Radiation and Radiative Transfer in the Earth Atmosphere

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Meteorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 9184

Special Issue Editor

NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR), College Park, MD 20740, USA
Interests: radiative transfer; satellite data assimilation; satellite instrument calibration/validation; radio occultation data process

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Electromagnetic radiation is the most important process responsible for energy transfer in the atmosphere and plays many important roles in controlling the environment and climate. It is closely associated with the investigation of atmospheric greenhouse effects resulting from external radiative perturbation in climate systems and the development of methodologies for inferring atmospheric and surface parameters by means of remote sensing. Radiative transfer includes the scattering and absorption processes involving molecules, aerosols, and cloud particles, as well as surface reflection and emission. Major radiative quantities include the surface radiation budget, radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere, the heating/cooling radiative rates, and actinic fluxes. The rapid growth of satellite remote sensing, based on measurements of electromagnetic radiation in different spectrums of electromagnetic energy, has provided significant progress in the understanding of the properties and diverse impacts of atmospheric gases, aerosols, clouds, and surfaces.

This Special Issue is expected to provide a summary of recent accomplishments in the study, understanding, and quantitative analysis of atmospheric radiation and the interactions of solar and terrestrial radiation with molecules, aerosols, and cloud particles in the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as with its surface, through radiative transfer and radiometric observations made from the ground, the air, and space. Therefore, we invite authors to submit original research and review articles that aim to advance the theory of radiative transfer, to study the diverse impacts of electromagnetic radiation (including recent progress in modeling and measurements), and to apply radiative transfer in satellite data assimilation systems for improving weather and climate predications.

Dr. Yong Chen
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • electromagnetic radiation
  • scattering
  • absorption
  • emission
  • surface reflection and emission
  • heating/cooling radiative rates
  • radiative budget
  • satellite remote sensing
  • radiometric observations

Published Papers (4 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 9966 KiB  
Article
Spatial-Temporal Mode Analysis and Prediction of Outgoing Longwave Radiation over China in 2002–2021 Based on Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Data
by Chaoli Tang, Dong Liu, Yuanyuan Wei, Xiaomin Tian, Fengmei Zhao and Xin Wu
Atmosphere 2022, 13(3), 400; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13030400 - 28 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2169
Abstract
Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is a key factor to study the radiation balance of the earth–atmosphere system. It is of great significance to explore the temporal and spatial variation characteristics over the OLR value in China region and to predict its future variation [...] Read more.
Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is a key factor to study the radiation balance of the earth–atmosphere system. It is of great significance to explore the temporal and spatial variation characteristics over the OLR value in China region and to predict its future variation trend. We investigate the characteristic distribution of OLR value over China and predict its results in time series using the seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA) and long short-term memory (LSTM) methods based on the OLR data by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). The Mann–Kendall (MK) mutation test was used to analyze the annual average of OLR values in China and the mutation points in the four seasons. The empirical orthogonal function (EOF) is used to decompose the spatial characteristics and temporal variation of OLR values in China. The MK mutation test is used to obtain the mutation points in the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn. The cumulative variance contribution of the four modes obtained by EOF decomposition exceeds 70%, and the variance contribution of the first mode exceeds 50%. The prediction accuracy with SARIMA model is 99% and LSTM algorithm is 97%. The results of spatiotemporal analysis show that the OLR value near the equator is significantly higher than that of the north and south poles and decreases with the increase of latitude; the OLR value in spring, summer and autumn is higher than that in winter. The results of the MK test show that there are many mutation points in autumn, and the location of the mutation points cannot be determined. The mutation points in spring and summer meet the confidence interval; the first mode of EOF decomposition has a meridional structure, and the OLR value is dropped within 18 years as a whole. The spatial characteristics of modes 1 and 3 have obvious changes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Northeast China. The prediction results show that the prediction accuracy of SARIMA is higher than that of LSTM. Therefore, the results predicted by SARIMA may provide a reference for the study of the radiation balance of the earth–atmosphere system in China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiation and Radiative Transfer in the Earth Atmosphere)
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 7846 KiB  
Article
FENGYUN-4A Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager Layered Precipitable Water Vapor Products’ Comprehensive Evaluation Based on Quality Control System
by Yong Zhang, Jun Li, Zhenglong Li, Jing Zheng, Danqing Wu and Hongyu Zhao
Atmosphere 2022, 13(2), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13020290 - 9 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2152
Abstract
A physical retrieval algorithm has been developed for deriving the layered precipitable water vapor (LPWs) product from infrared radiances of the Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager (AGRI) onboard FengYun-4A (FY-4A), the first of the new generation of Chinese geostationary weather satellites (FengYun-4, or FY-4 [...] Read more.
A physical retrieval algorithm has been developed for deriving the layered precipitable water vapor (LPWs) product from infrared radiances of the Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager (AGRI) onboard FengYun-4A (FY-4A), the first of the new generation of Chinese geostationary weather satellites (FengYun-4, or FY-4 Series). The FY-4A AGRI LPWs are evaluated with different types of reference datasets based on Quality Control System (QCS), including those from Himawari-8 AHI (Advanced Himawari Imager), MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), Radiosonde, ERA5 (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis v5), NCEP (National Centers for Environmental Prediction) reanalysis and CMA (China Meteorological Administration) forecast product from global medium range numerical weather prediction (NWP) system. QCS is one of the important components of FY-4A ground segment, which mainly focuses on the satellite products’ evaluation and validation. It is found that the AGRI LPW product has a good agreement with different evaluating sources and the quality is favorable and stable. With the capability of frequent (5-min interval) observations over the East Asia and Western Pacific regions, the AGRI LPW products can be used to investigate the atmospheric temporal and spatial variations in the pre-landfall environment for typhoons. The QCS is a useful tool to monitor, evaluate, and validate the AGRI LPW products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiation and Radiative Transfer in the Earth Atmosphere)
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 3327 KiB  
Article
Error Correction of Water Vapor Radiometers for VLBI Observations in Deep-Space Networks
by Houcai Chen, Junxiang Ge, Qingde Kong, Zhenwei Zhao and Qinglin Zhu
Atmosphere 2021, 12(12), 1601; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12121601 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1351
Abstract
In this paper, we present the design and implementation tests of a water vapor radiometer (WVR) suitable for very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observation. We describe the calibration method with an analysis of the sources of measurement errors. The experimental results show that [...] Read more.
In this paper, we present the design and implementation tests of a water vapor radiometer (WVR) suitable for very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observation. We describe the calibration method with an analysis of the sources of measurement errors. The experimental results show that the long-term measurement accuracy of the brightness temperature of the water vapor radiometer can reach 0.2 K under arbitrary ambient conditions by absolute calibration, receiver gain error calibration, and antenna feeder system temperature noise error calibration. Furthermore, we present a method for measurements of the calibration error of the oblique path measurement. This results in an oblique path wet delay measurement accuracy of the water vapor radiometer reaching 20 mm (within one month). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiation and Radiative Transfer in the Earth Atmosphere)
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 4298 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Patterns and Trends of Shortwave Global Irradiance over the Euro-Mediterranean Region
by Elissavet Galanaki, George Emmanouil, Konstantinos Lagouvardos and Vassiliki Kotroni
Atmosphere 2021, 12(11), 1431; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111431 - 29 Oct 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2837
Abstract
The spatiotemporal patterns and trends of shortwave global irradiance (SWGI) are a crucial factor affecting not only the climate but also sectors of the economy. In this work, the ERA5-Land reanalysis dataset is employed and evaluated against in situ measurements from a dense [...] Read more.
The spatiotemporal patterns and trends of shortwave global irradiance (SWGI) are a crucial factor affecting not only the climate but also sectors of the economy. In this work, the ERA5-Land reanalysis dataset is employed and evaluated against in situ measurements from a dense network of surface stations operated by the National Observatory of Athens over Greece, revealing a good agreement between the two datasets. Then, the spatiotemporal variability of SWGI is investigated over the Euro-Mediterranean region (10° W–42° E and 30° N–52° N) for a 40-year period (1981–2020). SWGI exhibits a smooth latitudinal variability from north to south of −5.4 W/m2/degree on an annual scale, while it varies significantly on a seasonal basis and is almost four times lower in the winter than in the summer. The SWGI trend during the analyzed period was found to be positive and statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. Spring and summer are the periods where positive and the strongest rates of SWGI trends are evident, while in the winter and autumn, negative or neutral trends were found. The increasing SWGI trend shows a slowdown during the beginning of the 2000s in all seasons, except autumn. The SWGI trend decreases by about −0.06 W/m2/decade every 100 m of elevation increase. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiation and Radiative Transfer in the Earth Atmosphere)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop