature locally by changing the water, energy and momentum balance. While most observation-based studies and some modeling studies focused on the effects on surface temperature, other studies focused on the effects on near-surface air temperature. However, these two variables may respond differently to deforestation because changes in albedo and surface roughness may alter the land-atmosphere coupling and thus the vertical temperature distribution. Thus it is unclear whether it is possible to compare studies that assess the impacts of deforestation on these two different variables. Here, we analyze the biogeophysical effects of global-scale deforestation in the climate model MPI-ESM separately for surface temperature, 2m-air temperature and temperature the lowest atmospheric model layer. We investigate why the response of these variables differs by isolating the effects of only changing surface albedo and only changing surface roughness and by separating effects that are induced at the location of deforestation (local effects) from effects that are induced by advection and changes in circulation (nonlocal effects). Concerning surface temperature, we find that the local effects of deforestation lead to a global mean warming which is overcompensated by the nonlocal effects (up to 0.1K local warming versus -0.3K nonlocal cooling). The surface warming in the local effects is largely driven by the change in surface roughness while the cooling in the nonlocal effects is largely driven by the change in surface albedo. The nonlocal effects are largely consistent across surface temperature, 2m-air temperature, and the temperature of the lowest atmospheric layer. However, the local effects strongly differ across the three considered variables. The local effects are strong for surface temperature, but substantially weaker in the 2m-air temperature and largely absent in the lowest atmospheric layer. We conclude that studies focusing on the

Generating 30-m land surface albedo by integrating landsat and MODIS data for understanding the disturbance

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Land cover change affects climate through both biogeochemical (carbon-cycle) impacts and biogeophysical processes such as changes in surface albedo, temperature, evapotranspiration, atmospheric water vapor, and cloud cover. Previous studies have highlighted that forest loss in high latitudes could c...

Albedo as a modulator of climate response to tropical deforestation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dirmeyer, Paul A.; Shukla, J.

1994-01-01

An atmospheric general circulation model with land surface properties represented by the simplified Simple Biosphere model is used to investigate the effects on local climate due to tropical deforestation for the Amazon basin. One control and three anomaly integrations of 4 years' duration are performed. In the anomaly integrations, rain forest in South America is replaced by degraded grassland. The anomaly integrations differ only in the optical properties of the grassland vegetation, with net surface albedos ranging from the same as to 0.09 lighter than that of rain forest. It is found that the change in climate, particularly rainfall, is strongly dependent on the change in surface albedo that accompanies deforestation. Replacement of forest by grass causes a reduction in transpiration and reduces frictional convergence by decreasing surface roughness. However, precipitation averaged over the deforested area is not necessarily reduced. Average precipitation decreases when the increase in albedo is greater than 0.03. If surface albedo is not increased appreciably as a result of deforestation, moisture flux convergence driven by the increase in surface temperature can offset the other effects, and average precipitation increases. As albedo is increased, surface temperature does not change, but surface latent and sensible heat flux decreases due to reduced radiational energy absorbed at the surface, resulting in a reduction in convection and precipitation. A change in the distribution of precipitation due to deforestation that appears to be independent of the albedo is observed.

Albedo as a modulator of climate response to tropical deforestation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dirmeyer, P.A.; Shukla, J.

1994-10-01

An atmospheric general circulation model with land surface properties represented by the simplified Simple Biosphere model is used to investigate the effects on local climate due to tropical deforestation for the Amazon basin. One control and three anomaly integrations of 4 years` duration are performed. In the anomaly integrations, rain forest in South America is replaced by degraded grassland. The anomaly integrations differ only in the optical properties of the grassland vegetation, with net surface albedos ranging from the same as to 0.09 lighter than that of rain forest. It is found that the change in climate, particularly rainfall, ismore » strongly dependent on the change in surface albedo that accompanies deforestation. Replacement of forest by grass causes a reduction in transpiration and reduces frictional convergence by decreasing surface roughness. However, precipitation averaged over the deforested area is not necessarily reduced. Average precipitation decreases when the increase in albedo is greater than 0.03. If surface albedo is not increased appreciably as a result of deforestation, moisture flux convergence driven by the increase in surface temperature can offset the other effects, and average precipitation increases. As albedo is increased, surface temperature does not change, but surface latent and sensible heat flux decreases due to reduced radiational energy absorbed at the surface, resulting in a reduction in convection and precipitation. A change in the distribution of precipitation due to deforestation that appears to be independent of the albedo is observed.« less

Development of a high spectral resolution surface albedo product for the ARM Southern Great Plains central facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McFarlane, S. A.; Gaustad, K. L.; Mlawer, E. J.; Long, C. N.; Delamere, J.

2011-09-01

We present a method for identifying dominant surface type and estimating high spectral resolution surface albedo at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma for use in radiative transfer calculations. Given a set of 6-channel narrowband visible and near-infrared irradiance measurements from upward and downward looking multi-filter radiometers (MFRs), four different surface types (snow-covered, green vegetation, partial vegetation, non-vegetated) can be identified. A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is used to distinguish between vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces, and a scaled NDVI index is used to estimate the percentage of green vegetation in partially vegetated surfaces. Based on libraries of spectral albedo measurements, a piecewise continuous function is developed to estimate the high spectral resolution surface albedo for each surface type given the MFR albedo values as input. For partially vegetated surfaces, the albedo is estimated as a linear combination of the green vegetation and non-vegetated surface albedo values. The estimated albedo values are evaluated through comparison to high spectral resolution albedo measurements taken during several Intensive Observational Periods (IOPs) and through comparison of the integrated spectral albedo values to observed broadband albedo measurements. The estimated spectral albedo values agree well with observations for the visible wavelengths constrained by the MFR measurements, but have larger biases and variability at longer wavelengths. Additional MFR channels at 1100 nm and/or 1600 nm would help constrain the high resolution spectral albedo in the near infrared region.

Development of a high spectral resolution surface albedo product for the ARM Southern Great Plains central facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McFarlane, S. A.; Gaustad, K. L.; Mlawer, E. J.; Long, C. N.; Delamere, J.

2011-05-01

We present a method for identifying dominant surface type and estimating high spectral resolution surface albedo at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma for use in radiative transfer calculations. Given a set of 6-channel narrowband visible and near-infrared irradiance measurements from upward and downward looking multi-filter radiometers (MFRs), four different surface types (snow-covered, green vegetation, partial vegetation, non-vegetated) can be identified. A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is used to distinguish between vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces, and a scaled NDVI index is used to estimate the percentage of green vegetation in partially vegetated surfaces. Based on libraries of spectral albedo measurements, a piecewise continuous function is developed to estimate the high spectral resolution surface albedo for each surface type given the MFR albedo values as input. For partially vegetated surfaces, the albedo is estimated as a linear combination of the green vegetation and non-vegetated surface albedo values. The estimated albedo values are evaluated through comparison to high spectral resolution albedo measurements taken during several Intensive Observational Periods (IOPs) and through comparison of the integrated spectral albedo values to observed broadband albedo measurements. The estimated spectral albedo values agree well with observations for the visible wavelengths constrained by the MFR measurements, but have larger biases and variability at longer wavelengths. Additional MFR channels at 1100 nm and/or 1600 nm would help constrain the high resolution spectral albedo in the near infrared region.

Surface temperature-modulating factors in the Sonoran Desert, Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tereshchenko, I.; Zolotokryin, A.; Titkova, T.; Brito-Castillo, L.; Monzon, C.

2013-05-01

This study is focused on seasonal cycle of parameters, which modulate surface temperature in the Sonora desert (North-West Mexico). The understanding of this process is important for monitoring of desertification. In this paper, a new approach to the monitoring of desertification based on the use of the albedo mechanism is proposed. It is known that the positive albedo-precipitation feedback plays a significant role in the desertification process. The originality of the work rest on considering the albedo mechanism not in isolation but as a joint effect of two temperature-modulating factors: radiation and evapotranspiration. It is assumed that the prevalence of the radiation factor is a manifestation of the albedo mechanism. One indirect characteristic of prevalence of the radiation factor is Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which is an indicator of green phytomass. We define and substantiate the criterion of predominance of the radiation factor by using the threshold value of NDVI AVHRR. The area, within which the threshold value is achieved, is a key factor; the data on the variability of this area becomes useful and essential in the process of monitoring of desertification. This is true because in a certain year, the time span of the period, during which the radiation factor is predominant, is an important factor in the desertification process. The main features of the ratio between albedo and surface temperature are discussed in terms of analysis of monthly means (albedo, temperature, NDVI) in the state of Sonora (29-32N, 111-115W), in particular, within the box 30-31N, 112-113W.

Temporal and spatial mapping of atmospheric dust opacity and surface albedo on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, S. W.; Clancy, R. T.; Gladstone, G. R.; Martin, T. Z.

1993-01-01

The Mariner 9 and Viking missions provided abundant evidence that eolian processes are active over much of the surface of Mars. Past studies have demonstrated that variations in regional albedo and wind streak patterns are indicative of sediment transport through a region, while thermal inertia data (derived from the Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper (IRTM) datasets) are indicative of the degree of surface mantling by dust deposits. We are making use of the method developed by T. Z. Martin to determine dust opacity from IRTM thermal observations. We have developed a radiative transfer model that allows corrections for the effects of atmospheric dust loading on observations of surface albedo to be made. This approach to determining 'dust-corrected surface albedo' incorporates the atmospheric dust opacity, the single-scattering albedo and particle phase function of atmospheric dust, the bidirectional reflectance of the surface, and accounts for variable lighting and viewing geometry.

Deriving Albedo from Coupled MERIS and MODIS Surface Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gao, Feng; Schaaf, Crystal; Jin, Yu-Fang; Lucht, Wolfgang; Strahler, Alan

2004-01-01

MERIS Level 2 surface reflectance products are now available to the scientific community. This paper demonstrates the production of MERIS-derived surface albedo and Nadir Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) adjusted reflectances by coupling the MERIS data with MODIS BRDF products. Initial efforts rely on the specification of surface anisotropy as provided by the global MODIS BRDF product for a first guess of the shape of the BRDF and then make use all of the coincidently available, partially atmospherically corrected, cloud cleared, MERIS observations to generate MERIS-derived BRDF and surface albedo quantities for each location. Comparisons between MODIS (aerosol-corrected) and MERIS (not-yet aerosol-corrected) surface values from April and May 2003 are also presented for case studies in Spain and California as well as preliminary comparisons with field data from the Devil's Rock Surfrad/BSRN site.

Preferential cooling of hot extremes from cropland albedo management

PubMed Central

Davin, Edouard L.; Seneviratne, Sonia I.; Ciais, Philippe; Olioso, Albert; Wang, Tao

2014-01-01

Changes in agricultural practices are considered a possible option to mitigate climate change. In particular, reducing or suppressing tillage (no-till) may have the potential to sequester carbon in soils, which could help slow global warming. On the other hand, such practices also have a direct effect on regional climate by altering the physical properties of the land surface. These biogeophysical effects, however, are still poorly known. Here we show that no-till management increases the surface albedo of croplands in summer and that the resulting cooling effect is amplified during hot extremes, thus attenuating peak temperatures reached during heat waves. Using a regional climate model accounting for the observed effects of no-till farming on surface albedo, as well as possible reductions in soil evaporation, we investigate the potential consequences of a full conversion to no-till agriculture in Europe. We find that the summer cooling from cropland albedo increase is strongly amplified during hot summer days, when surface albedo has more impact on the Earth’s radiative balance due to clear-sky conditions. The reduced evaporation associated with the crop residue cover tends to counteract the albedo-induced cooling, but during hot days the albedo effect is the dominating factor. For heatwave summer days the local cooling effect gained from no-till practice is of the order of 2 °C. The identified asymmetric impact of surface albedo change on summer temperature opens new avenues for climate-engineering measures targeting high-impact events rather than mean climate properties. PMID:24958872

Albedo Boundary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2003-01-01

MGS MOC Release No. MOC2-510, 11 October 2003

The sharp, nearly straight line that runs diagonally across the center of this April 2003 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image is an albedo boundary. Albedois a term that refers to reflectance of sunlight. A surface with a low albedo is one that appears dark because it reflects less light than a high albedo (bright) surface. On Mars, albedo boundaries occur between two materials of differing texture, particle size, or composition, or some combination of these three factors. The boundary shown here is remarkable because it is so sharp and straight. This is caused by wind. Most likely, the entire surface was once covered with the lower-albedo (darker) material that is now seen in the upper half of the image. At some later time, wind stripped away this darker material from the surfaces in the lower half of the image. The difference in albedo here might be related to composition, and possibly particle size. This picture is located near the southwest rim of Schiaparelli Basin at 5.5oS, 345.9oW. The picture covers an area 3 km (1.9 mi) wide and is illuminated by sunlight from the left.

Albedo and its Relationship to Land Cover and the Urban Heat Island in the Boston Metropolitan Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trlica, A.; Hutyra, L.; Wang, J.; Schaaf, C.; Erb, A.

2016-12-01

The urban built environment creates key changes in the biophysical character of the landscape, including the creation of Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) with increased near-surface temperatures in and around cities. Alteration in surface albedo is believed to partially drive UHIs through greater absorption of solar energy, but few empirical studies have specifically quantified albedo across a heterogeneous urban landscape, or investigated linkages between albedo, the UHI, and other surface socio-biophysical characteristics at a high enough spatial resolution to discern urban-scale features. This study used data derived from observations by Landsat and other remote sensing platforms to measure albedo across a varied urban landscape centered on Boston, Massachusetts, and examined the relationship between albedo, several key indicators of urban surface character (canopy cover, impervious fraction, and population density) and land surface temperature at resolutions of both 30 and 500 m. Albedo tended to be lower in areas with highest urbanization intensity indicators compared to rural undeveloped areas, and areas with lower albedo tended also to have higher median daytime summer surface temperatures. A k-means classification utilizing all the data available for each pixel revealed several distinct patterns of urban land cover corresponding mainly to the density of population and constructed surfaces and their impact on tree canopy cover. Mean 30-m summer surface temperatures ranged from 40.0 °C (SD = 2.6) in urban core areas to 26.2 °C (SD = 1.1) in nearby forest, but we only observed correspondingly large albedo decreases in the highest density urban core, with mean albedo of 0.116 (SD = 0.015) compared with 0.155 (SD = 0.015) in forest. Observations show that lower albedo in the Boston metropolitan region may be an important component of the local UHI in the most densely built-up urban core regions, while the UHI temperature effect in less densely settled peripheral

Development of a Multilayer MODIS IST-Albedo Product of Greenland

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, D. K.; Comiso, J. C.; Cullather, R. I.; Digirolamo, N. E.; Nowicki, S. M.; Medley, B. C.

2017-01-01

A new multilayer IST-albedo Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) product of Greenland was developed to meet the needs of the ice sheet modeling community. The multiple layers of the product enable the relationship between IST and albedo to be evaluated easily. Surface temperature is a fundamental input for dynamical ice sheet models because it is a component of the ice sheet radiation budget and mass balance. Albedo influences absorption of incoming solar radiation. The daily product will combine the existing standard MODIS Collection-6 ice-surface temperature, derived melt maps, snow albedo and water vapor products. The new product is available in a polar stereographic projection in NetCDF format. The product will ultimately extend from March 2000 through the end of 2017.

Dependence of global radiation on cloudiness and surface albedo in Tartu, Estonia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tooming, H.

The dependence of global and diffuse radiation on surface albedo due to multiple reflection of radiation between the surface and the atmosphere (base of clouds) is found on the basis of data obtained at the Tartu-Tõravere Actinometric Station over the period 1955-2000. It is found that the monthly totals of global radiation increase by up to 1.38-1.88 times, particularly in the winter half-year between November and March, when snow cover albedo may be high. A semi-empirical formula is derived for calculating with sufficient accuracy the monthly totals of global radiation, considering the amount of cloudiness and the surface albedo. In the time series of the monthly total by global radiation a downward trend occurs in winter months. A decrease in global radiation by up to 20% in the past 46 years can be explained primarily by a relatively high negative trend in the snow cover duration and surface albedo (up to -0.24). As a result, days are growing darker, a new phenomenon associated with climate change, which undoubtedly affects human mood to some extent.

Surface Albedo/BRDF Parameters (Terra/Aqua MODIS)

DOE Data Explorer

Trishchenko, Alexander

2008-01-15

Spatially and temporally complete surface spectral albedo/BRDF products over the ARM SGP area were generated using data from two Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on Terra and Aqua satellites. A landcover-based fitting (LBF) algorithm is developed to derive the BRDF model parameters and albedo product (Luo et al., 2004a). The approach employs a landcover map and multi-day clearsky composites of directional surface reflectance. The landcover map is derived from the Landsat TM 30-meter data set (Trishchenko et al., 2004a), and the surface reflectances are from MODIS 500m-resolution 8-day composite products (MOD09/MYD09). The MOD09/MYD09 data are re-arranged into 10-day intervals for compatibility with other satellite products, such as those from the NOVA/AVHRR and SPOT/VGT sensors. The LBF method increases the success rate of the BRDF fitting process and enables more accurate monitoring of surface temporal changes during periods of rapid spring vegetation green-up and autumn leaf-fall, as well as changes due to agricultural practices and snowcover variations (Luo et al., 2004b, Trishchenko et al., 2004b). Albedo/BRDF products for MODIS on Terra and MODIS on Aqua, as well as for Terra/Aqua combined dataset, are generated at 500m spatial resolution and every 10-day since March 2000 (Terra) and July 2002 (Aqua and combined), respectively. The purpose for the latter product is to obtain a more comprehensive dataset that takes advantages of multi-sensor observations (Trishchenko et al., 2002). To fill data gaps due to cloud presence, various interpolation procedures are applied based on a multi-year observation database and referring to results from other locations with similar landcover property. Special seasonal smoothing procedure is also applied to further remove outliers and artifacts in data series.

Generating 30-m land surface albedo by integrating landsat and MODIS data for understanding the disturbance evolution

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Land cover changes affect climate through both biogeochemical (carbon-cycle) impacts and biogeophysical processes such as changes in surface albedo, temperature, evapotranspiration, atmospheric water vapor, and cloud cover. Recent studies have examined both the greenhouse gas and biophysical consequ...

Atmospheric effects on the mapping of Martian thermal inertia and thermally derived albedo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayashi, J. N.; Jakosky, B. M.; Haberle, R. M.

1994-01-01

The most widely used thermal inertia data for Mars assumes the atmospheric contribution is constant and equal to 2 percent of the maximum solar insolation. Haberle and Jakosky investigated the effect of including a dusty CO2 atmosphere and sensible heat exchange with the surface on thermal inertia. We recently utilized Haberle and Jakosky's coupled surface-atmosphere model to investigate the effects of such an atmosphere on the thermally derived albedo. The thermally derived albedo is the albedo which, together with the thermal inertia, provides model surface temperatures which best match the observed temperatures. New maps are presented of thermal inertia and thermally derived albedo which incorporate dust opacities derived from IRTM data.

Albedo and its relationship with seasonal surface roughness using repeat UAV survey across the Kangerlussuaq sector of the Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hubbard, A., II; Ryan, J.; Box, J. E.; Snooke, N.

2015-12-01

Surface albedo is a primary control on absorbed radiation and hence ice surface darkening is a powerful amplifier of melt across the margin of the Greenland ice sheet. To investigate the relationship between ice surface roughness and variations in albedo in space and time at ~dm resolution, a suite of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) were deployed from the margin of Russell Glacier between June and August, 2014. The UAVs were equipped with digital and multispectral cameras, GoPros, fast response broadband pyranometers and temperature and humidity sensors. The primary mission was regular repeat longitudinal transects attaining data from the margin to the equilibrium line 80 km into the ice sheet interior and which were complimented by selected watershed and catchment surveys. The pyranometers reliably measure bare ice surface albedo between 0.34 and 0.58 that correlate well against concurrent MODIS data (where available). Repeat digital photogrammetric analysis enables investigation of relationship between changing meso- and micro-scale albedo and melt processes modulated by ice surface roughness that, in turn, are related to the seasonally evolving surface energy balance recorded at three AWS on the flight path.

The Dependence of the Ice-Albedo Feedback on Atmospheric Properties

PubMed Central

Selsis, F.; Kitzmann, D.; Rauer, H.

2013-01-01

Abstract Ice-albedo feedback is a potentially important destabilizing effect for the climate of terrestrial planets. It is based on the positive feedback between decreasing surface temperatures, an increase of snow and ice cover, and an associated increase in planetary albedo, which then further decreases surface temperature. A recent study shows that for M stars, the strength of the ice-albedo feedback is reduced due to the strong spectral dependence of stellar radiation and snow/ice albedos; that is, M stars primarily emit in the near IR, where the snow and ice albedo is low, and less in the visible, where the snow/ice albedo is high. This study investigates the influence of the atmosphere (in terms of surface pressure and atmospheric composition) on this feedback, since an atmosphere was neglected in previous studies. A plane-parallel radiative transfer model was used for the calculation of planetary albedos. We varied CO2 partial pressures as well as the H2O, CH4, and O3 content in the atmosphere for planets orbiting Sun-like and M type stars. Results suggest that, for planets around M stars, the ice-albedo effect is significantly reduced, compared to planets around Sun-like stars. Including the effects of an atmosphere further suppresses the sensitivity to the ice-albedo effect. Atmospheric key properties such as surface pressure, but also the abundance of radiative trace gases, can considerably change the strength of the ice-albedo feedback. For dense CO2 atmospheres of the order of a few to tens of bar, atmospheric rather than surface properties begin to dominate the planetary radiation budget. At high CO2 pressures, the ice-albedo feedback is strongly reduced for planets around M stars. The presence of trace amounts of H2O and CH4 in the atmosphere also weakens the ice-albedo effect for both stellar types considered. For planets around Sun-like stars, O3 could also lead to a very strong decrease of the ice-albedo feedback at high CO2 pressures. Key Words

Impact of Dust on Mars Surface Albedo and Energy Flux with LMD General Circulation Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, D.; Flanner, M.; Millour, E.; Martinez, G.

2015-12-01

Mars, just like Earth experience different seasons because of its axial tilt (about 25°). This causes growth and retreat of snow cover (primarily CO2) in Martian Polar regions. The perennial caps are the only place on the planet where condensed H2O is available at surface. On Mars, as much as 30% atmospheric CO2 deposits in each hemisphere depending upon the season. This leads to a significant variation on planet's surface albedo and hence effecting the amount of solar flux absorbed or reflected at the surface. General Circulation Model (GCM) of Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) currently uses observationally derived surface albedo from Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) instrument for the polar caps. These TES albedo values do not have any inter-annual variability, and are independent of presence of any dust/impurity on surface. Presence of dust or other surface impurities can significantly reduce the surface albedo especially during and right after a dust storm. This change will also be evident in the surface energy flux interactions. Our work focuses on combining earth based Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiation (SNICAR) model with current state of GCM to incorporate the impact of dust on Martian surface albedo, and hence the energy flux. Inter-annual variability of surface albedo and planet's top of atmosphere (TOA) energy budget along with their correlation with currently available mission data will be presented.

Spatiotemporal variability of Canadian High Arctic glacier surface albedo from MODIS data, 2001-2016

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mortimer, Colleen A.; Sharp, Martin

2018-02-01

Inter-annual variations and longer-term trends in the annual mass balance of glaciers in Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) are largely attributable to changes in summer melt. The largest source of melt energy in the QEI in summer is net shortwave radiation, which is modulated by changes in glacier surface albedo. We used measurements from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors to investigate large-scale spatial patterns, temporal trends, and variability in the summer surface albedo of QEI glaciers from 2001 to 2016. Mean summer black-sky shortwave broadband albedo (BSA) decreased at a rate of 0.029±0.025 decade-1 over that period. Larger reductions in BSA occurred in July (-0.050±0.031 decade-1). No change in BSA was observed in either June or August. Most of the decrease in BSA, which was greatest at lower elevations around the margins of the ice masses, occurred between 2007 and 2012, when mean summer BSA was anomalously low. The first principal component of the 16-year record of mean summer BSA was well correlated with the mean summer North Atlantic Oscillation index, except in 2006, 2010, and 2016, when the mean summer BSA appears to have been dominated by the August BSA. During the period 2001-2016, the mean summer land surface temperature (LST) over the QEI glaciers and ice caps increased by 0.049±0.038 °C yr-1, and the BSA record was negatively correlated (r: -0.86) with the LST record, indicative of a positive ice-albedo feedback that would increase rates of mass loss from the QEI glaciers.

Use of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer bidirectional reflectance distribution function products to enhance simulated surface albedos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roesch, Andreas; Schaaf, Crystal; Gao, Feng

2004-06-01

Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface albedo at high spatial and spectral resolution is compared with other remotely sensed climatologies, ground-based data, and albedos simulated with the European Center/Hamburg 4 (ECHAM4) global climate model at T42 resolution. The study demonstrates the importance of MODIS data in assessing and improving albedo parameterizations in weather forecast and climate models. The remotely sensed PINKER surface albedo climatology follows the MODIS estimates fairly well in both the visible and near-infrared spectra, whereas ECHAM4 simulates high positive albedo biases over snow-covered boreal forests and the Himalayas. In contrast, the ECHAM4 albedo is probably too low over the Sahara sand desert and adjacent steppes. The study clearly indicates that neglecting albedo variations within T42 grid boxes leads to significant errors in the simulated regional climate and horizontal fluxes, mainly in mountainous and/or snow-covered regions. MODIS surface albedo at 0.05 resolution agrees quite well with in situ field measurements collected at Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) sites during snow-free periods, while significant positive biases are found under snow-covered conditions, mainly due to differences in the vegetation cover at the BSRN site (short grass) and the vegetation within the larger MODIS grid box. Black sky (direct beam) albedo from the MODIS bidirectional reflectance distribution function model captures the diurnal albedo cycle at BSRN sites with sufficient accuracy. The greatest negative biases are generally found when the Sun is low. A realistic approach for relating albedo and zenith angle has been proposed. Detailed evaluations have demonstrated that ignoring the zenith angle dependence may lead to significant errors in the surface energy balance.

The surface abundance and stratigraphy of lunar rocks from data about their albedo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shevchenko, V. V.

1977-01-01

The data pf ground-based studies and surveys of the lunar surface by the Zond and Apollo spacecraft have been used to construct an albedo map covering 80 percent of the lunar sphere. Statistical analysis of the distribution of areas with various albedos shows several types of lunar surface. Comparison of albedo data for maria and continental areas with the results of geochemical orbital surveys allows the identification of the types of surface with known types of lunar rock. The aluminum/silcon and magnesium/silicon ratios as measured by the geochemical experiments on the Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 spacecraft were used as an indication of the chemical composition of the rock. The relationship of the relative aluminum content to the age of crystalline rocks allows a direct dependence to be constructed between the mean albedo of areas and the age of the rocks of which they are composed.

Land Surface Albedo from MERIS Reflectances Using MODIS Directional Factors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schaaf, Crystal L. B.; Gao, Feng; Strahler, Alan H.

2004-01-01

MERIS Level 2 surface reflectance products are now available to the scientific community. This paper demonstrates the production of MERIS-derived surface albedo and Nadir Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) adjusted reflectances by coupling the MERIS data with MODIS BRDF products. Initial efforts rely on the specification of surface anisotropy as provided by the global MODIS BRDF product for a first guess of the shape of the BRDF and then make use all of the coincidently available, partially atmospherically corrected, cloud cleared, MERIS observations to generate MERIS-derived BRDF and surface albedo quantities for each location. Comparisons between MODIS (aerosol-corrected) and MERIS (not-yet aerosol-corrected) surface values from April and May 2003 are also presented for case studies in Spain and California as well as preliminary comparisons with field data from the Devil's Rock Surfrad/BSRN site.

Spatially Complete Global Spectral Surface Albedos: Value-Added Datasets Derived from Terra MODIS Land Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moody, Eric G.; King, Michael D.; Platnick, Steven; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Gao, Feng

2004-01-01

Land surface albedo is an important parameter in describing the radiative properties of the earth s surface as it represents the amount of incoming solar radiation that is reflected from the surface. The amount and type of vegetation of the surface dramatically alters the amount of radiation that is reflected; for example, croplands that contain leafy vegetation will reflect radiation very differently than blacktop associated with urban areas. In addition, since vegetation goes through a growth, or phenological, cycle, the amount of radiation that is reflected changes over the course of a year. As a result, albedo is both temporally and spatially dependant upon global location as there is a distribution of vegetated surface types and growing conditions. Land surface albedo is critical for a wide variety of earth system research projects including but not restricted to remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol and cloud properties from space, ground-based analysis of aerosol optical properties from surface-based sun/sky radiometers, biophysically-based land surface modeling of the exchange of energy, water, momentum, and carbon for various land use categories, and surface energy balance studies. These projects require proper representation of the surface albedo s spatial, spectral, and temporal variations, however, these representations are often lacking in datasets prior to the latest generation of land surface albedo products.

Potential Long-Term Records of Surface Albedo at Fine Spatiotemporal Resolution from Landsat/Sentinle-2A Surface Reflectance and MODIS/VIIRS BRDF

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Z.; Schaaf, C.; Shuai, Y.; Liu, Y.; Sun, Q.; Erb, A.; Wang, Z.

2016-12-01

The land surface albedo products at fine spatial resolutions are generated by coupling surface reflectance (SR) from Landsat (30 m) or Sentinel-2A (20 m) with concurrent surface anisotropy information (the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function - BRDF) at coarser spatial resolutions from sequential multi-angular observations by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) or its successor, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). We assess the comparability of four types of fine-resolution albedo products (black-sky and white-sky albedos over the shortwave broad band) generated by coupling, (1) Landsat-8 Optical Land Imager (OLI) SR with MODIS BRDF; (2) OLI SR with VIIRS BRDF; (3) Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) SR with MODIS BRDF; and (4) MSI SR with VIIRS BRDF. We evaluate the accuracy of these four types of fine-resolution albedo products using ground tower measurements of surface albedo over six SURFace RADiation Network (SURFRAD) sites in the United States. For comparison with the ground measurements, we estimate the actual (blue-sky) albedo values at the six sites by using the satellite-based retrievals of black-sky and white-sky albedos and taking into account the proportion of direct and diffuse solar radiation from the ground measurements at the sites. The coupling of the OLI and MSI SR with MODIS BRDF has already been shown to provide accurate fine-resolution albedo values. With demonstration of a high agreement in BRDF products from MODIS and VIIRS, we expect to see consistency between all four types of fine-resolution albedo products. This assurance of consistency between the couplings of both OLI and MSI with both MODIS and VIIRS guarantees the production of long-term records of surface albedo at fine spatial resolutions and an increased temporal resolution. Such products will be critical in studying land surface changes and associated surface energy balance over the dynamic and heterogeneous landscapes

Atmospheric sensitivity to land surface changes: comparing the impact of albedo, roughness, and evaporative resistance on near-surface air temperature using an idealized land model.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lague, M. M.; Swann, A. L. S.; Bonan, G. B.

2017-12-01

Past studies have demonstrated how changes in vegetation can impact the atmosphere; however, it is often difficult to identify the exact physical pathway through which vegetation changes drive an atmospheric response. Surface properties (such as vegetation color, or height) control surface energy fluxes, which feed back on the atmosphere on both local and global scales by modifying temperatures, cloud cover, and energy gradients. Understanding how land surface properties influence energy fluxes is crucial for improving our understanding of how vegetation change - past, present, and future - impacts the atmosphere, global climate, and people. We explore the sensitivity of the atmosphere to perturbations of three land surface properties - albedo, roughness, and evaporative resistance - using an idealized land model coupled to an Earth System Model. We derive a relationship telling us how large a change in each surface property is required to drive a local 0.1 K change in 2m air temperature. Using this idealized framework, we are able to separate the influence on the atmosphere of each individual surface property. We demonstrate that the impact of each surface property on the atmosphere is spatially variable - that is, a similar change in vegetation can have different climate impacts if made in different locations. This analysis not only improves our understanding of how the land system can influence climate, but also provides us with a set of theoretical limits on the potential climate impact of arbitrary vegetation change (natural or anthropogenic).

Variability of albedo and utility of the MODIS albedo product in forested wetlands

USGS Publications Warehouse

Sumner, David M.; Wu, Qinglong; Pathak, Chandra S.

2011-01-01

Albedo was monitored over a two-year period (beginning April 2008) at three forested wetland sites in Florida, USA using up- and down-ward facing pyranometers. Water level, above and below land surface, is the primary control on the temporal variability of daily albedo. Relatively low reflectivity of water accounts for the observed reductions in albedo with increased inundation of the forest floor. Enhanced canopy shading of the forest floor was responsible for lower sensitivity of albedo to water level at the most dense forest site. At one site, the most dramatic reduction in daily albedo was observed during the inundation of a highly-reflective, calcareous periphyton-covered land surface. Satellite-based Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) estimates of albedo compare favorably with measured albedo. Use of MODIS albedo values in net radiation computations introduced a root mean squared error of less than 4.7 W/m2 and a mean, annual bias of less than 2.3 W/m2 (1.7%). These results suggest that MODIS-estimated albedo values can reliably be used to capture areal and temporal variations in albedo that are important to the surface energy balance.

Using Remote Sensing to Quantify Roof Albedo in Seven California Cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ban-Weiss, G. A.; Woods, J.; Millstein, D.; Levinson, R.

2013-12-01

Building Energy Efficiency Standard (Title-24, Part 6) includes the use of high-albedo surfaces on low-sloped roofs on non-residential buildings. Analyzing a subset of large presumably commercial buildings, we find high albedo roofs represent 0.5% and 10% of total roofs and roof surface area, respectively. The potential for high albedo roofs to reduce urban temperatures was investigated for a California city (Bakersfield) with warm summers using a state-of-the-art meteorological model (Weather Research and Forecasting, WRF). Base case and cool roof scenarios were simulated with the only difference being that the surface albedo was increased under the cool roof scenario. Roof albedos derived from the aerial imagery were used as an input to the climate model in the base case scenario. Simulation results indicate that seasonal average afternoon (1500 h) temperatures could be reduced by up to 0.2 °C across Bakersfield during both the summer and winter. While temperature changes are similar during winter and summer, only summer shows statistically significant temperature changes downwind (southeast) from Bakersfield. This indicates that reduced summertime temperatures may be felt over a distance that is 2 or 3 times the length scale of the region with high albedo roofs.

The variability of California summertime marine stratus: impacts on surface air temperatures

USGS Publications Warehouse

Iacobellis, Sam F.; Cayan, Daniel R.

2013-01-01

This study investigates the variability of clouds, primarily marine stratus clouds, and how they are associated with surface temperature anomalies over California, especially along the coastal margin. We focus on the summer months of June to September when marine stratus are the dominant cloud type. Data used include satellite cloud reflectivity (cloud albedo) measurements, hourly surface observations of cloud cover and air temperature at coastal airports, and observed values of daily surface temperature at stations throughout California and Nevada. Much of the anomalous variability of summer clouds is organized over regional patterns that affect considerable portions of the coast, often extend hundreds of kilometers to the west and southwest over the North Pacific, and are bounded to the east by coastal mountains. The occurrence of marine stratus is positively correlated with both the strength and height of the thermal inversion that caps the marine boundary layer, with inversion base height being a key factor in determining their inland penetration. Cloud cover is strongly associated with surface temperature variations. In general, increased presence of cloud (higher cloud albedo) produces cooler daytime temperatures and warmer nighttime temperatures. Summer daytime temperature fluctuations associated with cloud cover variations typically exceed 1°C. The inversion-cloud albedo-temperature associations that occur at daily timescales are also found at seasonal timescales.

Impacts of land cover transitions on surface temperature in China based on satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yuzhen; Liang, Shunlin

2018-02-01

China has experienced intense land use and land cover changes during the past several decades, which have exerted significant influences on climate change. Previous studies exploring related climatic effects have focused mainly on one or two specific land use changes, or have considered all land use and land cover change types together without distinguishing their individual impacts, and few have examined the physical processes of the mechanism through which land use changes affect surface temperature. However, in this study, we considered satellite-derived data of multiple land cover changes and transitions in China. The objective was to obtain observational evidence of the climatic effects of land cover transitions in China by exploring how they affect surface temperature and to what degree they influence it through the modification of biophysical processes, with an emphasis on changes in surface albedo and evapotranspiration (ET). To achieve this goal, we quantified the changes in albedo, ET, and surface temperature in the transition areas, examined their correlations with temperature change, and calculated the contributions of different land use transitions to surface temperature change via changes in albedo and ET. Results suggested that land cover transitions from cropland to urban land increased land surface temperature (LST) during both daytime and nighttime by 0.18 and 0.01 K, respectively. Conversely, the transition of forest to cropland tended to decrease surface temperature by 0.53 K during the day and by 0.07 K at night, mainly through changes in surface albedo. Decreases in both daytime and nighttime LST were observed over regions of grassland to forest transition, corresponding to average values of 0.44 and 0.20 K, respectively, predominantly controlled by changes in ET. These results highlight the necessity to consider the individual climatic effects of different land cover transitions or conversions in climate research studies. This short

Direct estimation of land surface albedo from VIIRS data: Algorithm improvement and preliminary validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Dongdong; Liang, Shunlin; He, Tao; Yu, Yunyue

2013-11-01

surface albedo (LSA), part of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) surface albedo environmental data record (EDR), is an essential variable regulating shortwave energy exchange between the land surface and the atmosphere. Two sub-algorithms, the dark pixel sub-algorithm (DPSA) and the bright pixel sub-algorithm (BPSA), were proposed for retrieving LSA from VIIRS data. The BPSA estimates LSA directly from VIIRS top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance through simulation of atmospheric radiative transfer. Several changes have been made to improve the BPSA since the deployment of VIIRS. A database of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) is collected and converted to bidirectional reflectance at VIIRS bands. The converted reflectance is then used as input to the atmospheric radiative transfer model to generate a look-up table (LUT) of regression coefficients with consideration of surface BRDF. Before its implementation in the operational system, the new BPSA is tested on the local infrastructure. The incorporation of the surface BRDF improves the accuracy of LSA estimation and reduces the temporal variation of LSA over stable surfaces. VIIRS LSA retrievals agree well with the MODIS albedo products. Comparison with field measurements at seven Surface Radiation (SURFRAD) Network sites shows that VIIRS LSA retrieved from the LUT with surface BRDF has an R2 value of 0.80 and root mean square error of 0.049, better than MODIS albedo products. The VIIRS results have a slight negative bias of 0.004, whereas the MODIS albedo is underestimated with a larger negative bias of 0.026.

Monitoring land surface albedo and vegetation dynamics using high spatial and temporal resolution synthetic time series from Landsat and the MODIS BRDF/NBAR/albedo product

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Zhuosen; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Sun, Qingsong; Kim, JiHyun; Erb, Angela M.; Gao, Feng; Román, Miguel O.; Yang, Yun; Petroy, Shelley; Taylor, Jeffrey R.; Masek, Jeffrey G.; Morisette, Jeffrey T.; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Papuga, Shirley A.

2017-07-01

Seasonal vegetation phenology can significantly alter surface albedo which in turn affects the global energy balance and the albedo warming/cooling feedbacks that impact climate change. To monitor and quantify the surface dynamics of heterogeneous landscapes, high temporal and spatial resolution synthetic time series of albedo and the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) were generated from the 500 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) operational Collection V006 daily BRDF/NBAR/albedo products and 30 m Landsat 5 albedo and near-nadir reflectance data through the use of the Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (STARFM). The traditional Landsat Albedo (Shuai et al., 2011) makes use of the MODIS BRDF/Albedo products (MCD43) by assigning appropriate BRDFs from coincident MODIS products to each Landsat image to generate a 30 m Landsat albedo product for that acquisition date. The available cloud free Landsat 5 albedos (due to clouds, generated every 16 days at best) were used in conjunction with the daily MODIS albedos to determine the appropriate 30 m albedos for the intervening daily time steps in this study. These enhanced daily 30 m spatial resolution synthetic time series were then used to track albedo and vegetation phenology dynamics over three Ameriflux tower sites (Harvard Forest in 2007, Santa Rita in 2011 and Walker Branch in 2005). These Ameriflux sites were chosen as they are all quite nearby new towers coming on line for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), and thus represent locations which will be served by spatially paired albedo measures in the near future. The availability of data from the NEON towers will greatly expand the sources of tower albedometer data available for evaluation of satellite products. At these three Ameriflux tower sites the synthetic time series of broadband shortwave albedos were evaluated using the tower albedo measurements with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) less than 0.013 and a

High-resolution mapping and modelling of surface albedo in Norwegian boreal forests: from remotely sensed data to predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cherubini, Francesco; Hu, Xiangping; Vezhapparambu, Sajith; Stromman, Anders

2017-04-01

Surface albedo, a key parameter of the Earth's climate system, has high variability in space, time, and land cover and its parameterization is among the most important variables in climate models. The lack of extensive estimates for model improvement is one of the main limitations for accurately quantifying the influence of surface albedo changes on the planetary radiation balance. We use multi-year satellite retrievals of MODIS surface albedo (MCD43A3), high resolution land cover maps, and meteorological records to characterize albedo variations in Norway across latitude, seasons, land cover type, and topography. We then use this dataset to elaborate semi-empirical models to predict albedo values as a function of tree species, age, volume and climate variables like temperature and snow water equivalents (SWE). Given the complexity of the dataset and model formulation, we apply an innovative non-linear programming approach simultaneously coupled with linear un-mixing. The MODIS albedo products are at a resolution of about 500 m and 8 days. The land cover maps provide vegetation structure information on relative abundance of tree species, age, and biomass volumes at 16 m resolution (for both deciduous and coniferous species). Daily observations of meteorological information on air temperature and SWE are produced at 1 km resolution from interpolation of meteorological weather stations in Norway. These datasets have different resolution and projection, and are harmonized by identifying, for each MODIS pixel, the intersecting land cover polygons and the percentage area of the MODIS pixel represented by each land cover type. We then filter the subplots according to the following criteria: i) at least 96% of the total pixel area is covered by a single land cover class (either forest or cropland); ii) if forest area, at least 98% of the forest area is covered by spruce, deciduous or pine. Forested pixels are then categorized as spruce, deciduous, or pine dominant if the

Revisiting surface albedo changes over Greenland since 1980s using satellite data from GLASS, CLARA, MODIS, and Landsat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, T.; Liang, S.; Zhang, Y.

2017-12-01

Massive melting events over Greenland have been observed over the past few decades. Accompanying the melting events are the surface albedo changes, which had temporal and spatial variations. Albedo changes over Greenland during the past few decades have been reported in previous studies with the help of satellite observations; however, magnitudes and timing in albedo trends differ greatly in those studies. This has limited our understanding of albedo change mechanisms over Greenland. In this study, we present an analysis of surface albedo change over Greenland since 1980s combining four satellite albedo datasets, namely MODIS, GLASS, CLARA, and Landsat. MODIS, GLASS, and CLARA albedo data are publicly available and Landsat albedos were derived in our earlier study trying to bridge the scale difference between coarse resolution data and ground measurements available from early 1980s. Inter-comparisons were made among the satellite albedos and against ground measurements. We have several new findings. First, trends in surface albedo change among the satellite albedo datasets generally agree with each other and with ground measurements. Second, all datasets showed negative albedo trends after 2000, but magnitudes differ greatly. Third, trends before 2000 from coarse resolution data are not significant but Landsat data observed positive albedo changes. Fourth, the turning point of albedo trend was found to be earlier than 2000. Those findings may bring new research topics on timing and magnitude, and an improved understanding mechanisms of the albedo changes over Greenland during the past few decades.

Monitoring land surface albedo and vegetation dynamics using high spatial and temporal resolution synthetic time series from Landsat and the MODIS BRDF/NBAR/albedo product

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wang, Zhuosen; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Sun, Qingson; Kim, JiHyun; Erb, Angela M.; Gao, Feng; Roman, Miguel O.; Yang, Yun; Petroy, Shelley; Taylor, Jeffrey; Masek, Jeffrey G.; Morisette, Jeffrey T.; Zhang, Xiaoyang; Papuga, Shirley A.

2017-01-01

Seasonal vegetation phenology can significantly alter surface albedo which in turn affects the global energy balance and the albedo warming/cooling feedbacks that impact climate change. To monitor and quantify the surface dynamics of heterogeneous landscapes, high temporal and spatial resolution synthetic time series of albedo and the enhanced vegetation index (EVI) were generated from the 500 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) operational Collection V006 daily BRDF/NBAR/albedo products and 30 m Landsat 5 albedo and near-nadir reflectance data through the use of the Spatial and Temporal Adaptive Reflectance Fusion Model (STARFM). The traditional Landsat Albedo (Shuai et al., 2011) makes use of the MODIS BRDF/Albedo products (MCD43) by assigning appropriate BRDFs from coincident MODIS products to each Landsat image to generate a 30 m Landsat albedo product for that acquisition date. The available cloud free Landsat 5 albedos (due to clouds, generated every 16 days at best) were used in conjunction with the daily MODIS albedos to determine the appropriate 30 m albedos for the intervening daily time steps in this study. These enhanced daily 30 m spatial resolution synthetic time series were then used to track albedo and vegetation phenology dynamics over three Ameriflux tower sites (Harvard Forest in 2007, Santa Rita in 2011 and Walker Branch in 2005). These Ameriflux sites were chosen as they are all quite nearby new towers coming on line for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), and thus represent locations which will be served by spatially paired albedo measures in the near future. The availability of data from the NEON towers will greatly expand the sources of tower albedometer data available for evaluation of satellite products. At these three Ameriflux tower sites the synthetic time series of broadband shortwave albedos were evaluated using the tower albedo measurements with a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) less than 0

Monitoring Land Surface Albedo and Vegetation Dynamics Using High Spatial and Temporal Resolution Synthetic Time Series from Landsat and the MODIS BRDF/NBAR/Albedo Product

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Zhuosen; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Sun, Quingsong; Kim, Jihyun; Erb, Angela M.; Gao, Feng; Roman, Miguel O.; Yang, Yun; Petroy, Shelley; Taylor, Jeffrey R.;

Bacteria increase arid-land soil surface temperature through the production of sunscreens

DOE PAGES

Couradeau, Estelle; Karaoz, Ulas; Lim, Hsiao Chien; ...

2016-01-20

Soil surface temperature, an important driver of terrestrial biogeochemical processes, depends strongly on soil albedo, which can be significantly modified by factors such as plant cover. In sparsely vegetated lands, the soil surface can be colonized by photosynthetic microbes that build biocrust communities. Here we use concurrent physical, biochemical and microbiological analyses to show that mature biocrusts can increase surface soil temperature by as much as 10 °C through the accumulation of large quantities of a secondary metabolite, the microbial sunscreen scytonemin, produced by a group of late-successional cyanobacteria. Scytonemin accumulation decreases soil albedo significantly. Such localized warming has apparentmore » and immediate consequences for the soil microbiome, inducing the replacement of thermosensitive bacterial species with more thermotolerant forms. In conclusion, these results reveal that not only vegetation but also microorganisms are a factor in modifying terrestrial albedo, potentially impacting biosphere feedbacks on past and future climate, and call for a direct assessment of such effects at larger scales.« less

The Influence of a Sandy Substrate, Seagrass, or Highly Turbid Water on Albedo and Surface Heat Flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fogarty, M. C.; Fewings, M. R.; Paget, A. C.; Dierssen, H. M.

2018-01-01

Sea-surface albedo is a combination of surface-reflected and water-leaving irradiance, but water-leaving irradiance typically contributes less than 15% of the total albedo in open-ocean conditions. In coastal systems, however, the bottom substrate or suspended particulate matter can increase the amount of backscattered light, thereby increasing albedo and decreasing net shortwave surface heat flux. Here a sensitivity analysis using observations and models predicts the effect of light scattering on albedo and the net shortwave heat flux for three test cases: a bright sand bottom, a seagrass canopy, and turbid water. After scaling to the full solar shortwave spectrum, daytime average albedo for the test cases is up to 0.20 and exceeds the value of 0.05 predicted using a commonly applied parameterization. Daytime net shortwave heat flux into the water is significantly reduced, particularly for waters with bright sediments, dense horizontal seagrass canopies < 0.25 m from the sea surface, or highly turbid waters with suspended particulate matter concentration ≥ 50 g m-3. Observations of a more vertical seagrass canopy within 0.2 and 1 m of the surface indicate the increase in albedo compared to the common parameterization is negligible. Therefore, we suggest that the commonly applied albedo lookup table can be used in coastal heat flux estimates in water as shallow as 1 m unless the bottom substrate is highly reflective or the water is highly turbid. Our model results provide guidance to researchers who need to determine albedo in highly reflective or highly turbid conditions but have no direct observations.

Monitoring glacier albedo as a proxy to derive summer and annual surface mass balances from optical remote-sensing data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davaze, Lucas; Rabatel, Antoine; Arnaud, Yves; Sirguey, Pascal; Six, Delphine; Letreguilly, Anne; Dumont, Marie

2018-01-01

Less than 0.25 % of the 250 000 glaciers inventoried in the Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI V.5) are currently monitored with in situ measurements of surface mass balance. Increasing this archive is very challenging, especially using time-consuming methods based on in situ measurements, and complementary methods are required to quantify the surface mass balance of unmonitored glaciers. The current study relies on the so-called albedo method, based on the analysis of albedo maps retrieved from optical satellite imagery acquired since 2000 by the MODIS sensor, on board the TERRA satellite. Recent studies revealed substantial relationships between summer minimum glacier-wide surface albedo and annual surface mass balance, because this minimum surface albedo is directly related to the accumulation-area ratio and the equilibrium-line altitude. On the basis of 30 glaciers located in the French Alps where annual surface mass balance data are available, our study conducted on the period 2000-2015 confirms the robustness and reliability of the relationship between the summer minimum surface albedo and the annual surface mass balance. For the ablation season, the integrated summer surface albedo is significantly correlated with the summer surface mass balance of the six glaciers seasonally monitored. These results are promising to monitor both annual and summer glacier-wide surface mass balances of individual glaciers at a regional scale using optical satellite images. A sensitivity study on the computed cloud masks revealed a high confidence in the retrieved albedo maps, restricting the number of omission errors. Albedo retrieval artifacts have been detected for topographically incised glaciers, highlighting limitations in the shadow correction algorithm, although inter-annual comparisons are not affected by systematic errors.

Assessment of Greenland Outlet Glacier Albedo Variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stroeve, J.

2003-04-01

Recent studies have shown that the coastal regions of the Greenland ice sheet are thinning rapidly. Analysis of passive microwave satellite data since 1979 have revealed a corresponding positive trend in the areal extent of melt. This trend was emphasized in 2002, when the total area of surface melt on the Greenland ice sheet surpased the maximum melt extent from the past 24 years by more than 9%. Increases in coastal temperatures have certainly contributed to melting near the margins. However, the high rate of thinning in the coastal regions, up to several m/yr, cannot be explained by increases in temperatures alone. Some of the thinning is likely creep thinning resulting from discharge velocities that exceed balance velocities. In order to better understand the role of ablation in the recent thinning rates, the variability in the surface albedo at four outlet glaciers is analyzed from 1981 to 2000 using the AVHRR Polar Pathfinder data set. The four glaciers analyzed are the following: Storstrommen (77N, 23W), Kangerdlugssuaq (68N, 33W), Petermann (81N, 62W) and Jakobshavn (69N, 50W). Clear sky albedo changes over time from May through September for the period 1981-2000 are presented. These months are chosen in order to capture the full cycle of melt onset and refreeze. The albedo record at the glaciers shows large seasonal and interannual variability. Resuls indicate a steady decrease in surface albedo during the summer months from 1981 to 2000, particularly in the Jakobshavn drainage basin.

Analysis of global land surface albedo climatology and spatial-temporal variation during 1981-2010 from multiple satellite products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Tao; Liang, Shunlin; Song, Dan-Xia

2014-09-01

For several decades, long-term time series data sets of multiple global land surface albedo products have been generated from satellite observations. These data sets have been used as one of the key variables in climate change studies. This study aims to assess the surface albedo climatology and to analyze long-term albedo changes, from nine satellite-based data sets for the period 1981-2010, on a global basis. Results show that climatological surface albedo data sets derived from satellite observations can be used to validate, calibrate, and further improve surface albedo simulations and parameterizations in current climate models. However, the albedo products derived from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project and the Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project have large seasonal biases. At latitudes higher than 50°, the maximal difference in winter zonal albedo ranges from 0.1 to 0.4 among the nine satellite data sets. Satellite-based albedo data sets agree relatively well during the summer at high latitudes, with a standard deviation of 0.04 for the 70°-80° zone in both hemispheres. The fine-resolution (0.05°) data sets agree well with each other for all the land cover types in middle to low latitudes; however, large spread was identified for their albedos at middle to high latitudes over land covers with mixed snow and sparse vegetation. By analyzing the time series of satellite-based albedo products over the past three decades, albedo of the Northern Hemisphere was found to be decreasing in July, likely due to the shrinking snow cover. Meanwhile, albedo in January was found to be increasing, likely because of the expansion of snow cover in northern winter. However, to improve the albedo estimation at high latitudes, and ultimately the climate models used for long-term climate change studies, a still better understanding of differences between satellite-based albedo data sets is required.

Photographic films as remote sensors for measuring albedos of terrestrial surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pease, S. R.; Pease, R. W.

1972-01-01

To test the feasibility of remotely measuring the albedos of terrestrial surfaces from photographic images, an inquiry was carried out at ground level using several representative common surface targets. Problems of making such measurements with a spectrally selective sensor, such as photographic film, have been compared to previous work utilizing silicon cells. Two photographic approaches have been developed: a multispectral method which utilizes two or three photographic images made through conventional multispectral filters and a single shot method which utilizes the broad spectral sensitivity of black and white infrared film. Sensitometry related to the methods substitutes a Log Albedo scale for the conventional Log Exposure for creating characteristic curves. Certain constraints caused by illumination goemetry are discussed.

Areal-averaged and Spectrally-resolved Surface Albedo from Ground-based Transmission Data Alone: Toward an Operational Retrieval

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kassianov, Evgueni I.; Barnard, James C.; Flynn, Connor J.

We present here a simple retrieval of the areal-averaged and spectrally resolved surface albedo using only ground-based measurements of atmospheric transmission under fully overcast conditions. Our retrieval is based on a one-line equation and widely accepted assumptions regarding the weak spectral dependence of cloud optical properties in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. The feasibility of our approach for the routine determinations of albedo is demonstrated for different landscapes with various degrees of heterogeneity using three sets of measurements:(1) spectrally resolved atmospheric transmission from Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) at wavelength 415, 500, 615, 673, and 870 nm, (2) tower-basedmore » measurements of local surface albedo at the same wavelengths, and (3) areal-averaged surface albedo at four wavelengths (470, 560, 670 and 860 nm) from collocated and coincident Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations. These integrated datasets cover both long (2008-2013) and short (April-May, 2010) periods at the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) site and the NOAA Table Mountain site, respectively. The calculated root mean square error (RMSE), which is defined here as the root mean squared difference between the MODIS-derived surface albedo and the retrieved area-averaged albedo, is quite small (RMSE≤0.01) and comparable with that obtained previously by other investigators for the shortwave broadband albedo. Good agreement between the tower-based daily averages of surface albedo for the completely overcast and non-overcast conditions is also demonstrated. This agreement suggests that our retrieval originally developed for the overcast conditions likely will work for non-overcast conditions as well.« less

Surface photometric properties and albedo changes in the central equatorial region of Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Strickland, Edwin L., III

1992-01-01

Comparison of the Viking Orbiter 2 Approach mosaic taken 11 Mars months later provides qualitative information on the photometric properties of the martian albedo features, and the distribution of dust and sand deposits responsible for the atmosphere near the northern summer solstice. The approach mosaic was taken at L (sub s) 106 degrees (early N. summer), phase angle 106 degrees; and airmasses varying from 4.6 at 30 degrees N to 3.3 near 10 degrees S. The apoapsis mosaic was taken in four sequences between L (sub s) 72 degrees and 76 degrees (late N. spring), near phase angles of 47 degrees, and at airmasses near 2.5. Systematic differences in the photometric decalibrations used to generate these mosaics may induce multiplicative errors of 5-10 percent of the observed albedos in comparisons of the mosaics, but they are probably nearer 3 percent of the albedos. In the study area (30 degrees N to 20 degrees S, 57 degrees E to 75 degrees W), scene-average approach Minnaert albedos were about 10 percent greater than apoapsis albedos and slightly less 'red'. The preferred explanation for the observed approach-apoapsis albedo difference is that both Arabia and Meridiani materials are smoother on millimeter and larger scales than other units in the study area. This is in good agreement with preliminary conclusions of Thorpe and (for dark intracrater Meridiani splotches) Regner et al. This is also consistent with reasonable models of these surfaces. 'Dark Blue' Meridiani surfaces are interpreted as consisting of sand dunes and sand sheets, which would be expected to have macroscopically smooth, nonshadowing surfaces. Viking Lander images of the surfaces at both landing sites show that smooth drift area's brightnesses are close to those of adjacent rough soil areas at low phase angles, but drifts become much brighter than rough soils when looking up-sun at high phase angles. Smooth patches of duricrust at both landing sites, interpreted by Strickland as eolian deposits

Surface photometric properties and albedo changes in the central equatorial region of Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strickland, Edwin L., III

1992-12-01

Comparison of the Viking Orbiter 2 Approach mosaic taken 11 Mars months later provides qualitative information on the photometric properties of the martian albedo features, and the distribution of dust and sand deposits responsible for the atmosphere near the northern summer solstice. The approach mosaic was taken at L s 106 degrees (early N. summer), phase angle 106 degrees; and airmasses varying from 4.6 at 30 degrees N to 3.3 near 10 degrees S. The apoapsis mosaic was taken in four sequences between L s 72 degrees and 76 degrees (late N. spring), near phase angles of 47 degrees, and at airmasses near 2.5. Systematic differences in the photometric decalibrations used to generate these mosaics may induce multiplicative errors of 5-10 percent of the observed albedos in comparisons of the mosaics, but they are probably nearer 3 percent of the albedos. In the study area (30 degrees N to 20 degrees S, 57 degrees E to 75 degrees W), scene-average approach Minnaert albedos were about 10 percent greater than apoapsis albedos and slightly less 'red'. The preferred explanation for the observed approach-apoapsis albedo difference is that both Arabia and Meridiani materials are smoother on millimeter and larger scales than other units in the study area. This is in good agreement with preliminary conclusions of Thorpe and (for dark intracrater Meridiani splotches) Regner et al. This is also consistent with reasonable models of these surfaces. 'Dark Blue' Meridiani surfaces are interpreted as consisting of sand dunes and sand sheets, which would be expected to have macroscopically smooth, nonshadowing surfaces. Viking Lander images of the surfaces at both landing sites show that smooth drift area's brightnesses are close to those of adjacent rough soil areas at low phase angles, but drifts become much brighter than rough soils when looking up-sun at high phase angles. Smooth patches of duricrust at both landing sites, interpreted by Strickland as eolian deposits (regardless of

Quality assessment and improvement of the EUMETSAT Meteosat Surface Albedo Climate Data Record

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lattanzio, A.; Fell, F.; Bennartz, R.; Trigo, I. F.; Schulz, J.

2015-10-01

Surface albedo has been identified as an important parameter for understanding and quantifying the Earth's radiation budget. EUMETSAT generated the Meteosat Surface Albedo (MSA) Climate Data Record (CDR) currently comprising up to 24 years (1982-2006) of continuous surface albedo coverage for large areas of the Earth. This CDR has been created within the Sustained, Coordinated Processing of Environmental Satellite Data for Climate Monitoring (SCOPE-CM) framework. The long-term consistency of the MSA CDR is high and meets the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) stability requirements for desert reference sites. The limitation in quality due to non-removed clouds by the embedded cloud screening procedure is the most relevant weakness in the retrieval process. A twofold strategy is applied to efficiently improve the cloud detection and removal. The first step consists of the application of a robust and reliable cloud mask, taking advantage of the information contained in the measurements of the infrared and visible bands. Due to the limited information available from old radiometers, some clouds can still remain undetected. A second step relies on a post-processing analysis of the albedo seasonal variation together with the usage of a background albedo map in order to detect and screen out such outliers. The usage of a reliable cloud mask has a double effect. It enhances the number of high-quality retrievals for tropical forest areas sensed under low view angles and removes the most frequently unrealistic retrievals on similar surfaces sensed under high view angles. As expected, the usage of a cloud mask has a negligible impact on desert areas where clear conditions dominate. The exploitation of the albedo seasonal variation for cloud removal has good potentialities but it needs to be carefully addressed. Nevertheless it is shown that the inclusion of cloud masking and removal strategy is a key point for the generation of the next MSA CDR release.

Change in Urban Albedo in London: A Multi-scale Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Susca, T.; Kotthaus, S.; Grimmond, S.

2013-12-01

Urbanization-induced change in land use has considerable implications for climate, air quality, resources and ecosystems. Urban-induced warming is one of the most well-known impacts. This directly and indirectly can extend beyond the city. One way to reduce the size of this is to modify the surface atmosphere exchanges through changing the urban albedo. As increased rugosity caused by the morphology of a city results in lower albedo with constant material characteristics, the impacts of changing the albedo has impacts across a range of scales. Here a multi-scale assessment of the potential effects of the increase in albedo in London is presented. This includes modeling at the global and meso-scale informed by local and micro-scale measurements. In this study the first order calculations are conducted for the impact of changing the albedo (e.g. a 0.01 increase) on the radiative exchange. For example, when incoming solar radiation and cloud cover are considered, based on data retrieved from NASA (http://power.larc.nasa.gov/) for ~1600 km2 area of London, would produce a mean decrease in the instantaneous solar radiative forcing on the same surface of 0.40 W m-2. The nature of the surface is critical in terms of considering the impact of changes in albedo. For example, in the Central Activity Zone in London pavement and building can vary from 10 to 100% of the plan area. From observations the albedo is seen to change dramatically with changes in building materials. For example, glass surfaces which are being used increasingly in the central business district results in dramatic changes in albedo. Using the documented albedo variations determined across different scales the impacts are considered. For example, the effect of the increase in urban albedo is translated into the corresponding amount of avoided emission of carbon dioxide that produces the same effect on climate. At local scale, the effect that the increase in urban albedo can potentially have on local

Spatially Complete Surface Albedo Data Sets: Value-Added Products Derived from Terra MODIS Land Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moody, Eric G.; King, Michael D.; Platnick, Steven; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Gao, Feng

2004-01-01

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. Recent observations of diffuse bihemispherical (white-sky) and direct beam directional hemispherical (black-sky ) land surface albedo included in the MOD43B3 product from MODIS instruments aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellite platforms have provided researchers with unprecedented spatial, spectral, and temporal characteristics. Cloud and seasonal snow cover, however, curtail retrievals to approximately half the global land surfaces on an annual equal-angle basis, precluding MOD43B3 albedo products from direct inclusion in some research projects and production environments.

Bacterial production of sunscreen pigments increase arid land soil surface temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Couradeau, Estelle; Karaoz, Ulas; Lim, HsiaoChien; Nunes da Rocha, Ulisses; Northern, Trent; Brodie, Eoin; Garcia-Pichel, Ferran

2015-04-01

Biological Soil Crusts (BSCs) are desert top soils formations built by complex microbial communities and dominated by the filamentous cyanobacterium Microcoleus sp. BSCs cover extensive desert areas where they correspond to millimeters size mantles responsible of soil stability and fertility. Despite their ecological importance, little is known about how these communities will endure climate change. It has been shown in North America that different species of Microcoleus showed distinct temperature preferences and that their continental biogeography may be susceptible to small changes in temperature with unknown consequences for the ecosystem function. Using a combination of physical, biochemical and microbiological analyses to characterize a successional gradient of crust maturity from light to dark BSCs (Moab, Utah) we found that the concentration of scytonemin (a cyanobacterial sunscreen pigment) increased with crust maturity. We also confirmed that scytonemin was by far the major pigment responsible of light absorption in the visible spectrum in BSCs, and is then responsible of the darkening of the BSCs (i.e decrease of albedo) with maturity. We measured the surface temperature and albedo and found, as predicted, a negative linear relationship between these two parameters. The decrease in albedo across the gradient of crust maturity corresponded to an increase in surface temperature up to 10° C. Upon investigation of microbial community composition using SSU rRNA gene analysis, we demonstrate that warmer crust surface temperatures (decreased albedo) are associated with a replacement of the dominant cyanobacterium; the thermosensitive Microcoleus sp. being replaced by a thermotolerant Microcoleus sp. in darker BSCs. This study supports at the local scale a finding previously made at the continental scale, but also sheds light on the importance of scytonemin as a significant warmer of soils with important consequences for BSC composition and function. Based on

Global warming and climate forcing by recent albedo changes on Mars

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fenton, L.K.; Geissler, P.E.; Haberle, R.M.

2007-01-01

For hundreds of years, scientists have tracked the changing appearance of Mars, first by hand drawings and later by photographs. Because of this historical record, many classical albedo patterns have long been known to shift in appearance over time. Decadal variations of the martian surface albedo are generally attributed to removal and deposition of small amounts of relatively bright dust on the surface. Large swaths of the surface (up to 56 million km2) have been observed to darken or brighten by 10 per cent or more. It is unknown, however, how these albedo changes affect wind circulation, dust transport and the feedback between these processes and the martian climate. Here we present predictions from a Mars general circulation model, indicating that the observed interannual albedo alterations strongly influence the martian environment. Results indicate enhanced wind stress in recently darkened areas and decreased wind stress in brightened areas, producing a positive feedback system in which the albedo changes strengthen the winds that generate the changes. The simulations also predict a net annual global warming of surface air temperatures by ???0.65 K, enhancing dust lifting by increasing the likelihood of dust devil generation. The increase in global dust lifting by both wind stress and dust devils may affect the mechanisms that trigger large dust storm initiation, a poorly understood phenomenon, unique to Mars. In addition, predicted increases in summertime air temperatures at high southern latitudes would contribute to the rapid and steady scarp retreat that has been observed in the south polar residual ice for the past four Mars years. Our results suggest that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars, and thus albedo variations are a necessary component of future atmospheric and climate studies. ??2007 Nature Publishing Group.

Global warming and climate forcing by recent albedo changes on Mars.

PubMed

Fenton, Lori K; Geissler, Paul E; Haberle, Robert M

2007-04-05

For hundreds of years, scientists have tracked the changing appearance of Mars, first by hand drawings and later by photographs. Because of this historical record, many classical albedo patterns have long been known to shift in appearance over time. Decadal variations of the martian surface albedo are generally attributed to removal and deposition of small amounts of relatively bright dust on the surface. Large swaths of the surface (up to 56 million km2) have been observed to darken or brighten by 10 per cent or more. It is unknown, however, how these albedo changes affect wind circulation, dust transport and the feedback between these processes and the martian climate. Here we present predictions from a Mars general circulation model, indicating that the observed interannual albedo alterations strongly influence the martian environment. Results indicate enhanced wind stress in recently darkened areas and decreased wind stress in brightened areas, producing a positive feedback system in which the albedo changes strengthen the winds that generate the changes. The simulations also predict a net annual global warming of surface air temperatures by approximately 0.65 K, enhancing dust lifting by increasing the likelihood of dust devil generation. The increase in global dust lifting by both wind stress and dust devils may affect the mechanisms that trigger large dust storm initiation, a poorly understood phenomenon, unique to Mars. In addition, predicted increases in summertime air temperatures at high southern latitudes would contribute to the rapid and steady scarp retreat that has been observed in the south polar residual ice for the past four Mars years. Our results suggest that documented albedo changes affect recent climate change and large-scale weather patterns on Mars, and thus albedo variations are a necessary component of future atmospheric and climate studies.

Assessing modeled Greenland surface mass balance in the GISS Model E2 and its sensitivity to surface albedo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, Patrick; LeGrande, Allegra N.; Koenig, Lora S.; Tedesco, Marco; Moustafa, Samiah E.; Ivanoff, Alvaro; Fischer, Robert P.; Fettweis, Xavier

2016-04-01

The surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) plays an important role in global sea level change. Regional Climate Models (RCMs) such as the Modèle Atmosphérique Régionale (MAR) have been employed at high spatial resolution with relatively complex physics to simulate ice sheet SMB. Global climate models (GCMs) incorporate less sophisticated physical schemes and provide outputs at a lower spatial resolution, but have the advantage of modeling the interaction between different components of the earth's oceans, climate, and land surface at a global scale. Improving the ability of GCMs to represent ice sheet SMB is important for making predictions of future changes in global sea level. With the ultimate goal of improving SMB simulated by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Model E2 GCM, we compare simulated GrIS SMB against the outputs of the MAR model and radar-derived estimates of snow accumulation. In order to reproduce present-day climate variability in the Model E2 simulation, winds are constrained to match the reanalysis datasets used to force MAR at the lateral boundaries. We conduct a preliminary assessment of the sensitivity of the simulated Model E2 SMB to surface albedo, a parameter that is known to strongly influence SMB. Model E2 albedo is set to a fixed value of 0.8 over the entire ice sheet in the initial configuration of the model (control case). We adjust this fixed value in an ensemble of simulations over a range of 0.4 to 0.8 (roughly the range of observed summer GrIS albedo values) to examine the sensitivity of ice-sheet-wide SMB to albedo. We prescribe albedo from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MCD43A3 v6 to examine the impact of a more realistic spatial and temporal variations in albedo. An age-dependent snow albedo parameterization is applied, and its impact on SMB relative to observations and the RCM is assessed.

Earth's Reflection: Albedo

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillette, Brandon; Hamilton, Cheri

2011-01-01

When viewing objects of different colors, you might notice that some appear brighter than others. This is because light is reflected differently from various surfaces, depending on their physical properties. The word "albedo" is used to describe how reflective a surface is. The Earth-atmosphere has a combined albedo of about 30%, a number that is…

Preliminary assessment of the GOES-R ABI hourly land surface albedo and reflectance products prototyped with Himawari AHI data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, T.; Liang, S.; Zhang, Y.; Yu, Y.

2016-12-01

Land surface albedo and reflectance are critical geophysical variables used in climate and environmental applications. The multispectral Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard the next generation geostationary satellites (GOES-R series, set to launch in late 2016) offers high temporal and medium spatial resolution observations, which can be used for monitoring diurnal variation of surface albedo and reflectance. In the GOES-R data processing chain there is no atmospheric correction to generate surface reflectance product, which is usually required for surface albedo estimation. We propose an optimization method to simultaneously retrieve surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) parameters and aerosol optical depth with GOES-R ABI data on a daily-basis, which are used for estimating surface albedo and reflectance. Before the launch of the GOES-R satellite, our algorithm was prototyped with data from the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard the Japanese Himawari-8 satellite, which has spectral bands and spatial resolutions similar to GOES-R ABI. Cal/val activities were carried out against ground measurements at the OzFlux sites in Australia and satellite data including albedo/BRDF products from MODIS and Landsat. The preliminary accuracy assessment showed promising results for both the surface albedo and reflectance estimates. The GOES-R surface albedo and reflectance products will serve as critical inputs for downstream GOES-R satellite products and also help improve climate modeling and weather forecasting with a high temporal resolution.

The albedo, effective temperature, and energy balance of Uranus, as determined from Voyager IRIS data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pearl, J. C.; Conrath, B. J.; Hanel, R. A.; Pirraglia, J. A.; Coustenis, A.

1990-01-01

The albedo, T(eff), and energy balance of Uranus are presently derived from Voyager IR Spectrometer and Radiometer data. By obtaining the absolute phase curve of Uranus, it has become possible to evaluate the Bond albedo without making separate determinations of the geometric albedo and phase integral. An orbital mean value for the bolometric Bond albedo of 0.3 + or - 0.049 yields an equilibrium temperature of 58.2 + or - 1.0 K. Thermal spectra from pole-to-pole latitude coverage establish a T(eff) of 59.1 + or - 0.3 K, leading to an energy balance of 1.06 + or - 0.08 for Uranus.

Three Mars Years of Surface Albedo Changes Observed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MARCI Investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bell, J. F.; Wellington, D. F.; Anderson, R. B.; Wolff, M. J.; Supulver, K. D.; Cantor, B. A.; Malin, M. C.

2012-12-01

The NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft has been in its prime mapping orbit of the Red Planet since November 2006, a little over three Mars years. MRO's Mars Color Imager (MARCI) investigation has been acquiring wide-angle, approximately 1 km/pixel resolution multispectral images (from the UV to the short-wave near-IR) throughout the mission from the spacecraft's 300 km circular polar orbit. As of fall 2012, MARCI has acquired more than 25,000 image sequences, with its 180 degree field of view covering local solar times of approximately 15:00 +/- 2 hours at the equator. These images can be merged and map projected to provide near-global imaging coverage of Mars for almost every sol of the mission. These maps have been used to characterize and monitor changes in seasonal and interannual dust and water ice cloud opacity, growth and decay of local- to global-scale dust storms, and polar cap growth and recession. The data are also well-suited for studying small- to large-scale changes in surface albedo markings, important for understanding the nature of aeolian transport of dust and sand in the current Martian environment, as well as for modeling the radiative influence of the darker (warmer) or brighter (cooler) surface on local-scale atmospheric circulation and storm systems. We are using calibrated, map-projected, coregistered subsets of MARCI images to characterize and investigate surface albedo changes in a number of specific regions of interest, based on past Viking Orbiter, Hubble Space Telescope, and Mars Global Surveyor images of changing large-scale surface albedo patterns over recent decades, as well as recent surface missions that have characterized small-scale changes in surface albedo. Specific areas of study of large-scale changes include the dark areas Syrtis Major, Acidalia, Cimmeria, Sirenum, and Solis Lacus, and our initial focus areas for small-scale variations include regions in and around the landing sites of the Mars Exploration

Evaluation of the global MODIS 30 arc-second spatially and temporally complete snow-free land surface albedo and reflectance anisotropy dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Qingsong; Wang, Zhuosen; Li, Zhan; Erb, Angela; Schaaf, Crystal B.

2017-06-01

Land surface albedo is an essential variable for surface energy and climate modeling as it describes the proportion of incident solar radiant flux that is reflected from the Earth's surface. To capture the temporal variability and spatial heterogeneity of the land surface, satellite remote sensing must be used to monitor albedo accurately at a global scale. However, large data gaps caused by cloud or ephemeral snow have slowed the adoption of satellite albedo products by the climate modeling community. To address the needs of this community, we used a number of temporal and spatial gap-filling strategies to improve the spatial and temporal coverage of the global land surface MODIS BRDF, albedo and NBAR products. A rigorous evaluation of the gap-filled values shows good agreement with original high quality data (RMSE = 0.027 for the NIR band albedo, 0.020 for the red band albedo). This global snow-free and cloud-free MODIS BRDF and albedo dataset (established from 2001 to 2015) offers unique opportunities to monitor and assess the impact of the changes on the Earth's land surface.

Possible rainfall reduction through reduced surface temperatures due to overgrazing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otterman, J.

1975-01-01

Surface temperature reduction in terrain denuded of vegetation (as by overgrazing) is postulated to decrease air convection, reducing cloudiness and rainfall probability during weak meteorological disturbances. By reducing land-sea daytime temperature differences, the surface temperature reduction decreases daytime circulation of thermally driven local winds. The described desertification mechanism, even when limited to arid regions, high albedo soils, and weak meteorological disturbances, can be an effective rainfall reducing process in many areas including most of the Mediterranean lands.

Three-and-a-Half Mars Years of Surface Albedo Changes Observed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MARCI Investigation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wellington, D. F.; Bell, J. F.

2013-12-01

The Mars Color Imager (MARCI) wide-angle camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has gathered over three-and-a-half Mars years' worth of observations at approximately 1 km/pixel resolution. The MARCI instrument has seven bands in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared, five of which (the longer wavelength 420, 550, 600, 650, and 750 nm bands) are amenable to observations of surface albedo (the two short-wave ultraviolet bands are primarily intended for ozone measurements). MRO's near-polar orbit and MARCI's wide angle field-of-view (180°) allows it to make almost daily observations of large portions of the planet. As a global multi-year dataset, the MARCI observations are well-suited to examining surface albedo changes on both local and regional scales, including investigating any repeatability and seasonality in such changes. Because Mars displays considerable interannual variability, long-term continuous observations such as MARCI's are necessary in order to adequately describe and distinguish typical surface variance from unusual and longer-term secular changes. We have produced time-lapse animations of sections of the Martian surface from calibrated, map-projected, and mosaicked MARCI observations, altogether comprising the surface of Mars within +/- 65 degrees of the equator. These animations show many albedo changes that have occurred on the surface since 2006, including changes in traditionally variable regions such as Syrtis Major, Alcyonius, Hyblaeus, and Cerberus, as well as a dramatic brightening of Propontis and variations in the appearance and orientation of mesoscale linear streaks in Amazonis. Many regions show alternating periods of dust deposition and removal that, while not producing a persistent change in the surface albedo, nevertheless yield information on the local near-surface conditions that drive these variations. We present a descriptive classification of the types and locations of surface albedo changes observed on Mars

Impacts of Synoptic Weather Patterns on Snow Albedo at Sites in New England

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adolph, A. C.; Albert, M. R.; Lazarcik, J.; Dibb, J. E.; Amante, J.; Price, A. N.

2015-12-01

Winter snow in the northeastern United States has changed over the last several decades, resulting in shallower snow packs, fewer days of snow cover and increasing precipitation falling as rain in the winter. In addition to these changes which cause reductions in surface albedo, increasing winter temperatures also lead to more rapid snow grain growth, resulting in decreased snow reflectivity. We present in-situ measurements and analyses to test the sensitivity of seasonal snow albedo to varying weather conditions at sites in New England. In particular, we investigate the impact of temperature on snow albedo through melt and grain growth, the impact of precipitation event frequency on albedo through snow "freshening," and the impact of storm path on snow structure and snow albedo. Over three winter seasons between 2013 and 2015, in-situ snow characterization measurements were made at three non-forested sites across New Hampshire. These near-daily measurements include spectrally resolved albedo, snow optical grain size determined through contact spectroscopy, snow depth, snow density and local meteorological parameters. Combining this information with storm tracks derived from HYSPLIT modeling, we quantify the current sensitivity of northeastern US snow albedo to temperature as well as precipitation type, frequency and path. Our analysis shows that southerly winter storms result in snow with a significantly lower albedo than storms which come from across the continental US or the Atlantic Ocean. Interannual variability in temperature and statewide spatial variability in snowfall rates at our sites show the relative importance of snowfall amount and temperatures in albedo evolution over the course of the winter.

Effects of Surface Albedo on Smoke Detection Through Geostationary Satellite Imagery in the Hazard Mapping System (HMS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salemi, A.; Ruminski, M. G.

2012-12-01

The Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) of NOAA/NESDIS uses geostationary and polar orbiting satellite imagery to identify fires and smoke throughout the continental United States. The fires and smoke are analyzed daily on the Hazard Mapping System (HMS) and made available via the internet in various formats. Analysis of smoke plumes generated from wildfires, agricultural and prescribe burns is performed with single channel visible imagery primarily from NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) animations. Identification of smoke in visible imagery is complicated by the presence of clouds, the viewing angle produced by the sun, smoke, satellite geometry, and the surface albedo of the ground below the smoke among other factors. This study investigates the role of surface albedo in smoke detection. LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) instruments are capable of detecting smoke and other aerosols. Through the use of ground and space based LIDAR systems in areas of varying albedo a relationship between the subjective analyst drawn smoke plumes versus those detected by LIDAR is established. The ability to detect smoke over regions of higher albedo (brighter surface, such as grassland, scrub and desert) is diminished compared to regions of lower albedo (darker surface, such as forest and water). Users of the HMS smoke product need to be aware of this limitation in smoke detection in areas of higher albedo.

Titan's 5 micrometers spectral window: carbon monoxide and the albedo of the surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Noll, K. S.; Geballe, T. R.; Knacke, R. F.; Pendleton, Y. J.

1996-01-01

We have measured the spectrum of Titan near 5 micrometers and have found it to be dominated by absorption from the carbon monoxide 1-0 vibration-rotation band. The position of the band edge allows us to constrain the abundance of CO in the atmosphere and/or the location of the reflecting layer in the atmosphere. In the most likely case, 5 micrometers radiation is reflected from the surface and the mole fraction of CO in the atmosphere is qCO=10(+10/-5) ppm, significantly lower than previous estimates for tropospheric CO. The albedo of the reflecting layer is approximately 0.07(+0.02/-0.01) in the 5 micrometers continuum outside the CO band. The 5 micrometers albedo is consistent with a surface of mixed ice and silicates similar to the icy Galilean satellites. Organic solids formed in simulated Titan conditions can also produce similar albedos at 5 micrometers.

Moderation of Cloud Reduction of UV in the Antarctic Due to High Surface Albedo.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nichol, S. E.; Pfister, G.; Bodeker, G. E.; McKenzie, R. L.; Wood, S. W.; Bernhard, G.

2003-08-01

To gauge the impact of clouds on erythemal (sunburn causing) UV irradiances under different surface albedo conditions, UV measurements from two Antarctic sites (McMurdo and South Pole Stations) and a midlatitude site (Lauder, New Zealand) are examined. The surface albedo at South Pole remains high throughout the year, at McMurdo it has a strong annual cycle, and at Lauder it is low throughout the year. The measurements at each site are divided into clear and cloudy subsets and are compared with modeled clear-sky irradiances to assess the attenuation of UV by clouds. A radiative transfer model is also used to interpret the observations. Results show increasing attenuation of UV with increasing cloud optical depth, but a high surface albedo can moderate this attenuation as a result of multiple scattering between the surface and cloud base. This effect is of particular importance at high latitudes where snow may be present during the summer months. There is also a tendency toward greater cloud attenuation with increasing solar zenith angle.

Rough-surface model for surface temperature calculations on Vesta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmer, E.; Sykes, M.

2014-07-01

We model observations by the Dawn Visual and Infrared spectrometer (VIR) [1] to reproduce the observed surface temperature of Vesta. The VIR instrument has collected over 3,700 spectral cubes of Vesta out to 5.1 microns. The observed surface temperature is derived by matching the irradiance near 5 microns with a grey body, the Planck function after removing a reflected-light component per previous procedures [2--5] with similar results. We noted that the observed surface temperatures are significantly hotter than what simple theoretical models would predict [2]. To better understand this, we used a high-resolution topographic model of Vesta [6] that provided exact phase, incidence, and emission angles for every VIR pixel. We assume an emissivity of 0.9, Bond albedo of between 0.16 and 0.22 [5], and a variety of thermal inertia values for a low-contrast, highly degraded, homogenous crater. We have created a ''rough-surface'' thermal model that takes into account how irregular grains create sub-pixel variations in the thermal spectrum and describe the effect it has on the observed surface temperatures of Vesta. We have applied this method to the VIR observations of Vesta, which produced a high level of agreement with the observed surface temperatures.

Fire-induced albedo change and surface radiative forcing in sub-Saharan Africa savanna ecosystems: Implications for the energy balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dintwe, Kebonye; Okin, Gregory S.; Xue, Yongkang

2017-06-01

Surface albedo is a critical parameter that controls surface energy balance. In dryland ecosystems, fires play a significant role in decreasing surface albedo, resulting in positive radiative forcing. Here we investigate the long-term effect of fire on surface albedo. We devised a method to calculate short-, medium-, and long-term effect of fire-induced radiative forcing and their relative effects on energy balance. We used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data in our analysis, covering different vegetation classes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Our analysis indicated that mean short-term fire-induced albedo change in SSA was -0.022, -0.035, and -0.041 for savannas, shrubland, and grasslands, respectively. At regional scale, mean fire-induced albedo change in savannas was -0.018 and -0.024 for northern sub-Saharan of Africa and the southern hemisphere Africa, respectively. The short-term mean fire-induced radiative forcing in burned areas in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was 5.41 W m-2, which contributed continental and global radiative forcings of 0.25 and 0.058 W m-2, respectively. The impact of fire in surface albedo has long-lasting effects that varies with vegetation type. The long-term energetic effects of fire-induced albedo change and associated radiative forcing were, on average, more than 19 times greater across SSA than the short-term effects, suggesting that fires exerted far more radiative forcing than previously thought. Taking into account the actual duration of fire's effect on surface albedo, we conclude that the contribution of SSA fires, globally and throughout the year, is 0.12 W m-2. These findings provide crucial information on possible impact of fire on regional climate variability.

Surface temperatures and retention of H2O frost on Ganymede and Callisto

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Squyres, S. W.

1980-01-01

Surface temperatures and ice evaporation rates are calculated for Ganymede and Callisto as functions of latitude, time of day, and albedo, according to a model that uses surface thermal properties determined by eclipse radiometry and albedos determined from photometrically decalibrated Voyager images. The difference in temperature between Ganymede and Callisto is not great enough to account for the lack of bright polar caps on Callisto, which seems instead to reflect a real deficiency in the amount of available water frost relative to Ganymede. The temperature difference between Ganymede's grooved and cratered terrains also cannot account for the high concentration of bright ray craters in the former, suggesting that an internal geologic process has enriched the grooved terrain in ice content relative to the cratered terrain.

Spatiotemporal variation of surface shortwave forcing from fire-induced albedo change in interior Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Huang, Shengli; Dahal, Devendra; Liu, Heping; Jin, Suming; Young, Claudia J.; Liu, Shuang; Liu, Shu-Guang

2015-01-01

The albedo change caused by both fires and subsequent succession is spatially heterogeneous, leading to the need to assess the spatiotemporal variation of surface shortwave forcing (SSF) as a component to quantify the climate impacts of high-latitude fires. We used an image reconstruction approach to compare postfire albedo with the albedo assuming fires had not occurred. Combining the fire-caused albedo change from the 2001-2010 fires in interior Alaska and the monthly surface incoming solar radiation, we examined the spatiotemporal variation of SSF in the early successional stage of around 10 years. Our results showed that while postfire albedo generally increased in fall, winter, and spring, some burned areas could show an albedo decrease during these seasons. In summer, the albedo increased for several years and then declined again. The spring SSF distribution did not show a latitudinal decrease from south to north as previously reported. The results also indicated that although the SSF is usually largely negative in the early successional years, it may not be significant during the first postfire year. The annual 2005-2010 SSF for the 2004 fire scars was -1.30, -4.40, -3.31, -4.00, -3.42, and -2.47 Wm-2. The integrated annual SSF map showed significant spatial variation with a mean of -3.15 Wm-2 and a standard deviation of 3.26 Wm-2, 16% of burned areas having positive SSF. Our results suggest that boreal deciduous fires would be less positive for climate change than boreal evergreen fires. Future research is needed to comprehensively investigate the spatiotemporal radiative and non-radiative forcings to determine the effect of boreal fires on climate.

Albedo Spatial Variability and Causes on the Western Greenland Ice Sheet Percolation Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, G.; Osterberg, E. C.; Hawley, R. L.; Koffman, B. G.; Marshall, H. P.; Birkel, S. D.; Dibb, J. E.

2016-12-01

Many recent studies have concluded that Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) mass loss has been accelerating over recent decades, but spatial and temporal variations in GIS mass balance remain poorly understood due to a complex relationship among precipitation and temperature changes, increasing melt and runoff, ice discharge, and surface albedo. Satellite measurements from MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) indicate that albedo has been declining over the past decade, but the cause and extent of GIS albedo change remains poorly constrained by field data. As fresh snow (albedo > 0.85) warms and melts, its albedo decreases due to snow grain growth, promoting solar absorption, higher snowpack temperatures and further melt. However, dark impurities like soot and dust can also significantly reduce snow albedo, even in the dry snow zone. While many regional climate models (e.g. the Regional Atmospheric Climate MOdel - RACMO2) calculate albedo spatial resolutions on the order of 10-30 km, and MODIS averages albedo over 500 m, surface features like sastrugi can affect albedo on much smaller scales. Here we assess the relative importance of grain size and shape vs. impurity concentrations on albedo in the western GIS percolation zone. We collected broadband albedo measurements (300-2500 nm at 3-8 nm resolution) at 35 locations using an ASD FieldSpec4 spectroradiometer to simultaneously quantify radiative fluxes and spectral reflectance. Measurements were collected on 10 x 10 m, 1 x 1 km, 5 x 5 km, and 10 x 10 km grids to determine the spatial variability of albedo as part of the 850-km Greenland Traverse for Accumulation and Climate Studies (GreenTrACS) traverse from Raven/Dye 2 to Summit. Additionally, we collected shallow (0-50 cm) snow pit samples every 5 cm at ASD measurement sites to quantify black carbon and mineral dust concentrations and size distributions using a Single Particle Soot Photometer and Coulter Counter, respectively. Preliminary results

Development of a MODIS-Derived Surface Albedo Data Set: An Improved Model Input for Processing the NSRDB

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maclaurin, Galen; Sengupta, Manajit; Xie, Yu

A significant source of bias in the transposition of global horizontal irradiance to plane-of-array (POA) irradiance arises from inaccurate estimations of surface albedo. The current physics-based model used to produce the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) relies on model estimations of surface albedo from a reanalysis climatalogy produced at relatively coarse spatial resolution compared to that of the NSRDB. As an input to spectral decomposition and transposition models, more accurate surface albedo data from remotely sensed imagery at finer spatial resolutions would improve accuracy in the final product. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed an improved white-sky (bi-hemispherical reflectance)more » broadband (0.3-5.0 ..mu..m) surface albedo data set for processing the NSRDB from two existing data sets: a gap-filled albedo product and a daily snow cover product. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors onboard the Terra and Aqua satellites have provided high-quality measurements of surface albedo at 30 arc-second spatial resolution and 8-day temporal resolution since 2001. The high spatial and temporal resolutions and the temporal coverage of the MODIS sensor will allow for improved modeling of POA irradiance in the NSRDB. However, cloud and snow cover interfere with MODIS observations of ground surface albedo, and thus they require post-processing. The MODIS production team applied a gap-filling methodology to interpolate observations obscured by clouds or ephemeral snow. This approach filled pixels with ephemeral snow cover because the 8-day temporal resolution is too coarse to accurately capture the variability of snow cover and its impact on albedo estimates. However, for this project, accurate representation of daily snow cover change is important in producing the NSRDB. Therefore, NREL also used the Integrated Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System data set, which provides daily snow cover observations

Factors affecting projected Arctic surface shortwave heating and albedo change in coupled climate models.

PubMed

Holland, Marika M; Landrum, Laura

2015-07-13

We use a large ensemble of simulations from the Community Earth System Model to quantify simulated changes in the twentieth and twenty-first century Arctic surface shortwave heating associated with changing incoming solar radiation and changing ice conditions. For increases in shortwave absorption associated with albedo reductions, the relative influence of changing sea ice surface properties and changing sea ice areal coverage is assessed. Changes in the surface sea ice properties are associated with an earlier melt season onset, a longer snow-free season and enhanced surface ponding. Because many of these changes occur during peak solar insolation, they have a considerable influence on Arctic surface shortwave heating that is comparable to the influence of ice area loss in the early twenty-first century. As ice area loss continues through the twenty-first century, it overwhelms the influence of changes in the sea ice surface state, and is responsible for a majority of the net shortwave increases by the mid-twenty-first century. A comparison with the Arctic surface albedo and shortwave heating in CMIP5 models indicates a large spread in projected twenty-first century change. This is in part related to different ice loss rates among the models and different representations of the late twentieth century ice albedo and associated sea ice surface state. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Factors affecting projected Arctic surface shortwave heating and albedo change in coupled climate models

PubMed Central

Holland, Marika M.; Landrum, Laura

2015-01-01

We use a large ensemble of simulations from the Community Earth System Model to quantify simulated changes in the twentieth and twenty-first century Arctic surface shortwave heating associated with changing incoming solar radiation and changing ice conditions. For increases in shortwave absorption associated with albedo reductions, the relative influence of changing sea ice surface properties and changing sea ice areal coverage is assessed. Changes in the surface sea ice properties are associated with an earlier melt season onset, a longer snow-free season and enhanced surface ponding. Because many of these changes occur during peak solar insolation, they have a considerable influence on Arctic surface shortwave heating that is comparable to the influence of ice area loss in the early twenty-first century. As ice area loss continues through the twenty-first century, it overwhelms the influence of changes in the sea ice surface state, and is responsible for a majority of the net shortwave increases by the mid-twenty-first century. A comparison with the Arctic surface albedo and shortwave heating in CMIP5 models indicates a large spread in projected twenty-first century change. This is in part related to different ice loss rates among the models and different representations of the late twentieth century ice albedo and associated sea ice surface state. PMID:26032318

How Well Can We Estimate Areal-Averaged Spectral Surface Albedo from Ground-Based Transmission in an Atlantic Coastal Area?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kassianov, Evgueni I.; Barnard, James C.; Flynn, Connor J.

Areal-averaged albedos are particularly difficult to measure in coastal regions, because the surface is not homogenous, consisting of a sharp demarcation between land and water. With this difficulty in mind, we evaluate a simple retrieval of areal-averaged surface albedo using ground-based measurements of atmospheric transmission alone under fully overcast conditions. To illustrate the performance of our retrieval, we find the areal-averaged albedo using measurements from the Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) at five wavelengths (415, 500, 615, 673, and 870 nm). These MFRSR data are collected at a coastal site in Graciosa Island, Azores supported by the U.S. Department ofmore » Energy’s (DOE’s) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. The areal-averaged albedos obtained from the MFRSR are compared with collocated and coincident Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) white-sky albedo at four nominal wavelengths (470, 560, 670 and 860 nm). These comparisons are made during a 19-month period (June 2009 - December 2010). We also calculate composite-based spectral values of surface albedo by a weighted-average approach using estimated fractions of major surface types observed in an area surrounding this coastal site. Taken as a whole, these three methods of finding albedo show spectral and temporal similarities, and suggest that our simple, transmission-based technique holds promise, but with estimated errors of about ±0.03. Additional work is needed to reduce this uncertainty in areas with inhomogeneous surfaces.« less

An Algorithm for the Retrieval of 30-m Snow-Free Albedo from Landsat Surface Reflectance and MODIS BRDF

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shuai, Yanmin; Masek, Jeffrey G.; Gao, Feng; Schaaf, Crystal B.

2011-01-01

We present a new methodology to generate 30-m resolution land surface albedo using Landsat surface reflectance and anisotropy information from concurrent MODIS 500-m observations. Albedo information at fine spatial resolution is particularly useful for quantifying climate impacts associated with land use change and ecosystem disturbance. The derived white-sky and black-sky spectral albedos maybe used to estimate actual spectral albedos by taking into account the proportion of direct and diffuse solar radiation arriving at the ground. A further spectral-to-broadband conversion based on extensive radiative transfer simulations is applied to produce the broadband albedos at visible, near infrared, and shortwave regimes. The accuracy of this approach has been evaluated using 270 Landsat scenes covering six field stations supported by the SURFace RADiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) and Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains (ARM/SGP) network. Comparison with field measurements shows that Landsat 30-m snow-free shortwave albedos from all seasons generally achieve an absolute accuracy of +/-0.02 - 0.05 for these validation sites during available clear days in 2003-2005,with a root mean square error less than 0.03 and a bias less than 0.02. This level of accuracy has been regarded as sufficient for driving global and regional climate models. The Landsat-based retrievals have also been compared to the operational 16-day MODIS albedo produced every 8-days from MODIS on Terra and Aqua (MCD43A). The Landsat albedo provides more detailed landscape texture, and achieves better agreement (correlation and dynamic range) with in-situ data at the validation stations, particularly when the stations include a heterogeneous mix of surface covers.

An Approach for the Long-Term 30-m Land Surface Snow-Free Albedo Retrieval from Historic Landsat Surface Reflectance and MODIS-based A Priori Anisotropy Knowledge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shuai, Yanmin; Masek, Jeffrey G.; Gao, Feng; Schaaf, Crystal B.; He, Tao

2014-01-01

Land surface albedo has been recognized by the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) as an essential climate variable crucial for accurate modeling and monitoring of the Earth's radiative budget. While global climate studies can leverage albedo datasets from MODIS, VIIRS, and other coarse-resolution sensors, many applications in heterogeneous environments can benefit from higher-resolution albedo products derived from Landsat. We previously developed a "MODIS-concurrent" approach for the 30-meter albedo estimation which relied on combining post-2000 Landsat data with MODIS Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) information. Here we present a "pre-MODIS era" approach to extend 30-m surface albedo generation in time back to the 1980s, through an a priori anisotropy Look-Up Table (LUT) built up from the high quality MCD43A BRDF estimates over representative homogenous regions. Each entry in the LUT reflects a unique combination of land cover, seasonality, terrain information, disturbance age and type, and Landsat optical spectral bands. An initial conceptual LUT was created for the Pacific Northwest (PNW) of the United States and provides BRDF shapes estimated from MODIS observations for undisturbed and disturbed surface types (including recovery trajectories of burned areas and non-fire disturbances). By accepting the assumption of a generally invariant BRDF shape for similar land surface structures as a priori information, spectral white-sky and black-sky albedos are derived through albedo-to-nadir reflectance ratios as a bridge between the Landsat and MODIS scale. A further narrow-to-broadband conversion based on radiative transfer simulations is adopted to produce broadband albedos at visible, near infrared, and shortwave regimes.We evaluate the accuracy of resultant Landsat albedo using available field measurements at forested AmeriFlux stations in the PNW region, and examine the consistency of the surface albedo generated by this approach

Inversion of the Earth spherical albedo from radiation-pressure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkman, Olli; Herranen, Joonas; Näränen, Jyri; Virtanen, Jenni; Koivula, Hannu; Poutanen, Markku; Penttilä, Antti; Gritsevich, Maria; Muinonen, Karri

2017-04-01

We are studying the retrieval of the spherical albedo and net radiation of the Earth from the perturbations caused by the planet's radiation on the dynamics of its satellites. The spherical or Bond albedo gives the ratio of the fluxes incident on and scattered by the planet. The net radiation represents the net heat input into the planet's climate system and drives changes in its atmospheric, surface, and ocean temperatures. The ultimate aim of the study is inverting the problem and estimating the Earth albedo based on observations of satellites, simultaneously improving the space-geodetic positioning accuracy. Here we investigate the effect of the spherical albedo on satellite orbits with the help of a simplified model. We simulate the propagation of satellite orbits using a new simulation software. The simulation contains the main perturbing forces on medium and high Earth orbits, used by, e.g., navigation satellites, including the radiation pressure of reflected sunlight from the Earth. An arbitrary satellite shape model can be used, and the rotation of the satellite is modeled. In this first study, we use a box-wing satellite model with a simple surface BRDF. We also assume a diffusely reflecting Earth with a single global albedo value. We vary the Earth albedo and search for systematic effects on different orbits. Thereafter, we estimate the dependence of the albedo accuracy on the satellite positioning and timing data available. We show that the inversion of the spherical albedo with reasonable accuracy is feasible from the current space-geodetic measurements.

UV/visible albedos from airborne measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webb, A.; Kylling, A.; Stromberg, I.

2003-04-01

During the INSPECTRO campaign effective surface albedo was measured at UV and visible wavelengths from two airborne platforms, a Cessna light aircraft and a hot air balloon. On board the Cessna was a scanning spectroradiometer measuring from 300 - 500nm at 10nm intervals. The NILU cube, with 6 faces and two UV channels at 312 and 340nm, was suspended beneath the hot air balloon. Flights took place over East Anglia during September, 2002. Balloon flights were made below cloud layers, while the Cessna flew both above and below cloud. The Cessna also flew over Barton Bendish, where surface albedos have been measured for ground truthing of satellite data, and measured the effective albedo at four visible wave- lengths in the centres of the satellite bandpass functions. Results of measurements from the different platforms are compared, and model simulations used to deduce the surface albedo from the effective albedo at altitude, giving, for example, an albedo of 0.02 ± 0.01 at 340nm.

THE ALBEDOS OF KEPLER'S CLOSE-IN SUPER-EARTHS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Demory, Brice-Olivier, E-mail: bod21@cam.ac.uk

Exoplanet research focusing on the characterization of super-Earths is currently limited to the handful of targets orbiting bright stars that are amenable to detailed study. This Letter proposes to look at alternative avenues to probe the surface and atmospheric properties of this category of planets, known to be ubiquitous in our galaxy. I conduct Markov Chain Monte Carlo light-curves analyses for 97 Kepler close-in R{sub P} ≲ 2.0 R {sub ⊕} super-Earth candidates with the aim of detecting their occultations at visible wavelengths. Brightness temperatures and geometric albedos in the Kepler bandpass are constrained for 27 super-Earth candidates. A hierarchicalmore » Bayesian modeling approach is then employed to characterize the population-level reflective properties of these close-in super-Earths. I find median geometric albedos A{sub g} in the Kepler bandpass ranging between 0.16 and 0.30, once decontaminated from thermal emission. These super-Earth geometric albedos are statistically larger than for hot Jupiters, which have medians A{sub g} ranging between 0.06 and 0.11. A subset of objects, including Kepler-10b, exhibit significantly larger albedos (A{sub g} ≳ 0.4). I argue that a better understanding of the incidence of stellar irradation on planetary surface and atmospheric processes is key to explain the diversity in albedos observed for close-in super-Earths.« less

Landsat and Sentinel-2A Surface Albedo Estimation and Evaluation Against In Situ Measurements Across the US SURFRAD Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franch, B.; Skakun, S.; Vermote, E.; Roger, J. C.

2017-12-01

Surface albedo is an essential parameter not only for developing climate models, but also for most energy balance studies. While climate models are usually applied at coarse resolution, the energy balance studies, which are mainly focused on agricultural applications, require a high spatial resolution. The albedo, estimated through the angular integration of the BRDF, requires an appropriate angular sampling of the surface. However, Sentinel-2A sampling characteristics, with nearly constant observation geometry and low illumination variation, prevent from deriving a surface albedo product. In this work, we apply an algorithm developed to derive a Landsat surface albedo to Sentinel-2A. It is based on the BRDF parameters estimated from the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) CMG surface reflectance product (M{O,Y}D09) using the VJB method (Vermote et al., 2009). Sentinel-2A unsupervised classification images are used to disaggregate the BRDF parameters to the Sentinel-2 spatial resolution. We test the results over five different sites of the US SURFRAD network and plot the results versus albedo field measurements. Additionally, we also test this methodology using Landsat-8 images.

Constraints on the diameter and albedo of 2060 Chiron

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sykes, Mark V.; Walker, Russell G.

1991-01-01

Asteroid 2060 Chiron is the largest known object exhibiting cometary activity. Radiometric observations made in 1983 from a ground-based telescope and the IRAS are used to examine the limits on Chiron's diameter and albedo. It is argued that Chiron's surface temperature distribution at that time is best described by an 'isothermal latitude' or 'rapid-rotator' model. Consequently, Chiron has a maximum diameter of 372 kilometers and a minimum geometric albedo of 2.7 percent. This is much bigger and darker than previous estimates, and suggests that gravity may play a significant role in the evolution of gas and dust emissions. It is also found that for large obliquities, surface temperatures can vary dramatically on time scales of a decade, and that such geometry may play a critical role in explaining Chiron's observed photometric behavior since its discovery in 1977.

Constraints on the diameter and albedo of 2060 chiron.

PubMed

Sykes, M V; Walker, R G

1991-02-15

Asteroid 2060 Chiron is the largest known object exhibiting cometary activity. Radiometric observations made in 1983 from a ground-based telescope and the Infrared Astronomical Satellite are used to examine the limits on Chiron's diameter and albedo. It is argued that Chiron's surface temperature distribution at that time is best described by an "isothermal latitude" or "rapid-rotator" model. Consequently, Chiron has a maximum diameter of 372 kilometers and a minimum geometric albedo of 2.7%. This is much bigger and darker than previous estimates, and suggests that gravity may play a significant role in the evolution of gas and dust emissions. It is also found that for large obliquities, surface temperatures can vary dramatically on time scales of a decade, and that such geometry may play a critical role in explaining Chiron's observed photometric behavior since its discovery in 1977.

Are the circular, dark features on Comet Borrelly's surface albedo variations or pits?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Nelson, R.M.; Soderblom, L.A.; Hapke, B.W.

2004-01-01

The highest resolution images of Comet 19P/Borrelly show many dark features which, upon casual inspection, appear to be low albedo markings, but which may also be shadows or other photometric variations caused by a depression in the local topography. In order to distinguish between these two possible interpretations we conducted a photometric analysis of three of the most prominent of these features using six of the highest quality images from the September 22, 2001 Deep Space 1 (DS1) flyby. We find that: 1. The radiance in the darkest parts of each feature increases as phase angle decreases, similarly to the radiance behavior of the higher albedo surrounding terrain. The dark features could be either fully illuminated low albedo spots or, alternatively, they could be depressions. No part of any of the three regions was in full shadow. 2. One of the regions has a radiance profile consistent with a rimmed depression, the second, with a simple depression with no rim, and the third with a low albedo spot. 3. The regolith particles are backscattering and carbon black is one of the few candidate regolith materials that might explain this low albedo. We conclude that Borrelly's surface is geologically complex to the limit of resolution of the images with a combination complex topography, pits, troughs, peaks and ridges, and some very dark albedo markings, perhaps a factor of two to three darker than the average 3-4% albedo of the surrounding terrains. Our technique utilizing measured radiance profiles through the dark regions is able to discriminate between rimmed depressions, rimless depressions and simple albedo changes not associated with topography. ?? 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Continental United States High Resolution NLCD Land Cover – MODIS Albedo Database to Examine Albedo and Land Cover Change Relationships

EPA Science Inventory

Surface albedo influences climate by affecting the amount of solar radiation that is reflected at the Earth’s surface, and surface albedo is, in turn, affected by land cover. General Circulation Models typically use modeled or prescribed albedo to assess the influence of land co...

Observed Local Impacts of Global Irrigation on Surface Temperature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, L.; Dirmeyer, P.

2017-12-01

Agricultural irrigation has significant potential for altering local climate through reducing soil albedo, increasing evapotranspiration, and enabling greater leaf area. Numerous studies using regional or global climate models have demonstrated the cooling effects of irrigation on mean and extreme temperature, especially over regions where irrigation is extensive. However, these model-based results have not been validated due to the limitations of observational datasets. In this study, multiple satellite-based products, including the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) data sets, are used to isolate and quantify the local impacts of irrigation on surface climate over the irrigated regions, which are derived from the Global Map of Irrigation Areas (GMIA). The relationships among soil moisture, albedo, evapotranspiration, and surface temperature are explored. Strong evaporative cooling of irrigation on daytime surface temperature is found over the arid and semi-arid regions, such as California's Central Valley, the Great Plains, and central Asia. However, the cooling effects are less evident in most areas of eastern China, India, and the Lower Mississippi River Basin in spite of extensive irrigation over these regions. Results are also compared with irrigation experiments using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to assess the model's ability to represent land-atmosphere interactions in regards to irrigation.

Long-term surface temperature modeling of Pluto

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Earle, Alissa M.; Binzel, Richard P.; Young, Leslie A.; Stern, S. A.; Ennico, K.; Grundy, W.; Olkin, C. B.; Weaver, H. A.; New Horizons Geology and Geophysics Imaging Team

2017-05-01

NASA's New Horizons' reconnaissance of the Pluto system has revealed at high resolution the striking albedo contrasts from polar to equatorial latitudes on Pluto, as well as the sharpness of boundaries for longitudinal variations. These contrasts suggest that Pluto must undergo dynamic evolution that drives the redistribution of volatiles. Using the New Horizons results as a template, we explore the surface temperature variations driven seasonally on Pluto considering multiple timescales. These timescales include the current orbit (248 years) as well as the timescales for obliquity precession (peak-to-peak amplitude of 23° over 3 million years) and regression of the orbital longitude of perihelion (3.7 million years). These orbital variations create epochs of ;Extreme Seasons; where one pole receives a short, relatively warm summer and long winter, while the other receives a much longer, but less intense summer and short winter. We use thermal modeling to build upon the long-term insolation history model described by Earle and Binzel (2015) and investigate how these seasons couple with Pluto's albedo contrasts to create temperature effects. From this study we find that a bright region at the equator, once established, can become a site for net deposition. We see the region informally known as Sputnik Planitia as an example of this, and find it will be able to perpetuate itself as an ;always available; cold trap, thus having the potential to survive on million year or substantially longer timescales. Meanwhile darker, low-albedo, regions near the equator will remain relative warm and generally not attract volatile deposition. We argue that the equatorial region is a ;preservation zone; for whatever albedo is seeded there. This offers insight as to why the equatorial band of Pluto displays the planet's greatest albedo contrasts.

Generating multi-scale albedo look-up maps using MODIS BRDF/Albedo products and landsat imagery

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Surface albedo determines radiative forcing and is a key parameter for driving Earth’s climate. Better characterization of surface albedo for individual land cover types can reduce the uncertainty in estimating changes to Earth’s radiation balance due to land cover change. This paper presents a mult...

Global Monitoring of Martian Surface Albedo Changes from Orbital Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geissler, P.; Enga, M.; Mukherjee, P.

2013-12-01

Martian surface changes were first observed from orbit during the Mariner 9 and Viking Orbiter missions. They were found to be caused by eolian processes, produced by deposition of dust during regional and global dust storms and subsequent darkening of the surface through erosion and transportation of dust and sand. The albedo changes accumulated in the 20 years between Viking and Mars Global Surveyor were sufficient to alter the global circulation of winds and the climate of Mars according to model calculations (Fenton et al., Nature 2007), but little was known about the timing or frequency of the changes. Since 1999, we have had the benefit of continuous monitoring by a series of orbiting spacecraft that continues today with Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express. Daily synoptic observations enable us to determine whether the surface albedo changes are gradual or episodic in nature and to record the seasons that the changes take place. High resolution images of surface morphology and atmospheric phenomena help identify the physical mechanisms responsible for the changes. From these data, we hope to learn the combinations of atmospheric conditions and sediment properties that produce surface changes on Mars and possibly predict when they will take place in the future. Martian surface changes are particularly conspicuous in low albedo terrain, where even a thin layer of bright dust brightens the surface drastically. Equatorial dark areas are repeatedly coated and recoated by dust, which is later shed from the surface by a variety of mechanisms. An example is Syrtis Major, suddenly buried in bright dust by the global dust storm of 2001. Persistent easterly winds blew much of the dust cover away over the course of the next Martian year, but episodic changes continue today, particularly during southern summer when regional dust storms are rife. Another such region is Solis Planum, south of the Valles Marineris, where changes take place

Visible Wavelength Exoplanet Phase Curves from Global Albedo Maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webber, Matthew; Cahoy, Kerri Lynn

2015-01-01

To investigate the effect of three-dimensional global albedo maps we use an albedo model that: calculates albedo spectra for each points across grid in longitude and latitude on the planetary disk, uses the appropriate angles for the source-observer geometry for each location, and then weights and sums these spectra using the Tschebychev-Gauss integration method. This structure permits detailed 3D modeling of an illuminated planetary disk and computes disk-integrated phase curves. Different pressure-temperature profiles are used for each location based on geometry and dynamics. We directly couple high-density pressure maps from global dynamic radiative-transfer models to compute global cloud maps. Cloud formation is determined from the correlation of the species condensation curves with the temperature-pressure profiles. We use the detailed cloud patterns, of spatial-varying composition and temperature, to determine the observable albedo spectra and phase curves for exoplanets Kepler-7b and HD189733b. These albedo spectra are used to compute planet-star flux ratios using PHOENIX stellar models, exoplanet orbital parameters, and telescope transmission functions. Insight from the Earthshine spectrum and solid surface albedo functions (e.g. water, ice, snow, rocks) are used with our planetary grid to determine the phase curve and flux ratios of non-uniform Earth and Super Earth-like exoplanets with various rotation rates and stellar types. Predictions can be tailored to the visible and Near-InfraRed (NIR) spectral windows for the Kepler space telescope, Hubble space telescope, and future observatories (e.g. WFIRST, JWST, Exo-C, Exo-S). Additionally, we constrain the effect of exoplanet urban-light on the shape of the night-side phase curve for Earths and Super-Earths.

Land surface albedo and vegetation feedbacks enhanced the millennium drought in south-east Australia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Evans, Jason P.; Meng, Xianhong; McCabe, Matthew F.

2017-01-01

In this study, we have examined the ability of a regional climate model (RCM) to simulate the extended drought that occurred throughout the period of 2002 through 2007 in south-east Australia. In particular, the ability to reproduce the two drought peaks in 2002 and 2006 was investigated. Overall, the RCM was found to reproduce both the temporal and the spatial structure of the drought-related precipitation anomalies quite well, despite using climatological seasonal surface characteristics such as vegetation fraction and albedo. This result concurs with previous studies that found that about two-thirds of the precipitation decline can be attributed to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Simulation experiments that allowed the vegetation fraction and albedo to vary as observed illustrated that the intensity of the drought was underestimated by about 10 % when using climatological surface characteristics. These results suggest that in terms of drought development, capturing the feedbacks related to vegetation and albedo changes may be as important as capturing the soil moisture-precipitation feedback. In order to improve our modelling of multi-year droughts, the challenge is to capture all these related surface changes simultaneously, and provide a comprehensive description of land surface-precipitation feedback during the droughts development.

Simulated cold bias being improved by using MODIS time-varying albedo in the Tibetan Plateau in WRF model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, X.; Lyu, S.; Zhang, T.; Zhao, L.; Li, Z.; Han, B.; Li, S.; Ma, D.; Chen, H.; Ao, Y.; Luo, S.; Shen, Y.; Guo, J.; Wen, L.

2018-04-01

Systematic cold biases exist in the simulation for 2 m air temperature in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) when using regional climate models and global atmospheric general circulation models. We updated the albedo in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model lower boundary condition using the Global LAnd Surface Satellite Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer albedo products and demonstrated evident improvement for cold temperature biases in the TP. It is the large overestimation of albedo in winter and spring in the WRF model that resulted in the large cold temperature biases. The overestimated albedo was caused by the simulated precipitation biases and over-parameterization of snow albedo. Furthermore, light-absorbing aerosols can result in a large reduction of albedo in snow and ice cover. The results suggest the necessity of developing snow albedo parameterization using observations in the TP, where snow cover and melting are very different from other low-elevation regions, and the influence of aerosols should be considered as well. In addition to defining snow albedo, our results show an urgent call for improving precipitation simulation in the TP.

Spring snow albedo feedback in daily data over Russia: Comparing in-situ measurements with reanalysis products.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wegmann, M.; Zolina, O.; Jacobi, H. W.

2016-12-01

Global warming is enhanced at high northern latitudes where the Arctic surface air temperature has risen at twice the rate of the global average in recent decades - a feature called Arctic amplification. This recent Arctic warming signal likely results from several factors such as the albedo feedback due to a diminishing cryosphere, enhanced poleward atmospheric and oceanic heat transport, and changes in humidity. Surface albedo feedback is stating that the additional amount of shortwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere decreases with decreasing surface albedo whereas surface air temperature increases with decreasing surface albedo. It is considered a positive feedback in that an initial warming perturbation than kicks off a strengthening warming. Looking at the Northern Hemisphere with its large landmasses, snow albedo feedback is especially strong since most of these landmasses experience snow cover during boreal wintertime. Unfortunately, so far there remains a lack of reliable observational data over large parts of the cryosphere. Satellite products cover large parts of the NH, however lack high temporal resolution and have problems with large solar zenith angles as well as over complex terrain (eg. Wang et al. 2014). Our analysis focuses at the Russian territory where we utilize in-situ radiation and snow depth measurements. We found 50 stations which measure both variables on a daily basis for the period 2000-2013. Since Hall (2004) found that 50% of the notal NH snow albedo feedback caused by global warming occurs during NH spring, we focus on the transition period of March to June (MAMJ). Thackeray & Fletcher 2006 compared albedo feedback processes CMIP3 and CMIP5 model families and found while the models represent the feedback process accurately, there are still inherent biases and outdated parameterizations. Therefore we use the daily observations and state of the art reanalysis products to 1) evaluate reanalysis and model products in respect to

VIS and NIR land surface albedo sensitivity of the Ent Terrestrial Biosphere Model to forcing leaf area index

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montes, C.; Kiang, N. Y.; Ni-Meister, W.; Yang, W.; Schaaf, C.; Aleinov, I. D.; Jonas, J.; Zhao, F. A.; Yao, T.; Wang, Z.; Sun, Q.; Carrer, D.

2016-12-01

Land surface albedo is a major controlling factor in vegetation-atmosphere transfers, modifying the components of the energy budget, the ecosystem productivity and patterns of regional and global climate. General Circulation Models (GCMs) are coupled to Dynamic Global Vegetation Models (DGVMs) to solve vegetation albedo by using simple schemes prescribing albedo based on vegetation classification, and approximations of canopy radiation transport for multiple plant functional types (PFTs). In this work, we aim at evaluating the sensitivity of the NASA Ent Terrestrial Biosphere Model (TBM), a demographic DGVM coupled to the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) GCM, in estimating VIS and NIR surface albedo by using variable forcing leaf area index (LAI). The Ent TBM utilizes a new Global Vegetation Structure Dataset (GVSD) to account for geographically varying vegetation tree heights and densities, as boundary conditions to the gap-probability based Analytical Clumped Two-Stream (ACTS) canopy radiative transfer scheme (Ni-Meister et al., 2010). Land surface and vegetation characteristics for the Ent GVSD are obtained from a number of earth observation platforms and algorithms, including the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover and plant functional types (PFTs) (Friedl et al., 2010), soil albedo derived from MODIS (Carrer et al., 2014), and vegetation height from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) on board ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite) (Simard et al., 2011; Tang et al., 2014). Three LAI products are used as input to ACTS/Ent TBM: MODIS MOD15A2H product (Yang et al., 2006), Beijing Normal University LAI (Yuan et al., 2011), and Global Data Sets of Vegetation (LAI3g) (Zhu et al. 2013). The sensitivity of the Ent TBM VIS and NIR albedo to the three LAI products is assessed, compared against the previous GISS GCM vegetation classification and prescribed Lambertian albedoes (Matthews, 1984), and against

Observations of Surfzone Albedo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinnett, G.; Feddersen, F.

2014-12-01

The surfzone environment (where waves break) contains several unique and previously unconsidered processes that affect the heat budget. Entering short-wave radiation is a dominant term in both shelf and surfzone heat budgets. In contrast to the shelf, however, depth limited wave breaking in the surfzone generates spray, whitewater and suspended sediments, elevating the surface albedo (ratio of reflected to incident short-wave radiation). Elevated albedo reduces the level of solar short-wave radiation entering the water, potentially resulting in less heating. Additionally, surfzone water quality is often impacted by fecal bacteria contamination. As bacteria mortality is related to short-wave solar radiation, elevated surfzone albedo could reduce pathogen mortality, impacting human health. Albedo in the open ocean has been frequently studied and parameterizations often consider solar zenith angle, wind speed and ocean chlorophyll concentration, producing albedo values typically near 0.06. However, surfzone albedo observations have been extremely sparse, yet show depth limited wave breaking may increase the albedo by nearly a factor of 10 up to 0.5. Here, we present findings from a field study at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography pier to observe the affect of waves on surfzone albedo. Concurrent measurements were taken with a four-way radiometer (to measure both downwelling and upwelling short-wave and long wave radiation) mounted above the surfzone. A co-located GoPro camera was used to relate visual aspects of the surfzone to measured reflectance, and wave height and period were observed with a bottom mounted pressure sensor in 5 m water depth just outside the surfzone. Wind speed and direction were observed on the pier 10 m above the water surface. Here, we will examine the surfzone albedo dependence on surfzone parameters, such as wave height.

Impact of soil moisture and winter wheat height from the Loess Plateau in Northwest China on surface spectral albedo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zhenchao; Yang, Jiaxi; Gao, Xiaoqing; Zheng, Zhiyuan; Yu, Ye; Hou, Xuhong; Wei, Zhigang

2018-02-01

The understanding of surface spectral radiation and reflected radiation characteristics of different surfaces in different climate zones aids in the interpretation of regional surface energy transfers and the development of land surface models. This study analysed surface spectral radiation variations and corresponding surface albedo characteristics at different wavelengths as well as the relationship between 5-cm soil moisture and surface albedo on typical sunny days during the winter wheat growth period. The analysis was conducted using observational Loess Plateau winter wheat data from 2015. The results show that the ratio of atmospheric downward radiation to global radiation on typical sunny days is highest for near-infrared wavelengths, followed by visible wavelengths and ultraviolet wavelengths, with values of 57.3, 38.7 and 4.0%, respectively. The ratio of reflected spectral radiation to global radiation varies based on land surface type. The visible radiation reflected by vegetated surfaces is far less than that reflected by bare ground, with surface albedos of 0.045 and 0.27, respectively. Thus, vegetated surfaces absorb more visible radiation than bare ground. The atmospheric downward spectral radiation to global radiation diurnal variation ratios vary for near-infrared wavelengths versus visible and ultraviolet wavelengths on typical sunny days. The near-infrared wavelengths ratio is higher in the morning and evening and lower at noon. The visible and ultraviolet wavelengths ratios are lower in the morning and evening and higher at noon. Visible and ultraviolet wavelength surface albedo is affected by 5-cm soil moisture, demonstrating a significant negative correlation. Excluding near-infrared wavelengths, correlations between surface albedo and 5-cm soil moisture pass the 99% confidence test at each wavelength. The correlation with 5-cm soil moisture is more significant at shorter wavelengths. However, this study obtained surface spectral radiation

The importance of accurate glacier albedo for estimates of surface mass balance on Vatnajökull: evaluating the surface energy budget in a regional climate model with automatic weather station observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steffensen Schmidt, Louise; Aðalgeirsdóttir, Guðfinna; Guðmundsson, Sverrir; Langen, Peter L.; Pálsson, Finnur; Mottram, Ruth; Gascoin, Simon; Björnsson, Helgi

2017-07-01

A simulation of the surface climate of Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, carried out with the regional climate model HIRHAM5 for the period 1980-2014, is used to estimate the evolution of the glacier surface mass balance (SMB). This simulation uses a new snow albedo parameterization that allows albedo to exponentially decay with time and is surface temperature dependent. The albedo scheme utilizes a new background map of the ice albedo created from observed MODIS data. The simulation is evaluated against observed daily values of weather parameters from five automatic weather stations (AWSs) from the period 2001-2014, as well as in situ SMB measurements from the period 1995-2014. The model agrees well with observations at the AWS sites, albeit with a general underestimation of the net radiation. This is due to an underestimation of the incoming radiation and a general overestimation of the albedo. The average modelled albedo is overestimated in the ablation zone, which we attribute to an overestimation of the thickness of the snow layer and not taking the surface darkening from dirt and volcanic ash deposition during dust storms and volcanic eruptions into account. A comparison with the specific summer, winter, and net mass balance for the whole of Vatnajökull (1995-2014) shows a good overall fit during the summer, with a small mass balance underestimation of 0.04 m w.e. on average, whereas the winter mass balance is overestimated by on average 0.5 m w.e. due to too large precipitation at the highest areas of the ice cap. A simple correction of the accumulation at the highest points of the glacier reduces this to 0.15 m w.e. Here, we use HIRHAM5 to simulate the evolution of the SMB of Vatnajökull for the period 1981-2014 and show that the model provides a reasonable representation of the SMB for this period. However, a major source of uncertainty in the representation of the SMB is the representation of the albedo, and processes currently not accounted for in RCMs

Improving winter leaf area index estimation in coniferous forests and its significance in estimating the land surface albedo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Rong; Chen, Jing M.; Pavlic, Goran; Arain, Altaf

2016-09-01

Winter leaf area index (LAI) of evergreen coniferous forests exerts strong control on the interception of snow, snowmelt and energy balance. Simulation of winter LAI and associated winter processes in land surface models is challenging. Retrieving winter LAI from remote sensing data is difficult due to cloud contamination, poor illumination, lower solar elevation and higher radiation reflection by snow background. Underestimated winter LAI in evergreen coniferous forests is one of the major issues limiting the application of current remote sensing LAI products. It has not been fully addressed in past studies in the literature. In this study, we used needle lifespan to correct winter LAI in a remote sensing product developed by the University of Toronto. For the validation purpose, the corrected winter LAI was then used to calculate land surface albedo at five FLUXNET coniferous forests in Canada. The RMSE and bias values for estimated albedo were 0.05 and 0.011, respectively, for all sites. The albedo map over coniferous forests across Canada produced with corrected winter LAI showed much better agreement with the GLASS (Global LAnd Surface Satellites) albedo product than the one produced with uncorrected winter LAI. The results revealed that the corrected winter LAI yielded much greater accuracy in simulating land surface albedo, making the new LAI product an improvement over the original one. Our study will help to increase the usability of remote sensing LAI products in land surface energy budget modeling.

Global Albedo

Atmospheric Science Data Center

2013-04-19

... reflected by the Earth's surface at various wavelengths. A quantitative measure of this reflected sunlight is described by the albedo, ... parts of the planet, and for monthly as well as seasonal time increments. These and other surface and vegetation products from the MISR ...

Regional mapping of aerosol population and surface albedo of Titan by the massive inversion of the Cassini/VIMS dataset

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodriguez, S.; Cornet, T.; Maltagliati, L.; Appéré, T.; Le Mouelic, S.; Sotin, C.; Barnes, J. W.; Brown, R. H.

2017-12-01

Mapping Titan's surface albedo is a necessary step to give reliable constraints on its composition. However, even after the end of the Cassini mission, surface albedo maps of Titan, especially over large regions, are still very rare, the surface windows being strongly affected by atmospheric contributions (absorption, scattering). A full radiative transfer model is an essential tool to remove these effects, but too time-consuming to treat systematically the 50000 hyperspectral images VIMS acquired since the beginning of the mission. We developed a massive inversion of VIMS data based on lookup tables computed from a state-of-the-art radiative transfer model in pseudo-spherical geometry, updated with new aerosol properties coming from our analysis of observations acquired recently by VIMS (solar occultations and emission phase curves). Once the physical properties of gases, aerosols and surface are fixed, the lookup tables are built for the remaining free parameters: the incidence, emergence and azimuth angles, given by navigation; and two products (the aerosol opacity and the surface albedo at all wavelengths). The lookup table grid was carefully selected after thorough testing. The data inversion on these pre-computed spectra (opportunely interpolated) is more than 1000 times faster than recalling the full radiative transfer at each minimization step. We present here the results from selected flybys. We invert mosaics composed by couples of flybys observing the same area at two different times. The composite albedo maps do not show significant discontinuities in any of the surface windows, suggesting a robust correction of the effects of the geometry (and thus the aerosols) on the observations. Maps of aerosol and albedo uncertainties are also provided, along with absolute errors. We are thus able to provide reliable surface albedo maps at pixel scale for entire regions of Titan and for the whole VIMS spectral range.

Evaluation of MODIS and VIIRS Albedo Products Using Ground and Airborne Measurements and Development of Ceos/Wgcv/Lpv Albedo Ecv Protocols

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Z.; Roman, M. O.; Schaaf, C.; Sun, Q.; Liu, Y.; Saenz, E. J.; Gatebe, C. K.

2014-12-01

Surface albedo, defined as the ratio of the hemispheric reflected solar radiation flux to the incident flux upon the surface, is one of the essential climate variables and quantifies the radiation interaction between the atmosphere and the land surface. An absolute accuracy of 0.02-0.05 for global surface albedo is required by climate models. The MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) standard BRDF/albedo product makes use of a linear "kernel-driven" RossThick-LiSparse Reciprocal (RTLSR) BRDF model to describe the reflectance anisotropy. The surface albedo is calculated by integrating the BRDF over the above ground hemisphere. While MODIS Terra was launched in Dec 1999 and MODIS Aqua in 2002, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite was launched more recently on October 28, 2011. Thus a long term record of BRDF, albedo and Nadir BRDF-Adjusted Reflectance (NBAR) products from VIIRS can be generated through MODIS heritage algorithms. Several investigations have evaluated the MODIS albedo products during the growing season, as well as during dormant and snow covered periods. The Land Product Validation (LPV) sub-group of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Working Group on Calibration and Validation (WGCV) aims to address the challenges associated with the validation of global land products. The validation of global surface radiation/albedo products is one of the LPV subgroup activities. In this research, a reference dataset covering various land surface types and vegetation structure is assembled to assess the accuracy of satellite albedo products. This dataset includes in situ data (Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN), FLUXNET and Long Term Ecological Research network (LTER) etc.) and airborne measurements (e.g. Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR)). Spatially representative analysis is applied to each site to establish whether the ground measurements can adequately represent moderate spatial

Wind streaks: geological and botanical effects on surface albedo contrast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimbelman, James R.; Williams, Steven H.

1996-09-01

Two wind streaks in the eastern Mojave Desert of California were examined to gain insight into the origin of the surface brightness contrast that makes them visible, both on the ground and in remote sensing data. The two localities are: a 4-km-long dark streak oriented S43E from the Amboy cinder cone (34°32'N, 115°46'W), located on a Quaternary basalt flow covered with aeolian sand, and a 2-km-long dark streak oriented S22E from a low hill near the southwestern base of Sleeping Beauty Mountain (34°48'N, 116°20'W), located on a sand-covered alluvial surface. In both cases, the dark streaks have enhanced rock abundances on the streak surface, relative to the surroundings. At the Amboy streak, slope wash likely contributed to the rock concentration on the streak surface, shielded from burial under aeolian sand by the cinder cone. At the Sleeping Beauty streak, the relative albedo contrast is strongly emphasized by the presence of Big Galleta grass only outside of the streak. The albedo contrast of the Sleeping Beauty streak can be effectively eliminated by the seasonal presence of annual grass preferentially within the streak. Some plants may have reflectances that are strongly dependent upon viewing and illumination geometry, raising the possibility that certain terrestrial aeolian features may appear variable on a diurnal basis. Alluvial processes appear to have been important at both localities for redistributing surface materials, even given the infrequent rain conditions present in the Mojave Desert.

The Low Albedo of Comets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buratti, B. J.; Choukroun, M.; Bauer, J. M.

2016-12-01

Comets are among the handful of objects with very low albedos, in the 0.02-0.06 range. Dark material is common in the outer Solar System, but analysis of the spectra and albedo of this material by spacecraft including Cassini and New Horizons shows that it is diverse, covering a range of compositions. Some is neutral-colored in the visible, such as that found on Phoebe, while some is very red, such as that on the surfaces of D-type asteroids or the low-albedo side of Iapetus. The different types of low-albedo material may reflect both compositional diversity, including contamination by volatiles or darkening agents, and divergent alteration histories. The key question is whether a particular sub-type of low albedo material is pristine - an unprocessed accumulation of interstellar dust - or an end product of polymerization and photolysis into ever more complex materials. Comets have albedos similar to the leading hemisphere of Iapetus, the surface of Titan, and the lowest-albedo C-type and D-type asteroids. Observations by the WISE and NEOWISE cameras show that comets have consistently low albedos (1). The first quantitative measurement of low-albedo material in the Kuiper Belt, from which comets such as Jupiter Family Comets including 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko come, shows that even this material is not as dark as that found on comets (2). Results from both Stardust (3) and more recently Rosetta (4, 5) show that cometary surfaces contain prebiotic molecules, including the amino acid glycine. Other very low albedo objects have also been connected to complex organic molecules: on Iapetus, PAHs have been detected (6), and Titan's surface is believed to be covered with hydrocarbons produced in its haze layer (7). The presence of organic molecules, including complex ones, could be the unique characteristic of the very darkest material. The delivery of pre-biotic material from comets to the young Earth could represent a key link in the origins of terrestrial life. (1

Assessing surface albedo change and its induced radiation budget under rapid urbanization with Landsat and GLASS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Yonghong; Jia, Gensuo; Pohl, Christine; Zhang, Xiaoxuan; van Genderen, John

2016-02-01

Radiative forcing (RF) induced by land use (mainly surface albedo) change is still not well understood in climate change science, especially the effects of changes in urban albedo due to rapid urbanization on the urban radiation budget. In this study, a modified RF derivation approach based on Landsat images was used to quantify changes in the solar radiation budget induced by variations in surface albedo in Beijing from 2001 to 2009. Field radiation records from a Beijing meteorological station were used to identify changes in RF at the local level. There has been rapid urban expansion over the last decade, with the urban land area increasing at about 3.3 % annually from 2001 to 2009. This has modified three-dimensional urban surface properties, resulting in lower albedo due to complex building configurations of urban centers and higher albedo on flat surfaces of suburban areas and cropland. There was greater solar radiation (6.93 × 108 W) in the urban center in 2009 than in 2001. However, large cropland and urban fringe areas caused less solar radiation absorption. RF increased with distance from the urban center (less than 14 km) and with greater urbanization, with the greatest value being 0.41 W/m2. The solar radiation budget in urban areas was believed to be mainly influenced by urban structural changes in the horizontal and vertical directions. Overall, the results presented herein indicate that cumulative urbanization impacts on the natural radiation budget could evolve into an important driver of local climate change.

Land Surface Albedo From EPS/AVHRR : Method For Retrieval and Validation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacob, G.

2015-12-01

The scope of Land Surface Analysis Satellite Applications Facility (LSA-SAF) is to increase benefit from EUMETSAT Satellites (MSG and EPS) data by providing added value products for the meteorological and environmental science communities with main applications in the fields of climate modelling, environmental management, natural hazards management, and climate change detection. The MSG/SEVIRI daily albedo product is disseminated operationally by the LSA-SAF processing centre based in Portugal since 2009. This product so-called MDAL covers Europe and Africa includes in the visible, near infrared and shortwave bands at a resolution of 3km at the equator. Recently, an albedo product at 1km so-called ETAL has been built from EPS/AVHRR observations in order to primarily MDAL product outside the MSG disk, while ensuring a global coverage. The methodology is common to MSG and EPS data and relies on the inversion of the BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) model of Roujean et al. On a given target, ETAL products exploits the variability of viewing angles whereas MDAL looks at the variations of solar illumination. The comparison of ETAL albedo product against MODIS and MSG/SEVIRI products over the year 2015 is instructive in many ways and shows in general a good agreement between them. The dispersion may be accounted by different factors that will be explained The additional information provided by EPS appears to be particularly beneficial for high latitudes during winter and for snow albedo.

Assessment of VIIRS daily BRDF/Albedo product using in situ measurement of SURFRAD sites and MODIS V006 daily BRDF/Albedo product

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y.; Wang, Z.; Sun, Q.; Schaaf, C.; Roman, M. O.

2014-12-01

Surface albedo is defined as the ratio of upwelling to downwelling radiative flux. It's important for understanding the global energy budget. Remote sensing albedo products provide global time continuous coverage to help capture global energy variability and change. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi-NPP satellite, launched on October 28, 2011, is aiming to provide continues data record with the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which has been providing Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)/Albedo product since 2000. By utilizing the same approach that was used for the most recently V006 daily MODIS BRDF/Albedo product, VIIRS has the ability to keep providing products for research and operational users. Validating albedo product of VIIRS using in situmeasured albedo can assure the quality for land surface climate and biosphere models, and comparing with MODIS product can assure time continues of BRDF/albedo product. The daily BRDF/Albedo product still uses 16-day period multispectral, cloud-cleared, atmospherically-corrected surface reflectances to fit the Ross-Thick/Li-Sparse-Reciprocal semi-empirical BRDF model. But the multiday observations are also weighted based on proximity to the production date in order to emphasis on that individual day. Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) was established in 1993 through the support of NOAA's Office of Global Programs. In situ albedo was driven from downwelling and upwelling radiative flux measured from the towers. Fraction of diffuse sky light was calculated using the direct and diffuse solar recorded in the data. It was further used to translate VIIRS, MODIS black sky and white sky albedos into actual albedo at local solar noon. Results show that VIIRS, MODIS and in situ albedo agree well at SURFARD spatially representative sites. While the VIIRS surface reflectance, snow, and cloud algorithms are still undergoing revision, the result shows that

Arctic Sea Ice Classification and Mapping for Surface Albedo Parameterization in Sea Ice Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nghiem, S. V.; Clemente-Colón, P.; Perovich, D. K.; Polashenski, C.; Simpson, W. R.; Rigor, I. G.; Woods, J. E.; Nguyen, D. T.; Neumann, G.

2016-12-01

A regime shift of Arctic sea ice from predominantly perennial sea ice (multi-year ice or MYI) to seasonal sea ice (first-year ice or FYI) has occurred in recent decades. This shift has profoundly altered the proportional composition of different sea ice classes and the surface albedo distribution pertaining to each sea ice class. Such changes impacts physical, chemical, and biological processes in the Arctic atmosphere-ice-ocean system. The drastic changes upset the traditional geophysical representation of surface albedo of the Arctic sea ice cover in current models. A critical science issue is that these profound changes must be rigorously and systematically observed and characterized to enable a transformative re-parameterization of key model inputs, such as ice surface albedo, to ice-ocean-atmosphere climate modeling in order to obtain re-analyses that accurately reproduce Arctic changes and also to improve sea ice and weather forecast models. Addressing this challenge is a strategy identified by the National Research Council study on "Seasonal to Decadal Predictions of Arctic Sea Ice - Challenges and Strategies" to replicate the new Arctic reality. We review results of albedo characteristics associated with different sea ice classes such as FYI and MYI. Then we demonstrate the capability for sea ice classification and mapping using algorithms developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and by the U.S. National Ice Center for use with multi-sourced satellite radar data at L, C, and Ku bands. Results obtained with independent algorithms for different radar frequencies consistently identify sea ice classes and thereby cross-verify the sea ice classification methods. Moreover, field observations obtained from buoy webcams and along an extensive trek across Elson Lagoon and a sector of the Beaufort Sea during the BRomine, Ozone, and Mercury EXperiment (BROMEX) in March 2012 are used to validate satellite products of sea ice classes. This research enables the mapping

Geenland Glacier Albedo Variability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2004-01-01

The program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA) is a NASA-funded project with the prime goal of addressing the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet. Since the formal initiation of the program in 1995, there has been a significant improvement in the estimates of the mass balance of the ice sheet. Results from this program reveal that the high-elevation regions of the ice sheet are approximately in balance, but the margins are thinning. Laser surveys reveal significant thinning along 70 percent of the ice sheet periphery below 2000 m elevations, and in at least one outlet glacier, Kangerdlugssuaq in southeast Greenland, thinning has been as much as 10 m/yr. This study examines the albedo variability in four outlet glaciers to help separate out the relative contributions of surface melting versus ice dynamics to the recent mass balance changes. Analysis of AVHRR Polar Pathfinder albedo shows that at the Petermann and Jakobshavn glaciers, there has been a negative trend in albedo at the glacier terminus from 1981 to 2000, whereas the Stor+strommen and Kangerdlugssuaq glaciers show slightly positive trends in albedo. These findings are consistent with recent observations of melt extent from passive microwave data which show more melt on the western side of Greenland and slightly less on the eastern side. Significance of albedo trends will depend on where and when the albedo changes occur. Since the majority of surface melt occurs in the shallow sloping western margin of the ice sheet where the shortwave radiation dominates the energy balance in summer (e.g. Jakobshavn region) this region will be more sensitive to changes in albedo than in regions where this is not the case. Near the Jakobshavn glacier, even larger changes in albedo have been observed, with decreases as much as 20 percent per decade.

Greenland Glacier Albedo Variability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

The program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA) is a NASA-funded project with the prime goal of addressing the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet. Since the formal initiation of the program in 1995, there has been a significant improvement in the estimates of the mass balance of the ice sheet. Results from this program reveal that the high-elevation regions of the ice sheet are approximately in balance, but the margins are thinning. Laser surveys reveal significant thinning along 70 percent of the ice sheet periphery below 2000 m elevations, and in at least one outlet glacier, Kangerdlugssuaq in southeast Greenland, thinning has been as much as 10 m/yr. This study examines the albedo variability in four outlet glaciers to help separate out the relative contributions of surface melting versus ice dynamics to the recent mass balance changes. Analysis of AVHRR Polar Pathfinder albedo shows that at the Petermann and Jakobshavn glaciers, there has been a negative trend in albedo at the glacier terminus from 1981 to 2000, whereas the Stor+strommen and Kangerdlugssuaq glaciers show slightly positive trends in albedo. These findings are consistent with recent observations of melt extent from passive microwave data which show more melt on the western side of Greenland and slightly less on the eastern side. Significance of albedo trends will depend on where and when the albedo changes occur. Since the majority of surface melt occurs in the shallow sloping western margin of the ice sheet where the shortwave radiation dominates the energy balance in summer (e.g. Jakobshavn region) this region will be more sensitive to changes in albedo than in regions where this is not the case. Near the Jakobshavn glacier, even larger changes in albedo have been observed, with decreases as much as 20 percent per decade.

Development of a Novel Multispectral Instrument for Handheld and UAS Measurements of Surface Albedo; First Applications for Glaciers in the Peruvian Andes and for Nevada's Black Rock Desert

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boehmler, J. M.; Stevens, C.; Arnott, W. P.; Watts, A.; All, J.; Schmitt, C. G.

2017-12-01

Accurate atmospheric aerosol characteristics derived from satellite measurements are needed over a variety of land surfaces. Nonhomogeneous and bright surface reflectance across California and Nevada may be a contributing factor in the discrepancies observed between ground based and satellite-retrieved atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD). We developed and deployed a compact and portable instrument to measure albedo to evaluate a major factor that influences the accuracy of AOD retrievals. The instrument will be operated on an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to control areal averaging for comparison with satellite derived albedo from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). A handheld version of the instrument was mounted on a trekking pole and used for obtaining in situ glacier albedo measurements in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru during the summer of 2017. The instrument weighs approximately 433 g and consists of two parts, a mountable, payload portion (300 g) which houses the sensors, and a handheld screen (133 g) to display real-time data from the payload portion. Both parts are powered by a 9V battery and run on a Teensy 3.6/3.2 microcontroller. To retrieve albedo, two micro-spectrometers manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics, each with a spectral range of 340 -780 nm, are utilized; one for obtaining the downwelling solar radiation and the other for measuring the solar radiation reflected from the surface. Additional components on the instrument include temperature, pressure and humidity sensors with a one second time response; a GPS for position and altitude; an infrared sensor to measure ground temperature; a digital level and compass for orienting the instrument; a camera for taking photos of the sky and surface; a radio for two-way communication between the screen display and sensor payload; and a micro SD card for recording data. We will present the instrument design along with surface albedo measurements for glaciers of the Peruvian

Impact of MODIS Sensor Calibration Updates on Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Reflectance and Albedo Trends

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Casey, Kimberly A.; Polashenski, Chris M.; Chen, Justin; Tedesco, Marco

2017-01-01

We evaluate Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface reflectance and albedo trends using the newly released Collection 6 (C6) MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) products over the period 2001-2016. We find that the correction of MODIS sensor degradation provided in the new C6 data products reduces the magnitude of the surface reflectance and albedo decline trends obtained from previous MODIS data (i.e., Collection 5, C5). Collection 5 and 6 data product analysis over GrIS is characterized by surface (i.e., wet vs. dry) and elevation (i.e., 500-2000 m, 2000 m and greater) conditions over the summer season from 1 June to 31 August. Notably, the visible-wavelength declining reflectance trends identified in several bands of MODIS C5 data from previous studies are only slightly detected at reduced magnitude in the C6 versions over the dry snow area. Declining albedo in the wet snow and ice area remains over the MODIS record in the C6 product, albeit at a lower magnitude than obtained using C5 data. Further analyses of C6 spectral reflectance trends show both reflectance increases and decreases in select bands and regions, suggesting that several competing processes are contributing to Greenland Ice Sheet albedo change. Investigators using MODIS data for other ocean, atmosphere and/or land analyses are urged to consider similar re-examinations of trends previously established using C5 data.

Impacts of ocean albedo alteration on Arctic sea ice restoration and Northern Hemisphere climate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cvijanovic, Ivana; Caldeira, Ken; MacMartin, Douglas G.

The Arctic Ocean is expected to transition into a seasonally ice-free state by mid-century, enhancing Arctic warming and leading to substantial ecological and socio-economic challenges across the Arctic region. It has been proposed that artificially increasing high latitude ocean albedo could restore sea ice, but the climate impacts of such a strategy have not been previously explored. Motivated by this, we investigate the impacts of idealized high latitude ocean albedo changes on Arctic sea ice restoration and climate. In our simulated 4xCO₂ climate, imposing surface albedo alterations over the Arctic Ocean leads to partial sea ice recovery and a modestmore » reduction in Arctic warming. With the most extreme ocean albedo changes, imposed over the area 70°–90°N, September sea ice cover stabilizes at ~40% of its preindustrial value (compared to ~3% without imposed albedo modifications). This is accompanied by an annual mean Arctic surface temperature decrease of ~2 °C but no substantial global mean temperature decrease. Imposed albedo changes and sea ice recovery alter climate outside the Arctic region too, affecting precipitation distribution over parts of the continental United States and Northeastern Pacific. For example, following sea ice recovery, wetter and milder winter conditions are present in the Southwest United States while the East Coast experiences cooling. We conclude that although ocean albedo alteration could lead to some sea ice recovery, it does not appear to be an effective way of offsetting the overall effects of CO₂ induced global warming.« less

Impacts of ocean albedo alteration on Arctic sea ice restoration and Northern Hemisphere climate

DOE PAGES

Cvijanovic, Ivana; Caldeira, Ken; MacMartin, Douglas G.

2015-04-01

The Arctic Ocean is expected to transition into a seasonally ice-free state by mid-century, enhancing Arctic warming and leading to substantial ecological and socio-economic challenges across the Arctic region. It has been proposed that artificially increasing high latitude ocean albedo could restore sea ice, but the climate impacts of such a strategy have not been previously explored. Motivated by this, we investigate the impacts of idealized high latitude ocean albedo changes on Arctic sea ice restoration and climate. In our simulated 4xCO₂ climate, imposing surface albedo alterations over the Arctic Ocean leads to partial sea ice recovery and a modestmore » reduction in Arctic warming. With the most extreme ocean albedo changes, imposed over the area 70°–90°N, September sea ice cover stabilizes at ~40% of its preindustrial value (compared to ~3% without imposed albedo modifications). This is accompanied by an annual mean Arctic surface temperature decrease of ~2 °C but no substantial global mean temperature decrease. Imposed albedo changes and sea ice recovery alter climate outside the Arctic region too, affecting precipitation distribution over parts of the continental United States and Northeastern Pacific. For example, following sea ice recovery, wetter and milder winter conditions are present in the Southwest United States while the East Coast experiences cooling. We conclude that although ocean albedo alteration could lead to some sea ice recovery, it does not appear to be an effective way of offsetting the overall effects of CO₂ induced global warming.« less

Validation of snow characteristics and snow albedo feedback in the Canadian Regional Climate Model simulations over North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, B.; Sushama, L.; Diro, G. T.

2015-12-01

Snow characteristics and snow albedo feedback (SAF) over North America, as simulated by the fifth-generation Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM5), when driven by ERA-40/ERA-Interim, CanESM2 and MPI-ESM-LR at the lateral boundaries, are analyzed in this study. Validation of snow characteristics is performed by comparing simulations against available observations from MODIS, ISCCP and CMC. Results show that the model is able to represent the main spatial distribution of snow characteristics with some overestimation in snow mass and snow depth over the Canadian high Arctic. Some overestimation in surface albedo is also noted for the boreal region which is believed to be related to the snow unloading parameterization, as well as the overestimation of snow albedo. SAF is assessed both in seasonal and climate change contexts when possible. The strength of SAF is quantified as the amount of additional net shortwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere as surface albedo decreases in association with a 1°C increase in surface temperature. Following Qu and Hall (2007), this is expressed as the product of the variation in planetary albedo with surface albedo and the change in surface albedo for 1°C change in surface air temperature during the season, which in turn is determined by the strength of the snow cover and snowpack metamorphosis feedback loops. Analysis of the latter term in the seasonal cycle suggests that for CRCM5 simulations, the snow cover feedback loop is more dominant compared to the snowpack metamorphosis feedback loop, whereas for MODIS, the two feedback loops have more or less similar strength. Moreover, the SAF strength in the climate change context appears to be weaker than in the seasonal cycle and is sensitive to the driving GCM and the RCP scenario.

Carbonization in Titan Tholins: implication for low albedo on surfaces of Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giri, Chaitanya; McKay, Christopher P.; Goesmann, Fred; Schäfer, Nadine; Li, Xiang; Steininger, Harald; Brinckerhoff, William B.; Gautier, Thomas; Reitner, Joachim; Meierhenrich, Uwe J.

2016-07-01

Astronomical observations of Centaurs and trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) yield two characteristic features - near-infrared (NIR) reflectance and low geometric albedo. The first feature apparently originates due to complex organic material on their surfaces, but the origin of the material contributing to low albedo is not well understood. Titan tholins synthesized to simulate aerosols in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan have also been used for simulating the NIR reflectances of several Centaurs and TNOs. Here, we report novel detections of large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nanoscopic soot aggregates and cauliflower-like graphite within Titan tholins. We put forth a proof of concept stating the surfaces of Centaurs and TNOs may perhaps comprise of highly `carbonized' complex organic material, analogous to the tholins we investigated. Such material would apparently be capable of contributing to the NIR reflectances and to the low geometric albedos simultaneously.

The Effect of Temperature on Reflectance of Materials Space Weathered by Laser Irradiation: Implications for Increased Albedo Measured by LOLA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corley, L. M.; Gillis-Davis, J.; Lucey, P. G.; Trang, D.

2016-12-01

Space weathering significantly changes the optical properties of airless planetary bodies, resulting in decreased albedo, spectral reddening, and subdued absorption bands. These optical changes are caused by the presence of submicroscopic iron (SMFe) in agglutinates and patina glass, which is observed in lunar soils returned by the Apollo and Luna missions. Micrometeorite impacts and solar wind irradiation are key processes that produce SMFe. The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter measured a trend of increased albedo at 1064 nm with decreasing temperature and a spike in 1064-nm albedo in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). Although the LOLA albedo increase could be due to the presence of ice, increased reflectance is also consistent with reduced space weathering. It is currently unknown how temperature influences the production of SMFe and the resulting spectral effects. Low temperatures of polar regions and PSRs (as low as 50K) may affect the volume of impact melt/vaporization produced and the subsequent development of SMFe. To test this hypothesis we compare visible to near-infrared (VNIR) reflectance spectra of materials laser space weathered at low temperature and room temperature. Olivine irradiated at 88K is brighter at 1064 nm and exhibits less reddening than olivine irradiated at 295K. Radiative transfer modeling provided abundance estimates for SMFe. Based on these estimates, olivine irradiated at 88K contains 65-70% the abundance of SMFe of olivine irradiated at 295K. Laser weathering of a highlands analog at 85K results in reduced reddening but does not yield a statistically significant increased brightness at 1064 nm with lower temperature. Hence, our results show that laser weathering at low temperatures produces a measurable effect in VNIR spectra for olivine and less so for a plagioclase dominated soil. We attribute this mineral dependent observation to a decrease in the production of SMFe, and we will

Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts.

PubMed

Rutherford, William A; Painter, Thomas H; Ferrenberg, Scott; Belnap, Jayne; Okin, Gregory S; Flagg, Cody; Reed, Sasha C

2017-03-10

Drylands represent the planet's largest terrestrial biome and evidence suggests these landscapes have large potential for creating feedbacks to future climate. Recent studies also indicate that dryland ecosystems are responding markedly to climate change. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) ‒ soil surface communities of lichens, mosses, and/or cyanobacteria ‒ comprise up to 70% of dryland cover and help govern fundamental ecosystem functions, including soil stabilization and carbon uptake. Drylands are expected to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation regimes, and such alterations may impact biocrust communities by promoting rapid mortality of foundational species. In turn, biocrust community shifts affect land surface cover and roughness-changes that can dramatically alter albedo. We tested this hypothesis in a full-factorial warming (+4 °C above ambient) and altered precipitation (increased frequency of 1.2 mm monsoon-type watering events) experiment on the Colorado Plateau, USA. We quantified changes in shortwave albedo via multi-angle, solar-reflectance measurements. Warming and watering treatments each led to large increases in albedo (>30%). This increase was driven by biophysical factors related to treatment effects on cyanobacteria cover and soil surface roughness following treatment-induced moss and lichen mortality. A rise in dryland surface albedo may represent a previously unidentified feedback to future climate.

Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rutherford, William A.; Painter, Thomas H.; Ferrenberg, Scott; Belnap, Jayne; Okin, Gregory S.; Flagg, Cody; Reed, Sasha C.

2017-03-01

Drylands represent the planet’s largest terrestrial biome and evidence suggests these landscapes have large potential for creating feedbacks to future climate. Recent studies also indicate that dryland ecosystems are responding markedly to climate change. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) ‒ soil surface communities of lichens, mosses, and/or cyanobacteria ‒ comprise up to 70% of dryland cover and help govern fundamental ecosystem functions, including soil stabilization and carbon uptake. Drylands are expected to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation regimes, and such alterations may impact biocrust communities by promoting rapid mortality of foundational species. In turn, biocrust community shifts affect land surface cover and roughness—changes that can dramatically alter albedo. We tested this hypothesis in a full-factorial warming (+4 °C above ambient) and altered precipitation (increased frequency of 1.2 mm monsoon-type watering events) experiment on the Colorado Plateau, USA. We quantified changes in shortwave albedo via multi-angle, solar-reflectance measurements. Warming and watering treatments each led to large increases in albedo (>30%). This increase was driven by biophysical factors related to treatment effects on cyanobacteria cover and soil surface roughness following treatment-induced moss and lichen mortality. A rise in dryland surface albedo may represent a previously unidentified feedback to future climate.

Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rutherford, William A.; Painter, Thomas H.; Ferrenberg, Scott; Belnap, Jayne; Okin, Gregory S.; Flagg, Cody B.; Reed, Sasha C.

2017-01-01

Drylands represent the planet’s largest terrestrial biome and evidence suggests these landscapes have large potential for creating feedbacks to future climate. Recent studies also indicate that dryland ecosystems are responding markedly to climate change. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) ‒ soil surface communities of lichens, mosses, and/or cyanobacteria ‒ comprise up to 70% of dryland cover and help govern fundamental ecosystem functions, including soil stabilization and carbon uptake. Drylands are expected to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation regimes, and such alterations may impact biocrust communities by promoting rapid mortality of foundational species. In turn, biocrust community shifts affect land surface cover and roughness—changes that can dramatically alter albedo. We tested this hypothesis in a full-factorial warming (+4 °C above ambient) and altered precipitation (increased frequency of 1.2 mm monsoon-type watering events) experiment on the Colorado Plateau, USA. We quantified changes in shortwave albedo via multi-angle, solar-reflectance measurements. Warming and watering treatments each led to large increases in albedo (>30%). This increase was driven by biophysical factors related to treatment effects on cyanobacteria cover and soil surface roughness following treatment-induced moss and lichen mortality. A rise in dryland surface albedo may represent a previously unidentified feedback to future climate.

Forests tend to cool the land surface in the temperate zone: An analysis of the mechanisms controlling radiometric surface temperature change in managed temperate ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoy, P. C.; Katul, G. G.; Juang, J.; Siqueira, M. B.; Novick, K. A.; Essery, R.; Dore, S.; Kolb, T. E.; Montes-Helu, M. C.; Scott, R. L.

2010-12-01

Vegetation is an important control on the surface energy balance and thereby surface temperature. Boreal forests and arctic shrubs are thought to warm the land surface by absorbing more radiation than the vegetation they replace. The surface temperatures of tropical forests tend to be cooler than deforested landscapes due to enhanced evapotranspiration. The effects of reforestation on surface temperature change in the temperate zone is less-certain, but recent modeling efforts suggest forests have a global warming effect. We quantified the mechanisms driving radiometric surface changes following landcover changes using paired ecosystem case studies from the Ameriflux database with energy balance models of varying complexity. Results confirm previous findings that deciduous and coniferous forests in the southeastern U.S. are ca. 1 °C cooler than an adjacent field on an annual basis because aerodynamic/ecophysiological cooling of 2-3 °C outweighs an albedo-related warming of <1 °C. A 50-70% reduction in the aerodynamic resistance to sensible and latent heat exchange in the forests dominated the cooling effect. A grassland ecosystem that succeeded a stand-replacing ponderosa pine fire was ca. 1 °C warmer than unburned stands because a 1.5 °C aerodynamic warming offset a slight surface cooling due to greater albedo and soil heat flux. An ecosystem dominated by mesquite shrub encroachment was nearly 2 °C warmer than a native grassland ecosystem as aerodynamic and albedo-related warming outweighed a small cooling effect due to changes in soil heat flux. The forested ecosystems in these case studies are documented to have higher carbon uptake than the non-forested systems. Results suggest that temperate forests tend to cool the land surface and suggest that previous model-based findings that forests warm the Earth’s surface globally should be reconsidered.Changes to radiometric surface temperature (K) following changes in vegetation using paired ecosystem case

Use of In Situ and Airborne Multiangle Data to Assess MODIS- and Landsat-based Estimates of Surface Albedo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roman, Miguel O.; Gatebe, Charles K.; Shuai, Yanmin; Wang, Zhuosen; Gao, Feng; Masek, Jeff; Schaaf, Crystal B.

2012-01-01

The quantification of uncertainty of global surface albedo data and products is a critical part of producing complete, physically consistent, and decadal land property data records for studying ecosystem change. A current challenge in validating satellite retrievals of surface albedo is the ability to overcome the spatial scaling errors that can contribute on the order of 20% disagreement between satellite and field-measured values. Here, we present the results from an uncertain ty analysis of MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat albedo retrievals, based on collocated comparisons with tower and airborne multi-angular measurements collected at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program s (ARM) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) site during the 2007 Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLAS33 IC 07). Using standard error propagation techniques, airborne measurements obtained by NASA s Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) were used to quantify the uncertainties associated with MODIS and Landsat albedos across a broad range of mixed vegetation and structural types. Initial focus was on evaluating inter-sensor consistency through assessments of temporal stability, as well as examining the overall performance of satellite-derived albedos obtained at all diurnal solar zenith angles. In general, the accuracy of the MODIS and Landsat albedos remained under a 10% margin of error in the SW(0.3 - 5.0 m) domain. However, results reveal a high degree of variability in the RMSE (root mean square error) and bias of albedos in both the visible (0.3 - 0.7 m) and near-infrared (0.3 - 5.0 m) broadband channels; where, in some cases, retrieval uncertainties were found to be in excess of 20%. For the period of CLASIC 07, the primary factors that contributed to uncertainties in the satellite-derived albedo values include: (1) the assumption of temporal stability in the retrieval of 500 m MODIS BRDF values over extended periods of cloud

Observed impacts of wind farms on land surface temperature in Inner Mongolia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, B.; Zhao, X.; Wu, D.; Zhao, W.; Wei, H.

2015-12-01

Abstract: The wind turbine industry in china has experienced a dramatic increase in recent years and wind farms (WFs) have an impact on the underlying surface conditions of climate system. This paper assesses the impacts of wind farms by analyzing the variations of the land surface temperature (LST) data for the period of 2003-2014 over a region consisted of 1097 turbines in the Huitengxile Wind Farm, the largest wind farm in Asia. We first compare the spatial coupling between the geographic layouts of the WFs and the spatial patterns of LST changes of two periods (post- versus pre- wind turbines construction) and then employ the difference of LST between WF pixels and surrounding non-WF pixels to quantify the effects of WFs. The results reveal that the LST at daytime increases by 0.52-0.86°C in winter, spring and autumn and decreases by about 0.56°C in summer over the WFs on average, with the spatial pattern of this warming or cooling generally coupled with the geographic distribution of the wind turbines, while the changes in LST at nighttime are much noisier. The daytime LST warming or cooling effects vary with seasons, and the strongest warming and tightest spatial coupling are in autumn months of September-November. The seasonal variations in albedo due to the construction of wind turbines are primarily responsible for the daytime LST changes. Areal mean decreases in winter, spring and autumn and increase in summer in albedo are observed over the WFs and the spatial pattern and magnitude of the changes in albedo couple very well with the layouts of the wind turbines. The increase (decrease) in albedo over the WFs indicates that WFs across the Huitengxile grassland absorb less (more) incoming radiation, thus resulting in a decrease (increase) in LST at daytime. The inter-annual variations in areal mean LST differences at daytime are highly correlated with those in areal mean albedo differences for all four seasons (R2=0.48~0.67). Our findings are in contrast

Enhancement of life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to include the effect of surface albedo on climate change: Comparing black and white roofs.

PubMed

Susca, Tiziana

2012-04-01

Traditionally, life cycle assessment (LCA) does not estimate a key property: surface albedo. Here an enhancement of the LCA methodology has been proposed through the development and employment of a time-dependent climatological model for including the effect of surface albedo on climate. The theoretical findings derived by the time-dependent model have been applied to the case study of a black and a white roof evaluated in the time-frames of 50 and 100 years focusing on the impact on global warming potential. The comparative life cycle impact assessment of the two roofs shows that the high surface albedo plays a crucial role in offsetting radiative forcings. In the 50-year time horizon, surface albedo is responsible for a decrease in CO(2)eq of 110-184 kg and 131-217 kg in 100 years. Furthermore, the white roof compared to the black roof, due to the high albedo, decreases the annual energy use of about 3.6-4.5 kWh/m(2). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can uncertainties in sea ice albedo reconcile patterns of data-model discord for the Pliocene and 20th/21st centuries?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Howell, Fergus W.; Haywood, Alan M.; Dolan, Aisling M.; Dowsett, Harry J.; Francis, Jane E; Hill, Daniel J.; Pickering, Steven J.; Pope, James O.; Salzmann, Ulrich; Wade, Bidget S

2014-01-01

General Circulation Model simulations of the mid-Pliocene warm period (mPWP, 3.264 to 3.025 Myr ago) currently underestimate the level of warming that proxy data suggest existed at high latitudes, with discrepancies of up to 11°C for sea surface temperature estimates and 17°C for surface air temperature estimates. Sea ice has a strong influence on high-latitude climates, partly due to the albedo feedback. We present results demonstrating the effects of reductions in minimum sea ice albedo limits in general circulation model simulations of the mPWP. While mean annual surface air temperature increases of up to 6°C are observed in the Arctic, the maximum decrease in model-data discrepancies is just 0.81°C. Mean annual sea surface temperatures increase by up to 2°C, with a maximum model-data discrepancy improvement of 1.31°C. It is also suggested that the simulation of observed 21st century sea ice decline could be influenced by the adjustment of the sea ice albedo parameterization.

An isoline separating relatively warm from relatively cool wintertime forest surface temperatures for the southeastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wickham, J.; Wade, T. G.; Riitters, K. H.

2014-09-01

Forest-oriented climate mitigation policies promote forestation as a means to increase uptake of atmospheric carbon to counteract global warming. Some have pointed out that a carbon-centric forest policy may be overstated because it discounts biophysical aspects of the influence of forests on climate. In extra-tropical regions, many climate models have shown that forests tend to be warmer than grasslands and croplands because forest albedos tend to be lower than non-forest albedos. A lower forest albedo results in higher absorption of solar radiation and increased sensible warming that is not offset by the cooling effects of carbon uptake in extra-tropical regions. However, comparison of forest warming potential in the context of climate models is based on a coarse classification system of tropical, temperate, and boreal. There is considerable variation in climate within the broad latitudinal zonation of tropical, temperate, and boreal, and the relationship between biophysical (albedo) and biogeochemical (carbon uptake) mechanisms may not be constant within these broad zones. We compared wintertime forest and non-forest surface temperatures for the southeastern United States and found that forest surface temperatures shifted from being warmer than non-forest surface temperatures north of approximately 36°N to cooler south of 36°N. Our results suggest that the biophysical aspects of forests' influence on climate reinforce the biogeochemical aspects of forests' influence on climate south of 36°N. South of 36°N, both biophysical and biogeochemical properties of forests appear to support forestation as a climate mitigation policy. We also provide some quantitative evidence that evergreen forests tend to have cooler wintertime surface temperatures than deciduous forests that may be attributable to greater evapotranspiration rates.

Assessment of NPP VIIRS Albedo Over Heterogeneous Crop Land in Northern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xiaodan; Wen, Jianguang; Xiao, Qing; Yu, Yunyue; You, Dongqin; Hueni, Andreas

2017-12-01

In this paper, the accuracy of Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) land surface albedo, which is derived from the direct estimation algorithm, was assessed using ground-based albedo observations from a wireless sensor network over a heterogeneous cropland in the Huailai station, northern China. Data from six nodes spanning 2013-2014 over vegetation, bare soil, and mixed terrain surfaces were utilized to provide ground reference at VIIRS pixel scale. The performance of VIIRS albedo was also compared with Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedos (Collection 5 and 6). The results indicate that the current granular VIIRS albedo has a high accuracy with a root-mean-square error of 0.02 for typical land covers. They are significantly correlated with ground references indicated by a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.73. The VIIRS albedo shows distinct advantages to GLASS and MODIS albedos over bare soil and mixed-cover surfaces, while it is inferior to the other two products over vegetated surfaces. Furthermore, its time continuity and the ability to capture the abrupt change of surface albedo are better than that of GLASS and MODIS albedo.

Deriving a global land surface albedo product from Landsat MSS, TM, ETM+, and OLI data based on the unified direct estimation approach

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Surface albedo is widely used in climate and environment applications as an important parameter for controlling the surface energy budget. There is an increasing need for fine resolution (< 100 m) albedo data for use in small scale applications and for validating coarse-resolution datasets; however,...

An approach for the long-term 30-m land surface snow-free albedo retrieval from historic Landsat surface reflectance and MODIS-based a priori anisotropy knowledge

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Land surface albedo has been recognized by the Global Terrestrial Observing System (GTOS) as an essential climate variable crucial for accurate modeling and monitoring of the Earth’s radiative budget. While global climate studies can leverage albedo datasets from MODIS, VIIRS, and other coarse-reso...

High frequency thermal emission from the lunar surface and near surface temperature of the Moon from Chang’E-2 microwave radiometer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Tuo; Fa, Wenzhe

2014-04-01

Near surface temperature of the Moon and thermal behaviors of the lunar regolith can provide important information for constraining thermal and magmatic evolution models of the Moon and engineering constrains for in situ lunar exploration system. In this study, China’s Chang’E-2 (CE-2) microwave radiometer (MRM) data at high frequency channels are used to investigate near surface temperature of the Moon given the penetration ability of microwave into the desiccated and porous lunar regolith. Factors that affect high frequency brightness temperature (TB), such as surface slope, solar albedo and dielectric constant, are analyzed first using a revised Racca’s temperature model. Radiative transfer theory is then used to model thermal emission from a semi-infinite regolith medium, with considering dielectric constant and temperature profiles within the regolith layer. To decouple the effect of diurnal temperature variation in the uppermost lunar surface, diurnal averaged brightness temperatures at high frequency channels are used to invert mean diurnal surface and subsurface temperatures based on their bilinear profiles within the regolith layer. Our results show that, at the scale of the spatial resolution of CE-2 MRM, surface slope of crater wall varies typically from about 20° to 30°, and this causes a variation in TB about 10-15 K. Solar albedo can give rise to a TB difference of about 5-10 K between maria and highlands, whereas a ∼2-8 K difference can be compensated by the dielectric constant on the other hand. Inversion results indicate that latitude (ϕ) variations of the mean diurnal surface and subsurface temperatures follow simple rules as cos0.30ϕ and cos0.36ϕ, respectively. The inverted mean diurnal temperature profiles at the Apollo 15 and 17 landing sites are also compared with the Apollo heat flow experiment data, showing an inversion uncertainty <4 K for surface temperature and <1 K for subsurface temperature.

Analysis of Temperature Maps of Selected Dawn Data Over the Surface of Vesta

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tosi, F.; Capria, M. T.; DeSanctis, M. C.; Palomba, E.; Grassi, D.; Capaccioni, F.; Ammannito, E.; Combe, J.-Ph.; Sunshine, J. M.; McCord, T. B.;

Clear-Sky Narrowband Albedo Variations Derived from VIRS and MODIS Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sun-Mack, Sunny; Chen, Yan; Arduini, Robert F.; Minnis, Patrick

2004-01-01

A critical parameter for detecting clouds and aerosols and for retrieving their microphysical properties is the clear-sky radiance. The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Project uses the visible (VIS; 0.63 m) and near-infrared (NIR; 1.6 or 2.13 m) channels available on same satellites as the CERES scanners. Another channel often used for cloud and aerosol, and vegetation cover retrievals is the vegetation (VEG; 0.86- m) channel that has been available on the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) for many years. Generally, clear-sky albedo for a given surface type is determined for conditions when the vegetation is either thriving or dormant and free of snow. Snow albedo is typically estimated without considering the underlying surface type. The albedo for a surface blanketed by snow, however, should vary with surface type because the vegetation often emerges from the snow to varying degrees depending on the vertical dimensions of the vegetation. For example, a snowcovered prairie will probably be brighter than a snowcovered forest because the snow typically falls off the trees exposing the darker surfaces while the snow on a grassland at the same temperatures will likely be continuous and, therefore, more reflective. Accounting for the vegetation-induced differences should improve the capabilities for distinguishing snow and clouds over different surface types and facilitate improvements in the accuracy of radiative transfer calculations between the snow-covered surface and the atmosphere, eventually leading to improvements in models of the energy budgets over land. This paper presents a more complete analysis of the CERES spectral clear-sky reflectances to determine the variations in clear-sky top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedos for both snow-free and snow-covered surfaces for four spectral channels using data from Terra and Aqua.. The results should be valuable for improved cloud retrievals and for modeling radiation fields.

Exploiting Surface Albedos Products to Bridge the Gap Between Remote Sensing Information and Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinty, Bernard; Andredakis, Ioannis; Clerici, Marco; Kaminski, Thomas; Taberner, Malcolm; Stephen, Plummer

2011-01-01

We present results from the application of an inversion method conducted using MODIS derived broadband visible and near-infrared surface albedo products. This contribution is an extension of earlier efforts to optimally retrieve land surface fluxes and associated two- stream model parameters based on the Joint Research Centre Two-stream Inversion Package (JRC-TIP). The discussion focuses on products (based on the mean and one-sigma values of the Probability Distribution Functions (PDFs)) obtained during the summer and winter and highlight specific issues related to snowy conditions. This paper discusses the retrieved model parameters including the effective Leaf Area Index (LAI), the background brightness and the scattering efficiency of the vegetation elements. The spatial and seasonal changes exhibited by these parameters agree with common knowledge and underscore the richness of the high quality surface albedo data sets. At the same time, the opportunity to generate global maps of new products, such as the background albedo, underscores the advantages of using state of the art algorithmic approaches capable of fully exploiting accurate satellite remote sensing datasets. The detailed analyses of the retrieval uncertainties highlight the central role and contribution of the LAI, the main process parameter to interpret radiation transfer observations over vegetated surfaces. The posterior covariance matrix of the uncertainties is further exploited to quantify the knowledge gain from the ingestion of MODIS surface albedo products. The estimation of the radiation fluxes that are absorbed, transmitted and scattered by the vegetation layer and its background is achieved on the basis of the retrieved PDFs of the model parameters. The propagation of uncertainties from the observations to the model parameters is achieved via the Hessian of the cost function and yields a covariance matrix of posterior parameter uncertainties. This matrix is propagated to the radiation

Operational Derivation of Surface Albedo and Down-Welling Short-Wave Radiation in the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geiger, B.; Carrer, D.; Meurey, C.; Roujean, J.-L.

2006-08-01

The Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Anal- ysis hosted by the Portuguese Meteorological Institute in Lisbon generates and distributes value added satellite products for numerical weather prediction and environ- mental applications in near-real time. Within the project consortium M´et´eo-France is responsible for the land sur- face albedo and down-welling short-wave radiation flux products. Since the beginning of the year 2005 Meteosat Second Generation data are routinely processed by the Land-SAF operational system. In general the validation studies carried out so far show a good consistency with in-situ observations or equivalent products derived from other satellites. After one year of operations a summary of the product characteristics and performances is given. Key words: Surface Albedo; Down-welling Radiation; Land-SAF.

Spatial Relationships Between Snow Contaminant Content, Grain Size, and Surface Temperature in Multi-spectral Remote Sensing Data of Mt. Rainier, WA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kay, J. E.; Hansen, G.; Gillespie, A.; Pettit, E.

2002-12-01

Relating cryosphere change to climate change requires estimation of radiative fluxes on snow-covered surfaces. The distribution of, and relationship between, snow-pack properties that affect radiative balance can be estimated with high-resolution remote-sensing data. MODIS/ASTER airborne simulator (MASTER) data were collected at Mt. Rainier to reveal spatial patterns of, and correlations between, snow contaminant content, grain size, and temperature. The visible and near-infrared (VNIR: 11 bands, 0.4-1.0 μm) and the short-wave infrared (SWIR: 14 bands, 1.6-2.4 μm) data are processed to bi-directional reflectance (BDR) and albedo, by removing atmospheric effects and by normalizing to Solar irradiance and incidence angle. VNIR BDR and albedo are used as a proxy for snow contaminant content. Physical and optical grain size are estimated by comparing SWIR BDR and albedo to modeled and measured spectra, and ground-truth measurements. The thermal infrared data (TIR: 10 bands, 8-13 μm) are processed to temperature by removing emissivity and atmospheric effects. In combination, the VNIR, SWIR, and TIR data reveal a distinct pattern of contaminants, grain size, and temperature related to a recent snowfall and the end-of-the-summer melting season. At lower elevations, the surface accumulation of dirty lag deposits resulted in snow with very low visible albedo (20-30 %), large physical and optical grain radii (500-1500 μm, 200 μm), and temperatures near the melting point. At higher elevations, the recent snowfall left snow with low contaminant content, and a higher visible albedo (60-90 %). However, a region near the summit with smaller physical and optical grain radii (400 μm, 100 μm), and temperatures below the melting point, is distinguished from a middle elevation region with grain sizes and temperatures similar to the lower region. Contaminants reduce VNIR albedo and significantly enhance absorption of incoming solar radiation. The spatial correlation between

Quantification of seasonal to annual mass balances from glacier surface albedo derived from optical satellite images, application on 30 glaciers in the French Alps for the period 2000-2015.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davaze, Lucas; Rabatel, Antoine; Arnaud, Yves; Sirguey, Pascal; Six, Delphine; Letreguilly, Anne; Dumont, Marie

2017-04-01

Increasing the number of glaciers monitored for surface mass balance is very challenging, especially using laborious methods based on in situ data. Complementary methods are therefore required to quantify the surface mass balance of unmonitored glaciers. The current study relies on the so-called albedo method, based on the analysis of albedo maps retrieved from optical satellite imagery acquired since 2000 by the MODIS sensor, onboard of TERRA satellite. Recent studies performed on single glaciers in the French Alps, the Himalayas or the Southern Alps of New Zealand revealed substantial relationships between summer minimum glacier-wide surface albedo and annual mass balance, because this minimum surface albedo is directly related to accumulation-area ratio and the equilibrium-line altitude. On the basis of 30 glaciers located in the French Alps where annual surface mass balance are available, our study conducted on the period 2000-2015 confirms the robustness and reliability of the relationship between the summer minimum surface albedo and the annual surface mass balance. At the seasonal scale, the integrated summer surface albedo is significantly correlated with the summer mass balance of the six glaciers seasonally surveyed. For the winter season, four of the six glaciers showed a significant correlation when linking the winter surface mass balance and the integrated winter surface albedo, using glacier-dependent thresholds to filter the albedo signal. Sensitivity study on the computed cloud detection algorithm revealed high confidence in retrieved albedo maps. These results are promising to monitor both annual and seasonal glacier-wide surface mass balances of individual glaciers at a regional scale using optical satellite images.

HIGH ALBEDO AND ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY CONCRETE FOR SMART GROWTH AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Concrete surfaces absorb heat from sunlight due to their low solar reflectivity (albedo). This increases the local ambient temperature in urban areas (the so-called "heat-island" effect). The heat-island effect leads to a waste of energy because of increased cooling costs. ...

Changes in summer sea ice, albedo, and portioning of surface solar radiation in the Pacific sector of Arctic Ocean during 1982-2009

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Ruibo; Tian-Kunze, Xiangshan; Leppäranta, Matti; Wang, Jia; Kaleschke, Lars; Zhang, Zhanhai

2016-08-01

SSM/I sea ice concentration and CLARA black-sky composite albedo were used to estimate sea ice albedo in the region 70°N-82°N, 130°W-180°W. The long-term trends and seasonal evolutions of ice concentration, composite albedo, and ice albedo were then obtained. In July-August 1982-2009, the linear trend of the composite albedo and the ice albedo was -0.069 and -0.046 units per decade, respectively. During 1 June to 19 August, melting of sea ice resulted in an increase of solar heat input to the ice-ocean system by 282 MJ·m-2 from 1982 to 2009. However, because of the counter-balancing effects of the loss of sea ice area and the enhanced ice surface melting, the trend of solar heat input to the ice was insignificant. The summer evolution of ice albedo matched the ice surface melting and ponding well at basin scale. The ice albedo showed a large difference between the multiyear and first-year ice because the latter melted completely by the end of a melt season. At the SHEBA geolocations, a distinct change in the ice albedo has occurred since 2007, because most of the multiyear ice has been replaced by first-year ice. A positive polarity in the Arctic Dipole Anomaly could be partly responsible for the rapid loss of summer ice within the study region in the recent years by bringing warmer air masses from the south and advecting more ice toward the north. Both these effects would enhance ice-albedo feedback.

Dominance of grain size impacts on seasonal snow albedo at open sites in New Hampshire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adolph, Alden C.; Albert, Mary R.; Lazarcik, James; Dibb, Jack E.; Amante, Jacqueline M.; Price, Andrea

2017-01-01

Snow cover serves as a major control on the surface energy budget in temperate regions due to its high reflectivity compared to underlying surfaces. Winter in the northeastern United States has changed over the last several decades, resulting in shallower snowpacks, fewer days of snow cover, and increasing precipitation falling as rain in the winter. As these climatic changes occur, it is imperative that we understand current controls on the evolution of seasonal snow albedo in the region. Over three winter seasons between 2013 and 2015, snow characterization measurements were made at three open sites across New Hampshire. These near-daily measurements include spectral albedo, snow optical grain size determined through contact spectroscopy, snow depth, snow density, black carbon content, local meteorological parameters, and analysis of storm trajectories using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model. Using analysis of variance, we determine that land-based winter storms result in marginally higher albedo than coastal storms or storms from the Atlantic Ocean. Through multiple regression analysis, we determine that snow grain size is significantly more important in albedo reduction than black carbon content or snow density. And finally, we present a parameterization of albedo based on days since snowfall and temperature that accounts for 52% of variance in albedo over all three sites and years. Our improved understanding of current controls on snow albedo in the region will allow for better assessment of potential response of seasonal snow albedo and snow cover to changing climate.

Retrieval of Surface Lambert Albedos and Aerosols Optical Depths Using OMEGA Near-IR EPF Observations of Mars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vincendon, M.; Langevin, Y.; Poulet, F.; Bibring, J.-P.; Gondet, B.

2007-03-01

We have analyzed five EPF sequences acquired by OMEGA/Mars Express in the near-IR over ice-free and ice-covered surfaces to retrieve simultaneously the Lambert albedo of the surface and the optical depth of aerosols.

Remote sensing albedo product validation over heterogenicity surface based on WSN: preliminary results and its uncertainty

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Xiaodan; Wen, Jianguang; Xiao, Qing; Peng, Jingjing; Liu, Qiang; Dou, Baocheng; Tang, Yong; Li, Xiuhong

2014-11-01

The evaluation of uncertainty in satellite-derived albedo products is critical to ensure their accuracy, stability and consistency for studying climate change. In this study, we assess the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) albedo 8 day standard product MOD43B3 using the ground-based albedometer measurement based on the wireless sensor network (WSN) technology. The experiment have been performed in Huailai, Hubei province. A 1.5 km*2 km area are selected as study region, which locates between 115.78° E-115.80° E and 40.35° N-40.37° N. This area is characterized by its distinct landscapes: bare ground between January and April, corn from May to Octorber. That is, this area is relatively homegeneous from January to Octorber, but in Novermber and December, the surface is very heterogeneous because of straw burning, as well as snow fall and snow melting. It is a big challenge to validate the MODIS albedo products because of the vast difference in spatial resolution between ground measurement and satellite measurement. Here, we use the HJ albedo products as the bridge that link the ground measurement with satellite data. Firstly, we analyses the spatial representativeness of the WSN site under green-up, dormant and snow covered situations to decide whether direct comparison between ground-based measurement and MODIS albedo can be made. The semivariogram is used here to describe the ground hetergeneity around the WSN site. In addition, the bias between the average albedo of the certain neighborhood centered at the WSN site and the center pixel albedo is also calculated.Then we compare the MOD43B3 value with the ground-based value. Result shows that MOD43B3 agree with in situ well during the growing season, however, there are relatively large difference between ground albedos and MCD43B3 albedos during dormant and snow-coverd periods.

Albedo climatology for European land surfaces retrieved from AVHRR data (1990-2014) and its spatial and temporal analysis from green-up to vegetation senescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sütterlin, M.; Stöckli, R.; Schaaf, C. B.; Wunderle, S.

2016-07-01

Satellite-based, long-term records of surface albedo characterization that accurately capture spatial and temporal patterns are essential to develop climate models and to monitor the impact of land use changes on the terrestrial energy and water balance. This study presents the first Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) and albedo data set derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Local Area Coverage reflectance data acquired on board National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Meteorological Operational platforms from 1990 to 2014 over Europe. The objectives of this paper are to describe the data set's surface albedo climatology and anomalies in the visible, near-infrared, and shortwave broadbands for the growing season months of May to September in order to facilitate utilization of the data by the climate modeling communities. The results demonstrate that the AVHRR BRDF and albedo data have temporal and spatial patterns that are appropriate for the underlying predominant land cover type and accurately reflect the associated climate variation. Visible and near-infrared broadband albedo anomalies are found to be contrasting in most years, and their spatial distributions depict responses of vegetation to climate events (e.g., heat waves). Visible albedo of crops and near-infrared albedo of pastures show a higher interannual variation than respective albedos of other snow-free land covers, while the interannual standard deviations are found to be lower than 0.015. Our findings indicate the importance of taking into account the spectrally distinct variability of surface albedo when analyzing its complex spatiotemporal dynamics in climate-related research.

Bimodal albedo distributions in the ablation zone of the southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moustafa, S. E.; Rennermalm, A. K.; Smith, L. C.; Miller, M. A.; Mioduszewski, J. R.

2014-09-01

Surface albedo is a key variable controlling solar radiation absorbed at the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface, and thus, meltwater production. Recent decline in surface albedo over the GrIS has been linked to enhanced snow grain metamorphic rates and amplified ice-albedo feedback from atmospheric warming. However, the importance of distinct surface types on ablation zone albedo and meltwater production is still relatively unknown, and excluded in surface mass balance models. In this study, we analyze albedo and ablation rates using in situ and remotely-sensed data. Observations include: (1) a new high-quality in situ spectral albedo dataset collected with an Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) spectroradiometer measuring at 325-1075 nm, along a 1.25 km transect during three days in June 2013; (2) broadband albedo at two automatic weather stations; and (3) daily MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo (MOD10A1) between 31 May and 30 August. We find that seasonal ablation zone albedos have a bimodal distribution, with two alternate states. This suggests that an abrupt switch from high to low albedo can be triggered by a modest melt event, resulting in amplified surface ablation rates. Our results show that such a shift corresponds to an observed melt rate percent difference increase of 51.6% during peak melt season (between 10-14 and 20-24 July 2013). Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that seasonal changes in GrIS ablation zone albedo are not exclusively a function of a darkening surface from ice crystal growth, but rather are controlled by changes in the fractional coverage of snow, bare ice, and impurity-rich surface types. As the climate continues to warm, regional climate models should consider the seasonal evolution of ice surface types in Greenland's ablation zone to improve projections of mass loss contributions to sea level rise.

Climatic change by cloudiness linked to the spatial variability of sea surface temperatures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otterman, J.

1975-01-01

An active role in modifying the earth's climate is suggested for low cloudiness over the circumarctic oceans. Such cloudiness, linked to the spatial differences in ocean surface temperatures, was studied. The temporal variations from year to year of ocean temperature patterns can be pronounced and therefore, the low cloudiness over this region should also show strong temporal variations, affecting the albedo of the earth and therefore the climate. Photographs are included.

The role of sea-ice albedo in the climate of slowly rotating aquaplanets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Salameh, Josiane; Popp, Max; Marotzke, Jochem

2018-04-01

We investigate the influence of the rotation period (P_{rot}) on the mean climate of an aquaplanet, with a focus on the role of sea-ice albedo. We perform aquaplanet simulations with the atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM6 for various rotation periods from one Earth-day to 365 Earth-days in which case the planet is synchronously rotating. The global-mean surface temperature decreases with increasing P_{rot} and sea ice expands equatorwards. The cooling of the mean climate with increasing P_{rot} is caused partly by the high surface albedo of sea ice on the dayside and partly by the high albedo of the deep convective clouds over the substellar region. The cooling caused by these deep convective clouds is weak for non-synchronous rotations compared to synchronous rotation. Sensitivity simulations with the sea-ice model switched off show that the global-mean surface temperature is up to 27 K higher than in our main simulations with sea ice and thus highlight the large influence of sea ice on the climate. We present the first estimates of the influence of the rotation period on the transition of an Earth-like climate to global glaciation. Our results suggest that global glaciation of planets with synchronous rotation occurs at substantially lower incoming solar irradiation than for planets with slow but non-synchronous rotation.

Albedo of cold sea ice with precipitated salt on the tropical ocean of Snowball Earth: field measurements and laboratory experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Light, B.; Black, T.; Carns, R.; Brandt, R.; Dadic, R.; Warren, S.

2012-04-01

During the initial freezing of the tropical ocean on Snowball Earth, the first ice to form would be sea ice, which contains salt within liquid brine inclusions. At temperatures below -23 C, significant amounts of salt begin to crystallize within the brine inclusions. These crystals scatter light, increasing the ice albedo. The most abundant salt is hydrohalite, NaCl.2H2O. A dry tropical atmosphere promoting ice surface sublimation would cause a salt crust to be left on the surface as a lag deposit. Such a high-albedo surface could be crucial during the snowball initiation. These processes must be considered when assigning albedos to sea ice in a climate model of Snowball Earth. Precipitation of salt within brine inclusions was observed on windswept bare ice of McMurdo Sound at the coast of Antarctica (78 S) in late winter. Consequently the albedo was higher at lower temperature. The precipitation process exhibited hysteresis, with hydrohalite precipitating at about -30 C and dissolving at about -23 C. The causes of the hysteresis are being investigated in laboratory experiments; they may involve biological macromolecules. Nowhere on the modern Earth does sea ice undergo sublimation at low temperatures for long enough to develop a salt crust before the summer melt begins, so this process is being investigated in our laboratory. A 1000-liter tank is used to grow artificial sea ice, and a system has been built to measure its albedo. A diffusely reflecting hemispherical dome of diameter 1.2 m is placed on top of the tank and illuminated from within. The interior of the dome illuminates the ice surface as well as serving as a platform for detecting the incident and backscattered radiance fields. The diffusely reflecting surfaces of the ice and the dome make it straightforward to estimate incoming and reflected irradiance as angular integrals of the radiance measurements. The albedo of the bare, cold (below -23 C) ice is 0.8 at visible wavelengths, decreasing toward the

Retrieval of Areal-averaged Spectral Surface Albedo from Transmission Data Alone: Computationally Simple and Fast Approach

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kassianov, Evgueni I.; Barnard, James C.; Flynn, Connor J.

We introduce and evaluate a simple retrieval of areal-averaged surface albedo using ground-based measurements of atmospheric transmission alone at five wavelengths (415, 500, 615, 673 and 870nm), under fully overcast conditions. Our retrieval is based on a one-line semi-analytical equation and widely accepted assumptions regarding the weak spectral dependence of cloud optical properties, such as cloud optical depth and asymmetry parameter, in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. To illustrate the performance of our retrieval, we use as input measurements of spectral atmospheric transmission from Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR). These MFRSR data are collected at two well-established continental sitesmore » in the United States supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The areal-averaged albedos obtained from the MFRSR are compared with collocated and coincident Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) white-sky albedo. In particular, these comparisons are made at four MFRSR wavelengths (500, 615, 673 and 870nm) and for four seasons (winter, spring, summer and fall) at the ARM site using multi-year (2008-2013) MFRSR and MODIS data. Good agreement, on average, for these wavelengths results in small values (≤0.01) of the corresponding root mean square errors (RMSEs) for these two sites. The obtained RMSEs are comparable with those obtained previously for the shortwave albedos (MODIS-derived versus tower-measured) for these sites during growing seasons. We also demonstrate good agreement between tower-based daily-averaged surface albedos measured for “nearby” overcast and non-overcast days. Thus, our retrieval originally developed for overcast conditions likely can be extended for non-overcast days by interpolating between overcast retrievals.« less

Unexpected and Unexplained Surface Temperature Variations on Mimas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howett, C.; Spencer, J. R.; Pearl, J. C.; Hurford, T. A.; Segura, M.; Cassini Cirs Team

2010-12-01

Until recently it was thought one of the most interesting things about Mimas, Saturn’s innermost classical icy moon, was its resemblance to Star Wars’ Death Star. However, a bizarre pattern of daytime surface temperatures was observed on Mimas using data obtained by Cassini’s Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) in February 2010. The observations were taken during Cassini’s closest ever encounter with Mimas (<10,000 km) and cover the daytime anti-Saturn hemisphere centered on longitude ~145° W. Instead of surface temperatures smoothly increasing throughout the morning and early afternoon, then cooling in the evening, as expected, a sharp V-shaped boundary is observed separating cooler midday and afternoon temperatures (~77 K) on the leading side from warmer morning temperatures (~92 K) on the trailing side. The boundary’s apex is centered at equatorial latitudes near the anti-Saturn point and extends to low north and south latitudes on the trailing side. Subtle differences in the surface colors have been observed that are roughly spatially correlated with the observed extent of the temperature anomaly, with the cooler regions tending to be bluer (Schenk et al., Submitted). However, visible-wavelength albedo is similar in the two regions, so albedo variations are probably not directly responsible for the thermal anomaly. It is more likely that thermal inertia variations produce the anomaly, with thermal inertia being unusually high in the region with anomalously low daytime temperatures. Comparison of the February 2010 CIRS data to previous lower spatial resolution data taken at different local times tentatively confirm that the cooler regions do indeed display higher thermal inertias. Bombardment of the surface by high energy electrons from Saturn’s radiation belts has been proposed to explain the observed color variations (Schenk et al., Submitted). Electrons above ~1 MeV preferentially impact Mimas’ leading hemisphere at low latitudes where they

Evaluation of the SMAP model calculated snow albedo at the SIGMA-A site, northwest Greenland, during the 2012 record surface melt event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niwano, M.; Aoki, T.; Matoba, S.; Yamaguchi, S.; Tanikawa, T.; Kuchiki, K.; Motoyama, H.

2015-12-01

The snow and ice on the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) experienced the extreme surface melt around 12 July, 2012. In order to understand the snow-atmosphere interaction during the period, we applied a physical snowpack model SMAP to the GrIS snowpack. In the SMAP model, the snow albedo is calculated by the PBSAM component explicitly considering effects of snow grain size and light-absorbing snow impurities such as black carbon and dust. Temporal evolution of snow grain size is calculated internally in the SMAP model, whereas mass concentrations of snow impurities are externally given from observations. In the PBSAM, the (shortwave) snow albedo is calculated from a weighted summation of visible albedo (primarily affected by snow impurities) and near-infrared albedo (mainly controlled by snow grain size). The weights for these albedos are the visible and near-infrared fractions of the downward shortwave radiant flux. The SMAP model forced by meteorological data obtained from an automated weather station at SIGMA-A site, northwest GrIS during 30 June to 14 July, 2012　(IOP) was evaluated in terms of surface (optically equivalent) snow grain size and snow albedo. Snow grain size simulated by the model was compared against that retrieved from in-situ spectral albedo measurements. Although the RMSE and ME were reasonable (0.21 mm and 0.17 mm, respectively), the small snow grain size associated with the surface hoar could not be simulated by the SMAP model. As for snow albedo, simulation results agreed well with observations throughout the IOP (RMSE was 0.022 and ME was 0.008). Under cloudy-sky conditions, the SMAP model reproduced observed rapid increase in the snow albedo. When cloud cover is present the near-infrared fraction of the downward shortwave radiant flux is decreased, while it is increased under clear-sky conditions. Therefore, the above mentioned performance of the SMAP model can be attributed to the PBSAM component driven by the observed near-infrared and

Spatially Complete Surface Albedo Data Sets: Value-Added Products Derived from Terra MODIS Land Products

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moody, E. G.; King, M. D.; Platnick, S.; Schaaf, C. B.; Gao, F.

2004-01-01

Spectral land surface albedo is an important parameter for describing the radiative properties of the Earth. Accordingly it reflects the consequences of natural and human interactions, such as anthropogenic, meteorological, and phenological effects, on global and local climatological trends. Consequently, albedos are integral parts in a variety of research areas, such as general circulation models (GCMs), energy balance studies, modeling of land use and land use change, and biophysical, oceanographic, and meteorological studies. The availability of global albedo data over a large range of spectral channels and at high spatial resolution has dramatically improved with the launch of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA s Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra spacecraft in December 1999. However, lack of spatial and temporal coverage due to cloud and snow effects can preclude utilization of official products in production and research studies. We report on a technique used to fill incomplete MOD43 albedo data sets with the intention of providing complete value-added maps. The technique is influenced by the phenological concept that within a certain area, a pixel s ecosystem class should exhibit similar growth cycle events over the same time period. The shape of an area s phenological temporal curve can be imposed upon existing pixel-level data to fill missing temporal points. The methodology will be reviewed by showcasing 2001 global and regional results of complete albedo and NDVl data sets.

The Extraordinary Albedo Variations on Pluto Detected by New Horizons and Implications for Dwarf Planet Eris

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buratti, Bonnie J.; Hofgartner, Jason D.; Stern, S. Alan; Weaver, Harold A.; Verbiscer, Anne J.; Ennico, Kimberly; Olkin, Catherine B.; Young, Leslie; New Horizons Geology and Geophysics Team

2016-10-01

The New Horizons mission returned stunning observations of active geology on the surface of Pluto (Stern et al., 2015, Science 350, 292). One of the markers for activity on planets or moons is normal albedos approaching 1.0, as is the case for Enceladus (Buratti et al., 1984, Icarus 58, 254; Verbiscer et al., 2005, Icarus 173, 66). When all corrections for viewing geometry are made for Pluto, it has normal albedos that approach unity in the regions that show evidence for activity by a lack of craters, notably the region informally named Sputnik Planum. On the other hand, Pluto also has a very dark (normal albedo ~0.10) equatorial belt.The geometric albedo of Eris, another large dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, is 0.96 (Sicardy et al., 2011, Nature 478, 493), close to that of Enceladus. Coupled with a high density of 2.5 gm/cc (Sicardy et al., ibid.), implying an even larger amount of radiogenic heating than that for Pluto (with a density near 1.9 gm/cc), we find it highly likely that Eris is also active with some type of solid state convection or cryovolcanism on its surface. Alternate explanations such as complete condensation of methane frost onto its surface in the colder environment at nearly 100 AUs would not lead to the high albedo observed.Another implication of the extreme albedo variations on Pluto is that the temperature varies by at least 20K on its surface, spawning possible aeolian processes and associated features such as wind streaks and dunes, which are currently being sought on New Horizons images. Finally, low albedo regions on Pluto, with normal reflectances less than 0.10, provide possible evidence for dust in the Kuiper Belt that is accreting onto the surface of Pluto. Another - or additional - explanation for this low-albedo dust is native material created in Pluto's hazy atmosphere.New Horizons funding by NASA is gratefully acknowledged.

Bimodal Albedo Distributions in the Ablation Zone of the Southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moustafa, S.; Rennermalm, A. K.; Smith, L. C.; Miller, M. A.; Mioduszewski, J.; Koenig, L.

2014-12-01

Surface albedo is a key variable controlling solar radiation absorbed at the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface, and thus meltwater production. Recent decline in surface albedo over the GrIS has been linked to enhanced snow grain metamorphic rates and amplified ice-albedo feedback from atmospheric warming. However, the importance of distinct surface types on ablation zone albedo and meltwater production is still relatively unknown, and excluded in surface mass balance models. In this study, we analyze albedo and ablation rates (m d-1) using in situ and remotely-sensed data. Observations include: 1) a new high-quality in situ spectral albedo dataset collected with an Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) spectroradiometer measuring at 325-1075 nm, along a 1.25 km transect during three days in June 2013; 2) broadband albedo at two automatic weather stations; and 3) daily MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo (MOD10A1) between 31 May and 30 August. We find that seasonal ablation zone albedos have a bimodal distribution, with two alternate states. This suggests that an abrupt switch from high to low albedo can be triggered by a modest melt event, resulting in amplified ablation rates. Our results show that such a shift corresponds to an observed melt rate percent difference increase of 51.6% during peak melt season (between 10-14 July and 20-24 July, 2013). Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that seasonal changes in GrIS ablation zone albedo are not exclusively a function of a darkening surface from ice crystal growth, but rather are controlled by changes in the fractional coverage of snow, bare ice, and impurity-rich surface types. As the climate continues to warm, regional climate models should consider the seasonal evolution of ice surface types in Greenland's ablation zone to improve projections of mass loss contributions to sea level rise.

The Costs of Climate Change: Impact of Future Snow Cover Projections on Valuation of Albedo in Forest Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burakowski, E. A.; Lutz, D. A.

2014-12-01

Surface albedo provides an important climate regulating ecosystem service, particularly in the mid-latitudes where seasonal snow cover influences surface radiation budgets. In the case of substantial seasonal snow cover, the influence of albedo can equal or surpass the climatic benefits of carbon sequestration from forest growth. Climate mitigation platforms should therefore consider albedo in their framework in order to integrate these two climatic services in an economic context for the effective design and implementation of forest management projects. Over the next century, the influence of surface albedo is projected to diminish under higher emissions scenarios due to an overall decrease in snow depth and duration of snow cover in the mid-latitudes. In this study, we focus on the change in economic value of winter albedo in the northeastern United States projected through 2100 using the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) a1 and b1 scenarios. Statistically downscaled temperature and precipitation are used as input to the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model to provide future daily snow depth fields through 2100. Using VIC projections of future snow depth, projected winter albedo fields over deforested lands were generated using an empirical logarithmic relationship between snow depth and albedo derived from a volunteer network of snow observers in New Hampshire over the period Nov 2011 through 2014. Our results show that greater reductions in snow depth and the number of winter days with snow cover in the a1 compared to the b1 scenario reduce wintertime albedo when forested lands are harvested. This result has implications on future trade-offs among albedo, carbon storage, and timber value that should be investigated in greater detail. The impacts of forest harvest on radiative forcing associated with energy redistribution (e.g., latent heat and surface roughness length) should also be considered in future work.

High-Albedo Salt Crusts on the Tropical Ocean of Snowball Earth: Measurements and Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carns, R.; Light, B.; Warren, S. G.

2014-12-01

During a Snowball Earth event, almost all of the ocean surface first freezes as sea ice. As in modern sea ice, trapped inclusions of liquid brine permeate the ice cover. As the ice grows and cools, salt crystals precipitate within the inclusions. At -23C, the most abundant salt in seawater, sodium chloride, begins to precipitate as the dihydrate mineral hydrohalite (NaCl·2H2O). Crystals of hydrohalite within the sea ice scatter light. Measurements of cold, natural sea ice show a broadband albedo increase of 10-20% when salt precipitates. Such snow-free natural sea ice with a surface temperature below -23C is rare on modern Earth, but would have been common in tropical regions of a Snowball Earth where evaporation exceeded precipitation. The persistent cold and lack of summer melt on the Snowball ocean surface, combined with net evaporation, is hypothesized to yield lag deposits of hydrohalite crystals on the ice surface. To investigate this process, we prepared laboratory-grown sea ice in a 1000 liter tank in a walk-in freezer laboratory. The ice was cooled below -23 C and the surface sprayed with a 23% NaCl solution to create a layer of hydrohalite-enriched ice, a proxy for lag deposits that would have formed over long periods of surface sublimation. We have developed a novel technique for measuring the spectral albedo of ice surfaces in the laboratory; this technique was used to monitor the evolution of the surface albedo of our salt crust as the ice matrix sublimated away leaving a layer of fine-grained hydrohalite crystals. Measurements of this hydrohalite surface crust show a very high albedo, comparable to fresh snow at visible wavelengths and significantly larger than fresh snow at near infrared wavelengths. Broadband albedos are 0.55 for bare artificial sea ice at -30C, 0.75 for ice containing 25% hydrohalite by volume, 0.84 after five days of desiccation and 0.93 after 47 days of desiccation. Using our laboratory measurements, along with estimates of

Reflected Signal Analysis and Surface Albedo in the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ivanov, Anton B.; Muhleman, Duane O.

2001-01-01

This work presents results from the analysis of the reflectivity data from the MOLA investigation. We will discuss calculation of the surface albedo using the MGS TES 9 micron opacity. We will also overview reflectivity data collected to date. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Relationship between the Arctic oscillation and surface air temperature in multi-decadal time-scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, Hiroshi L.; Tamura, Mina

2016-09-01

In this study, a simple energy balance model (EBM) was integrated in time, considering a hypothetical long-term variability in ice-albedo feedback mimicking the observed multi-decadal temperature variability. A natural variability was superimposed on a linear warming trend due to the increasing radiative forcing of CO2. The result demonstrates that the superposition of the natural variability and the background linear trend can offset with each other to show the warming hiatus for some period. It is also stressed that the rapid warming during 1970-2000 can be explained by the superposition of the natural variability and the background linear trend at least within the simple model. The key process of the fluctuating planetary albedo in multi-decadal time scale is investigated using the JRA-55 reanalysis data. It is found that the planetary albedo increased for 1958-1970, decreased for 1970-2000, and increased for 2000-2012, as expected by the simple EBM experiments. The multi-decadal variability in the planetary albedo is compared with the time series of the AO mode and Barents Sea mode of surface air temperature. It is shown that the recent AO negative pattern showing warm Arctic and cold mid-latitudes is in good agreement with planetary albedo change indicating negative anomaly in high latitudes and positive anomaly in mid-latitudes. Moreover, the Barents Sea mode with the warm Barents Sea and cold mid-latitudes shows long-term variability similar to planetary albedo change. Although further studies are needed, the natural variabilities of both the AO mode and Barents Sea mode indicate some possible link to the planetary albedo as suggested by the simple EBM to cause the warming hiatus in recent years.

Enhancement of surface-atmosphere fluxes by desert-fringe vegetation through reduction of surface albedo and of soil heat flux

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otterman, J.

1987-01-01

Under the arid conditions prevailing at the end of the dry season in the western Negev/northern Sinai region, vegetation causes a sharp increase relative to bare soil in the daytime sensible heat flux from the surface to the atmosphere. Two mechanisms are involved: the increase in the surface absorptivity and a decrease in the surface heat flux. By increasing the sensible heat flux to the atmosphere through the albedo and the soil heat flux reductions, the desert-fringe vegetation increases the daytime convection and the growth of the planetary boundary layer. Removal of vegetation by overgrazing, by reducing the sensible heat flux, tends to reduce daytime convective precipitation, producing higher probabilities of drought conditions. This assessment of overgrazing is based on observations in the Sinai/Negev, where the soil albedo is high and where overgrazing produces an essential bare soil. Even if the assessment for the Sinai/Negev does not quantitatively apply throughout Africa, the current practice in many African countries of maintaining a large population of grazing animals, can contribute through the mesoscale mechanisms described to reduce daytime convective precipitation, perpetuating higher probabilities of drought. Time-of-day analysis of precipitation in Africa appears worthwhile, to better assess the role of the surface conditions in contributing to drought.

Comparison of Observed Surface Temperatures of 4 Vesta to the KRC Thermal Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Titus, T. N.; Becker, K. J.; Anderson, J. A.; Capria, M. T.; Tosi, F.; DeSanctis, M. C.; Palomba, E.; Grassi, D.; Capaccioni, F.; Ammannito, E.;

Clear-sky narrowband albedos derived from VIRS and MODIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun-Mack, Sunny; Minnis, Patrick; Chen, Yan; Arduini, Robert F.

2004-02-01

The Clouds and Earth"s Radiant Energy System (CERES) project is using multispectral imagers, the Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on the tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Terra, operating since spring 2000, and Aqua, operating since summer 2002, to provide cloud and clear-sky properties at various wavelengths. This paper presents the preliminary results of an analysis of the CERES clear-sky reflectances to derive a set top-of-atmosphere clear sky albedo for 0.65, 0.86, 1.6, 2.13 μm, for all major surface types using the combined MODIS and VIRS datasets. The variability of snow albedo with surface type is examined using MODIS data. Snow albedo was found to depend on the vertical structure of the vegetation. At visible wavelengths, it is least for forested areas and greatest for smooth desert and tundra surfaces. At 1.6 and 2.1-μm, the snow albedos are relatively insensitive to the underlying surface because snow decreases the reflectance. Additional analyses using all of the MODIS results will provide albedo models that should be valuable for many remote sensing, simulation and radiation budget studies.

Cladonia lichens on extensive green roofs: evapotranspiration, substrate temperature, and albedo.

PubMed

Heim, Amy; Lundholm, Jeremy

2013-01-01

Green roofs are constructed ecosystems that provide ecosystem services in urban environments. Shallow substrate green roofs subject the vegetation layer to desiccation and other environmental extremes, so researchers have evaluated a variety of stress-tolerant vegetation types for green roof applications. Lichens can be found in most terrestrial habitats.  They are able to survive extremely harsh conditions, including frequent cycles of desiccation and rehydration, nutrient-poor soil, fluctuating temperatures, and high UV intensities. Extensive green roofs (substrate depth <20cm) exhibit these harsh conditions, making lichens possible candidates for incorporation into the vegetation layer on extensive green roofs.  In a modular green roof system, we tested the effect of Cladonia lichens on substrate temperature, water loss, and albedo compared to a substrate-only control. Overall, the Cladonia modules had significantly cooler substrate temperatures during the summer and significantly warmer temperatures during the fall.  Additionally, the Cladonia modules lost significantly less water than the substrate-only control. This implies that they may be able to benefit neighboring vascular plant species by reducing water loss and maintaining favorable substrate temperatures.

Some effects of topography, soil moisture, and sea-surface temperature on continental precipitation as computed with the GISS coarse mesh climate model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spar, J.; Cohen, C.

1981-01-01

The effects of terrain elevation, soil moisture, and zonal variations in sea/surface temperature on the mean daily precipitation rates over Australia, Africa, and South America in January were evaluated. It is suggested that evaporation of soil moisture may either increase or decrease the model generated precipitation, depending on the surface albedo. It was found that a flat, dry continent model best simulates the January rainfall over Australia and South America, while over Africa the simulation is improved by the inclusion of surface physics, specifically soil moisture and albedo variations.

Greenland ice sheet albedo variability and feedback: 2000-2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Box, J. E.; van As, D.; Fausto, R. S.; Mottram, R.; Langen, P. P.; Steffen, K.

2015-12-01

Absorbed solar irradiance represents the dominant source of surface melt energy for Greenland ice. Surface melting has increased as part of a positive feedback amplifier due to surface darkening. The 16 most recent summers of observations from the NASA MODIS sensor indicate a darkening exceeding 6% in July when most melting occurs. Without the darkening, the increase in surface melting would be roughly half as large. A minority of the albedo decline signal may be from sensor degradation. So, in this study, MOD10A1 and MCD43 albedo products from MODIS are evaluated for sensor degradation and anisotropic reflectance errors. Errors are minimized through calibration to GC-Net and PROMICE Greenland snow and ice ground control data. The seasonal and spatial variability in Greenland snow and ice albedo over a 16 year period is presented, including quantifying changing absorbed solar irradiance and melt enhancement due to albedo feedback using the DMI HIRHAM5 5 km model.

Albedo of Carbon Dioxide Ice in Mars' Residual South Polar Cap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

James, P. B.; Wolff, M. J.; Bonev, B.

2015-12-01

The albedo of surface CO2 deposits in the Residual South Polar Cap (RSPC) of Mars controls their net condensation / sublimation over a martian year and is therefore a crucial parameter in determining RSPC stability. The albedo used in previous analyses is obtained by dividing I/F, determined from radiometrically calibrated imaging data, by the cosine of the incidence angle. Because of atmospheric aerosols, the albedo calculated from I/F above the atmosphere is not the surface albedo that enters into stability considerations. In order to determine the surface albedo, we interpolate optical depths determined from CRISM EPF measurements to provide estimates of the dust and ice opacities over the RSPC (Wolff et al., 2009) and use these to determine the actual surface albedos from MARCI images using the radiative transport program DISORT (Stamnes et al., 1988). Assuming that dust is the only contributor to atmospheric opacity, the retrieved surface albedos for the longer wavelength MARCI filters in MY 28 and 29 are found to be consistent despite very different dust opacities in the two years (James et al., 2014). However, this model fails to reproduce the short wavelength behavior in early summer and suggests either an additional opacity source or modification of the CRISM dust opacity or the dust phase function. The consequences of these changes will be discussed.

Sea Ice, Clouds, Sunlight, and Albedo: The Umbrella Versus the Blanket

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perovich, D. K.

2017-12-01

The Arctic sea ice cover has undergone a major decline in recent years, with reductions in ice extent, ice thickness, and ice age. Understanding the feedbacks and forcing driving these changes is critical in improving predictions. The surface radiation budget plays a central role in summer ice melt and is governed by clouds and surface albedo. Clouds act as an umbrella reducing the downwelling shortwave, but also serve as a blanket increasing the downwelling longwave, with the surface albedo also determining the net balance. Using field observations from the SHEBA program, pairs of clear and cloudy days were selected for each month from May through September and the net radiation flux was calculated for different surface conditions and albedos. To explore the impact of albedo we calculated a break even albedo, where the net radiation for cloudy skies is the same as clear skies. For albedos larger than the break-even value the net radiation flux is smaller under clear skies compared to cloudy skies. Break-even albedos ranged from 0.30 in September to 0.58 in July. For snow covered or bare ice, clear skies always resulted in less radiative heat input. In contrast, leads always had, and ponds usually had, more radiative heat input under clear skies than cloudy skies. Snow covered ice had a net radiation flux that was negative or near zero under clear skies resulting in radiative cooling. We combined the albedo of individual ice types with the area of those ice types to calculate albedos averaged over a 50 km x 50 km area. The July case had the smallest areally averaged albedo of 0.50. This was less than the breakeven albedo, so cloudy skies had a smaller net radiation flux than clear skies. For the cases from the other four months, the areally averaged albedo was greater than the break-even albedo. The areally averaged net radiation flux was negative under clear skies for the May and September cases.

Equilibrium Temperatures and Albedos of Habitable Earth-Like Planets in a Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean GCM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Del Genio, Anthony; Way, Michael; Amundsen, David; Sohl, Linda; Fujii, Yuka; Ebihara, Yuka; Kiang, Nancy; Chandler, Mark; Aleinov, Igor; Kelley, Maxwell

2017-01-01

The potential habitability of detected exoplanets is typically assessed using the concept of equilibrium temperature (T[subscript] e) based on cloud-free 1-D models with assumed albedo equal to Earth's (0.3) to determine whether a planet lies in the habitable zone. Incident stellar flux appears to be a better metric for stars unlike the Sun. These estimates, however, ignore the effect of clouds on planetary albedo and the fact that the climates of synchronously rotating planets are not well predicted by 1-D models. Given that most planet candidates that will be detected in the next few years will be tidally locked and orbiting M stars, how might the habitable zone e tailored to better in-form characterization with scarce observing resources?

The Summertime Warming Trends in Surface Water Temperature of the Great Lakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugiyama, N.; Kravtsov, S.; Roebber, P.

2014-12-01

Over the past 30 years, the Laurentian Great Lakes have exhibited summertime warming trends in surface water temperature which were greater than those in surface air temperature of the surrounding land, by as much as an order of magnitude over some of the regions. For the years 1995-2012, Lake Superior exhibited the most dramatic warming trend in July-mean temperature, of 0.27±0.15 deg. C yr-1, based on the NOAA's GLSEA satellite observations. Shallower lakes, such as Lake Erie, exhibited smaller warming trends. In addition, within each lake, the warming was also the greatest in the regions of larger water depth; for example, some regions of Lake Superior deeper than 200m exhibited surface-water July-mean warming trends which exceeded 0.3 deg. C yr-1. We used a three-column lake model based on the one developed by Hostetler and Barnstein (1990) coupled with a two-layer atmospheric energy balance model to explore the physics behind these warming trends. We found that, as suggested by Austin and Colman (2007), the ice-albedo feedback plays an important role in amplifying the overlake warming trends. Our particular emphasis was on the question of whether the ice-albedo feedback alone is enough to account for lacustrine amplification of surface warming observed over the Great Lakes region. We found that the answer to this question depends on a number of model parameters, including the diffusion and light attenuation coefficients, which greatly affect the model's skill in reproducing the observed ice coverage of the deep lakes.

Titan's Surface Brightness Temperatures and H2 Mole Fraction from Cassini CIRS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jennings, Donald E.; Flasar, F. M.; Kunde, V. G.; Samuelson, R. E.; Pearl, J. C.; Nixon, C. A.; Carlson, R. C.; Mamoutkine, A. A.; Brasunas, J. C.; Guandique, E.;

Enhancement of the MODIS Daily Snow Albedo Product

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hall, Dorothy K.; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Wang, Zhuosen; Riggs, George A.

2009-01-01

The MODIS daily snow albedo product is a data layer in the MOD10A1 snow-cover product that includes snow-covered area and fractional snow cover as well as quality information and other metadata. It was developed to augment the MODIS BRDF/Albedo algorithm (MCD43) that provides 16-day maps of albedo globally at 500-m resolution. But many modelers require daily snow albedo, especially during the snowmelt season when the snow albedo is changing rapidly. Many models have an unrealistic snow albedo feedback in both estimated albedo and change in albedo over the seasonal cycle context, Rapid changes in snow cover extent or brightness challenge the MCD43 algorithm; over a 16-day period, MCD43 determines whether the majority of clear observations was snow-covered or snow-free then only calculates albedo for the majority condition. Thus changes in snow albedo and snow cover are not portrayed accurately during times of rapid change, therefore the current MCD43 product is not ideal for snow work. The MODIS daily snow albedo from the MOD10 product provides more frequent, though less robust maps for pixels defined as "snow" by the MODIS snow-cover algorithm. Though useful, the daily snow albedo product can be improved using a daily version of the MCD43 product as described in this paper. There are important limitations to the MOD10A1 daily snow albedo product, some of which can be mitigated. Utilizing the appropriate per-pixel Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDFs) can be problematic, and correction for anisotropic scattering must be included. The BRDF describes how the reflectance varies with view and illumination geometry. Also, narrow-to-broadband conversion specific for snow on different surfaces must be calculated and this can be difficult. In consideration of these limitations of MOD10A1, we are planning to improve the daily snow albedo algorithm by coupling the periodic per-pixel snow albedo from MCD43, with daily surface ref|outanoom, In this paper, we

A comparison of all-weather land surface temperature products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martins, Joao; Trigo, Isabel F.; Ghilain, Nicolas; Goettche, Frank-M.; Ermida, Sofia; Olesen, Folke-S.; Gellens-Meulenberghs, Françoise; Arboleda, Alirio

2017-04-01

The Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis (LSA-SAF, http://landsaf.ipma.pt) has been providing land surface temperature (LST) estimates using SEVIRI/MSG on an operational basis since 2006. The LSA-SAF service has since been extended to provide a wide range of satellite-based quantities over land surfaces, such as emissivity, albedo, radiative fluxes, vegetation state, evapotranspiration, and fire-related variables. Being based on infra-red measurements, the SEVIRI/MSG LST product is limited to clear-sky pixels only. Several all-weather LST products have been proposed by the scientific community either based on microwave observations or using Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere Transfer models to fill the gaps caused by clouds. The goal of this work is to provide a nearly gap-free operational all-weather LST product and compare these approaches. In order to estimate evapotranspiration and turbulent energy fluxes, the LSA-SAF solves the surface energy budget for each SEVIRI pixel, taking into account the physical and physiological processes occurring in vegetation canopies. This task is accomplished with an adapted SVAT model, which adopts some formulations and parameters of the Tiled ECMWF Scheme for Surface Exchanges over Land (TESSEL) model operated at the European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and using: 1) radiative inputs also derived by LSA-SAF, which includes surface albedo, down-welling fluxes and fire radiative power; 2) a land-surface characterization obtained by combining the ECOCLIMAP database with both LSA-SAF vegetation products and the H(ydrology)-SAF snow mask; 3) meteorological fields from ECMWF forecasts interpolated to SEVIRI pixels, and 4) soil moisture derived by the H-SAF and LST from LSA-SAF. A byproduct of the SVAT model is surface skin temperature, which is needed to close the surface energy balance. The model skin temperature corresponds to the radiative temperature of the interface between soil and atmosphere

Kotov during Albedo Experiment in the SM

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-18

ISS038-E-005022 (20 Nov. 2013) --- At a window in the International Space Station?s Zvezda Service Module, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Expedition 38 commander, uses a digital camera photospectral system to perform a session for the Albedo Experiment. The experiment measures Earth?s albedo, or the amount of solar radiation reflected from the surface, in the hopes to develop methods to harness the reflected radiation to supplement the station?s power supply. The light reflection phenomenon is measured in units called albedo.

Kotov during Albedo Experiment in the SM

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-18

ISS038-E-005014 (20 Nov. 2013) --- At a window in the International Space Station’s Zvezda Service Module, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Expedition 38 commander, uses a digital camera photospectral system to perform a session for the Albedo Experiment. The experiment measures Earth’s albedo, or the amount of solar radiation reflected from the surface, in the hopes to develop methods to harness the reflected radiation to supplement the station’s power supply. The light reflection phenomenon is measured in units called albedo.

Kotov during Albedo Experiment in the SM

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-18

ISS038-E-005023 (20 Nov. 2013) --- At a window in the International Space Station?s Zvezda Service Module, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Expedition 38 commander, uses a digital camera photospectral system to perform a session for the Albedo Experiment. The experiment measures Earth?s albedo, or the amount of solar radiation reflected from the surface, in the hopes to develop methods to harness the reflected radiation to supplement the station?s power supply. The light reflection phenomenon is measured in units called albedo.

Kotov during Albedo Experiment in the SM

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-18

ISS038-E-005031 (20 Nov. 2013) --- At a window in the International Space Station?s Zvezda Service Module, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Expedition 38 commander, uses a digital camera photospectral system to perform a session for the Albedo Experiment. The experiment measures Earth?s albedo, or the amount of solar radiation reflected from the surface, in the hopes to develop methods to harness the reflected radiation to supplement the station?s power supply. The light reflection phenomenon is measured in units called albedo.

Kotov during Albedo Experiment in the SM

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-18

ISS038-E-005016 (20 Nov. 2013) --- At a window in the International Space Station?s Zvezda Service Module, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Expedition 38 commander, uses a digital camera photospectral system to perform a session for the Albedo Experiment. The experiment measures Earth?s albedo, or the amount of solar radiation reflected from the surface, in the hopes to develop methods to harness the reflected radiation to supplement the station?s power supply. The light reflection phenomenon is measured in units called albedo.

Kotov during Albedo Experiment in the SM

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-11-18

ISS038-E-005019 (20 Nov. 2013) --- At a window in the International Space Station?s Zvezda Service Module, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, Expedition 38 commander, uses a digital camera photospectral system to perform a session for the Albedo Experiment. The experiment measures Earth?s albedo, or the amount of solar radiation reflected from the surface, in the hopes to develop methods to harness the reflected radiation to supplement the station?s power supply. The light reflection phenomenon is measured in units called albedo.

Multi-modal albedo distributions in the ablation area of the southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moustafa, S. E.; Rennermalm, A. K.; Smith, L. C.; Miller, M. A.; Mioduszewski, J. R.; Koenig, L. S.; Hom, M. G.; Shuman, C. A.

2015-05-01

Surface albedo is a key variable controlling solar radiation absorbed at the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface and, thus, meltwater production. Recent decline in surface albedo over the GrIS has been linked to enhanced snow grain metamorphic rates, earlier snowmelt, and amplified melt-albedo feedback from atmospheric warming. However, the importance of distinct surface types on ablation area albedo and meltwater production is still relatively unknown. In this study, we analyze albedo and ablation rates using in situ and remotely sensed data. Observations include (1) a new high-quality in situ spectral albedo data set collected with an Analytical Spectral Devices Inc. spectroradiometer measuring at 325-1075 nm along a 1.25 km transect during 3 days in June 2013; (2) broadband albedo at two automatic weather stations; and (3) daily MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo (MOD10A1) between 31 May and 30 August 2012 and 2013. We find that seasonal ablation area albedos in 2013 have a bimodal distribution, with snow and ice facies characterizing the two peaks. Our results show that a shift from a distribution dominated by high to low albedos corresponds to an observed melt rate increase of 51.5% (between 10-14 July and 20-24 July 2013). In contrast, melt rate variability caused by albedo changes before and after this shift was much lower and varied between ~10 and 30% in the melting season. Ablation area albedos in 2012 exhibited a more complex multimodal distribution, reflecting a transition from light to dark-dominated surface, as well as sensitivity to the so called "dark-band" region in southwest Greenland. In addition to a darkening surface from ice crystal growth, our findings demonstrate that seasonal changes in GrIS ablation area albedos are controlled by changes in the fractional coverage of snow, bare ice, and impurity-rich surface types. Thus, seasonal variability in ablation area albedos appears to be regulated primarily as a function

Spectral and diurnal variations in clear sky planetary albedo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Briegleb, B.; Ramanathan, V.

1982-01-01

Spectral and diurnal variations in the clear sky planetary albedo of the earth are calculated using a radiative transfer model to obtain January and July values for a 5 deg x 5 deg global grid. The model employs observed climatological values of temperatures, humidities, snow and sea-ice cover. The diurnal cycle of clear sky albedo is calculated in the following intervals: 0.2-0.5, 0.5-0.7, and 0.7-4 microns. Observed ozone distribution is specified as a function of latitude and season. The 0.2-0.5 micron spectral albedo is 10-20% higher than the total albedo for all latitudes because of Rayleigh scattering; the 0.5-0.7 micron albedo differs from the total albedo by 1-2% for most latitudes, while the 0.7-4 micron albedo is 5-10% lower than the total because of strong atmospheric absorption. Planetary albedo decreases from morning to local noon, with diurnal variations being particularly strong over water.

Bright is the New Black - Multi-Year Performance of Generic High-Albedo Roofs in an Urban Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gaffin, S. R.; Imhoff, M.; Rosenzweig, C.; Khanbilvardi, R.; Pasqualini, A.; Kong, A. Y. Y.; Grillo, D.; Freed, A.; Hillel, D.; Hartung, E.

2012-01-01

High-albedo white and cool roofing membranes are recognized as a fundamental strategy that dense urban areas can deploy on a large scale, at low cost, to mitigate the urban heat island effect. We are monitoring three generic white membranes within New York City that represent a cross-section of the dominant white membrane options for U.S. flat roofs: (1) an ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber membrane; (2) a thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) membrane and; (3) an asphaltic multi-ply built-up membrane coated with white elastomeric acrylic paint. The paint product is being used by New York City s government for the first major urban albedo enhancement program in its history. We report on the temperature and related albedo performance of these three membranes at three different sites over a multi-year period. The results indicate that the professionally installed white membranes are maintaining their temperature control effectively and are meeting the Energy Star Cool Roofing performance standards requiring a three-year aged albedo above 0.50. The EPDM membrane however shows evidence of low emissivity. The painted asphaltic surface shows high emissivity but lost about half of its initial albedo within two years after installation. Given that the acrylic approach is an important "do-it-yourself," low-cost, retrofit technique, and, as such, offers the most rapid technique for increasing urban albedo, further product performance research is recommended to identify conditions that optimize its long-term albedo control. Even so, its current multi-year performance still represents a significant albedo enhancement for urban heat island mitigation.

Physical and Chemical Properties of Seasonal Snow and the Impacts on Albedo in New Hampshire, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adolph, A. C.; Albert, M. R.; Amante, J.; Dibb, J. E.

2014-12-01

Snow albedo is critical to surface energy budgets and thus to the timing of mid-winter and vernal melt events in seasonal snow packs. Timing of these melt events is important in predicting flooding, understanding plant and animal phenology, and the availability of winter recreational activity. The state of New Hampshire experiences large spatial and temporal variability in snow albedo as a result of differences in meteorological conditions, physical snow structure, and chemical impurities in the snow, particularly highly absorptive black carbon (BC) and dust particles. This work focuses on the winters of 2012-2013 and 2013-2014, comparing three intensive study sites. Data collected at these sites include sub-hourly meteorological data, near daily measurements of snow depth, snow density, surface IR temperature, specific surface area (SSA) from contact spectroscopy, and spectrally resolved snow albedo using an ASD FieldSpec4 throughout the winter season. Additionally, snow samples were analyzed for black carbon content and other chemical impurities including Cl-, NO3-, NH4 , K , Na , Mg2+ , Ca2+ and SO42-. For each storm event at the three intensive sites, moisture sources and paths were determined using HYPLIT back trajectory modeling to determine potential sources of black carbon and other impurities in the snow. Storms with terrestrial-based paths across the US Midwest and Canada resulted in higher BC content than storms with ocean-based paths and sources. In addition to the variable storm path between sites and between years, the second year of study was on average 2.5°C colder than the first year, impacting duration of snow cover at each site and the SSA of surface snow which is sensitive to frequency of snow events and relies on cold temperatures to reduce grain metamorphism. Combining an understanding of storm frequency and path with physical and chemical attributes of the snow allows us to investigate snow albedo sensitivities with implications for

Crop growth and development effects on surface albedo for maize and cowpea fields in Ghana, West Africa.

PubMed

Oguntunde, Philip G; van de Giesen, Nick

2004-11-01

The albedo (alpha) of vegetated land surfaces is a key regulatory factor in atmospheric circulation and plays an important role in mechanistic accounting of many ecological processes. This paper examines the influence of the phenological stages of maize (Zea mays) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) fields on observed albedo at a tropical site in Ghana. The crops were studied for the first and second planting dates in the year 2002. Crop management was similar for both seasons and measurements were taken from 10 mx10-m plots within crop fields. Four phenological stages were distinguished: (1) emergence, (2) vegetative, (3) flowering, and (4) maturity. alpha measured from two reference surfaces, short grass and bare soil, were used to study the change over the growing seasons. Surface alpha was measured and simulated at sun angles of 15, 30, 45, 60, and 75 degrees . Leaf area index (LAI) and crop height (CH) were also monitored. Generally, alpha increases from emergence to maturity for both planting dates in the maize field but slightly decreases after flowering in the cowpea field. For maize, the correlation coefficient ( R) between alpha and LAI equals 0.970, and the R between alpha and CH equals 0.969. Similarly, for cowpea these Rs are 0.988 and 0.943, respectively. A modified albedo model adequately predicted the observed alphas with an overall R>0.860. The relative difference in surface alpha with respect to the alpha values measured from the two reference surfaces is discussed. Data presented are expected to be a valuable input in agricultural water management, crop production models, eco-hydrological models and in the study of climate effects of agricultural production, and for the parameterization of land-surface schemes in regional weather and climate models.

Bright is the new black—multi-year performance of high-albedo roofs in an urban climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gaffin, S. R.; Imhoff, M.; Rosenzweig, C.; Khanbilvardi, R.; Pasqualini, A.; Kong, A. Y. Y.; Grillo, D.; Freed, A.; Hillel, D.; Hartung, E.

2012-03-01

High-albedo white and cool roofing membranes are recognized as a fundamental strategy that dense urban areas can deploy on a large scale, at low cost, to mitigate the urban heat island effect. We are monitoring three generic white membranes within New York City that represent a cross section of the dominant white membrane options for US flat roofs: (1) an ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) rubber membrane; (2) a thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) membrane; and (3) an asphaltic multi-ply built-up membrane coated with white elastomeric acrylic paint. The paint product is being used by New York City’s government for the first major urban albedo enhancement program in its history. We report on the temperature and related albedo performance of these three membranes at three different sites over a multi-year period. The results indicate that the professionally installed white membranes are maintaining their temperature control effectively and are meeting the Energy Star Cool Roofing performance standards requiring a three-year aged albedo above 0.50. The EPDM membrane shows evidence of low emissivity; however this had the interesting effect of avoiding any ‘winter heat penalty’ for this building. The painted asphaltic surface shows high emissivity but lost about half of its initial albedo within two years of installation. Given that the acrylic approach is such an important ‘do-it-yourself’, low-cost, retrofit technique, and, as such, offers the most rapid technique for increasing urban albedo, further product performance research is recommended to identify conditions that optimize its long-term albedo control. Even so, its current multi-year performance still represents a significant albedo enhancement for urban heat island mitigation.

Soot climate forcing via snow and ice albedos.

PubMed

Hansen, James; Nazarenko, Larissa

2004-01-13

Plausible estimates for the effect of soot on snow and ice albedos (1.5% in the Arctic and 3% in Northern Hemisphere land areas) yield a climate forcing of +0.3 W/m(2) in the Northern Hemisphere. The "efficacy" of this forcing is approximately 2, i.e., for a given forcing it is twice as effective as CO(2) in altering global surface air temperature. This indirect soot forcing may have contributed to global warming of the past century, including the trend toward early springs in the Northern Hemisphere, thinning Arctic sea ice, and melting land ice and permafrost. If, as we suggest, melting ice and sea level rise define the level of dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system, then reducing soot emissions, thus restoring snow albedos to pristine high values, would have the double benefit of reducing global warming and raising the global temperature level at which dangerous anthropogenic interference occurs. However, soot contributions to climate change do not alter the conclusion that anthropogenic greenhouse gases have been the main cause of recent global warming and will be the predominant climate forcing in the future.

Global Surface Temperatures of the Moon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, J. P.; Paige, D. A.; Greenhagen, B. T.; Sefton-Nash, E.

2015-12-01

The Diviner instrument aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is providing the most comprehensive view of how regoliths on airless body store and exchange thermal energy with the space environment. Approximately a quarter trillion calibrated radiance measurements of the Moon, acquired over 5.5 years by Diviner, have been compiled into a 0.5° resolution global dataset with a 0.25 hour local time resolution. Maps generated with this dataset provide a global perspective of the surface energy balance of the Moon and reveal the complex and extreme nature of the lunar surface thermal environment. Daytime maximum temperatures are sensitive to the radiative properties of the surface and are ~387-397 K at the equator, dropping to ~95 K before sunrise. Asymmetry between the morning and afternoon temperatures is observed due to the thermal inertia of the regolith with the dusk terminator ~30 K warmer than the dawn terminator at the equator. An increase in albedo with incidence angle is required to explain the observed temperatures with latitude. At incidence angles >40° topography and surface roughness result in increasing anisothermality between spectral passbands and scatter in temperatures. Minimum temperatures reflect variations in thermophysical properties (Figure). Impact craters are found to modify regolith properties over large distances. The thermal signature of Tycho is asymmetric consistent with an oblique impact coming from the west. Some prominent crater rays are visible in the thermal data and require material with a higher thermal inertial than nominal regolith. The influence of the formation of the Orientale basin on the regolith properties is observable over a substantial portion of the western hemisphere despite its age (~3.8 Gyr), and may have contributed to mixing of highland and mare material on the southwest margin of Oceanus Procellarum where the gradient in radiative properties at the mare-highland contact are observed to be broad (~200 km).

Global albedos of Pluto and Charon from LORRI New Horizons observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buratti, B. J.; Hofgartner, J. D.; Hicks, M. D.; Weaver, H. A.; Stern, S. A.; Momary, T.; Mosher, J. A.; Beyer, R. A.; Verbiscer, A. J.; Zangari, A. M.; Young, L. A.; Lisse, C. M.; Singer, K.; Cheng, A.; Grundy, W.; Ennico, K.; Olkin, C. B.

2017-05-01

The exploration of the Pluto-Charon system by the New Horizons spacecraft represents the first opportunity to understand the distribution of albedo and other photometric properties of the surfaces of objects in the Solar System's ;Third Zone; of distant ice-rich bodies. Images of the entire illuminated surface of Pluto and Charon obtained by the Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera provide a global map of Pluto that reveals surface albedo variegations larger than any other Solar System world except for Saturn's moon Iapetus. Normal reflectances on Pluto range from 0.08-1.0, and the low-albedo areas of Pluto are darker than any region of Charon. Charon exhibits a much blander surface with normal reflectances ranging from 0.20-0.73. Pluto's albedo features are well-correlated with geologic features, although some exogenous low-albedo dust may be responsible for features seen to the west of the area informally named Tombaugh Regio. The albedo patterns of both Pluto and Charon are latitudinally organized, with the exception of Tombaugh Regio, with darker regions concentrated at the Pluto's equator and Charon's northern pole. The phase curve of Pluto is similar to that of Triton, the large moon of Neptune believed to be a captured Kuiper Belt Object (KBO), while Charon's is similar to that of the Moon. Preliminary Bond albedos are 0.25 ± 0.03 for Charon and 0.72 ± 0.07 for Pluto. Maps of an approximation to the Bond albedo for both Pluto and Charon are presented for the first time. Our work shows a connection between very high albedo (near unity) and planetary activity, a result that suggests the KBO Eris may be currently active.

Spatio-temporal Variability of Albedo and its Impact on Glacier Melt Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kinnard, C.; Mendoza, C.; Abermann, J.; Petlicki, M.; MacDonell, S.; Urrutia, R.

2017-12-01

Albedo is an important variable for the surface energy balance of glaciers, yet its representation within distributed glacier mass-balance models is often greatly simplified. Here we study the spatio-temporal evolution of albedo on Glacier Universidad, central Chile (34°S, 70°W), using time-lapse terrestrial photography, and investigate its effect on the shortwave radiation balance and modelled melt rates. A 12 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera was setup overlooking the glacier and programmed to take three daily images of the glacier during a two-year period (2012-2014). One image was chosen for each day with no cloud shading on the glacier. The RAW images were projected onto a 10m resolution digital elevation model (DEM), using the IMGRAFT software (Messerli and Grinsted, 2015). A six-parameter camera model was calibrated using a single image and a set of 17 ground control points (GCPs), yielding a georeferencing accuracy of <1 pixel in image coordinates. The camera rotation was recalibrated for new images based on a set of common tie points over stable terrain, thus accounting for possible camera movement over time. The reflectance values from the projected image were corrected for topographic and atmospheric influences using a parametric solar irradiation model, following a modified algorithm based on Corripio (2004), and then converted to albedo using reference albedo measurements from an on-glacier automatic weather station (AWS). The image-based albedo was found to compare well with independent albedo observations from a second AWS in the glacier accumulation area. Analysis of the albedo maps showed that the albedo is more spatially-variable than the incoming solar radiation, making albedo a more important factor of energy balance spatial variability. The incorporation of albedo maps within an enhanced temperature index melt model revealed that the spatio-temporal variability of albedo is an important factor for the calculation of glacier

Insolation and Resulting Surface Temperatures of the Kuiper-Rudaki Study Region on Mercury.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauch, Karin E.; Hiesinger, Harald; D'Amore, Mario; Helbert, Jörn; Weinauer, Julia

2016-04-01

The imaging spectrometer MERTIS (Mercury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer) is part of the payload of ESA's BepiColombo mission, which is scheduled for launch in 2017 [1]. The instrument consists of an IR-spectrometer and radiometer, which observe the surface in the wavelength range of 7-14 and 7-40μm, respectively. The four scientific objectives are to a) study Mercury's surface composition, b) identify rock-forming minerals, c) globally map the surface mineralogy and d) study surface temperature and thermal inertia [1, 2]. In preparation of the MERTIS experiment, we performed detailed thermal models of the lunar surface, which we extrapolated to Mercury. In order to calculate insolation and surface temperatures, we use a numerical model, which has been described by [7]. Surface temperatures are dependent on the surface and subsurface bulk thermophysical properties, such as bulk density, heat capacity, thermal conductivity, emissivity, topography, and albedo. Lunar and Mercurian surface temperatures show the same general characteristics. Both have very steep temperature gradients at sunrise and sunset, due to the lack of an atmosphere. However, there are major differences due to the orbital characteristics. On Mercury the 3:2 resonant rotation rate and the eccentric orbit causes local noon at longitudes 0° and 180° to coincide with perihelion, which leads to "hot poles". At longitudes 90° and 270° , local noon coincides with aphelion, which results in "cold poles" [8]. At these longitudes brief secondary sunrises and sunsets are visible, when Mercury's orbital angular velocity exceeds the spin rate during perihelion [8]. Here we present diurnal temperature curves of the Kuiper-Rudaki study region, based on thermophysical estimates and MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging [9]) albedo data with a resolution of 1000m/px. Our study region spans more than 90° along the equator, thus allowing us to study both, hot and

Effects of soot-induced snow albedo change on snowpack and hydrological cycle in western U.S. based on WRF chemistry and regional climate simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Y.; Gustafson, W. I.; Leung, R.; Ghan, S. J.

2008-12-01

Radiative forcing induced by soot on snow is an important anthropogenic forcing affecting the global climate. In this study we simulated the deposition of soot aerosol on snow and the resulting impact on snowpack and the hydrological cycle in the western United States. A yearlong simulation was performed using the chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem) to determine the soot deposition, followed by three simulations using WRF in meteorology-only mode, with and without the soot-induced snow albedo perturbations. The chemistry simulation shows large spatial variability in soot deposition that reflects the localized emissions and the influence of the complex terrain. The soot-induced snow albedo perturbations increase the surface net solar radiation flux during late winter to early spring, increase the surface air temperature, and reduce the snow accumulation and spring snowmelt. These effects are stronger over the central Rockies and southern Alberta, where soot deposition and snowpack overlap the most. The indirect forcing of soot accelerates snowmelt and alters stream flows, including a trend toward earlier melt dates in the western United States. The soot-induced albedo reduction initiates a positive feedback process whereby dirty snow absorbs more solar radiation, heating the surface and warming the air. This warming causes reduced snow depth and fraction, which further reduces the regional surface albedo for the snow covered regions. For a doubled snow albedo perturbation, the change to surface energy and temperature is around 50-80%, however, snowpack reduction is nonlinearly accelerated.

Effect of land cover change on snow free surface albedo across the continental United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wickham, J.; Nash, M.S.; Barnes, Christopher A.

2016-01-01

Land cover changes (e.g., forest to grassland) affect albedo, and changes in albedo can influence radiative forcing (warming, cooling). We empirically tested albedo response to land cover change for 130 locations across the continental United States using high resolution (30 m-×-30 m) land cover change data and moderate resolution (~ 500 m-×-500 m) albedo data. The land cover change data spanned 10 years (2001 − 2011) and the albedo data included observations every eight days for 13 years (2001 − 2013). Empirical testing was based on autoregressive time series analysis of snow free albedo for verified locations of land cover change. Approximately one-third of the autoregressive analyses for woody to herbaceous or forest to shrub change classes were not significant, indicating that albedo did not change significantly as a result of land cover change at these locations. In addition, ~ 80% of mean differences in albedo arising from land cover change were less than ± 0.02, a nominal benchmark for precision of albedo measurements that is related to significant changes in radiative forcing. Under snow free conditions, we found that land cover change does not guarantee a significant albedo response, and that the differences in mean albedo response for the majority of land cover change locations were small.

An Iterative, Geometric, Tilt Correction Method for Radiation and Albedo Observed by Automatic Weather Stations on Snow-Covered Surfaces: Application to Greenland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, W.; Zender, C. S.; van As, D.; Smeets, P.; van den Broeke, M.

2015-12-01

Surface melt and mass loss of Greenland Ice Sheet may play crucial roles in global climate change due to their positive feedbacks and large fresh water storage. With few other regular meteorological observations available in this extreme environment, measurements from Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) are the primary data source for the surface energy budget studies, and for validating satellite observations and model simulations. However, station tilt, due to surface melt and compaction, results in considerable biases in the radiation and thus albedo measurements by AWS. In this study, we identify the tilt-induced biases in the climatology of surface radiative flux and albedo, and then correct them based on geometrical principles. Over all the AWS from the Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net), the Kangerlussuaq transect (K-transect) and the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), only ~15% of clear days have the correct solar noon time, with the largest bias to be 3 hours. Absolute hourly biases in the magnitude of surface insolation can reach up to 200 W/m2, with daily average exceeding 100 W/m2. The biases are larger in the accumulation zone due to the systematic tilt at each station, although variabilities of tilt angles are larger in the ablation zone. Averaged over the whole Greenland Ice Sheet in the melting season, the absolute bias in insolation is ~23 W/m2, enough to melt 0.51 m snow water equivalent. We estimate the tilt angles and their directions by comparing the simulated insolation at a horizontal surface with the observed insolation by these tilted AWS under clear-sky conditions. Our correction reduces the RMSE against satellite measurements and reanalysis by ~30 W/m2 relative to the uncorrected data, with correlation coefficients over 0.95 for both references. The corrected diurnal changes of albedo are more smooth, with consistent semi-smiling patterns (see Fig. 1). The seasonal cycles and annual variabilities of albedo are in

The global blue-sky albedo change between 2000 - 2015 seen from MODIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chrysoulakis, N.; Mitraka, Z.; Gorelick, N.

2016-12-01

The land surface albedo is a critical physical variable, which influences the Earth's climate by affecting the energy budget and distribution in the Earth-atmosphere system. Blue-sky albedo estimates provide a quantitative means for better constraining global and regional scale climate models. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo product includes parameters for the estimation of both the directional-hemispherical surface reflectance (black-sky albedo) and the bi-hemispherical surface reflectance (white-sky albedo). This dataset was used here for the blue-sky albedo estimation over the globe on an 8-day basis at 0.5 km spatial resolution for the whole time period covered by MODIS acquisitions (i.e. 2000 until today). To estimate the blue-sky albedo, the fraction of the diffused radiation is needed, a function of the Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT). Required AOT information was acquired from the MODIS AOT product at 1̊ × 1̊ spatial resolution. Since the blue-sky albedo depends on the solar zenith angle (SZA), the 8-day mean blue-sky albedo values were computed as averages of the corresponding values for the representative SZAs covering the 24-hour day. The estimated blue-sky albedo time series was analyzed to capture changes during the 15 period. All computation were performed using the Google Earth Engine (GEE). The GEE provided access to all the MODIS products needed for the analysis without the need of searching or downloading. Moreover, the combination of MODIS products in both temporal and spatial terms was fast and effecting using the GEE API (Application Program Interface). All the products covering the globe and for the time period of 15 years were processed via a single collection. Most importantly, GEE allowed for including the calculation of SZAs covering the 24-hour day which improves the quality of the overall product. The 8-day global products of land surface albedo are available through http://www.rslab.gr/downloads.html

Mars hemispherical albedo map: absolute value and interannual variability inferred from OMEGA data.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vincendon, M.; Audouard, J.; Langevin, Y.; Poulet, F.; Bellucci, G.; Bibring, J.-P.; Gondet, B.

2012-04-01

The surface reflectance integrated over all directions and solar wavelengths ("hemispherical albedo") controls the radiative budget at the surface of Mars, and hence its climate. Reference albedo maps are usually derived from nadir observation of surface reflectance through clear atmospheric conditions. However, the atmosphere of Mars is permanently loaded with a significant amount of aerosols (typical visible optical depths of 0.5 under clear atmospheric conditions), which impacts the evaluation of "aerosol free" surface reflectances from remote sensing data. Moreover, the Martian surface is usually assumed to be Lambertian, both for simplicity and due to the lack of robust constraints about its bidirectional properties. We used OMEGA visible and near-IR measurements, with an appropriate UV extrapolation, to calculate as a function of space and time the hemispherical surface albedo of Mars. The contribution of aerosols is removed using a radiative transfer model and recent aerosols properties. Uncertainties associated with this procedure are calculated. The aerosols correction increases the bright/dark surfaces contrast. Typical, mean bidirectional reflectance properties of the martian surface are estimated using MER surface measurements and CRISM remote "EPF" observations. From these constraints, we have derived a typical relationship that makes it possible to convert single nadir measurements of the reflectance into hemispherical albedo. Accounting for the BRDF of the martian surface typically modify by ± 15% the derived albedo, depending on solar zenith angles. We will present our methods and preliminary results regarding seasonal and interannual variations of the surface albedo of Mars during years 2004-2011.

A Comparison of the Seasonal Change of Albedo across Glaciers and Ice-Covered Lakes of the Taylor Valley, Antarctica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gooseff, M. N.; Bergstrom, A.

2016-12-01

The Dry Valleys of Antarctica are a polar desert ecosystem consisting of piedmont and alpine glaciers, ice-covered lakes, and vast expanses of bare soil. The ecosystem is highly dependent on glacial melt a water source. Because average summer temperatures are close to freezing, glacier ice and lake ice are very closely linked to the energy balance. A slight increase in incoming radiation or decrease in albedo can have large effects on the timing and volume of available liquid water. However, we have yet to fully characterize the seasonal evolution of albedo in the valleys. In this study, we used a camera, gps, and short wave radiometer to characterize the albedo within and across landscape types in the Taylor Valley. These instruments were attached to a helicopter and flown on a prescribed path along the valley at approximately 300 feet above the ground surface five different times throughout the season from mid-November to mid-January, 2015-2016. We used these data to calculate the albedo of each glacier, lake, and the soil surface of the lake basins in the valley for each flight. As expected, we found that all landscape types had significantly different albedo, with the glaciers consistently the highest throughout the season and the bare soils the lowest (p-value < 0.05). We hypothesized that albedo would decrease throughout the season with snow melt and increasing sediment exposure on the glacier and lake surfaces. However, small snow events (< 3 cm) caused somewhat persistent high albedo on the lakes and glaciers. Furthermore, there was a range in albedo across glaciers and each responded to seasonal snow and melt differently. These findings highlight the importance of understanding the spatial and temporal variability in albedo and the close coupling of climate and landscape response. We can use this new understanding of landscape albedo to better predict how the Dry Valley ecosystems will respond to changing climate at the basin scale.

Migration of Frosts from High-Albedo Regions of Pluto: what New Horizons Reveals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buratti, Bonnie J.; Stern, S. A.; Weaver, Hal A.; Young, Leslie A.; Olkin, Cathy B.; Ennico, Kimberly; Binzel, Richard P.; Zangari, Amanda; Earle, Alissa M.

2015-11-01

With its high eccentricity and obliquity, Pluto should exhibit seasonal volatile transport on its surface. Several lines of evidence support this transport: doubling of Pluto’s atmospheric pressure over the past two decades (Young et al., 2013, Ap. J. 766, L22; Olkin et al., 2015, Icarus 246, 230); changes in its historical rotational light curve, once all variations due to viewing geometry have been modelled (Buratti et al., 2015; Ap. J. 804, L6); and changes in HST albedo maps (Buie et al., 2010, Astron. J. 139, 1128). New Horizons LORRI images reveal that the region of greatest albedo change is not the polar cap(s) of Pluto, but the feature informally named Tombaugh Regio (TR). This feature has a normal reflectance as high as ~0.8 in some places, and it is superposed on older, lower-albedo pre-existing terrain with an albedo of only ~0.10. This contrast is larger than any other body in the Solar System, except for Iapetus. This albedo dichotomy leads to a complicated system of cold-trapping and thermal segregation, beyond the simple picture of seasonal volatile transport. Whatever the origin of TR, it initially acted as a cold trap, as the temperature differential between the high and low albedo regions could be enormous, possibly approaching 20K, based on their albedo differences and assuming their normalized phase curves are similar. This latter assumption will be refined as the full New Horizons data set is returned.Over six decades of ground-based photometry suggest that TR has been decreasing in albedo over the last 25 years. Possible causes include changing insolation angles, or sublimation from the edges where the high-albedo material impinges on a much warmer substrate.Funding by the NASA New Horizons Project acknowledged.

Ground albedo neutrons produced by cosmic radiations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kodama, M.

1983-05-01

Day-to-day variations of cosmic-ray-produced neutron fluxes near the earth's ground surface are measured by using three sets of paraffin-moderated BF3 counters, which are installed in different locations, 3 m above ground, ground level, and 20 cm under ground. Neutron flux decreases observed by these counters when snowcover exists show that there are upward-moving neutrons, that is, ground albedo neutron near the ground surface. The amount of albedo neutrons is estimated to be about 40 percent of total neutron flux in the energy range 1-10 to the 6th eV.

A GCM simulation study of the influence of Saharan evapotranspiration and surface-albedo anomalies on July circulation and rainfall

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sud, Y. C.; Molod, A.

1988-01-01

The influence of surface albedo and evapotranspiration anomalies that could result from the hypothetical semiarid vegetation over North Africa on its July circulation and rainfall is examined using the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres GCM. It is shown that increased soil moisture and its dependent evapotranspiration produces a cooler and moister PBL over North Africa that is able to support enhanced moist convection and rainfall in Sahel and southern Sahara. It is found that lower surface albedo yields even higher moist static energy in the PBL and enhances the local moist convection and rainfall. Modifying the rain-evaporation parameterization in the model produces changes in the hydrological cycle and rainfall anomalies in distant regions. The effects of different falling rain parameterizations are discussed.

Effective Albedo of Vegetated Terrain at L-Band

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kurum, Mehmet; O'Neill, Peggy E.; Lang, Roger H.

2011-01-01

This paper derives an explicit expression for an effective albedo of vegetated terrain from the zero- and multiple- order radiative transfer (RT) model comparison. The formulation establishes a direct physical link between the effective vegetation parameterization and the theoretical description of absorption and scattering within the canopy. The paper will present an evaluation of the derived albedo for corn canopies with data taken during an experiment at Alabama A&M Winfield A. Thomas Agricultural Research Station near Huntsville, Alabama in June, 1998. The test site consisted of two 50-m x 60-m plots - one with a bare surface and the other with grass cover - and four 30-m x 50-m plots of corn at different planting densities. One corn field was planted at a full density of 9.5 plants/sq m while the others were planted at 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3 of the full density. The fields were observed with a truck-mounted L-band radiometer at incident angle of 15 degree for the period of two weeks. Soil moisture (SM) changed daily due to irrigation and natural rainfall. Variations in gravimetric SM from 18 % to 34 % were seen during this period. Ground truth data, including careful characterization of the corn size and orientation statistics, and its dielectric, was also collected and used to simulate the effective albedo for the vegetation. The single-scattering albedo is defined as the fractional power scattered from individual vegetation constituents with respect to canopy extinction. It represents single-scattering properties of vegetation elements only, and is independent of ground properties. The values of the albedo get higher when there is dense vegetation (i.e. forest, mature corn, etc.) with scatterers, such as branches and trunks (or stalks in the case of corn), which are large with respect to the wavelength. This large albedo leads to a reduction in brightness temperature in the zero-order RT solution (known as tau-omega model). Higher-order multiple-scattering RT

Impact of absorbing aerosol deposition on snow albedo reduction over the southern Tibetan plateau based on satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Wei-Liang; Liou, K. N.; He, Cenlin; Liang, Hsin-Chien; Wang, Tai-Chi; Li, Qinbin; Liu, Zhenxin; Yue, Qing

2017-08-01

We investigate the snow albedo variation in spring over the southern Tibetan Plateau induced by the deposition of light-absorbing aerosols using remote sensing data from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard Terra satellite during 2001-2012. We have selected pixels with 100 % snow cover for the entire period in March and April to avoid albedo contamination by other types of land surfaces. A model simulation using GEOS-Chem shows that aerosol optical depth (AOD) is a good indicator for black carbon and dust deposition on snow over the southern Tibetan Plateau. The monthly means of satellite-retrieved land surface temperature (LST) and AOD over 100 % snow-covered pixels during the 12 years are used in multiple linear regression analysis to derive the empirical relationship between snow albedo and these variables. Along with the LST effect, AOD is shown to be an important factor contributing to snow albedo reduction. We illustrate through statistical analysis that a 1-K increase in LST and a 0.1 increase in AOD indicate decreases in snow albedo by 0.75 and 2.1 % in the southern Tibetan Plateau, corresponding to local shortwave radiative forcing of 1.5 and 4.2 W m-2, respectively.

Multiplatform observations enabling albedo retrievals with high temporal resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riihelä, Aku; Manninen, Terhikki; Key, Jeffrey; Sun, Qingsong; Sütterlin, Melanie; Lattanzio, Alessio; Schaaf, Crystal

2017-04-01

In this paper we show that combining observations from different polar orbiting satellite families (such as AVHRR and MODIS) is physically justifiable and technically feasible. Our proposed approach will lead to surface albedo retrievals at higher temporal resolution than the state of the art, with comparable or better accuracy. This study is carried out in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Sustained and coordinated processing of Environmental Satellite data for Climate Monitoring (SCOPE-CM) project SCM-02 (http://www.scope-cm.org/projects/scm-02/). Following a spectral homogenization of the Top-of-Atmosphere reflectances of bands 1 & 2 from AVHRR and MODIS, both observation datasets are atmospherically corrected with a coherent atmospheric profile and algorithm. The resulting surface reflectances are then fed into an inversion of the RossThick-LiSparse-Reciprocal surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model. The results of the inversion (BRDF kernels) may then be integrated to estimate various surface albedo quantities. A key principle here is that the larger number of valid surface observations with multiple satellites allows us to invert the BRDF coefficients within a shorter time span, enabling the monitoring of relatively rapid surface phenomena such as snowmelt. The proposed multiplatform approach is expected to bring benefits in particular to the observation of the albedo of the polar regions, where persistent cloudiness and long atmospheric path lengths present challenges to satellite-based retrievals. Following a similar logic, the retrievals over tropical regions with high cloudiness should also benefit from the method. We present results from a demonstrator dataset of a global combined AVHRR-GAC and MODIS dataset covering the year 2010. The retrieved surface albedo is compared against quality-monitored in situ albedo observations from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). Additionally, the combined retrieval

The spectral albedo of sea ice and salt crusts on the tropical ocean of Snowball Earth: 1. Laboratory measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Light, Bonnie; Carns, Regina C.; Warren, Stephen G.

2016-07-01

The ice-albedo feedback mechanism likely contributed to global glaciation during the Snowball Earth events of the Neoproterozoic era (1 Ga to 544 Ma). This feedback results from the albedo contrast between sea ice and open ocean. Little is known about the optical properties of some of the possible surface types that may have been present, including sea ice that is both snow-free and cold enough for salts to precipitate within brine inclusions. A proxy surface for such ice was grown in a freezer laboratory using the single salt NaCl and kept below the eutectic temperature (-21.2°C) of the NaCl-H2O binary system. The resulting ice cover was composed of ice and precipitated hydrohalite crystals (NaCl · 2H2O). As the cold ice sublimated, a thin lag-deposit of salt formed on the surface. To hasten its growth in the laboratory, the deposit was augmented by addition of a salt-enriched surface crust. Measurements of the spectral albedo of this surface were carried out over 90 days as the hydrohalite crust thickened due to sublimation of ice, and subsequently over several hours as the crust warmed and dissolved, finally resulting in a surface with puddled liquid brine. The all-wave solar albedo of the subeutectic crust is 0.93 (in contrast to 0.83 for fresh snow and 0.67 for melting bare sea ice). Incorporation of these processes into a climate model of Snowball Earth will result in a positive salt-albedo feedback operating between -21°C and -36°C.

An investigation of surface albedo variations during the recent sahel drought. [ats 3 observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Norton, C. C.; Mosher, F. R.; Hinton, B.

1978-01-01

Applications Technology Satellite 3 green sensor data were used to measure surface reflectance variations in the Sahara/Sahel during the recent drought period; 1967 to 1974. The magnitude of the seasonal reflectance change is shown to be as much as 80% for years of normal precipitation and less than 50% for drought years. Year to year comparisons during both wet and dry seasons reveal the existence of a surface reflectance cycle coincident with the drought intensity. The relationship between the green reflectance and solar albedo is examined and estimated to be about 0.6 times the reflectance change observed by the green channel.

Albedo indicating land degradation around the Badain Jaran Desert for better land resources utilization.

PubMed

Liu, Fengshan; Chen, Ying; Lu, Haiying; Shao, Hongbo

2017-02-01

Surface albedo is an easy access parameter in reflecting the status of both human disturbed soil and indirectly influenced area, whose characteristic is an important indicator in sustainable development under the background of global climate change. In this study, we employed meteorological data, MODIS 8-day BRDF/Albedo and LAI products from 2000 to 2014 to show the amelioration and mechanism around the Badain Jaran Desert. Results showed that the human-dominated afforestation activities significantly increased the leaf area index (LAI) in summer and autumn. Lower reflectance at visible band was sensed inside the desert compared with the ecozone and the lowest albedo at forested area. The contribution of soil and vegetation reflectance to surface albedo determined the linear sensitivity of albedo to LAI variation. Decreased albedo dominated the spatial-temporal pattern of the Badain Jaran Desert. This study suggested that surface albedo can be regarded as a useful index in indicating the change process and evaluating the sustainable development of biological management around the Badain Jaran Desert. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Surface features on Mars: Ground-based albedo and radar compared with Mariner 9 topography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frey, H.

1973-01-01

Earth-based albedo maps of Mars were compared with Mariner 9 television data and ground-based radar profiles to investigate the nature of the bright and dark albedo features. Little correlation was found except at the boundaries of classical albedo features, where some topographic control is indicated. Wind-blown dust models for seasonal and secular albedo variations are supported, but it is not clear whether the fines are derived from bright or dark parent rock. Mars, like the Earth and Moon, has probably generated two distinct types of crustal material.

Parameterization of albedo, thermal inertia, and surface roughness of desert scrub/sandy soil surface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Otterman, J.; Mccumber, M.

1986-01-01

Spectral albedo, A sub n, for the direct solar beam is defined as A sub n (r sub i,s, theta sub 0) = r sub i exp(-s tan theta sub 0)1-I(s) where I(s) is the integral over all reflection angles describing the interception by the absorbing plants of the flux reflected from the soil, r sub i soil reflectance, assumed Lambertian, S the projection on a vertical plane of plants per unit surface area, and theta sub 0 is the solar zenith angle. Hemispheric reflectance for the direct solar beam equals 1-I(s) times the reflectance to the zenith. The values of s of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 respectively quantify sparse, moderately dense, and very dense desert scrub. Thin plants are assumed to be of negligible thermal inertia, and thus directly yield the absorbed insolation to the atmosphere. Surface thermal inertia is therefore effectively reduced. The ratio of surface roughness height to plant height is parameterized for sparse, moderately dense, and very dense desert-scrub as a function of s based on data expressing the dependence of this ratio on plant silhouette.

Application and Evaluation of MODIS LAI, FPAR, and Albedo ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

MODIS vegetation and albedo products provide a more realistic representation of surface conditions for input to the WRF/CMAQ modeling system. However, the initial evaluation of ingesting MODIS data into the system showed mixed results, with increased bias and error for 2-m temperature and reduced bias and error for 2-m mixing ratio. Recently, the WRF/CMAQ land surface and boundary laywer processes have been updated. In this study, MODIS vegetation and albedo data are input to the updated WRF/CMAQ meteorology and air quality simulations for 2006 over a North American (NA) 12-km domain. The evaluation of the simulation results shows that the updated WRF/CMAQ system improves 2-m temperature estimates over the pre-update base modeling system estimates. The MODIS vegetation input produces a realistic spring green-up that progresses through time from the south to north. Overall, MODIS input reduces 2-m mixing ration bias during the growing season. The NA west shows larger positive O3 bias during the growing season because of reduced gas phase deposition resulting from lower O3 deposition velocities driven by reduced vegetation cover. The O3 bias increase associated with the realistic vegetation representation indicates that further improvement may be needed in the WRF/CMAQ system. The National Exposure Research Laboratory’s Atmospheric Modeling Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD’s rese

Radiative transfer in dusty nebulae. III - The effects of dust albedo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Petrosian, V.; Dana, R. A.

1980-01-01

The effects of an albedo of internal dust, such as ionization structure and temperature of dust grain, were studied by the quasi-diffusion method with an iterative technique for solving the radiative heat transfer equations. It was found that the generalized on-the-spot approximation solution is adequate for most astrophysical applications for a zero albedo; for a nonzero albedo, the Eddington approximation is more accurate. The albedo increases the average energy of the diffuse photons, increasing the ionization level of hydrogen and heavy elements if the Eddington approximation is applied; the dust thermal gradient is reduced so that the infrared spectrum approaches blackbody spectrum with an increasing albedo.

Estimation of snow albedo reduction by light absorbing impurities using Monte Carlo radiative transfer model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sengupta, D.; Gao, L.; Wilcox, E. M.; Beres, N. D.; Moosmüller, H.; Khlystov, A.

2017-12-01

Radiative forcing and climate change greatly depends on earth's surface albedo and its temporal and spatial variation. The surface albedo varies greatly depending on the surface characteristics ranging from 5-10% for calm ocean waters to 80% for some snow-covered areas. Clean and fresh snow surfaces have the highest albedo and are most sensitive to contamination with light absorbing impurities that can greatly reduce surface albedo and change overall radiative forcing estimates. Accurate estimation of snow albedo as well as understanding of feedbacks on climate from changes in snow-covered areas is important for radiative forcing, snow energy balance, predicting seasonal snowmelt, and run off rates. Such information is essential to inform timely decision making of stakeholders and policy makers. Light absorbing particles deposited onto the snow surface can greatly alter snow albedo and have been identified as a major contributor to regional climate forcing if seasonal snow cover is involved. However, uncertainty associated with quantification of albedo reduction by these light absorbing particles is high. Here, we use Mie theory (under the assumption of spherical snow grains) to reconstruct the single scattering parameters of snow (i.e., single scattering albedo ῶ and asymmetry parameter g) from observation-based size distribution information and retrieved refractive index values. The single scattering parameters of impurities are extracted with the same approach from datasets obtained during laboratory combustion of biomass samples. Instead of using plane-parallel approximation methods to account for multiple scattering, we have used the simple "Monte Carlo ray/photon tracing approach" to calculate the snow albedo. This simple approach considers multiple scattering to be the "collection" of single scattering events. Using this approach, we vary the effective snow grain size and impurity concentrations to explore the evolution of snow albedo over a wide

Effects of soot-induced snow albedo change on snowpack and hydrological cycle in western United States based on Weather Research and Forecasting chemistry and regional climate simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Yun; Gustafson, William I.; Leung, L. Ruby; Ghan, Steven J.

2009-02-01

Radiative forcing induced by soot on snow is an important anthropogenic forcing affecting the global climate. In this study we simulated the deposition of soot aerosol on snow and the resulting impact on snowpack and the hydrological cycle in the western United States. A year-long simulation was performed using the chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem) to determine the soot deposition, followed by three simulations using WRF in meteorology-only mode, with and without the soot-induced snow albedo perturbations. The chemistry simulation shows large spatial variability in soot deposition that reflects the localized emissions and the influence of the complex terrain. The soot-induced snow albedo perturbations increase the surface net solar radiation flux during late winter to early spring, increase the surface air temperature, and reduce the snow accumulation and spring snowmelt. These effects are stronger over the central Rockies and southern Alberta, where soot deposition and snowpack overlap the most. The indirect forcing of soot accelerates snowmelt and alters stream flows, including a trend toward earlier melt dates in the western United States. The soot-induced albedo reduction initiates a positive feedback process whereby dirty snow absorbs more solar radiation, heating the surface and warming the air. This warming causes reduced snow depth and fraction, which further reduces the regional surface albedo for the snow-covered regions. For a doubled snow albedo perturbation, the change to surface energy and temperature is around 50-80%; however, snowpack reduction is nonlinearly accelerated.

Spatial-temporal analysis of building surface temperatures in Hung Hom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Ying; Shen, Yueqian

2015-12-01

This thesis presents a study on spatial-temporal analysis of building surface temperatures in Hung Hom. Observations were collected from Aug 2013 to Oct 2013 at a 30-min interval, using iButton sensors (N=20) covering twelve locations in Hung Hom. And thermal images were captured in PolyU from 05 Aug 2013 to 06 Aug 2013. A linear regression model of iButton and thermal records is established to calibrate temperature data. A 3D modeling system is developed based on Visual Studio 2010 development platform, using ArcEngine10.0 component, Microsoft Access 2010 database and C# programming language. The system realizes processing data, spatial analysis, compound query and 3D face temperature rendering and so on. After statistical analyses, building face azimuths are found to have a statistically significant relationship with sun azimuths at peak time. And seasonal building temperature changing also corresponds to the sun angle and sun azimuth variations. Building materials are found to have a significant effect on building surface temperatures. Buildings with lower albedo materials tend to have higher temperatures and larger thermal conductivity material have significant diurnal variations. For the geographical locations, the peripheral faces of campus have higher temperatures than the inner faces during day time and buildings located at the southeast are cooler than the western. Furthermore, human activity is found to have a strong relationship with building surface temperatures through weekday and weekend comparison.

Sea ice roughness: the key for predicting Arctic summer ice albedo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landy, J.; Ehn, J. K.; Tsamados, M.; Stroeve, J.; Barber, D. G.

2017-12-01

Although melt ponds on Arctic sea ice evolve in stages, ice with smoother surface topography typically allows the pond water to spread over a wider area, reducing the ice-albedo and accelerating further melt. Building on this theory, we simulated the distribution of meltwater on a range of statistically-derived topographies to develop a quantitative relationship between premelt sea ice surface roughness and summer ice albedo. Our method, previously applied to ICESat observations of the end-of-winter sea ice roughness, could account for 85% of the variance in AVHRR observations of the summer ice-albedo [Landy et al., 2015]. Consequently, an Arctic-wide reduction in sea ice roughness over the ICESat operational period (from 2003 to 2008) explained a drop in ice-albedo that resulted in a 16% increase in solar heat input to the sea ice cover. Here we will review this work and present new research linking pre-melt sea ice surface roughness observations from Cryosat-2 to summer sea ice albedo over the past six years, examining the potential of winter roughness as a significant new source of sea ice predictability. We will further evaluate the possibility for high-resolution (kilometre-scale) forecasts of summer sea ice albedo from waveform-level Cryosat-2 roughness data in the landfast sea ice zone of the Canadian Arctic. Landy, J. C., J. K. Ehn, and D. G. Barber (2015), Albedo feedback enhanced by smoother Arctic sea ice, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 10,714-10,720, doi:10.1002/2015GL066712.

Putting the Capital 'A' in CoCoRAHS: A Pilot Program to Measure Albedo using the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burakowski, E. A.; Stampone, M. D.; Wake, C. P.; Dibb, J. E.

2012-12-01

The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) Network, started in 1998 as a community-based network of volunteer weather observer in Colorado, is the single largest provider of daily precipitation observations in the United States. We embrace the CoCoRaHS mission to use low-cost measurement tools, provide training and education, and utilize an interactive website to collect high quality albedo data for research and education applications. We trained a select sub-set of CoCoRaHS's eighteen most enthusiastic, self-proclaimed 'weather nuts' in the state of New Hampshire to collect surface albedo, snow depth, and snow density measurements between 23-Nov-2011 and 15-Mar-2012. At less than 700 per observer, the low-cost albedo data falls within ±0.05 of albedo values collected from a First Class Kipp and Zonen Albedometer (CMA6) at local solar noon. CoCoRaHS albedo values range from 0.99 for fresh snow to 0.34 for shallow, aged snow. Snow-free albedo ranges from 0.09 to 0.39, depending on ground cover. Albedo is found to increase logarithmically with snow depth and decrease linearly with snow density. The latter relationship with snow density is inferred to be a proxy for increasing snow grain size as snowpack ages and compacts, supported by spectral albedo measurements collected with an ASD FieldSpec4 spectrometer. The newly established albedo network also serves as a development test bed for interactive online mapping and graphing applications for CoCoRaHS observers to investigate spatial and temporal patterns in albedo, snow depth, and snow density (www.cocorahs-albedo.org). The 2012-2013 field season will include low-cost infrared temperature guns (<40 each) to investigate the relationship between surface albedo and skin temperature. We have also recruited middle- and high-schools as volunteer observers and are working with the teachers to develop curriculum and lesson plans that utilize the low-cost measurement tools provided by CoCoRAHS. Co

The influence of canopy shading of snow on effective albedo in forested environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webster, C.; Jonas, T.

2017-12-01

The overlap of highly reflective snow and absorbent forested areas creates strong heterogeneity in the effective surface albedo compared to forest-free areas. Current errors in calculations of effective forest snow albedo arise due to uncertainties in how models should treat masking of snow by vegetation but improvement of local and large scale models is currently limited by a lack of measurements that demonstrate both spatial and temporal variability over forests. We present above-canopy measurements of winter-time effective forest snow albedo using up- and down-looking radiometers mounted on an octocopter UAV for a total of fifteen flights on eight different days. Ground-view fractions across the flight path were between 0.12 and 0.81. Correlations between effective albedo and both ground-view fraction and canopy height were statistically significant during 14 out of 15 flights, but varied between flights due to solar angle and snow cover. Measured effective albedo across the flight path differed by up to 0.33 during snow-on canopy conditions. A comparison between maximum interception and no interception showed effective albedo varied by up 0.17, which was the same variation between effective albedo during high (46°) and low (23°) solar elevation angles. Temporal and spatial variations in effective albedo caused by canopy shading of the snow surface are therefore as important as temporal variations caused by interception of snow by the canopy. Calculation of effective albedo over forested areas therefore requires careful consideration of canopy height, canopy coverage, solar angle and interception load. The results of this study should be used to inform snow albedo and canopy structure parametrisations in local and larger scale land surface models.

Effect of land cover change on snow free surface albedo across the continental United States

EPA Science Inventory

Land cover changes (e.g., forest to grassland) affect albedo, and changes in albedo can influence radiative forcing (warming, cooling). We empirically tested albedo response to land cover change for 130 locations across the continental United States using high resolution (30 m-&t...

Impact of Albedo Contrast Between Cirrus and Boundary-Layer Clouds on Climate Sensitivity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chou, Ming-Dah; Lindzen, R. S.; Hou, A. Y.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

In assessing the iris effect suggested by Lindzen et al. (2001), Fu et al. (2001) found that the response of high-level clouds to the sea surface temperature had an effect of reducing the climate sensitivity to external radiative forcing, but the effect was not as strong as LCH found. This weaker reduction in climate sensitivity was due to the smaller contrasts in albedos and effective emitting temperatures between cirrus clouds and the neighboring regions. FBH specified the albedos and the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) in the LCH 3.5-box radiative-convective model by requiring that the model radiation budgets at the top of the atmosphere be consistent with that inferred from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). In point of fact, the constraint by radiation budgets alone is not sufficient for deriving the correct contrast in radiation properties between cirrus clouds and the neighboring regions, and the approach of FBH to specifying those properties is, we feel inappropriate for assessing the iris effect.

Clouds, surface temperature, and the tropical and subtropical radiation budget

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dhuria, Harbans L.; Kyle, H. Lee

1980-01-01

Solar energy drives both the Earth's climate and biosphere, but the absorbed energy is unevenly distributed over the Earth. The tropical regions receive excess energy which is then transported by atmospheric and ocean currents to the higher latitudes. All regions at a given latitude receive the same top of the atmosphere solar irradiance (insolation). However, the net radiation received from the Sun in the tropics and subtropics varies greatly from one region to another depending on local conditions. Over land, variations in surface albedo are important. Over both land and ocean, surface temperature, cloud amount, and cloud type are also important. The Nimbus-7 cloud and Earth radiation budget (ERB) data sets are used to examine the affect of these parameters.

Snow Cover and Vegetation-Induced Decrease in Global Albedo From 2002 to 2016

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qiuping; Ma, Mingguo; Wu, Xiaodan; Yang, Hong

2018-01-01

Land surface albedo is an essential parameter in regional and global climate models, and it is markedly influenced by land cover change. Variations in the albedo can affect the surface radiation budget and further impact the global climate. In this study, the interannual variation of albedo from 2002 to 2016 was estimated on the global scale using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) datasets. The presence and causes of the albedo changes for each specific region were also explored. From 2002 to 2016, the MODIS-based albedo decreased globally, snow cover declined by 0.970 (percent per pixel), while the seasonally integrated normalized difference vegetation index increased by 0.175. Some obvious increases in the albedo were detected in Central Asia, northeastern China, parts of the boreal forest in Canada, and the temperate steppe in North America. In contrast, noticeable decreases in the albedo were found in the Siberian tundra, Europe, southeastern Australia, and northeastern regions of North America. In the Northern Hemisphere, the greening trend at high latitudes made more contribution to the decline in the albedo. However, the dramatic fluctuation of snow-cover at midlatitudes predominated in the change of albedo. Our analysis can help to understand the roles that vegetation and snow cover play in the variation of albedo on global and regional scales.

Suppression of the water ice and snow albedo feedback on planets orbiting red dwarf stars and the subsequent widening of the habitable zone.

PubMed

Joshi, Manoj M; Haberle, Robert M

2012-01-01

M stars comprise 80% of main sequence stars, so their planetary systems provide the best chance for finding habitable planets, that is, those with surface liquid water. We have modeled the broadband albedo or reflectivity of water ice and snow for simulated planetary surfaces orbiting two observed red dwarf stars (or M stars), using spectrally resolved data of Earth's cryosphere. The gradual reduction of the albedos of snow and ice at wavelengths greater than 1 μm, combined with M stars emitting a significant fraction of their radiation at these same longer wavelengths, means that the albedos of ice and snow on planets orbiting M stars are much lower than their values on Earth. Our results imply that the ice/snow albedo climate feedback is significantly weaker for planets orbiting M stars than for planets orbiting G-type stars such as the Sun. In addition, planets with significant ice and snow cover will have significantly higher surface temperatures for a given stellar flux if the spectral variation of cryospheric albedo is considered, which in turn implies that the outer edge of the habitable zone around M stars may be 10-30% farther away from the parent star than previously thought.

Arctic sea ice albedo - A comparison of two satellite-derived data sets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schweiger, Axel J.; Serreze, Mark C.; Key, Jeffrey R.

1993-01-01

Spatial patterns of mean monthly surface albedo for May, June, and July, derived from DMSP Operational Line Scan (OLS) satellite imagery are compared with surface albedos derived from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (ISCCP) monthly data set. Spatial patterns obtained by the two techniques are in general agreement, especially for June and July. Nevertheless, systematic differences in albedo of 0.05 - 0.10 are noted which are most likely related to uncertainties in the simple parameterizations used in the DMSP analyses, problems in the ISCCP cloud-clearing algorithm and other modeling simplifications. However, with respect to the eventual goal of developing a reliable automated retrieval algorithm for compiling a long-term albedo data base, these initial comparisons are very encouraging.

Photophysiology and albedo-changing potential of the ice algal community on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet

PubMed Central

Yallop, Marian L; Anesio, Alexandre M; Perkins, Rupert G; Cook, Joseph; Telling, Jon; Fagan, Daniel; MacFarlane, James; Stibal, Marek; Barker, Gary; Bellas, Chris; Hodson, Andy; Tranter, Martyn; Wadham, Jemma; Roberts, Nicholas W

2012-01-01

Darkening of parts of the Greenland ice sheet surface during the summer months leads to reduced albedo and increased melting. Here we show that heavily pigmented, actively photosynthesising microalgae and cyanobacteria are present on the bare ice. We demonstrate the widespread abundance of green algae in the Zygnematophyceae on the ice sheet surface in Southwest Greenland. Photophysiological measurements (variable chlorophyll fluorescence) indicate that the ice algae likely use screening mechanisms to downregulate photosynthesis when exposed to high intensities of visible and ultraviolet radiation, rather than non-photochemical quenching or cell movement. Using imaging microspectrophotometry, we demonstrate that intact cells and filaments absorb light with characteristic spectral profiles across ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, whereas inorganic dust particles typical for these areas display little absorption. Our results indicate that the phototrophic community growing directly on the bare ice, through their photophysiology, most likely have an important role in changing albedo, and subsequently may impact melt rates on the ice sheet. PMID:23018772

Photophysiology and albedo-changing potential of the ice algal community on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet.

PubMed

Yallop, Marian L; Anesio, Alexandre M; Perkins, Rupert G; Cook, Joseph; Telling, Jon; Fagan, Daniel; MacFarlane, James; Stibal, Marek; Barker, Gary; Bellas, Chris; Hodson, Andy; Tranter, Martyn; Wadham, Jemma; Roberts, Nicholas W

2012-12-01

Darkening of parts of the Greenland ice sheet surface during the summer months leads to reduced albedo and increased melting. Here we show that heavily pigmented, actively photosynthesising microalgae and cyanobacteria are present on the bare ice. We demonstrate the widespread abundance of green algae in the Zygnematophyceae on the ice sheet surface in Southwest Greenland. Photophysiological measurements (variable chlorophyll fluorescence) indicate that the ice algae likely use screening mechanisms to downregulate photosynthesis when exposed to high intensities of visible and ultraviolet radiation, rather than non-photochemical quenching or cell movement. Using imaging microspectrophotometry, we demonstrate that intact cells and filaments absorb light with characteristic spectral profiles across ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, whereas inorganic dust particles typical for these areas display little absorption. Our results indicate that the phototrophic community growing directly on the bare ice, through their photophysiology, most likely have an important role in changing albedo, and subsequently may impact melt rates on the ice sheet.

Intercomparison of MODIS Albedo Retrievals and In Situ Measurements Across the Global FLUXNET Network

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cescatti, Alessandro; Marcolla, Barbara; Vannan, Suresh K. Santhana; Pan, Jerry Yun; Roman, Miguel O.; Yang, Xiaoyuan; Ciais, Philippe; Cook, Robert B.; Law, Beverly E.; Matteucci, Girogio;

A new parameterization of the post-fire snow albedo effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gleason, K. E.; Nolin, A. W.

2013-12-01

Mountain snowpack serves as an important natural reservoir of water: recharging aquifers, sustaining streams, and providing important ecosystem services. Reduced snowpacks and earlier snowmelt have been shown to affect fire size, frequency, and severity in the western United States. In turn, wildfire disturbance affects patterns of snow accumulation and ablation by reducing canopy interception, increasing turbulent fluxes, and modifying the surface radiation balance. Recent work shows that after a high severity forest fire, approximately 60% more solar radiation reaches the snow surface due to the reduction in canopy density. Also, significant amounts of pyrogenic carbon particles and larger burned woody debris (BWD) are shed from standing charred trees, which concentrate on the snowpack, darken its surface, and reduce snow albedo by 50% during ablation. Although the post-fire forest environment drives a substantial increase in net shortwave radiation at the snowpack surface, driving earlier and more rapid melt, hydrologic models do not explicitly incorporate forest fire disturbance effects to snowpack dynamics. The objective of this study was to parameterize the post-fire snow albedo effect due to BWD deposition on snow to better represent forest fire disturbance in modeling of snow-dominated hydrologic regimes. Based on empirical results from winter experiments, in-situ snow monitoring, and remote sensing data from a recent forest fire in the Oregon High Cascades, we characterized the post-fire snow albedo effect, and developed a simple parameterization of snowpack albedo decay in the post-fire forest environment. We modified the recession coefficient in the algorithm: α = α0 + K exp (-nr) where α = snowpack albedo, α0 = minimum snowpack albedo (≈0.4), K = constant (≈ 0.44), -n = number of days since last major snowfall, r = recession coefficient [Rohrer and Braun, 1994]. Our parameterization quantified BWD deposition and snow albedo decay rates and

Surface magnetic field mapping on high albedo marking areas of the moon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shibuya, H.; Aikawa, K.; Tsunakawa, H.; Takahashi, F.; Shimizu, H.; Matsushima, M.

2009-12-01

The correlation between high albedo markings (HAM) on the surface of the moon and strong magnetic anomalies has been claimed since the early time of the lunar magnetic field study (Hood and Schubert, 1980). Hood et al. (1989) mapped the smoothed magnetic field over the Reiner Gamma region using Lunar Prospector magnetometer (LP-MAG) data, and showed that the position of them matches well. We have developed a method to recover the 3-d magnetic field from satellite field observations (EPR method which stands for Equivalent Pole Reduction; Toyoshima et al. 2008). Applying EPR to the several areas of strong magnetic anomalies, we calculated the magnetic anomaly maps of near surface regions, to see how the anomaly and the HAM correlate each other. The data used is of the Lunar Prospector magnetometer (LP-MAG). They are selected from low altitude observations performed in 1998 to 1999. The areas studied are Reiner Gamma, Airy, Descartes, Abel, and Crisium Antipode regions. The EPR determines a set of magnetic monopoles at the moon surface which produce the magnetic field of the observation. In each studied area, we put poles in 0.1° intervals of both latitude and longitude, then the magnetic field at 5km in altitude is calculated. The field distribution is superimposed with the albedo map made from Clementine data. The total force (Bf) maps indicate that the HMA occurs at the strong anomaly regions, but their shape does not quite overlie. However, taking horizontal component (Bh), not only position but the shape and size of the anomalies coincide with HMA regions. It is particularly true for the Reiner Gamma, and Descartes regions. The shape of HMA fits in a Bh contour. The HMA is argued to be formed by the reduction of solar wind particles which are shielded by the magnetic field. Since the deflection of the charged particle becomes large at large horizontal component, the Bh distribution showed here support the argument.

Estimating Surface and Subsurface Ice Abundance on Mercury Using a Thermophysical Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubanenko, L.; Mazarico, E.; Neumann, G. A.; Paige, D. A.

2016-12-01

The small obliquity of the Moon and Mercury causes some topographic features near their poles to cast permanent shadows for geologic time periods. In the past, these permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) were found to have low enough temperatures to trap surface and subsurface water ice. On Mercury, high normal albedo is correlated with maximum temperatures <100 m and high radar backscatter, possibly indicating the presence of surface ice. Areas with slightly higher maximum temperatures were measured to have a decreased albedo, postulated to contain of organic materials overlaying buried ice. We evaluate this theory by employing a thermophysical model that considers insolation, scattering, thermal emissions and subsurface conduction. We model the area fraction of surface and subsurface cold-traps on realistic topography at scales of ˜500 m , recorded by the Mercury Laster Altimeter (MLA) on board the MErcury Surface, Space ENviroment, GEochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft. At smaller scales, below the instrument threshold, we consider a statistical description of the surface assuming a Gaussian slope distribution. Using the modeled cold-trap area fraction we calculate the expected surface albedo and compare it to MESSENGER's near-infrared surface reflectance data. Last, we apply our model to other airless small-obliquity planetary bodies such as the Moon and Ceres in order to explain other correlations between the maximum temperature and normal albedo.

Poster 13: Large-scale simultaneous mapping of Titan's aerosol opacity and surface albedo by a new massive inversion method of Cassini/VIMS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maltagliati, Luca; Rodriguez, Sebastien; Sotin, Christophe; Rannou, Pascal; Bezard, Bruno; Solomonidou, Anezina; Coustenis, Athena; Appere, Thomas; Cornet, Thomas; Le Mouelic, Stephane

2016-06-01

We have still limited information on Titan's surface albedo in the near-infrared. Only few spectral windows exist in between the intense methane bands, and even those windows are strongly affected by atmospheric contributions (absorption, scattering). Yet, this part of the spectrum is important to determine the surface composition thanks to the wealth of absorption bands by minerals and ices present there. A radiative transfer model is an effective tool to take the atmospheric effects into consideration in the analysis (e.g. Rannou et al. 2010, Griffith et al 2012, Solomonidou et al. 2016,...), but it is too time-consuming to process the whole VIMS hyperspectral dataset (millions of spectra) and create large-scale maps of the surface albedo. To overcome this problem, we developed an inversion method of VIMS data that employs lookup tables of synthetic spectra produced by a state-of-the-art radiative transfer model (described in its original form in Hirtzig et al. 2013). The heavy computational part (calling the radiative transfer model) is thus done only once for all during the creation of the modeled spectra. We updated the model with new methane spectroscopy and the new aerosol parameters we found in our analysis of the VIMS Emission Phase Function (see the other Maltagliati et al. abstract in this workshop). We analyzed in detail the behavior of the spectra as a function of the free parameters of the model (three inputs, the incidence, emergence and azimuth angles; and two products: the aerosol opacity and the surface albedo) in order to create an optimized grid for the lookup table. The lookup tables were then grafted onto an ad-hoc inversion model. Our method can process a whole 64x64 VIMS datacube in few minutes, with a gain in computational time of a factor of more than one thousand with respect to the standard method. This will consent for the first time a truly massive inversion of VIMS data and large-scale acquisition of Titan's surface albedo, paving the

Global warming related transient albedo feedback in the Arctic and its relation to the seasonality of sea ice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andry, Olivier; Bintanja, Richard; Hazeleger, Wilco

2015-04-01

The Arctic is warming two to three times faster than the global average. Arctic sea ice cover is very sensitive to this warming and has reached historic minima in late summer in recent years (i.e. 2007, 2012). Considering that the Arctic Ocean is mainly ice-covered and that the albedo of sea ice is very high compared to that of open water, the change in sea ice cover is very likely to have a strong impact on the local surface albedo feedback. Here we quantify the temporal changes in surface albedo feedback in response to global warming. Usually feedbacks are evaluated as being representative and constant for long time periods, but we show here that the strength of climate feedbacks in fact varies strongly with time. For instance, time series of the amplitude of the surface albedo feedback, derived from future climate simulations (CIMP5, RCP8.5 up to year 2300) using a kernel method, peaks around the year 2100. This maximum is likely caused by an increased seasonality in sea-ice cover that is inherently associated with sea ice retreat. We demonstrate that the Arctic average surface albedo has a strong seasonal signature with a maximum in spring and a minimum in late summer/autumn. In winter when incoming solar radiation is minimal the surface albedo doesn't have an important effect on the energy balance of the climate system. The annual mean surface albedo is thus determined by the seasonality of both downwelling shortwave radiation and sea ice cover. As sea ice cover reduces the seasonal signature is modified, the transient part from maximum sea ice cover to its minimum is shortened and sharpened. The sea ice cover is reduced when downwelling shortwave radiation is maximum and thus the annual surface albedo is drastically smaller. Consequently the change in annual surface albedo with time will become larger and so will the surface albedo feedback. We conclude that a stronger seasonality in sea ice leads to a stronger surface albedo feedback, which accelerates

Influence of ground surface characteristics on the mean radiant temperature in urban areas.

PubMed

Lindberg, Fredrik; Onomura, Shiho; Grimmond, C S B

2016-09-01

The effect of variations in land cover on mean radiant temperature (T mrt ) is explored through a simple scheme developed within the radiation model SOLWEIG. Outgoing longwave radiation is parameterised using surface temperature observations on a grass and an asphalt surface, whereas outgoing shortwave radiation is modelled through variations in albedo for the different surfaces. The influence of ground surface materials on T mrt is small compared to the effects of shadowing. Nevertheless, altering ground surface materials could contribute to a reduction in T mrt to reduce the radiant load during heat-wave episodes in locations where shadowing is not an option. Evaluation of the new scheme suggests that despite its simplicity it can simulate the outgoing fluxes well, especially during sunny conditions. However, it underestimates at night and in shadowed locations. One grass surface used to develop the parameterisation, with very different characteristics compared to an evaluation grass site, caused T mrt to be underestimated. The implications of using high temporal resolution (e.g. 15 minutes) meteorological forcing data under partly cloudy conditions are demonstrated even for fairly proximal sites.

Thermal and albedo mapping of the polar regions of Mars using Viking thermal mapper observations: 1. North polar region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Paige, David A.; Bachman, Jennifer E.; Keegan, Kenneth D.

1994-01-01

We present the first maps of the apparent thermal inertia and albedo of the north polar region of Mars. The observations used to create these maps were acquired by the infrared thermal mapper (IRTM) instruments on the two Viking orbiters over a 50-day period in 1978 during the Martian early northern summer season. The maps cover the region from 60 deg N to the north pole at a spatial resolution of 1/2 deg of latitude. The analysis and interpretation of these maps is aided by the results of a one-dimensional radiative convective model, which is used to calculate diurnal variations in surface and atmospheric temperatures, and brightness temperatures at the top of the atmospphere for a wide range of assumptions concerning aerosol optical properties and aerosol optical depths. The results of these calculations show that the effects of the Martian atmosphere on remote determinations of surface thermal inertia are more significant than have been indicated in previous studies. The maps of apparent thermal inertia and albedo show a great deal of spatial structure that is well correlated with surface features.

The Albedo of Kepler's Small Worlds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jansen, Tiffany; Kipping, David

2018-01-01

The study of exoplanet phase curves has been established as a powerful tool for measuring the atmospheric properties of other worlds. To first order, phase curves have the same amplitude as occultations, yet far greater temporal baselines enabling substantial improvements in sensitivity. Even so, only a relatively small fraction of Kepler planets have detectable phase curves, leading to a population dominated by hot-Jupiters. One way to boost sensitivity further is to stack different planets of similar types together, giving rise to an average phase curve for a specific ensemble. In this work, we measure the average albedo, thermal redistribution efficiency, and greenhouse boosting factor from the average phase curves of 115 Neptunian and 50 Terran (solid) worlds. We construct ensemble phase curve models for both samples accounting for the reflection and thermal components and regress our models assuming a global albedo, redistribution factor and greenhouse factor in a Bayesian framework. We find modest evidence for a detected phase curve in the Neptunian sample, although the albedo and thermal properties are somewhat degenerate meaning we can only place an upper limit on the albedo of Ag < 0.23 and greenhouse factor of f < 1.40 to 95% confidence. As predicted theoretically, this confirms hot-Neptunes are darker than Neptune and Uranus. Additionally, we place a constraint on the albedo of solid, Terran worlds of Ag < 0.42 and f < 1.60 to 95% confidence, compatible with a dark Lunar-like surface.

Impact of weather events on Arctic sea ice albedo evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arntsen, A. E.; Perovich, D. K.; Polashenski, C.; Stwertka, C.

2015-12-01

Arctic sea ice undergoes a seasonal evolution from cold snow-covered ice to melting snow to bare ice with melt ponds. Associated with this physical evolution is a decrease in the albedo of the ice cover. While the change in albedo is often considered as a steady seasonal decrease, weather events during melt, such as rain or snow, can impact the albedo evolution. Measurements on first year ice in the Chukchi Sea showed a decrease in visible albedo to 0.77 during the onset of melt. New snow from 4 - 6 June halted melting and increased the visible albedo to 0.87. It took 12 days for the albedo to decrease to levels prior to the snowfall. Incident solar radiation is large in June and thus a change in albedo has a large impact on the surface heat budget. The snowfall increased the albedo by 0.1 and reduced the absorbed sunlight from 5 June to 17 June by approximately 32 MJ m-2. The total impact of the snowfall will be even greater, since the delay in albedo reduction will be propagated throughout the entire summer. A rain event would have the opposite impact, increasing solar heat input and accelerating melting. Snow or rain in May or June can impact the summer melt cycle of Arctic sea ice.

Comparing MODIS-Terra and GOES surface albedo for New York City NY, Baltimore MD and Washington DC for 2005

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mubenga, K.; Hoff, R.; McCann, K.; Chu, A.; Prados, A.

2006-05-01

The NOAA GOES Aerosol and Smoke Product (GASP) is a product displaying the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over the United States. The GASP retrieval involves discriminating the upwelling radiance from the atmosphere from that of the variable underlying surface. Unlike other sensors with more visible and near- infrared spectral channels such as MODIS, the sensors on GOES 8 through 12 only have one visible and a several far infrared channels. The GASP algorithm uses the detection of the second-darkest pixel from the visible channel over a 28-day period as the reference from which a radiance look-up table gives the corresponding AOD. GASP is reliable in capturing the AOD during large events. As an example, GASP was able to precisely show the Alaska and British Columbia smoke plume advecting from Alaska to the northeastern U.S. during the summer of 2004. Knapp et al. (2005) has shown that the AOD retrieval for GOES- 8 is within +/-0.13 of AERONET ground data with a coefficient of correlation of 0.72. Prados (this meeting) will update that study. However, GASP may not be as reliable when it comes to observing smaller AOD events in the northeast where the surface brightness is relatively high. The presence of large cities, such as New York, increases the surface albedo and produces a bright background against which it may be difficult to deduce the AOD. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on the Earth Observing System Terra and Aqua platforms provides an independent measurement of the surface albedo at a resolution greater than available on GOES. In this research, the MODIS and GOES surface albedo product for New York, Washington and Baltimore are compared in order to see how we can improve the AOD retrieval in urban areas for air quality applications. Ref: K. Knapp et al. 2005. Toward aerosol optical depth retrievals over land from GOES visible radiances: determining surface reflectance. Int.Journal of Remote Sensing 26, 4097-4116

The impact of different cooling strategies on urban air temperatures: the cases of Campinas, Brazil and Mendoza, Argentina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alchapar, Noelia Liliana; Pezzuto, Claudia Cotrim; Correa, Erica Norma; Chebel Labaki, Lucila

2017-10-01

This paper describes different ways of reducing urban air temperature and their results in two cities: Campinas, Brazil—a warm temperate climate with a dry winter and hot summer (Cwa), and Mendoza, Argentina—a desert climate with cold steppe (BWk). A high-resolution microclimate modeling system—ENVI-met 3.1—was used to evaluate the thermal performance of an urban canyon in each city. A total of 18 scenarios were simulated including changes in the surface albedo, vegetation percentage, and the H/W aspect ratio of the urban canyons. These results revealed the same trend in behavior for each of the combinations of strategies evaluated in both cities. Nevertheless, these strategies produce a greater temperature reduction in the warm temperate climate (Cwa). Increasing the vegetation percentage reduces air temperatures and mean radiant temperatures in all scenarios. In addition, there is a greater decrease of urban temperature with the vegetation increase when the H/W aspect ratio is lower. Also, applying low albedo on vertical surfaces and high albedo on horizontal surfaces is successful in reducing air temperatures without raising the mean radiant temperature. The best combination of strategies—60 % of vegetation, low albedos on walls and high albedos on pavements and roofs, and 1.5 H/W—could reduce air temperatures up to 6.4 °C in Campinas and 3.5 °C in Mendoza.

The search for the cause of the low albedo of the moon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gold, T.; Bilson, E.; Baron, R. L.

1975-01-01

Experimentation concerning lunar weathering and its effect on the albedo of the surface cover consisted of: (1) determination of the surface chemical composition of lunar soil and ground-up rock samples by Auger electron spectroscopy, (2) measurement of the optical albedo of these samples, and (3) proton or alpha-particle irradiation of terrestrial rock chips and rock powders and of ground-up lunar rock samples in order to determine the optical and surface chemical effect of simulated solar wind.

a Physical Parameterization of Snow Albedo for Use in Climate Models.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marshall, Susan Elaine

The albedo of a natural snowcover is highly variable ranging from 90 percent for clean, new snow to 30 percent for old, dirty snow. This range in albedo represents a difference in surface energy absorption of 10 to 70 percent of incident solar radiation. Most general circulation models (GCMs) fail to calculate the surface snow albedo accurately, yet the results of these models are sensitive to the assumed value of the snow albedo. This study replaces the current simple empirical parameterizations of snow albedo with a physically-based parameterization which is accurate (within +/- 3% of theoretical estimates) yet efficient to compute. The parameterization is designed as a FORTRAN subroutine (called SNOALB) which can be easily implemented into model code. The subroutine requires less then 0.02 seconds of computer time (CRAY X-MP) per call and adds only one new parameter to the model calculations, the snow grain size. The snow grain size can be calculated according to one of the two methods offered in this thesis. All other input variables to the subroutine are available from a climate model. The subroutine calculates a visible, near-infrared and solar (0.2-5 μm) snow albedo and offers a choice of two wavelengths (0.7 and 0.9 mu m) at which the solar spectrum is separated into the visible and near-infrared components. The parameterization is incorporated into the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate Model, version 1 (CCM1), and the results of a five -year, seasonal cycle, fixed hydrology experiment are compared to the current model snow albedo parameterization. The results show the SNOALB albedos to be comparable to the old CCM1 snow albedos for current climate conditions, with generally higher visible and lower near-infrared snow albedos using the new subroutine. However, this parameterization offers a greater predictability for climate change experiments outside the range of current snow conditions because it is physically-based and

Estimation of shortwave hemispherical reflectance (albedo) from bidirectionally reflected radiance data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Starks, Patrick J.; Norman, John M.; Blad, Blaine L.; Walter-Shea, Elizabeth A.; Walthall, Charles L.

1991-01-01

An equation for estimating albedo from bidirectional reflectance data is proposed. The estimates of albedo are found to be greater than values obtained with simultaneous pyranometer measurements. Particular attention is given to potential sources of systematic errors including extrapolation of bidirectional reflectance data out to a view zenith angle of 90 deg, the use of inappropriate weighting coefficients in the numerator of the albedo equation, surface shadowing caused by the A-frame instrumentation used to measure the incoming and outgoing radiation fluxes, errors in estimates of the denominator of the proposed albedo equation, and a 'hot spot' contribution in bidirectional data measured by a modular multiband radiometer.

Evaluation of MODIS Albedo Product (MCD43A) over Grassland, Agriculture and Forest Surface Types During Dormant and Snow-Covered Periods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Zhousen; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Strahler, Alan H.; Chopping, Mark J.; Roman, Miguel O.; Shuai, Yanmin; Woodcock, Curtis E.; Hollinger, David Y.; Fitzjarrald, David R.

2013-01-01

This study assesses the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) BRDF/albedo 8 day standard product and products from the daily Direct Broadcast BRDF/albedo algorithm, and shows that these products agree well with ground-based albedo measurements during the more difficult periods of vegetation dormancy and snow cover. Cropland, grassland, deciduous and coniferous forests are considered. Using an integrated validation strategy, analyses of the representativeness of the surface heterogeneity under both dormant and snow-covered situations are performed to decide whether direct comparisons between ground measurements and 500-m satellite observations can be made or whether finer spatial resolution airborne or spaceborne data are required to scale the results at each location. Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM +) data are used to generate finer scale representations of albedo at each location to fully link ground data with satellite data. In general, results indicate the root mean square errors (RMSEs) are less than 0.030 over spatially representative sites of agriculture/grassland during the dormant periods and less than 0.050 during the snow-covered periods for MCD43A albedo products. For forest, the RMSEs are less than 0.020 during the dormant period and 0.025 during the snow-covered periods. However, a daily retrieval strategy is necessary to capture ephemeral snow events or rapidly changing situations such as the spring snow melt.

Attitude estimation from magnetometer and earth-albedo-corrected coarse sun sensor measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Appel, Pontus

2005-01-01

For full 3-axes attitude determination the magnetic field vector and the Sun vector can be used. A Coarse Sun Sensor consisting of six solar cells placed on each of the six outer surfaces of the satellite is used for Sun vector determination. This robust and low cost setup is sensitive to surrounding light sources as it sees the whole sky. To compensate for the largest error source, the Earth, an albedo model is developed. The total albedo light vector has contributions from the Earth surface which is illuminated by the Sun and visible from the satellite. Depending on the reflectivity of the Earth surface, the satellite's position and the Sun's position the albedo light changes. This cannot be calculated analytically and hence a numerical model is developed. For on-board computer use the Earth albedo model consisting of data tables is transferred into polynomial functions in order to save memory space. For an absolute worst case the attitude determination error can be held below 2∘. In a nominal case it is better than 1∘.

The New Global Gapless GLASS Albedo Product from 1981 to 2014

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dou, B.; Liu, Q.; Qu, Y.; Wang, L.; Feng, Y.; Nie, A.; Li, X.; Zhang, J.; Niu, H.; Cai, E.; Zhao, L.

2016-12-01

Long-time series and various spatial resolution albedo products are needed for climate change and environmental studies at both global and regional scale. To meet these requirements, GLASS (Global LAnd Surface Satellites) gapless albedo product from 1981 to 2010 was firstly released in 2012 and widely used in long-term earth change researches. However, only shortwave albedo product in spatial resolution of 0.05 degree and 1 km were provided, which limits extensive applications for visible and near-infrared bands. Thus, new GLASS albedo product are produced and comprehensively enhanced in time series, algorithm and product content. Five major updates are conducted: 1) Time region is expanded from 1981-2010 to 1981-2014; 2) Physically ART (radiative transfer theory) and TCOWA (Three-Component Ocean Water Albedo) models rather than previous RTLSR (Rose-Thick Li-Sparse Reciprocal kernel combination) model are adopted for snow and inland water albedo estimation, respectively; 3) global shortwave, visible, and near-infrared albedos in spatial resolution of 0.05 degree and 1 km are released; 4) Clear-sky albedo is provided beyond the traditional black-sky albedo and white sky-albedo for amateurish user; 5) 250 m albedo product is provided in part of global for regional application. In this study, we firstly detail the updates of this inspiring product. Then the product is compared with the previous GLASS albedo product and preliminary assessed against field measurements under various land covers. Significant improvements are reported for snow and water albedo. The results demonstrate that the new GLASS albedo product is a gapless, long-term continuous, and self-consistent data-set. Comparing to previous GLASS albedo product, lower black-sky albedo and higher white-sky albedo are proved for permanent snow-cover region. Moreover, higher albedo of inland water and seasonal snow-cover mountain are captured. This product brings new chance and view to understanding long

Survey of TES high albedo events in Mars' northern polar craters

USGS Publications Warehouse

Armstrong, J.C.; Nielson, S.K.; Titus, T.N.

2007-01-01

Following the work exploring Korolev Crater (Armstrong et al., 2005) for evidence of crater interior ice deposits, we have conducted a survey of Thermal Emission Spectroscopy (TES) temperature and albedo measurements for Mars' northern polar craters larger than 10 km. Specifically, we identify a class of craters that exhibits brightening in their interiors during a solar longitude, Ls, of 60 to 120 degrees, roughly depending on latitude. These craters vary in size, latitude, and morphology, but appear to have a specific regional association on the surface that correlates with the distribution of subsurface hydrogen (interpreted as water ice) previously observed on Mars. We suggest that these craters, like Korolev, exhibit seasonal high albedo frost events that indicate subsurface water ice within the craters. A detailed study of these craters may provide insight in the geographical distribution of the ice and context for future polar missions. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

Early spring post-fire snow albedo dynamics in high latitude boreal forests using Landsat-8 OLI data

PubMed Central

Wang, Zhuosen; Erb, Angela M.; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Sun, Qingsong; Liu, Yan; Yang, Yun; Shuai, Yanmin; Casey, Kimberly A.; Román, Miguel O.

2018-01-01

Taking advantage of the improved radiometric resolution of Landsat-8 OLI which, unlike previous Landsat sensors, does not saturate over snow, the progress of fire recovery progress at the landscape scale (< 100m) is examined. High quality Landsat-8 albedo retrievals can now capture the true reflective and layered character of snow cover over a full range of land surface conditions and vegetation densities. This new capability particularly improves the assessment of post-fire vegetation dynamics across low- to high- burn severity gradients in Arctic and boreal regions in the early spring, when the albedos during recovery show the greatest variation. We use 30 m resolution Landsat-8 surface reflectances with concurrent coarser resolution (500m) MODIS high quality full inversion surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDF) products to produce higher resolution values of surface albedo. The high resolution full expression shortwave blue sky albedo product performs well with an overall RMSE of 0.0267 between tower and satellite measures under both snow-free and snow-covered conditions. While the importance of post-fire albedo recovery can be discerned from the MODIS albedo product at regional and global scales, our study addresses the particular importance of early spring post-fire albedo recovery at the landscape scale by considering the significant spatial heterogeneity of burn severity, and the impact of snow on the early spring albedo of various vegetation recovery types. We found that variations in early spring albedo within a single MODIS gridded pixel can be larger than 0.6. Since the frequency and severity of wildfires in Arctic and boreal systems is expected to increase in the coming decades, the dynamics of albedo in response to these rapid surface changes will increasingly impact the energy balance and contribute to other climate processes and physical feedback mechanisms. Surface radiation products derived from Landsat-8 data will thus

Early Spring Post-Fire Snow Albedo Dynamics in High Latitude Boreal Forests Using Landsat-8 OLI Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Zhuosen; Erb, Angela M.; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Sun, Qingsong; Liu, Yan; Yang, Yun; Shuai, Yanmin; Casey, Kimberly A.; Roman, Miguel O.

2016-01-01

Taking advantage of the improved radiometric resolution of Landsat-8 OLI which, unlike previous Landsat sensors, does not saturate over snow, the progress of fire recovery progress at the landscape scale (less than 100 m) is examined. High quality Landsat-8 albedo retrievals can now capture the true reflective and layered character of snow cover over a full range of land surface conditions and vegetation densities. This new capability particularly improves the assessment of post-fire vegetation dynamics across low- to high-burn severity gradients in Arctic and boreal regions in the early spring, when the albedos during recovery show the greatest variation. We use 30 m resolution Landsat-8 surface reflectances with concurrent coarser resolution (500 m) MODIS high quality full inversion surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDF) products to produce higher resolution values of surface albedo. The high resolution full expression shortwave blue sky albedo product performs well with an overall RMSE of 0.0267 between tower and satellite measures under both snow-free and snow-covered conditions. While the importance of post-fire albedo recovery can be discerned from the MODIS albedo product at regional and global scales, our study addresses the particular importance of early spring post-fire albedo recovery at the landscape scale by considering the significant spatial heterogeneity of burn severity, and the impact of snow on the early spring albedo of various vegetation recovery types. We found that variations in early spring albedo within a single MODIS gridded pixel can be larger than 0.6. Since the frequency and severity of wildfires in Arctic and boreal systems is expected to increase in the coming decades, the dynamics of albedo in response to these rapid surface changes will increasingly impact the energy balance and contribute to other climate processes and physical feedback mechanisms. Surface radiation products derived from Landsat-8 data will

Early spring post-fire snow albedo dynamics in high latitude boreal forests using Landsat-8 OLI data.

PubMed

Wang, Zhuosen; Erb, Angela M; Schaaf, Crystal B; Sun, Qingsong; Liu, Yan; Yang, Yun; Shuai, Yanmin; Casey, Kimberly A; Román, Miguel O

2016-11-01

Taking advantage of the improved radiometric resolution of Landsat-8 OLI which, unlike previous Landsat sensors, does not saturate over snow, the progress of fire recovery progress at the landscape scale (< 100m) is examined. High quality Landsat-8 albedo retrievals can now capture the true reflective and layered character of snow cover over a full range of land surface conditions and vegetation densities. This new capability particularly improves the assessment of post-fire vegetation dynamics across low- to high- burn severity gradients in Arctic and boreal regions in the early spring, when the albedos during recovery show the greatest variation. We use 30 m resolution Landsat-8 surface reflectances with concurrent coarser resolution (500m) MODIS high quality full inversion surface Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDF) products to produce higher resolution values of surface albedo. The high resolution full expression shortwave blue sky albedo product performs well with an overall RMSE of 0.0267 between tower and satellite measures under both snow-free and snow-covered conditions. While the importance of post-fire albedo recovery can be discerned from the MODIS albedo product at regional and global scales, our study addresses the particular importance of early spring post-fire albedo recovery at the landscape scale by considering the significant spatial heterogeneity of burn severity, and the impact of snow on the early spring albedo of various vegetation recovery types. We found that variations in early spring albedo within a single MODIS gridded pixel can be larger than 0.6. Since the frequency and severity of wildfires in Arctic and boreal systems is expected to increase in the coming decades, the dynamics of albedo in response to these rapid surface changes will increasingly impact the energy balance and contribute to other climate processes and physical feedback mechanisms. Surface radiation products derived from Landsat-8 data will thus

Albedo impact on the suitability of biochar systems to mitigate global warming.

PubMed

Meyer, Sebastian; Bright, Ryan M; Fischer, Daniel; Schulz, Hardy; Glaser, Bruno

2012-11-20

Biochar application to agricultural soils can change the surface albedo which could counteract the climate mitigation benefit of biochar systems. However, the size of this impact has not yet been quantified. Based on empirical albedo measurements and literature data of arable soils mixed with biochar, a model for annual vegetation cover development based on satellite data and an assessment of the annual development of surface humidity, an average mean annual albedo reduction of 0.05 has been calculated for applying 30-32 Mg ha(-1) biochar on a test field near Bayreuth, Germany. The impact of biochar production and application on the carbon cycle and on the soil albedo was integrated into the greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of a modeled pyrolysis based biochar system via the computation of global warming potential (GWP) characterization factors. The analysis resulted in a reduction of the overall climate mitigation benefit of biochar systems by 13-22% due to the albedo change as compared to an analysis which disregards the albedo effect. Comparing the use of the same quantity of biomass in a biochar system to a bioenergy district heating system which replaces natural gas combustion, bioenergy heating systems achieve 99-119% of the climate benefit of biochar systems according to the model calculation.

Trends in Surface Temperature at High Latitudes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Comiso, Josefino C.

2012-01-01

The earliest signal of a climate change is expected to be found in the polar regions where warming is expected to be amplified on account of ice-albedo feedbacks associated with the high reflectivity of snow and ice. Because of general inaccessibility, there is a general paucity of in situ data and hence the need to use satellite data to observe the large-scale variability and trends in surface temperature in the region. Among the most important sensors for monitoring surface temperature has been the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) which was first launched in 1978 and has provided continuous thermal infrared data since 1981. The top of the atmosphere data are converted to surface temperature data through various schemes that accounts for the unique atmospheric and surface conditions in the polar regions. Among the highest source of error in the data is cloud masking which is made more difficult in the polar region because of similar Signatures of clouds and snow lice covered areas. The availability of many more channels in the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) launched on board Terra satellite in December 1999 and on board Aqua in May 2002 (e.g., 36 visible and infrared channels compared to 5 for AVHRR) made it possible to minimize the error. Further capabilities were introduced with the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) which has the appropriate frequency channels for the retrieval of sea surface temperature (SST). The results of analysis of the data show an amplified warming in the Arctic region, compared with global warming. The spatial distribution of warming is, however, not uniform and during the last 3 decades, positive temperature anomalies have been most pronounced in North America, Greenland and the Arctic basin. Some regions of the Arctic such as Siberia and the Bering Sea surprisingly show moderate cooling but this may be because these regions were anomalously warm in the 1980s when the satellite record

Daily temperature variations on Mars

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ditteon, R.

1982-01-01

It is noted that for approximately 32% of the Martian surface area no values of thermal inertia or albedo can fit the thermal observations. These temperature anomalies do not correlate with elevation, geologic units, morphology, or atmospheric dust content. All regions having a Lambert albedo less than 0.18 can be well fit with the standard thermal model, but all areas with albedo greater than 0.28 are anomalous. A strong inverse correlation is seen between the magnitude of the anomaly and the thermal inertia. This correlation is seen as indicating that some surface property is responsible for the anomaly. In the anomalous region the temperatures are observed to be warmer in the morning and cooler late in the afternoon and to decrease more slowly during the night than the Viking model temperatures. It is believed that of all the physical processes likely to occur on Mars but not included in the Viking thermal model, only a layered soil can explain the observations. A possible explanation of the layering deduced from the infrared thermal mapper observations is a layer of aeolian deposited dust about one thermal skin depth thick (1 to 4 cm), covering a duricrust.

Albedo Drop on the Greenland Ice Sheet: Relative Impacts of Wet and Dry Snow Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, J.; Polashenski, C.

2014-12-01

The energy balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) is strongly impacted by changes in snow albedo. MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) observations indicate that the GIS albedo has dropped since the early part of this century. We analyze data from the MODIS products MOD10A1 for broadband snow albedo and MOD09A1 for surface spectral reflectance since 2001 to better explain the physical mechanisms driving these changes. The MODIS products are filtered, and the data is masked using microwave-derived surface melt maps to isolate albedo changes due to dry snow processes from those driven by melt impacts. Results show that the majority of recent changes in the GIS albedo - even at high elevations - are driven by snow wetting rather than dry snow processes such as grain metamorphosis and aerosol impurity deposition. The spectral signature of the smaller changes occurring within dry snow areas suggests that grain metamorphosis dominates the albedo decline in these regions.

Investigation of the effect of sealed surfaces on local climate in urban areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weihs, Philipp; Hasel, Stefan; Mursch-Radlgruber, Erich; Gützer, Christian; Krispel, Stefan; Peyerl, Martin; Trimmel, Heidi

2015-04-01

Local climate is driven by the interaction between energy balance and energy transported by advected air. Short-wave and long-wave radiation are major components in this interaction. Some few studies (e.g. Santamouris et al.) showed that adjusting the grade of reflection of surfaces is an efficient way to influence temperature. The present study investigates the influence of high albedo concrete surfaces on local climate. The first step of the study consisted of experimental investigations: routine measurements of the short and longwave radiation balance, of the ground and of the air temperature and humidity at different heights above 6 different types of sealed surfaces were performed. During this measurement campaign the above mentioned components were measured over a duration of 4 months above two conventional asphalt surfaces, one conventional concrete and three newly developed concrete surfaces with increased reflectances. Measured albedo values amounted to 0.12±0.02 for the asphalt surfaces and to maximum values of 0.56 for high albedo concrete. The maximum difference in surface temperature between the asphalt surfaces and the high albedo concrete surfaces amounted to 15°C. In addition the emission constants of the different sealed surfaces were also determined and were compared to values from literature.. In a second step the urban energy balance model Envi_Met was used to simulate the surface temperature of the six surfaces. The simulated surface temperatures were compared to the measured surface temperatures and statements as to uncertainties of the model simulations were made In a third step, Envi_Met was used to simulate the local climate of an urban district in Vienna. The surface and air temperature and the SW, LW fluxes were calculated for different types of sealed surfaces. By performing calculations of thermal stress indices (UTCI, PMV), statements as to the influence of the type of sealed surface on thermal stress on humans was made.

Standards for the validation of remotely sensed albedo products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adams, Jennifer

2015-04-01

Land surface albedo is important component of the Earth's energy balance, defined as the fraction of shortwave radiation absorbed by a surface, and is one many Essential Climate Variables (ECVS) that can be retrieved from space through remote sensing. To quantify the accuracy of these products, they must be validated with respect to in-situ measurements of albedo using an albedometer. Whilst accepted standards exist for the calibration of albedometers, standards for the use of in-situ measurement schemes, and their use in validation procedures have yet to be developed. It is essential that we can assess the quality of remotely sensed albedo data, and to identify traceable sources of uncertainty during process of providing these data. As a result of the current lack of accepted standards for in-situ albedo retrieval and validation procedures, we are not yet able to identify and quantify traceable sources of uncertainty. Establishing standard protocols for in-situ retrievals for the validation of global albedo products would allow inter-product use and comparison, in addition to product standardization. Accordingly, this study aims to assess the quality of in-situ albedo retrieval schemes and identify sources of uncertainty, specifically in vegetation environments. A 3D Monte Carlo Ray Tracing Model will be used to simulate albedometer instruments in complex 3D vegetation canopies. To determine sources of uncertainty, factors that influence albedo measurement uncertainty were identified and will subsequently be examined: 1. Time of day (Solar Zenith Angle) 2. Ecosytem type 3. Placement of albedometer within the ecosystem 4. Height of albedometer above the canopy 5. Clustering within the ecosystem A variety of 3D vegetation canopies have been generated to cover the main ecosystems found globally, different seasons, and different plant distributions. Canopies generated include birchstand and pinestand forests for summer and winter, savanna, shrubland, cropland and

Seasonal albedo of an urban/rural landscape from satellite observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brest, Christopher L.

1987-01-01

Using data from 27 calibrated Landsat observations of the Hartford, Connecticut area, the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of surface reflectance and albedo were examined. Mean values of visible reflectance, near-IR reflectance, and albedo are presented (for both snow-free and snow-cover observations) according to 14 land use/land cover categories. A diversity of albedo values was found to exist in this type of environment, associated with land cover. Many land-cover categories display a seasonal dependence, with intracategory seasonal differences being of comparable magnitude to intercategory differences. Key factors in determining albedo (and its seasonal dynamics) are the presence or absence of vegetation and the canopy structure. Snow-cover/snow-free differences range from a few percent (for urban land covers) to over 40 percent (for low-canopy vegetation).

The global surface temperatures of the Moon as measured by the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, J.-P.; Paige, D. A.; Greenhagen, B. T.; Sefton-Nash, E.

2017-02-01

The Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been acquiring solar reflectance and mid-infrared radiance measurements nearly continuously since July of 2009. Diviner is providing the most comprehensive view of how regoliths on airless bodies store and exchange thermal energy with the space environment. Approximately a quarter trillion calibrated radiance measurements of the Moon, acquired over 5.5 years by Diviner, have been compiled into a 0.5° resolution global dataset with a 0.25 h local time resolution. Maps generated with this dataset provide a global perspective of the surface energy balance of the Moon and reveal the complex and extreme nature of the lunar surface thermal environment. Our achievable map resolution, both spatially and temporally, will continue to improve with further data acquisition. Daytime maximum temperatures are sensitive to the albedo of the surface and are ∼387-397 K at the equator, dropping to ∼95 K just before sunrise, though anomalously warm areas characterized by high rock abundances can be > 50 K warmer than the zonal average nighttime temperatures. An asymmetry is observed between the morning and afternoon temperatures due to the thermal inertia of the lunar regolith with the dusk terminator ∼30 K warmer than the dawn terminator at the equator. An increase in albedo with incidence angle is required to explain the observed decrease in temperatures with latitude. At incidence angles exceeding ∼40°, topography and surface roughness influence temperatures resulting in increasing scatter in temperatures and anisothermality between Diviner channels. Nighttime temperatures are sensitive to the thermophysical properties of the regolith. High thermal inertia (TI) materials such as large rocks, remain warmer during the long lunar night and result in anomalously warm nighttime temperatures and anisothermality in the Diviner channels. Anomalous maximum and minimum temperatures are

Near-Infrared Spectral Geometric Albedos of Charon and Pluto: Constraints on Charon's Surface Composition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Roush, Ted L.; Cruikshank, Dale P.; Pollack, James B.; Young, Eliot F.; Bartholomew, Mary J.

1996-01-01

The spectral geometric albedos of Charon and Pluto are derived at near-infrared wavelengths (1.4-2.5 jAm) from measurements obtained in 1987. Comparisons of these to theoretical calculations are used to place constraints on the identity and relative abundances of surface ices on Charon. These compari- sons suggest that widespread regions of pure CH4 ice do not occur on Charon and that if CH4 is abundant on Charon then it is large grained (-5 mm) and is likely mixed at the granular level with H20 ice, and possibly C02 ice.

Lambert Reflectance Albedo And Temperature Mapping Of Thermal Emission Spectrometer Data During The Mars Global Surveyor Aerobraking Phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Badri, K. M.; Alqasim, A.; Altunaiji, E. S.; Edwards, C. S.; Smith, M. D.

2017-12-01

The goal of this work is to create multiple sets of maps using Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data that encompass the aerobraking phase of the Mars Global Surveyor mission. This work will serve as a proof of concept for the upcoming Emirates Mars Mission, where the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMRIS) will generate data acquired in a similar manner to that acquired by TES during aerobraking. To generate maps of these data on a global scale, python will be used in combination with the Spacecraft Planet Instrument Camera Matrix and Event (SPICE) toolkit to determine the geometry of the pixels on the planet surface. TES is an instrument within the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft. It is a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer developed to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars using thermal infrared emission spectroscopy. TES consists of six detectors arranged in a 2x3 array with a nominal spot size of 3 × 6 km when in its nominal mapping orbit. Over the southern hemisphere during aerobraking the footprint is significantly larger (10s of km) due to the elliptical nature of the orbit during this phase of the mission. TES aerobraking spectra were taken between Mars Year 23, Ls=180° and Mars Year 24, Ls=30°. Here we map TES footprints to the surface during MGS aerobraking, binned by solar longitude to observe differences on the surface in both temperature and Lambert albedo.

Potential causes of differences between ground and surface air temperature warming across different ecozones in Alberta, Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Majorowicz, Jacek A.; Skinner, Walter R.

1997-10-01

Analysis and modelling of temperature anomalies from 25 selected deep wells in Alberta show that the differences between GST (ground surface temperature) warming for the northern Boreal Forest ecozone and the combined Prairie Grassland ecozone and Aspen Parkland transition region to the south occur during the latter half of this century. This corresponds with recent changes in surface albedo resulting from permanent land development in the northern areas and also to increases in natural forest fires in the past 20 years. Differences between GST and SAT (surface air temperature) warming are much higher in the Boreal Forest ecozone than in the Prairie Grassland ecozone and Aspen Parkland transition region. Various hypotheses which could account for the existing differences between the GST and SAT warming in the different ecozones of Alberta, and western Canada in general, are tested. Analysis of existing data on soil temperature, hydrological piezometric surfaces, snowfall and moisture patterns, and land clearing and forest fires, indicate that large areas of Alberta, characterised by anomalous GST warming, have experienced widespread changes to the surface landscape in this century. It is postulated that this has resulted in a lower surface albedo with a subsequent increase in the absorption of solar energy. Heat flow modelling shows that, after climatic SAT warming, permanent clearing of the land is the most effective and likely cause of the observed changes in the GST warming. The greater GST warming in the Boreal Forest ecozone in the latter half of this century is related to landscape change due to land development and increasing forest fire activity. It appears to account for a portion of the observed SAT warming in this region through a positive feedback loop with the overlying air. The anthropogenic effect on regional climatic warming through 20th century land clearing and landscape alteration requires further study. In future, more accurate quantification of

Evaluation of Operational Albedo Algorithms For AVHRR, MODIS and VIIRS: Case Studies in Southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Privette, J. L.; Schaaf, C. B.; Saleous, N.; Liang, S.

2004-12-01

Shortwave broadband albedo is the fundamental surface variable that partitions solar irradiance into energy available to the land biophysical system and energy reflected back into the atmosphere. Albedo varies with land cover, vegetation phenological stage, surface wetness, solar angle, and atmospheric condition, among other variables. For these reasons, a consistent and normalized albedo time series is needed to accurately model weather, climate and ecological trends. Although an empirically-derived coarse-scale albedo from the 20-year NOAA AVHRR record (Sellers et al., 1996) is available, an operational moderate resolution global product first became available from NASA's MODIS sensor. The validated MODIS product now provides the benchmark upon which to compare albedo generated through 1) reprocessing of the historic AVHRR record and 2) operational processing of data from the future National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System's (NPOESS) Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). Unfortunately, different instrument characteristics (e.g., spectral bands, spatial resolution), processing approaches (e.g., latency requirements, ancillary data availability) and even product definitions (black sky albedo, white sky albedo, actual or blue sky albedo) complicate the development of the desired multi-mission (AVHRR to MODIS to VIIRS) albedo time series -- a so-called Climate Data Record. This presentation will describe the different albedo algorithms used with AVHRR, MODIS and VIIRS, and compare their results against field measurements collected over two semi-arid sites in southern Africa. We also describe the MODIS-derived VIIRS proxy data we developed to predict NPOESS albedo characteristics. We conclude with a strategy to develop a seamless Climate Data Record from 1982- to 2020.

Modelling Mean Albedo of Individual Roofs in Complex Urban Areas Using Satellite Images and Airborne Laser Scanning Point Clouds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalantar, B.; Mansor, S.; Khuzaimah, Z.; Sameen, M. Ibrahim; Pradhan, B.

2017-09-01

Knowledge of surface albedo at individual roof scale is important for mitigating urban heat islands and understanding urban climate change. This study presents a method for quantifying surface albedo of individual roofs in a complex urban area using the integration of Landsat 8 and airborne LiDAR data. First, individual roofs were extracted from airborne LiDAR data and orthophotos using optimized segmentation and supervised object based image analysis (OBIA). Support vector machine (SVM) was used as a classifier in OBIA process for extracting individual roofs. The user-defined parameters required in SVM classifier were selected using v-fold cross validation method. After that, surface albedo was calculated for each individual roof from Landsat images. Finally, thematic maps of mean surface albedo of individual roofs were generated in GIS and the results were discussed. Results showed that the study area is covered by 35% of buildings varying in roofing material types and conditions. The calculated surface albedo of buildings ranged from 0.16 to 0.65 in the study area. More importantly, the results indicated that the types and conditions of roofing materials significantly effect on the mean value of surface albedo. Mean albedo of new concrete, old concrete, new steel, and old steel were found to be equal to 0.38, 0.26, 0.51, and 0.44 respectively. Replacing old roofing materials with new ones should highly prioritized.

Selection of extreme environmental conditions, albedo coefficient and Earth infrared radiation, for polar summer Long Duration Balloon missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

González-Llana, Arturo; González-Bárcena, David; Pérez-Grande, Isabel; Sanz-Andrés, Ángel

2018-07-01

The selection of the extreme thermal environmental conditions -albedo coefficient and Earth infrared radiation- for the thermal design of stratospheric balloon missions is usually based on the methodologies applied in space missions. However, the particularities of stratospheric balloon missions, such as the much higher residence time of the balloon payload over a determined area, make necessary an approach centered in the actual environment the balloon is going to find, in terms of geographic area and season of flight. In this sense, this work is focussed on stratospheric balloon missions circumnavigating the North Pole during the summer period. Pairs of albedo and Earth infrared radiation satellite data restricted to this area and season of interest have been treated statistically. Furthermore, the environmental conditions leading to the extreme temperatures of the payload depend in turn on the surface finish, and more particularly on the ratio between the solar absorptance and the infrared emissivity α/ε. A simple but representative thermal model of a balloon and its payload has been set up in order to identify the pairs of albedo coefficient and Earth infrared radiation leading to extreme temperatures for each value of α/ε.

Impact of Land Cover Characterization and Properties on Snow Albedo in Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, L.; Bartlett, P. A.; Chan, E.; Montesano, P.

2017-12-01

The simulation of winter albedo in boreal and northern environments has been a particular challenge for land surface modellers. Assessments of output from CMIP3 and CMIP5 climate models have revealed that many simulations are characterized by overestimation of albedo in the boreal forest. Recent studies suggest that inaccurate representation of vegetation distribution, improper simulation of leaf area index, and poor treatment of canopy-snow processes are the primary causes of albedo errors. While several land cover datasets are commonly used to derive plant functional types (PFT) for use in climate models, new land cover and vegetation datasets with higher spatial resolution have become available in recent years. In this study, we compare the spatial distribution of the dominant PFTs and canopy cover fractions based on different land cover datasets, and present results from offline simulations of the latest version Canadian Land Surface Scheme (CLASS) over the northern Hemisphere land. We discuss the impact of land cover representation and surface properties on winter albedo simulations in climate models.

Estimation of sea surface temperature from remote measurements in the 11-13 micron window region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Prabhakara, C.; Conrath, B. J.; Kunde, V. G.

1972-01-01

The Nimbus-4 IRIS data was examined in the spectral region 775 to 1250/cm (8-13 microns) for useful information to determine the sea surface temperature. The high spectral resolution data of IRIS was degraded to low resolution by averaging to simulate a multi-channel radiometer in the window region. These simulated data show that within the region 775-975/cm (12.9-10.25 microns) the brightness temperatures are linearly related to the absorption parameters. Such a linear relationship is observed over cloudy as well as clear regions and over a wide range of latitudes. From this linear relationship it is feasible to correct for the atmospheric attenuation and get the sea surface temperature, accurate to within 1 K, in a cloud free field of view. The information about the cloud cover is taken from the TV pictures and BUV albedo measurements on board the Nimbus-4 satellite.

Arctic tundra shrub invasion and soot deposition: Consequences for spring snowmelt and near-surface air temperatures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strack, John E.

Invasive shrubs and soot pollution both have the potential to alter the surface energy balance and timing of snow melt in the Arctic. Shrubs reduce the amount of snow lost to sublimation on the tundra during the winter leading to a deeper end-of-winter snowpack. The shrubs also enhance the absorption of energy by the snowpack during the melt season, by converting incoming solar radiation to longwave radiation and sensible heat. This results in a faster rate of snow melt, warmer near-surface air temperatures, and a deeper boundary layer. Soot deposition lowers the albedo of the snow allowing it to more effectively absorb incoming solar radiation and thus melt faster. This study uses the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modeling System version 4.4 (CSU-RAMS 4.4), equipped with an enhanced snow model, to investigate the effects of shrub encroachment and soot deposition on the atmosphere and snowpack in the Kuparuk Basin of Alaska during the May-June melt period. The results of the simulations suggest that a complete invasion of the tundra by shrubs leads to a 1.5 degree C warming of 2-m air temperatures, 17 watts per meter square increase in surface sensible heat flux, and a 108 m increase in boundary layer depth during the melt period. The snow free-date also occurred 11 days earlier despite having a larger initial snowpack. The results also show that a decrease in the snow albedo of 0.1, due to soot pollution, caused the snow-free date to occur five days earlier. The soot pollution caused a 0.5 degree C warming of 2-m air temperatures and a 2 watts per meter square increase in surface sensible heat flux. In addition, the boundary layer averaged 25 m deeper in the polluted snow simulation.

Validation and application of MODIS-derived clean snow albedo and dust radiative forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rittger, K. E.; Bryant, A. C.; Seidel, F. C.; Bair, E. H.; Skiles, M.; Goodale, C. E.; Ramirez, P.; Mattmann, C. A.; Dozier, J.; Painter, T.

2012-12-01

Snow albedo is an important control on snowmelt. Though albedo evolution of aging snow can be roughly modeled from grain growth, dust and other light absorbing impurities are extrinsic and therefore must be measured. Estimates of clean snow albedo and surface radiative forcing from impurities, which can be inferred from MODIS 500 m surface reflectance products, can provide this driving data for snowmelt models. Here we use MODSCAG (MODIS snow covered area and grain size) to estimate the clean snow albedo and MODDRFS (MODIS dust radiative forcing of snow) to estimate the additional absorbed solar radiation from dust and black carbon. With its finer spatial (20 m) and spectral (10 nm) resolutions, AVIRIS provides a way to estimate the accuracy of MODIS products and understand variability of snow albedo at a finer scale that we explore though a range of topography. The AVIRIS database includes images from late in the accumulation season through the melt season when we are most interested in changes in snow albedo. In addition to the spatial validation, we employ the best estimate of albedo from MODIS in an energy balance reconstruction model to estimate the maximum snow water equivalent. MODDRFS calculates radiative forcing only in pixels that are completely snow-covered, so we spatially interpolate the product to estimate the forcing in all pixels where MODSCAG has given us estimates of clean snow albedo. Comparisons with snow pillows and courses show better agreement when the radiative forcing from absorbing impurities is included in the energy balance reconstruction.

Close packing effects on clean and dirty snow albedo and associated climatic implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, C.; Liou, K. N.; Takano, Y.

2017-12-01

Previous modeling of snow albedo, a key climate feedback parameter, follows the independent scattering approximation (ISA) such that snow grains are considered as a number of separate units with distances longer than wavelengths. Here we develop a new snow albedo model for widely observed close-packed snow grains internally mixed with black carbon (BC) and demonstrate that albedo simulations match closer to observations. Close packing results in a stronger light absorption for clean and BC-contaminated snow. Compared with ISA, close packing reduces pure snow albedos by up to 0.05, whereas it enhances BC-induced snow albedo reduction and associated surface radiative forcing by up to 15% (20%) for fresh (old) snow, with larger enhancements for stronger structure packing. Finally, our results suggest that BC-snow albedo forcing and snow albedo feedback (climate sensitivity) are underestimated in previous modeling studies, making snow close packing consideration a necessity in climate modeling and analysis.

Close packing effects on clean and dirty snow albedo and associated climatic implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Cenlin; Takano, Yoshi; Liou, Kuo-Nan

2017-04-01

Previous modeling of snow albedo, a key climate feedback parameter, follows the independent scattering approximation (ISA) such that snow grains are considered as a number of separate units with distances longer than wavelengths. Here we develop a new snow albedo model for widely observed close-packed snow grains internally mixed with black carbon (BC) and demonstrate that albedo simulations match closer to observations. Close packing results in a stronger light absorption for clean and BC-contaminated snow. Compared with ISA, close packing reduces pure snow albedos by up to 0.05, whereas it enhances BC-induced snow albedo reduction and associated surface radiative forcing by up to 15% (20%) for fresh (old) snow, with larger enhancements for stronger structure packing. Finally, our results suggest that BC-snow albedo forcing and snow albedo feedback (climate sensitivity) are underestimated in previous modeling studies, making snow close packing consideration a necessity in climate modeling and analysis.

The Statistics of Albedo and Heat Recirculation on Hot Exoplanets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cowan, Nicolas B.; Agol, Eric

2011-03-01

If both the day-side and night-side effective temperatures of a planet can be measured, it is possible to estimate its Bond albedo, 0 < AB < 1, as well as its day-night heat redistribution efficiency, 0 < ɛ < 1. We attempt a statistical analysis of the albedo and redistribution efficiency for 24 transiting exoplanets that have at least one published secondary eclipse. For each planet, we show how to calculate a sub-stellar equilibrium temperature, T 0, and associated uncertainty. We then use a simple model-independent technique to estimate a planet's effective temperature from planet/star flux ratios. We use thermal secondary eclipse measurements—those obtained at λ>0.8 μm—to estimate day-side effective temperatures, T d, and thermal phase variations—when available—to estimate night-side effective temperature. We strongly rule out the "null hypothesis" of a single AB and ɛ for all 24 planets. If we allow each planet to have different parameters, we find that low Bond albedos are favored (AB < 0.35 at 1σ confidence), which is an independent confirmation of the low albedos inferred from non-detections of reflected light. Our sample exhibits a wide variety of redistribution efficiencies. When normalized by T 0, the day-side effective temperatures of the 24 planets describe a uni-modal distribution. The two biggest outliers are GJ 436b (abnormally hot) and HD 80606b (abnormally cool), and these are the only eccentric planets in our sample. The dimensionless quantity T d/T 0 exhibits no trend with the presence or absence of stratospheric inversions. There is also no clear trend between T d/T 0 and T 0. That said, the six planets with the greatest sub-stellar equilibrium temperatures (T > 2400 K) have low ɛ, as opposed to the 18 cooler planets, which show a variety of recirculation efficiencies. This hints that the very hottest transiting giant planets are qualitatively different from the merely hot Jupiters. We propose an explanation of this trend based on

Ion radiation albedo effect: influence of surface roughness on ion implantation and sputtering of materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yonggang; Yang, Yang; Short, Michael P.; Ding, Zejun; Zeng, Zhi; Li, Ju

2017-01-01

In fusion devices, ion retention and sputtering of materials are major concerns in the selection of compatible plasma-facing materials (PFMs), especially in the context of their microstructural conditions and surface morphologies. We demonstrate how surface roughness changes ion implantation and sputtering of materials under energetic ion irradiation. Using a new, sophisticated 3D Monte Carlo (MC) code, IM3D, and a random rough surface model, ion implantation and the sputtering yields of tungsten (W) with a surface roughness varying between 0-2 µm have been studied for irradiation by 0.1-1 keV D+, He+ and Ar+ ions. It is found that both ion backscattering and sputtering yields decrease with increasing roughness; this is hereafter called the ion radiation albedo effect. This effect is mainly dominated by the direct, line-of-sight deposition of a fraction of emitted atoms onto neighboring asperities. Backscattering and sputtering increase with more oblique irradiation angles. We propose a simple analytical formula to relate rough-surface and smooth-surface results.

The importance of accurate glacier albedo for estimates of surface mass balance on Vatnajökull: Evaluating the surface energy budget in a Regional Climate Model with automatic weather station observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steffensen Schmidt, Louise; Aðalgeirsdóttir, Guðfinna; Guðmundsson, Sverrir; Langen, Peter L.; Pálsson, Finnur; Mottram, Ruth; Gascoin, Simon; Björnsson, Helgi

2017-04-01

The evolution of the surface mass balance of Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland, from 1981 to the present day is estimated by using the Regional Climate Model HIRHAM5 to simulate the surface climate. A new albedo parametrization is used for the simulation, which describes the albedo with an exponential decay with time. In addition, it utilizes a new background map of the ice albedo created from MODIS data. The simulation is validated against observed daily values of weather parameters from five Automatic Weather Stations (AWSs) from 2001-2014, as well as mass balance measurements from 1995-2014. The modelled albedo is overestimated at the AWS sites in the ablation zone, which we attribute to an overestimation of the thickness of the snow layer and the model not accounting for dust and ash deposition during dust storms and volcanic eruptions. A comparison with the specific summer, winter, and annual mass balance for all Vatnajökull from 1995-2014 shows a good overall fit during the summer, with the model underestimating the balance by only 0.04 m w. eq. on average. The winter balance, on the other hand, is overestimated by 0.5 m w. eq. on average, mostly due to an overestimation of the precipitation at the highest areas of the ice cap. A simple correction of the accumulation at these points reduced the error to 0.15 m w. eq. The model captures the evolution of the specific mass balance well, for example it captures an observed shift in the balance in the mid-1990s, which gives us confidence in the results for the entire model run. Our results show the importance of bare ice albedo for modelled mass balance and that processes not currently accounted for in RCMs, such as dust storms, are an important source of uncertainty in estimates of the snow melt rate.

Clear-Sky Narrowband Albedo Datasets Derived from Modis Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y.; Minnis, P.; Sun-Mack, S.; Arduini, R. F.; Hong, G.

2013-12-01

Satellite remote sensing of clouds requires an accurate estimate of the clear-sky radiances for a given scene to detect clouds and aerosols and to retrieve their microphysical properties. Knowing the spatial and angular variability of clear-sky albedo is essential for predicting the clear-sky radiance at solar wavelengths. The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) Project uses the near-infrared (NIR; 1.24, 1.6 or 2.13 μm) and visible (VIS; 0.63 μm) channels available on the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) to help identify clouds and retrieve their properties. Generally, clear-sky albedo for a given surface type is determined for conditions when the vegetation is either thriving or dormant and free of snow. The clear-sky albedos are derived using a radiative transfer parameterization of the impact of the atmosphere, including aerosols, on the observed reflectances. This paper presents the method of generating monthly clear-sky overhead albedo maps for both snow-free and snow-covered surfaces of these channels using one year of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) CERES products. Maps of 1.24 and 1.6 μm are being used as the background to help retrieve cloud properties (e.g., effective particle size, optical depth) in CERES cloud retrievals in both snow-free and snow-covered conditions.

A field study of the hemispherical directional reflectance factor and spectral albedo of dry snow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bourgeois, C. S.; Calanca, P.; Ohmura, A.

2006-10-01

Hemispherical directional reflectance factors (HDRF) were collected under solar zenith angles from 49° to 85°. The experimental site was the Greenland Summit Environmental Observatory (72°35'N, 34°30'W, 3203 m above sea level) where both the snow and the atmosphere are very clean. The observations were carried out for two prevailing snow surface types: a smooth surface with wind-broken small snow grains and a surface covered with rime causing a higher surface roughness. A specially designed Gonio-Spectrometer (wavelength range 350-1050 nm), was developed at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science and used to collect spectral HDRFs over the hemisphere. The angular step size was 15° in zenith and azimuth. The HDRFs showed strong variations ranging from 0.6 to 13, depending on the solar zenith angle. The HDRF distribution was nearly isotropic at noon. It varied with increasing solar zenith angle, resulting in a strong forward scattering peak. Smooth surfaces exhibited stronger forward scattering than surfaces covered with rime. At a solar zenith of 85°, an HDRF of ˜13 was observed in the forward scattering direction for λ=900 nm. Spectral albedos were calculated by interpolating the HDRF data sets on a 2° grid and integrating individual wavelengths. Spectral albedos showed variations depending on the solar illumination geometry and the snow surface properties. Broadband albedos were calculated by integration of the spectral albedos over all wavelengths. The broadband albedos derived from directional measurements reproduced the diurnal pattern measured with two back-to-back broadband pyranometers.

Photometric Modeling and VIS-IR Albedo Maps of Dione From Cassini-VIMS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Filacchione, G.; Ciarniello, M.; D'Aversa, E.; Capaccioni, F.; Cerroni, P.; Buratti, B. J.; Clark, R. N.; Stephan, K.; Plainaki, C.

2018-03-01

We report about visible and infrared albedo maps and spectral indicators of Dione's surface derived from the complete Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) data set acquired between 2004 and 2017 during the Cassini tour in Saturn's system. Maps are derived by applying a photometric correction necessary to disentangle the intrinsic albedo of the surface from illumination and viewing geometry occurring at the time of the observation. The photometric correction is based on the Shkuratov et al. (2011, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2011.06.011) method which yields values of the surface equigonal albedo. Dione's surface albedo maps are rendered at five visible (VIS: 0.35, 0.44, 0.55, 0.7, and 0.95 μm) and five infrared (IR: 1.046, 1.540, 1.822, 2.050, and 2.200 μm) wavelengths in cylindrical projection with a 0.5° × 0.5° angular resolution in latitude and longitude, corresponding to a spatial resolution of 4.5 km/bin. Apart from visible and infrared albedo maps, we report about the distribution of the two visible spectral slopes (0.35-0.55 and 0.55-0.95 μm) and water ice 2.050 μm band depth computed after having applied the photometric correction. The derived spectral indicators are employed to trace Dione's composition variability on both global and local scales allowing to study the dichotomy between the bright-leading and dark-trailing hemispheres, the distribution of fresh material on the impact craters and surrounding ejecta, and the resurfacing of the bright material within the chasmata caused by tectonism.

Expansion of oil palm and other cash crops causes an increase of the land surface temperature in the Jambi province in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabajo, Clifton R.; le Maire, Guerric; June, Tania; Meijide, Ana; Roupsard, Olivier; Knohl, Alexander

2017-10-01

Indonesia is currently one of the regions with the highest transformation rate of land surface worldwide related to the expansion of oil palm plantations and other cash crops replacing forests on large scales. Land cover changes, which modify land surface properties, have a direct effect on the land surface temperature (LST), a key driver for many ecological functions. Despite the large historic land transformation in Indonesia toward oil palm and other cash crops and governmental plans for future expansion, this is the first study so far to quantify the impacts of land transformation on the LST in Indonesia. We analyze LST from the thermal band of a Landsat image and produce a high-resolution surface temperature map (30 m) for the lowlands of the Jambi province in Sumatra (Indonesia), a region which suffered large land transformation towards oil palm and other cash crops over the past decades. The comparison of LST, albedo, normalized differenced vegetation index (NDVI) and evapotranspiration (ET) between seven different land cover types (forest, urban areas, clear-cut land, young and mature oil palm plantations, acacia and rubber plantations) shows that forests have lower surface temperatures than the other land cover types, indicating a local warming effect after forest conversion. LST differences were up to 10.1 ± 2.6 °C (mean ± SD) between forest and clear-cut land. The differences in surface temperatures are explained by an evaporative cooling effect, which offsets the albedo warming effect. Our analysis of the LST trend of the past 16 years based on MODIS data shows that the average daytime surface temperature in the Jambi province increased by 1.05 °C, which followed the trend of observed land cover changes and exceeded the effects of climate warming. This study provides evidence that the expansion of oil palm plantations and other cash crops leads to changes in biophysical variables, warming the land surface and thus enhancing the increase of the air

Albedos of Jovian Trojans, Hildas and Centaurs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romanishin, William; Tegler, Stephen C.

2017-10-01

We present distributions of optical V band albedos for samples of outer solar system minor bodies including Centaurs, Jovian Trojans and Hildas. Diameters come almost entirely from the NEOWISE catalog (Mainzer etal 2016- Planetary Data System). Optical photometry (H values) for about 2/3 of the approximately 2700 objects studied are from PanStarrrs (Veres et al 2015 Icarus 261, 34). The PanStarrs optical photometry is supplemented by H values from JPL Horizons (corrected to be on the same photometric system as the PanStarrs data) for the objects in the NEOWISE catalog that are not in the PanStarrs catalog. We compare the albedo distributions of various pairs of subsamples using the nonparametric Wilcoxon rank sum test. Examples of potentially interesting comparisons include: (1) The Hildas are 15-25% darker than the Trojans at a very high level of statistical significance. If the Hildas and Trojans started out with similar surfaces, the Hildas may have darkened due to the effects of gardening as they pass through zone III of the asteroid belt. (2) The median albedo of the gray Centaurs lies between that of the L4 and L5 Trojan groups (3) The median L5 Trojan cloud albedo is about 10% darker than that of the L4 cloud at a high level of significance. However, the modes of the L4 and L5 albedo distributions are very similar, perhaps indicating the presence of a distinct brighter component in the L4 cloud that is not found in the L5 cloud.

The Effects of Surface Properties and Albedo on Methane Retrievals with the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ayasse, A.; Thorpe, A. K.; Roberts, D. A.

2017-12-01

Atmospheric methane has increased by a factor of 2.5 since the beginning of the industrial era in response to anthropogenic emissions (Ciais et al., 2013). Although it is less abundant than carbon dioxide it is 86 time more potent on a 20 year time scale (Myhre et al., 2013) and is therefore responsible for about 20% of the total global warming induced by anthropogenic greenhouse gasses (Kirschke et al., 2013). Given the importance of methane to global climate change, monitoring and measuring methane emissions using techniques such as remote sensing is of increasing interest. Recently the Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer - Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) has proven to be a valuable instrument for quantitative mapping of methane plumes (Frankenberg et al., 2016; Thorpe et al., 2016; Thompson et al., 2015). In this study, we applied the Iterative Maximum a Posterior Differential Optical Spectroscopy (IMAP-DOAS) methane retrieval algorithm to a synthetic image with variable methane concentrations, albedo, and land cover. This allowed for characterizing retrieval performance, including potential sensitivity to variable land cover, low albedo surfaces, and surfaces known to cause spurious signals. We conclude that albedo had little influence on the IMAP-DOAS results except at very low radiance levels. Water (without sun glint) was found to be the most challenging surface for methane retrievals while hydrocarbons and some green vegetation also caused error. Understanding the effect of surface properties on methane retrievals is important given the increased use of AVIRIS-NG to map gas plumes over diverse locations and methane sources. This analysis could be expanded to include additional gas species like carbon dioxide and to further investigate gas sensitivity of proposed instruments for dedicated gas mapping from airborne and spaceborne platforms.

Assessing spatio-temporal variability and trends in modelled and measured Greenland Ice Sheet albedo (2000-2013)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexander, P. M.; Tedesco, M.; Fettweis, X.; van de Wal, R. S. W.; Smeets, C. J. P. P.; van den Broeke, M. R.

2014-12-01

Accurate measurements and simulations of Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface albedo are essential, given the role of surface albedo in modulating the amount of absorbed solar radiation and meltwater production. In this study, we assess the spatio-temporal variability of GrIS albedo during June, July, and August (JJA) for the period 2000-2013. We use two remote sensing products derived from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), as well as outputs from the Modèle Atmosphérique Régionale (MAR) regional climate model (RCM) and data from in situ automatic weather stations. Our results point to an overall consistency in spatio-temporal variability between remote sensing and RCM albedo, but reveal a difference in mean albedo of up to ~0.08 between the two remote sensing products north of 70° N. At low elevations, albedo values simulated by the RCM are positively biased with respect to remote sensing products by up to ~0.1 and exhibit low variability compared with observations. We infer that these differences are the result of a positive bias in simulated bare ice albedo. MODIS albedo, RCM outputs, and in situ observations consistently indicate a decrease in albedo of -0.03 to -0.06 per decade over the period 2003-2013 for the GrIS ablation area. Nevertheless, satellite products show a decline in JJA albedo of -0.03 to -0.04 per decade for regions within the accumulation area that is not confirmed by either the model or in situ observations. These findings appear to contradict a previous study that found an agreement between in situ and MODIS trends for individual months. The results indicate a need for further evaluation of high elevation albedo trends, a reconciliation of MODIS mean albedo at high latitudes, and the importance of accurately simulating bare ice albedo in RCMs.

Kinetic and isotherm studies of bisphenol A adsorption onto orange albedo(Citrus sinensis): Sorption mechanisms based on the main albedo components vitamin C, flavones glycosides and carotenoids.

PubMed

Kamgaing, Theophile; Doungmo, Giscard; Melataguia Tchieno, Francis Merlin; Gouoko Kouonang, Jimmy Julio; Mbadcam, Ketcha Joseph

2017-07-03

Orange albedo and its adsorption capacity towards bisphenol A (BPA) were studied. Adsorption experiments were conducted in batch mode at 25-55°C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to characterise the biosorbent. The effects of various parameters including adsorption time, equilibrium pH, adsorbent dosage and initial adsorbate concentration were investigated. The optimum contact time and pH for the removal of BPA were 60 min and 2, respectively. It was found that the adsorption isotherms best matched the Freundlich model, the adsorption of BPA being multilayer and that of the albedo surface heterogeneous. From the kinetic studies, it was found that the removal of BPA best matched the pseudo-second order kinetic model. An adsorption mechanism based on the albedo surface molecules is proposed and gives a good account of π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding. Orange albedo, with a maximum BPA loading capacity of 82.36 mg g -1 (significantly higher than that of most agricultural residues), is a good candidate for BPA adsorption in aqueous media.

The extreme ultraviolet albedos of the planet Mercury and of the moon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, H. H.; Broadfoot, A. L.

1977-01-01

The albedo of the moon in the far UV was measured by Mariner 10 at a solar phase angle of 74 deg, and the geometric albedo of Mercury was measured in same wavelength range (584-1657 A) at solar phase angles ranging from 50 to 120 deg. For both the moon and Mercury there is a general increase in albedo for wavelengths decreasing from 1657 to 584 A. The ratio of the albedos of Mercury and the moon increases from about 0.6 to 0.8 in the range 600-1600 A. This merely points to a difference in the surfaces of the moon and Mercury, there being insufficient data to make any conclusions regarding the nature of the difference.

The albedo of particles in reflection nebulae

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rush, W. F.

1974-01-01

The relation between the apparent angular extent of a reflection nebula and the apparent magnitude of its illuminating star was reconsidered under a less restrictive set of assumptions. A computational technique was developed which permits the use of fits to the observed m-log a values to determine the albedo of particles composing reflection nebulae, providing only that a phase function and average optical thickness are assumed. Multiple scattering, anisotropic phase functions, and illumination by the general star field are considered, and the albedo of reflection nebular particles appears to be the same as that for interstellar particles in general. The possibility of continuous fluorescence contributions to the surface brightness is also considered.

Evaluation of Satellite Remote Sensing Albedo Retrievals over the Ablation Area of the Southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moustafa, Samiah E.; Rennermalm, Asa K.; Roman, Miguel O.; Wang, Zhuosen; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Smith, Laurence C.; Koenig, Lora S.; Erb, Angela

2017-01-01

MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) albedo products have been validated over spatially uniform, snow-covered areas of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) using the so-called single 'point-to-pixel' method. This study expands on this methodology by applying a 'multiple-point-to-pixel' method and examination of spatial autocorrelation (here using semivariogram analysis) by using in situ observations, high-resolution World- View-2 (WV-2) surface reflectances, and MODIS Collection V006 daily blue-sky albedo over a spatially heterogeneous surfaces in the lower ablation zone in southwest Greenland. Our results using 232 ground-based samples within two MODIS pixels, one being more spatial heterogeneous than the other, show little difference in accuracy among narrow and broad band albedos (except for Band 2). Within the more homogenous pixel area, in situ and MODIS albedos were very close (error varied from -4% to +7%) and within the range of ASD standard errors. The semivariogram analysis revealed that the minimum observational footprint needed for a spatially representative sample is 30 m. In contrast, over the more spatially heterogeneous surface pixel, a minimum footprint size was not quantifiable due to spatial autocorrelation, and far exceeds the effective resolution of the MODIS retrievals. Over the high spatial heterogeneity surface pixel, MODIS is lower than ground measurements by 4-7%, partly due to a known in situ undersampling of darker surfaces that often are impassable by foot (e.g., meltwater features and shadowing effects over crevasses). Despite the sampling issue, our analysis errors are very close to the stated general accuracy of the MODIS product of 5%. Thus, our study suggests that the MODIS albedo product performs well in a very heterogeneous, low-albedo, area of the ice sheet ablation zone. Furthermore, we demonstrate that single 'point-to-pixel' methods alone are insufficient in characterizing and validating the variation of surface

Developing a Validated Long-Term Satellite-Based Albedo Record in the Central Alaska Range to Improve Regional Hydroclimate Reconstructions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kreutz, K. J.; Godaire, T. P.; Burakowski, E. A.; Winski, D.; Campbell, S. W.; Wang, Z.; Sun, Q.; Hamilton, G. S.; Birkel, S. D.; Wake, C. P.; Osterberg, E. C.; Schaaf, C.

2015-12-01

Mountain glaciers around the world, particularly in Alaska, are experiencing significant surface mass loss from rapid climatic shifts and constitute a large proportion of the cryosphere's contribution to sea level rise. Surface albedo acts as a primary control on a glacier's mass balance, yet it is difficult to measure and quantify spatially and temporally in steep, mountainous settings. During our 2013 field campaign in Denali National Park to recover two surface to bedrock ice cores, we used an Analytical Spectral Devices (ASD) FieldSpec4 Standard Resolution spectroradiometer to measure incoming solar radiation, outgoing surface reflectance and optical grain size on the Kahiltna Glacier and at the Kahiltna Base Camp. A Campbell Scientific automatic weather station was installed on Mount Hunter (3900m) in June 2013, complementing a longer-term (2008-present) station installed at Kahiltna Base Camp (2100m). Use of our in situ data aids in the validation of surface albedo values derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat satellite imagery. Comparisons are made between ASD FieldSpec4 ground measurements and 500m MODIS imagery to assess the ability of MODIS to capture the variability of surface albedo across the glacier surface. The MODIS MCD43A3 BRDF/Albedo Product performs well at Kahiltna Base Camp (<5% difference from ASD shortwave broadband data), but low biases in MODIS albedo (10-28% relative to ASD data) appear to occur along the Kahiltna Glacier due to the snow-free valley walls being captured in the 500m MODIS footprint. Incorporating Landsat imagery will strengthen our interpretations and has the potential to produce a long-term (1982-present) validated satellite albedo record for steep and mountainous terrain. Once validation is complete, we will compare the satellite-derived albedo record to the Denali ice core accumulation rate, aerosol records (i.e. volcanics and biomass burning), and glacier mass balance data. This

Urban Soil: Assessing Ground Cover Impact on Surface Temperature and Thermal Comfort.

PubMed

Brandani, Giada; Napoli, Marco; Massetti, Luciano; Petralli, Martina; Orlandini, Simone

2016-01-01

The urban population growth, together with the contemporary deindustrialization of metropolitan areas, has resulted in a large amount of available land with new possible uses. It is well known that urban green areas provide several benefits in the surrounding environment, such as the improvement of thermal comfort conditions for the population during summer heat waves. The purpose of this study is to provide useful information on thermal regimes of urban soils to urban planners to be used during an urban transformation to mitigate surface temperatures and improve human thermal comfort. Field measurements of solar radiation, surface temperature (), air temperature (), relative humidity, and wind speed were collected on four types of urban soils and pavements in the city of Florence during summer 2014. Analysis of days under calm, clear-sky condition is reported. During daytime, sun-to-shadow differences for , apparent temperature index (ATI), and were significantly positive for all surfaces. Conversely, during nighttime, differences among all surfaces were significantly negative, whereas ATI showed significantly positive differences. Moreover, was significantly negative for grass and gravel. Relative to the shaded surfaces, was higher on white gravel and grass than gray sandstone and asphalt during nighttime, whereas gray sandstone was always the warmest surface during daytime. Conversely, no differences were found during nighttime for ATI and measured over surfaces that were exposed to sun during the day, whereas showed higher values on gravel than grass and asphalt during nighttime. An exposed surface warms less if its albedo is high, leading to a significant reduction of during daytime. These results underline the importance of considering the effects of surface characteristics on surface temperature and thermal comfort. This would be fundamental for addressing urban environment issues toward the heat island mitigation considering also the impact of urban

Impact of drought on surface albedo in Canadian Prairie observed from Terra- MODIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Y.; Trishchenko, A. P.; Wang, S.; Khlopenkov, K. V.

2009-05-01

A new technology was developed at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) for generating Canada wide clear-sky surface albedo data based on observations from MODIS sensor onboard TERRA satellite. The data include all seven MODIS land bands (B1-B7) mapped at 250m spatial resolution and 10-day temporal interval from year 2000 through 2008. The new product presents an important spatial enhancement as well as an improved retrieval of water fraction and snow characteristics relative to the standard MODIS archival products. The regional data for the entire Canadian Prairie region are extracted and aggregated for different ecozones, such as north to south, the boreal transition, aspen parkland, moist mixed grassland, and mixed grassland etc. The preliminary results indicate that in comparison to normal summer conditions (2006-2008), the albedo for the drought years (2000-2003) summer increases up to 20 percent in the visible band (B1) and decreases as low as 10 percent in the near infrared band (B2). In the shortwave infrared band (B6) where a large absorption by leaf water occurs, the albedo increases as much as 15 percent for the drought years due to less leaf water content. The derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which represents a density of healthy vegetation, drops dramatically (up to 30 percent) for the drought period of 2000-2003. Among the different ecozones, the grassland shows the largest response to droughts while the boreal zone shows the least. Further applications of this product include mapping of snow cover (fraction and grain size), the fraction of absorbed photo-synthetically active radiation (fAPAR), ecosystem productivity, water and energy budget, as well as impact of various disturbances, such as wildfires, and long term climate induced trends. This work was conducted at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS), Earth Sciences Sector of the Department of Natural Resources Canada as part of the Project J35 of the Program on

Evaluation of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Snow Albedo Product (MCD43A) over Tundra

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Zhuosen; Schaaf, Crystal B.; Chopping, Mark J.; Strahler, Alan H.; Wang, Jindi; Roman, Miguel O.; Rocha, Adrian V.; Woodcock, Curtis E.; Shuai, Yanmin

2012-01-01

This study assesses the MODIS standard Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)/Albedo product, and the daily Direct Broadcast BRDF/Albedo algorithm at tundra locations under large solar zenith angles and high anisotropic diffuse illumination and multiple scattering conditions. These products generally agree with ground-based albedo measurements during the snow cover period when the Solar Zenith Angle (SZA) is less than 70deg. An integrated validation strategy, including analysis of the representativeness of the surface heterogeneity, is performed to decide whether direct comparisons between field measurements and 500- m satellite products were appropriate or if the scaling of finer spatial resolution airborne or spaceborne data was necessary. Results indicate that the Root Mean Square Errors (RMSEs) are less than 0.047 during the snow covered periods for all MCD43 albedo products at several Alaskan tundra areas. The MCD43 1- day daily albedo product is particularly well suited to capture the rapidly changing surface conditions during the spring snow melt. Results also show that a full expression of the blue sky albedo is necessary at these large SZA snow covered areas because of the effects of anisotropic diffuse illumination and multiple scattering. In tundra locations with dark residue as a result of fire, the MODIS albedo values are lower than those at the unburned site from the start of snowmelt.

Recent increase in snow-melt area in the Greenland Ice sheet as an indicator of the effect of reduced surface albedo by snow impurities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rikiishi, K.

2008-12-01

Recent rapid decline of cryosphere including mountain glaciers, sea ice, and seasonal snow cover tends to be associated with global warming. However, positive feedback is likely to operate between the cryosphere and air temperature, and then it may not be so simple to decide the cause-and-effect relation between them. The theory of heat budget for snow surface tells us that sensible heat transfer from the air to the snow by atmospheric warming by 1°C is about 10 W/m2, which is comparable with heat supply introduced by reduction of the snow surface albedo by only 0.02. Since snow impurities such as black carbon and soil- origin dusts have been accumulated every year on the snow surface in snow-melting season, it is very important to examine whether the snow-melting on the ice sheets, mountain glaciers, and sea ice is caused by global warming or by accumulated snow impurities originated from atmospheric pollutants. In this paper we analyze the dataset of snow-melt area in the Greenland ice sheet for the years 1979 - 2007 (available from the National Snow and Ice Data Center), which is reduced empirically from the satellite micro-wave observations by SMMR and SMM/I. It has been found that, seasonally, the snow-melt area extends most significantly from the second half of June to the first half of July when the sun is highest and sunshine duration is longest, while it doesn't extend any more from the second half of July to the first half of August when the air temperature is highest. This fact may imply that sensible heat required for snow-melting comes from the solar radiation rather than from the atmosphere. As for the interannual variation of snow-melt area, on the other hand, we have found that the growth rate of snow-melt area gradually increases from July, to August, and to the first half of September as the impurities come out to and accumulated at the snow surface. However, the growth rate is almost zero in June and the second half of September when fresh snow

The potential impacts of climate change induced changes to tropical leaf albedo and its feedback on global climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doughty, C.; Shenkin, A.; Bentley, L. P.; Malhi, Y.

2017-12-01

Tropical forest leaf albedo plays a critical role in global climate by determining how much radiation the planet absorbs near the equator. However, little is known about how tropical leaf albedo could be affected by climate change and how any such changes in albedo could, in turn, impact global climate. Here we measure sunlit leaf albedo along two elevation temperature gradients (a 3000-meter gradient in Peru (10 plots) and a 1500 m gradient in Australia (10 plots) and along two wet to dry transects (a 2000 mm yr-1 gradient in Ghana (10 plots) and a 2000 mm yr-1 gradient in Brazil (10 plots). We found a highly significant increase in visible leaf albedo with wetness at both wet to dry gradients. We also found a marginally significant trend of increased albedo with warmer temperatures along one of the elevation gradients. Leaf albedo can also be impacted by changes in species composition, variations in interspecific variation, and changes in leaf chlorophyll concentrations. We removed the dominant two species from the basal area weighting for each plots but found no significant change, a directional change of interspecific variation could change albedo by 0.01 in the NIR, and changes in chlorophyll could decrease visible albedo by 0.005. We then simulated changes in tropical leaf albedo with a climate model and show that such changes could act as a small negative feedback on climate, but most likely will not have a large impact on future climate.

Albedo estimation using near infrared photography at Glaciar Norte of Citlaltepetl Volcano (Mexico).

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ontiveros, Guillermo; Delgado-Granados, Hugo

2015-04-01

In this work we show preliminary results of the application of the methodology proposed by Corripio (2004) for albedo estimation of a glacial surface using oblique photography. This analysis was performed for the Glaciar Norte of Citlaltepetl volcano (Mexico), using images obtained with a modified digital camera for capturing the portion of the near infrared spectrum starting at 950 nm and a digital elevation model with a grid of 2 m. The main goal was to obtain a picture of the spatial distribution of albedo on the glacier, in order to find out if there was any morphological evidence of the influence of the glacier energy balance. Some of the obtained results show a certain spatial distribution with comparatively higher albedo values at the lower parts of the glacier as compared with higher parts. The higher values may correspond to different metamorphism of snow/ice at different heights due to the effects of lower slope. Corripio, J. G. (2004). Snow surface albedo estimation using terrestrial photography. International journal of remote sensing, 25(24), 5705-5729.

Stochastic dynamics of melt ponds and sea ice-albedo climate feedback

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sudakov, Ivan

Evolution of melt ponds on the Arctic sea surface is a complicated stochastic process. We suggest a low-order model with ice-albedo feedback which describes stochastic dynamics of melt ponds geometrical characteristics. The model is a stochastic dynamical system model of energy balance in the climate system. We describe the equilibria in this model. We conclude the transition in fractal dimension of melt ponds affects the shape of the sea ice albedo curve.

Simulating Pliocene warmth and a permanent El Niño-like state: The role of cloud albedo

DOE PAGES

Burls, N. J.; Fedorov, A. V.

2014-09-13

We present that available evidence suggests that during the early Pliocene (4–5 Ma) the mean east-west sea surface temperature (SST) gradient in the equatorial Pacific Ocean was significantly smaller than today, possibly reaching only 1–2°C. The meridional SST gradients were also substantially weaker, implying an expanded ocean warm pool in low latitudes. Subsequent global cooling led to the establishment of the stronger, modern temperature gradients. Given our understanding of the physical processes that maintain the present-day cold tongue in the east, warm pool in the west and hence sharp temperature contrasts, determining the key factors that maintained early Pliocene climatemore » still presents a challenge for climate theories and models. This study demonstrates how different cloud properties could provide a solution. We show that a reduction in the meridional gradient in cloud albedo can sustain reduced meridional and zonal SST gradients, an expanded warm pool and warmer thermal stratification in the ocean, and weaker Hadley and Walker circulations in the atmosphere. Having conducted a range of hypothetical modified cloud albedo experiments, we arrive at our Pliocene simulation, which shows good agreement with proxy SST data from major equatorial and coastal upwelling regions, the tropical warm pool, middle and high latitudes, and available subsurface temperature data. As suggested by the observations, the simulated Pliocene-like climate sustains a robust El Niño-Southern Oscillation despite the reduced mean east-west SST gradient. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that cloud albedo changes may be a critical element of Pliocene climate and that simulating the meridional SST gradient correctly is central to replicating the geographical patterns of Pliocene warmth.« less

Phenology and species determine growing-season albedo increase at the altitudinal limit of shrub growth in the sub-Arctic.

PubMed

Williamson, Scott N; Barrio, Isabel C; Hik, David S; Gamon, John A

2016-11-01

Arctic warming is resulting in reduced snow cover and increased shrub growth, both of which have been associated with altered land surface-atmospheric feedback processes involving sensible heat flux, ground heat flux and biogeochemical cycling. Using field measurements, we show that two common Arctic shrub species (Betula glandulosa and Salix pulchra), which are largely responsible for shrub encroachment in tundra, differed markedly in albedo and that albedo of both species increased as growing season progressed when measured at their altitudinal limit. A moveable apparatus was used to repeatedly measure albedo at six precise spots during the summer of 2012, and resampled in 2013. Contrary to the generally accepted view of shrub-covered areas having low albedo in tundra, full-canopy prostrate B. glandulosa had almost the highest albedo of all surfaces measured during the peak of the growing season. The higher midsummer albedo is also evident in localized MODIS albedo aggregated from 2000 to 2013, which displays a similar increase in growing-season albedo. Using our field measurements, we show the ensemble summer increase in tundra albedo counteracts the generalized effect of earlier spring snow melt on surface energy balance by approximately 40%. This summer increase in albedo, when viewed in absolute values, is as large as the difference between the forest and tundra transition. These results indicate that near future (<50 years) changes in growing-season albedo related to Arctic vegetation change are unlikely to be particularly large and might constitute a negative feedback to climate warming in certain circumstances. Future efforts to calculate energy budgets and a sensible heating feedback in the Arctic will require more detailed information about the relative abundance of different ground cover types, particularly shrub species and their respective growth forms and phenology. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

UV irradiance and albedo at Union Glacier Camp (Antarctica): a case study.

PubMed

Cordero, Raul R; Damiani, Alessandro; Ferrer, Jorge; Jorquera, Jose; Tobar, Mario; Labbe, Fernando; Carrasco, Jorge; Laroze, David

2014-01-01

We report on the first spectral measurements of ultraviolet (UV) irradiance and the albedo at a Camp located in the southern Ellsworth Mountains on the broad expanse of Union Glacier (700 m altitude, 79° 46' S; 82° 52'W); about 1,000 km from the South Pole. The measurements were carried out by using a double monochromator-based spectroradiometer during a campaign (in December 2012) meant to weight up the effect of the local albedo on the UV irradiance. We found that the albedo measured at noon was about 0.95 in the UV and the visible part of the spectrum. This high surface reflectivity led to enhancements in the UV index under cloudless conditions of about 50% in comparison with snow free surfaces. Spectral measurements carried out elsewhere as well as estimates retrieved from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) were used for further comparisons.

UV Irradiance and Albedo at Union Glacier Camp (Antarctica): A Case Study

PubMed Central

Cordero, Raul R.; Damiani, Alessandro; Ferrer, Jorge; Jorquera, Jose; Tobar, Mario; Labbe, Fernando; Carrasco, Jorge; Laroze, David

2014-01-01

We report on the first spectral measurements of ultraviolet (UV) irradiance and the albedo at a Camp located in the southern Ellsworth Mountains on the broad expanse of Union Glacier (700 m altitude, 79° 46′ S; 82° 52′W); about 1,000 km from the South Pole. The measurements were carried out by using a double monochromator-based spectroradiometer during a campaign (in December 2012) meant to weight up the effect of the local albedo on the UV irradiance. We found that the albedo measured at noon was about 0.95 in the UV and the visible part of the spectrum. This high surface reflectivity led to enhancements in the UV index under cloudless conditions of about 50% in comparison with snow free surfaces. Spectral measurements carried out elsewhere as well as estimates retrieved from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) were used for further comparisons. PMID:24598906

The Far-UV Albedo of the Moon Determined from Dayside LAMP Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bullock, Mark A.; Retherford, K. D.; Gladstone, R.; Greathouse, T. K.; Mandt, K. E.; Hendrix, A. R.; Feldman, P. D.; Miles, P. F.; Egan, A. F.

2013-10-01

The Lyman Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP) onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been recording far-UV photons reflected from the lunar surface almost continuously since December 2009 (Gladstone et al., 2010). One photon at a time, LAMP builds up spectra from 575 to 1965 Å with a resolution of 26 Å. We will present 3 years of accumulated LAMP lunar dayside spectral maps and derive the lunar geometric albedo spectrum for a range of phase angles. These LAMP observations can thus be used to reconstruct the lunar far-UV photometric function and refine photometric models of the lunar surface (Hapke, 1963; Lucke et al., 1976). We will also compare LAMP lunar dayside albedo with the albedo from 820-1840 Å obtained by the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) on the March 1995 Astro-2 Space Shuttle mission (Henry et al., 1995). The improved lunar photometric functions from our analysis of LAMP albedo spectra will enable a better quantitative assessment of how phase angle and composition affect the Moon’s reflectance in the far-UV. Gladstone, G. R., Stern, S. A., Retherford, K. D., Black, R. K., Slater, D. C., Davis, M. W., Versteeg, M. H., Persson, K. B., Parker, J. W., Kaufmann, D. E., Egan, A. F., Greathouse, T. K., Feldman, P. D., Hurley, D., Pryor, W. R., Hendrix, A. R., 2010. LAMP: The lyman alpha mapping project on NASA's lunar reconnaissance orbiter mission. Space Science Reviews. 150, 161-181. Hapke, B. W., 1963. A theoretical photometric function for the lunar surface. Journal of Geophysical Research. 68, 4571-4586. Henry, R. C., Feldman, P. D., Kruk, J. W., Davidsen, A. F., Durrance, S. T., 1995. Ultraviolet Albedo of the Moon with the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope. The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 454, L69. Lucke, R. L., Henry, R. C., Fastie, W. G., 1976. Far-ultraviolet albedo of the moon. The Astronomical Journal. 81, 1162-1169.