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28 pages, 6414 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Land Surface Albedo Algorithm for the GK-2A/AMI Instrument

by Kyeong-Sang Lee, Sung-Rae Chung, Changsuk Lee, Minji Seo, Sungwon Choi, Noh-Hun Seong, Donghyun Jin, Minseok Kang, Jong-Min Yeom, Jean-Louis Roujean, Daeseong Jung, Suyoung Sim and Kyung-Soo Han

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2500; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152500 - 04 Aug 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4126

Abstract

The Korea Meteorological Administration successfully launched Korea’s next-generation meteorological satellite, Geo-KOMPSAT-2A (GK-2A), on 5 December 2018. It belongs to the new generation of GEO (Geostationary Elevation Orbit) satellite which offers capabilities to disseminate high spatial- (0.5–2 km) and high temporal-resolution (10 min) observations [...] Read more.

The Korea Meteorological Administration successfully launched Korea’s next-generation meteorological satellite, Geo-KOMPSAT-2A (GK-2A), on 5 December 2018. It belongs to the new generation of GEO (Geostationary Elevation Orbit) satellite which offers capabilities to disseminate high spatial- (0.5–2 km) and high temporal-resolution (10 min) observations over a broad area, herein a geographic disk encompassing the Asia–Oceania region. The targeted objective is to enhance our understanding of climate change, owing to a bulk of coherent observations. For such, we developed an algorithm to map the land surface albedo (LSA), which is a major Essential Climate Variable (ECV). The retrieval algorithm devoted to GK-2A/Advanced Meteorological Imager (AMI) data considered Japan’s Himawari-8/Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) data for prototyping, as this latter owns similar specifications to AMI. Our proposed algorithm is decomposed in three major steps: atmospheric correction, bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) modeling and angular integration, and narrow-to-broadband conversion. To perform BRDF modeling, the optimization method using normalized reflectance was applied, which improved the quality of BRDF modeling results, particularly when the number of observations was less than 15. A quality assessment was performed to compare our results to those of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LSA products and ground measurement from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites, Australian and New Zealand flux tower network (OzFlux) site and the Korea Flux Network (KoFlux) site from throughout 2017. Our results show dependable spatial and temporal consistency with MODIS broadband LSA data, and rapid changes in LSA due to snowfall and snow melting were well expressed in the temporal profile of our results. Our outcomes also show good agreement with the ground measurements from AERONET, OzFlux and KoFlux ground-based network with root mean square errors (RMSE) of 0.0223 and 0.0306, respectively, which is close to the accuracy of MODIS broadband LSA. Moreover, our results reveal still more reliable LSA products even when clouds are frequently present, such as during the summer monsoon season. It shows that our results are useful for continuous LSA monitoring. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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22 pages, 13695 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seasonal Comparisons of Himawari-8 AHI and MODIS Vegetation Indices over Latitudinal Australian Grassland Sites

by Ngoc Nguyen Tran, Alfredo Huete, Ha Nguyen, Ian Grant, Tomoaki Miura, Xuanlong Ma, Alexei Lyapustin, Yujie Wang and Elizabeth Ebert

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2494; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152494 - 03 Aug 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4708

Abstract

The Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on board the Himawari-8 geostationary (GEO) satellite offers comparable spectral and spatial resolutions as low earth orbiting (LEO) sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensors, but with hypertemporal [...] Read more.

The Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on board the Himawari-8 geostationary (GEO) satellite offers comparable spectral and spatial resolutions as low earth orbiting (LEO) sensors such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensors, but with hypertemporal image acquisition capability. This raises the possibility of improved monitoring of highly dynamic ecosystems, such as grasslands, including fine-scale phenology retrievals from vegetation index (VI) time series. However, identifying and understanding how GEO VI temporal profiles would be different from traditional LEO VIs need to be evaluated, especially with the new generation of geostationary satellites, with unfamiliar observation geometries not experienced with MODIS, VIIRS, or Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) VI time series data. The objectives of this study were to investigate the variations in AHI reflectances and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI), and two-band EVI (EVI2) in relation to diurnal phase angle variations, and to compare AHI VI seasonal datasets with MODIS VIs (standard and sun and view angle-adjusted VIs) over a functional range of dry grassland sites in eastern Australia. Strong NDVI diurnal variations and negative NDVI hotspot effects were found due to differential red and NIR band sensitivities to diurnal phase angle changes. In contrast, EVI and EVI2 were nearly insensitive to diurnal phase angle variations and displayed nearly flat diurnal profiles without noticeable hotspot influences. At seasonal time scales, AHI NDVI values were consistently lower than MODIS NDVI values, while AHI EVI and EVI2 values were significantly higher than MODIS EVI and EVI2 values, respectively. We attributed the cross-sensor differences in VI patterns to the year-round smaller phase angles and backscatter observations from AHI, in which the sunlit canopies induced a positive EVI/ EVI2 response and negative NDVI response. BRDF adjustments of MODIS VIs to solar noon and to the oblique view zenith angle of AHI resulted in strong cross-sensor convergence of VI values (R² > 0.94, mean absolute difference <0.02). These results highlight the importance of accounting for cross-sensor observation geometries for generating compatible AHI and MODIS annual VI time series. The strong agreement found in this study shows promise in cross-sensor applications and suggests that a denser time series can be formed through combined GEO and LEO measurement synergies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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19 pages, 26006 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Geolocation Correction for Geostationary Satellite Observations by a Phase-Only Correlation Method Using a Visible Channel

by Hideaki Takenaka, Taiyou Sakashita, Atsushi Higuchi and Teruyuki Nakajima

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2472; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152472 - 01 Aug 2020

Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4992

Abstract

This study describes a high-speed correction method for geolocation information of geostationary satellite data for accurate physical analysis. Geostationary satellite observations with high temporal resolution provide instantaneous analysis and prompt reports. We have previously reported the quasi real-time analysis of solar radiation at [...] Read more.

This study describes a high-speed correction method for geolocation information of geostationary satellite data for accurate physical analysis. Geostationary satellite observations with high temporal resolution provide instantaneous analysis and prompt reports. We have previously reported the quasi real-time analysis of solar radiation at the surface and top of the atmosphere using geostationary satellite data. Estimating atmospheric parameters and surface albedo requires accurate geolocation information to estimate the solar radiation accurately. The physical analysis algorithm for Earth observations is verified by the ground truth. In particular, downward solar radiation at the surface is validated by pyranometers installed at ground observation sites. The ground truth requires that the satellite observation data pixels be accurately linked to the location of the observation equipment on the ground. Thus, inaccurate geolocation information disrupts verification and causes complex problems. It is difficult to determine whether error in the validation of physical quantities arises from the estimation algorithm, satellite sensor calibration, or a geolocation problem. Geolocation error hinders the development of accurate analysis algorithms; therefore, accurate observational information with geolocation information based on latitude and longitude is crucial in atmosphere and land target analysis. This method provides the basic data underlying physical analysis, parallax correction, etc. Because the processing speed is important in geolocation correction, we used the phase-only correlation (POC) method, which is fast and maintains the accuracy of geolocation information in geostationary satellite observation data. Furthermore, two-dimensional fast Fourier transform allowed the accurate correction of multiple target points, which improved the overall accuracy. The reference dataset was created using NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 1-s mesh data. We used HIMAWARI-8/Advanced HIMAWARI Imager data to demonstrate our method, with 22,709 target points for every 10-min observation and 5826 points for every 2.5 min observation. Despite the presence of disturbances, the POC method maintained its accuracy. Column offset and line offset statistics showed stability and characteristic error trends in the raw HIMAWARI standard data. Our method was sufficiently fast to apply to quasi real-time analysis of solar radiation every 10 and 2.5 min. Although HIMAWARI-8 is used as an example here, our method is applicable to all geostationary satellites. The corrected HIMAWARI 16 channel gridded dataset is available from the open database of the Center for Environmental Remote Sensing (CEReS), Chiba University, Japan. The total download count was 50,352,443 on 8 July 2020. Our method has already been applied to NASA GeoNEX geostationary satellite products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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27 pages, 6371 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Simple Algorithm for Deriving an NDVI-Based Index Compatible between GEO and LEO Sensors: Capabilities and Limitations in Japan

by Kenta Obata and Hiroki Yoshioka

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(15), 2417; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12152417 - 28 Jul 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3290 | Correction

Abstract

Geostationary (GEO) satellite sensors provide earth observation data with a high temporal frequency and can complement low earth orbit (LEO) sensors in monitoring terrestrial vegetation. Consistency between GEO and LEO observation data is thus critical to the synergistic use of the sensors; however, [...] Read more.

Geostationary (GEO) satellite sensors provide earth observation data with a high temporal frequency and can complement low earth orbit (LEO) sensors in monitoring terrestrial vegetation. Consistency between GEO and LEO observation data is thus critical to the synergistic use of the sensors; however, mismatch between the sun–target–sensor viewing geometries in the middle-to-high latitude region and the sensor-specific spectral response functions (SRFs) introduce systematic errors into GEO–LEO products such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). If one can find a parameter in which the value is less influenced by geometric conditions and SRFs, it would be invaluable for the synergistic use of the multiple sensors. This study attempts to develop an algorithm to obtain such parameters (NDVI-based indices), which are equivalent to fraction of vegetation cover (FVC) computed from NDVI and endmember spectra. The algorithm was based on a linear mixture model (LMM) with automated computation of the parameters, i.e., endmember spectra. The algorithm was evaluated through inter-comparison between NDVI-based indices using off-nadir GEO observation data from the Himawari 8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) and near-nadir LEO observation data from the Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) as a reference over land surfaces in Japan at middle latitudes. Results showed that scene-dependent biases between the NDVI-based indices of sensors were

- 0.0004 \pm 0.018

(mean ± standard deviation). Small biases were observed in areas in which the fractional abundances of vegetation were likely less sensitive to the view zenith angle. Agreement between the NDVI-based indices of the sensors was, in general, better than the agreement between the NDVI values. Importantly, the developed algorithm does not require regression analysis for reducing biases between the indices. The algorithm should assist in the development of algorithms for performing inter-sensor translations of vegetation indices using the NDVI-based index as a parameter. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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22 pages, 6196 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of Geo-KOMPSAT-2A Algorithm for Sea-Ice Detection Using Himawari-8/AHI Data

by Donghyun Jin, Sung-Rae Chung, Kyeong-Sang Lee, Minji Seo, Sungwon Choi, Noh-Hun Seong, Daeseong Jung, Suyoung Sim, Jinsoo Kim and Kyung-Soo Han

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(14), 2262; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142262 - 14 Jul 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3168

Abstract

Sea ice is an important meteorological factor affecting the global climate system, but it is difficult to observe in sea ice ground truth data because of its location mainly at high latitudes and in polar regions. Accordingly, sea-ice detection research has been actively [...] Read more.

Sea ice is an important meteorological factor affecting the global climate system, but it is difficult to observe in sea ice ground truth data because of its location mainly at high latitudes and in polar regions. Accordingly, sea-ice detection research has been actively conducted using satellites, since the 1970s. Polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites are used for this purpose; notably, geostationary satellites are capable of real-time monitoring of specific regions. In this paper, we introduce the Geo-KOMPSAT-2A (GK-2A)/Advanced Meteorological Imager (AMI) sea-ice detection algorithm using Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) Himawari-8/Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) data as proxy data. The GK-2A/AMI, which is Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA)’s next-generation geostationary satellite launched in December 2018 and Himawari-8/AHI have optically similar channel data, and the observation area includes East Asia and the Western Pacific. The GK-2A/AMI sea-ice detection algorithm produces sea-ice data with a 10-min temporal resolution, a 2-km spatial resolution and sets the Okhotsk Sea and Bohai Sea, where the sea ice is distributed during the winter in the northern hemisphere. It used National Meteorological Satellite Center (NMSC) cloud mask as the preceding data and a dynamic threshold method instead of the static threshold method that is commonly performed in existing sea-ice detection studies. The dynamic threshold methods for sea-ice detection are dynamic wavelength warping (DWW) and IST₀ method. The DWW is a method for determining the similarity by comparing the pattern of reflectance change according to the wavelength of two satellite data. The IST₀ method detects sea ice by using the correlation between 11.2-μm brightness temperature (BT_11.2) and brightness temperature difference (BTD) [BT_11.2–BT_12.3] according to ice surface temperature (IST). In addition, the GK-2A/AMI sea-ice detection algorithm reclassified the cloud area into sea ice using a simple test. A comparison of the sea-ice data derived the GK-2A/AMI sea-ice detection algorithm with the S-NPP/visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) sea ice characterization product indicates consistency of 99.0% and inconsistency of 0.9%. The overall accuracy (OA) of GK-2A/AMI sea-ice data with the sea ice region of interest (ROI) data, which is constructed by photo-interpretation method from RGB images, is 97.2%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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22 pages, 11450 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Landslide Detection with Himawari-8 Geostationary Satellite Data: A Case Study of a Torrential Rain Event in Kyushu, Japan

by Tomoaki Miura and Shin Nagai

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(11), 1734; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111734 - 28 May 2020

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4082

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the utility of Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), one of third-generation geostationary satellite sensors, for mapping landslides caused by torrential rain that hit the northern Kyushu area in Japan in the summer of 2017. AHI normalized difference vegetation [...] Read more.

In this study, we investigated the utility of Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), one of third-generation geostationary satellite sensors, for mapping landslides caused by torrential rain that hit the northern Kyushu area in Japan in the summer of 2017. AHI normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series data had distinctive temporal signatures over landslide areas where the NDVI abruptly decreased after the rain event. The observed changes in the NDVI were linearly correlated with the percent landslide area, the percentage of landslide areas within the AHI pixel footprint, obtained with aerial survey (r = 0.78). AHI 10 min resolution data obtained near cloud-free coverage of the landslide region by the 8th day after the disaster event. This was comparable to the amount of time it took to obtain near cloud-free image coverage with aerial survey, and better than those with the polar-orbiting satellite sensors of Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager, and Sentinel-2A/B MultiSpectral Instrument. These results suggest that third-generation geostationary satellite data can serve as another useful resource for post-event, region-wide initial assessment of landslide areas after a heavy rain event. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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23 pages, 3230 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Sun-Angle Effects on Remote-Sensing Phenology Observed and Modelled Using Himawari-8

by Xuanlong Ma, Alfredo Huete, Ngoc Nguyen Tran, Jian Bi, Sicong Gao and Yelu Zeng

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(8), 1339; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12081339 - 23 Apr 2020

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 8161

Abstract

Satellite remote sensing of vegetation at regional to global scales is undertaken at considerable variations in solar zenith angle (SZA) across space and time, yet the extent to which these SZA variations matter for the retrieval of phenology remains largely unknown. Here we [...] Read more.

Satellite remote sensing of vegetation at regional to global scales is undertaken at considerable variations in solar zenith angle (SZA) across space and time, yet the extent to which these SZA variations matter for the retrieval of phenology remains largely unknown. Here we examined the effect of seasonal and spatial variations in SZA on retrieving vegetation phenology from time series of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) across a study area in southeastern Australia encompassing forest, woodland, and grassland sites. The vegetation indices (VI) data span two years and are from the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), which is onboard the Japanese Himawari-8 geostationary satellite. The semi-empirical RossThick-LiSparse-Reciprocal (RTLSR) bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model was inverted for each spectral band on a daily basis using 10-minute reflectances acquired by H-8 AHI at different sun-view geometries for each site. The inverted RTLSR model was then used to forward calculate surface reflectance at three constant SZAs (20°, 40°, 60°) and one seasonally varying SZA (local solar noon), all normalised to nadir view. Time series of NDVI and EVI adjusted to different SZAs at nadir view were then computed, from which phenological metrics such as start and end of growing season were retrieved. Results showed that NDVI sensitivity to SZA was on average nearly five times greater than EVI sensitivity. VI sensitivity to SZA also varied among sites (biome types) and phenological stages, with NDVI sensitivity being higher during the minimum greenness period than during the peak greenness period. Seasonal SZA variations altered the temporal profiles of both NDVI and EVI, with more pronounced differences in magnitude among NDVI time series normalised to different SZAs. When using VI time series that allowed SZA to vary at local solar noon, the uncertainties in estimating start, peak, end, and length of growing season introduced by local solar noon varying SZA VI time series, were 7.5, 3.7, 6.5, and 11.3 days for NDVI, and 10.4, 11.9, 6.5, and 8.4 days for EVI respectively, compared to VI time series normalised to a constant SZA. Furthermore, the stronger SZA dependency of NDVI compared with EVI, resulted in up to two times higher uncertainty in estimating annual integrated VI, a commonly used remote-sensing proxy for vegetation productivity. Since commonly used satellite products are not generally normalised to a constant sun-angle across space and time, future studies to assess the sun-angle effects on satellite applications in agriculture, ecology, environment, and carbon science are urgently needed. Measurements taken by new-generation geostationary (GEO) satellites offer an important opportunity to refine this assessment at finer temporal scales. In addition, studies are needed to evaluate the suitability of different BRDF models for normalising sun-angle across a broad spectrum of vegetation structure, phenological stages and geographic locations. Only through continuous investigations on how sun-angle variations affect spatiotemporal vegetation dynamics and what is the best strategy to deal with it, can we achieve a more quantitative remote sensing of true signals of vegetation change across the entire globe and through time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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20 pages, 10347 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Introduction to the Geostationary-NASA Earth Exchange (GeoNEX) Products: 1. Top-of-Atmosphere Reflectance and Brightness Temperature

by Weile Wang, Shuang Li, Hirofumi Hashimoto, Hideaki Takenaka, Atsushi Higuchi, Satya Kalluri and Ramakrishna Nemani

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(8), 1267; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12081267 - 17 Apr 2020

Cited by 32 | Viewed by 5242

Abstract

GeoNEX is a collaborative project led by scientists from NASA, NOAA, and many other institutes around the world to generate Earth monitoring products using data streams from the latest Geostationary (GEO) sensors including the GOES-16/17 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), the Himawari-8/9 Advanced Himawari [...] Read more.

GeoNEX is a collaborative project led by scientists from NASA, NOAA, and many other institutes around the world to generate Earth monitoring products using data streams from the latest Geostationary (GEO) sensors including the GOES-16/17 Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), the Himawari-8/9 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI), and more. An accurate and consistent product of the Top-Of-Atmosphere (TOA) reflectance and brightness temperature is the starting point in the scientific processing pipeline and has significant influences on the downstream products. This paper describes the main steps and the algorithms in generating the GeoNEX TOA products, starting from the conversion of digital numbers to physical quantities with the latest radiometric calibration information. We implement algorithms to detect and remove residual georegistration uncertainties automatically in both GOES and Himawari L1bdata, adjust the data for topographic relief, estimate the pixelwise data-acquisition time, and accurately calculate the solar illumination angles for each pixel in the domain at every time step. Finally, we reproject the TOA products to a globally tiled common grid in geographic coordinates in order to facilitate intercomparisons and/or synergies between the GeoNEX products and existing Earth observation datasets from polar-orbiting satellites. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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19 pages, 5103 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deep Neural Network Cloud-Type Classification (DeepCTC) Model and Its Application in Evaluating PERSIANN-CCS

by Vesta Afzali Gorooh, Subodh Kalia, Phu Nguyen, Kuo-lin Hsu, Soroosh Sorooshian, Sangram Ganguly and Ramakrishna R. Nemani

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(2), 316; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12020316 - 18 Jan 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5683

Abstract

Satellite remote sensing plays a pivotal role in characterizing hydrometeorological components including cloud types and their associated precipitation. The Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on the Polar Orbiting CloudSat satellite has provided a unique dataset to characterize cloud types. However, data from this nadir-looking [...] Read more.

Satellite remote sensing plays a pivotal role in characterizing hydrometeorological components including cloud types and their associated precipitation. The Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on the Polar Orbiting CloudSat satellite has provided a unique dataset to characterize cloud types. However, data from this nadir-looking radar offers limited capability for estimating precipitation because of the narrow satellite swath coverage and low temporal frequency. We use these high-quality observations to build a Deep Neural Network Cloud-Type Classification (DeepCTC) model to estimate cloud types from multispectral data from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard the GOES-16 platform. The DeepCTC model is trained and tested using coincident data from both CloudSat and ABI over the CONUS region. Evaluations of DeepCTC indicate that the model performs well for a variety of cloud types including Altostratus, Altocumulus, Cumulus, Nimbostratus, Deep Convective and High clouds. However, capturing low-level clouds remains a challenge for the model. Results from simulated GOES-16 ABI imageries of the Hurricane Harvey event show a large-scale perspective of the rapid and consistent cloud-type monitoring is possible using the DeepCTC model. Additionally, assessments using half-hourly Multi-Radar/Multi-Sensor (MRMS) precipitation rate data (for Hurricane Harvey as a case study) show the ability of DeepCTC in identifying rainy clouds, including Deep Convective and Nimbostratus and their precipitation potential. We also use DeepCTC to evaluate the performance of the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS) product over different cloud types with respect to MRMS referenced at a half-hourly time scale for July 2018. Our analysis suggests that DeepCTC provides supplementary insights into the variability of cloud types to diagnose the weakness and strength of near real-time GEO-based precipitation retrievals. With additional training and testing, we believe DeepCTC has the potential to augment the widely used PERSIANN-CCS algorithm for estimating precipitation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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14 pages, 3599 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) Aerosol Algorithm for Himawari-8 Data

by Lu She, Hankui Zhang, Weile Wang, Yujie Wang and Yun Shi

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(23), 2771; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11232771 - 25 Nov 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3785

Abstract

Himawari-8, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), is a new generation geostationary satellite that provides remote sensing data to retrieve atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) at high spatial (1 km) and high temporal (10 min) resolutions. The Geostationary- National Aeronautics and Space [...] Read more.

Himawari-8, operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), is a new generation geostationary satellite that provides remote sensing data to retrieve atmospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) at high spatial (1 km) and high temporal (10 min) resolutions. The Geostationary- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth exchange (GeoNEX) project recently adapted the multiangle implementation of atmospheric correction (MAIAC) algorithm, originally developed for joint retrieval of AOD and surface anisotropic reflectance with the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, to generate Earth monitoring products from the latest geostationary satellites including Himawari-8. This study evaluated the GeoNEX Himawari-8 ~1 km MAIAC AOD retrieved over all the aerosol robotic network (AERONET) sites between 6°N–30°N and 91°E–127°E. The corresponding JMA Himawari-8 AOD products were also evaluated for comparison. We only used cloud-free and the best quality satellite AOD retrievals and compiled a total of 16,532 MAIAC-AERONET and 21,737 JMA-AERONET contemporaneous pairs of AOD values for 2017. Statistical analyses showed that both MAIAC and JMA data are highly correlated with AERONET AOD, with the correlation coefficient (R) of ~0.77, and the root mean squared error (RMSE) of ~0.16. The absolute bias of MAIAC AOD (0.02 overestimation) appears smaller than that of the JMA AOD (0.05 underestimation). In comparison with the JMA data, the time series of MAIAC AOD were more consistent with AERONET AOD values and better capture the diurnal variations of the latter. The dependence of MAIAC AOD bias on scattering angles is also discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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16 pages, 5127 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evapotranspiration Data Product from NESDIS GET-D System Upgraded for GOES-16 ABI Observations

by Li Fang, Xiwu Zhan, Mitchell Schull, Satya Kalluri, Istvan Laszlo, Peng Yu, Corinne Carter, Christopher Hain and Martha Anderson

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(22), 2639; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11222639 - 12 Nov 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3210

Abstract

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of the global and regional water cycle. An operational Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) ET and Drought (GET-D) product system has been developed by the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) in the National Oceanic [...] Read more.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a major component of the global and regional water cycle. An operational Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) ET and Drought (GET-D) product system has been developed by the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for numerical weather prediction model validation, data assimilation, and drought monitoring. GET-D system was generating ET and Evaporative Stress Index (ESI) maps at 8 km spatial resolution using thermal observations of the Imagers on GOES-13 and GOES-15 before the primary operational GOES satellites transitioned to GOES-16 and GOES-17 with the Advanced Baseline Imagers (ABI). In this study, the GET-D product system is upgraded to ingest the thermal observations of ABI with the best spatial resolution of 2 km. The core of the GET-D system is the Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inversion (ALEXI) model, which exploits the mid-morning rise in the land surface temperature to deduce the land surface fluxes including ET. Satellite-based land surface temperature and solar insolation retrievals from ABI and meteorological forcing from NOAA NCEP Climate Forecast System (CFS) are the major inputs to the GET-D system. Ancillary data required in GET-D include land cover map, leaf area index, albedo and cloud mask. This paper presents preliminary results of ET from the upgraded GET-D system after a brief introduction of the ALEXI model and the architecture of GET-D system. Comparisons with in situ ET measurements showed that the accuracy of the GOES-16 ABI based ET is similar to the results from the legacy GET-D ET based on GOES-13/15 Imager data. The agreement with the in situ measurements is satisfactory with a correlation of 0.914 averaged from three Mead sites. Further evaluation of the ABI-based ET product, upgrade efforts of the GET-D system for ESI products, and conclusions for the ABI-based GET-D products are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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17 pages, 8922 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (cGANs) for Near Real-Time Precipitation Estimation from Multispectral GOES-16 Satellite Imageries—PERSIANN-cGAN

by Negin Hayatbini, Bailey Kong, Kuo-lin Hsu, Phu Nguyen, Soroosh Sorooshian, Graeme Stephens, Charless Fowlkes, Ramakrishna Nemani and Sangram Ganguly

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(19), 2193; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11192193 - 20 Sep 2019

Cited by 42 | Viewed by 8517

Abstract

In this paper, we present a state-of-the-art precipitation estimation framework which leverages advances in satellite remote sensing as well as Deep Learning (DL). The framework takes advantage of the improvements in spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard [...] Read more.

In this paper, we present a state-of-the-art precipitation estimation framework which leverages advances in satellite remote sensing as well as Deep Learning (DL). The framework takes advantage of the improvements in spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard the GOES-16 platform along with elevation information to improve the precipitation estimates. The procedure begins by first deriving a Rain/No Rain (R/NR) binary mask through classification of the pixels and then applying regression to estimate the amount of rainfall for rainy pixels. A Fully Convolutional Network is used as a regressor to predict precipitation estimates. The network is trained using the non-saturating conditional Generative Adversarial Network (cGAN) and Mean Squared Error (MSE) loss terms to generate results that better learn the complex distribution of precipitation in the observed data. Common verification metrics such as Probability Of Detection (POD), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), Critical Success Index (CSI), Bias, Correlation and MSE are used to evaluate the accuracy of both R/NR classification and real-valued precipitation estimates. Statistics and visualizations of the evaluation measures show improvements in the precipitation retrieval accuracy in the proposed framework compared to the baseline models trained using conventional MSE loss terms. This framework is proposed as an augmentation for PERSIANN-CCS (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Network- Cloud Classification System) algorithm for estimating global precipitation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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19 pages, 6247 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Generation and Evaluation of LAI and FPAR Products from Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) Data

by Yepei Chen, Kaimin Sun, Chi Chen, Ting Bai, Taejin Park, Weile Wang, Ramakrishna R. Nemani and Ranga B. Myneni

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(13), 1517; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11131517 - 27 Jun 2019

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4555

Abstract

Leaf area index (LAI) and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) absorbed by vegetation are two of the essential biophysical variables used in most global models of climate, hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology. Most LAI/FPAR products are retrieved from non-geostationary satellite observations. Long revisit [...] Read more.

Leaf area index (LAI) and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) absorbed by vegetation are two of the essential biophysical variables used in most global models of climate, hydrology, biogeochemistry, and ecology. Most LAI/FPAR products are retrieved from non-geostationary satellite observations. Long revisit times and cloud/cloud shadow contamination lead to temporal and spatial gaps in such LAI/FPAR products. For more effective use in monitoring of vegetation phenology, climate change impacts, disaster trend etc., in a timely manner, it is critical to generate LAI/FPAR with less cloud/cloud shadow contamination and at higher temporal resolution—something that is feasible with geostationary satellite data. In this paper, we estimate the geostationary Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) LAI/FPAR fields by training artificial neural networks (ANNs) with Himawari-8 normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) LAI/FPAR products for each biome type. Daily cycles of the estimated AHI LAI/FPAR products indicate that these are stable at 10-min frequency during the day. Comprehensive evaluations were carried out for the different biome types at different spatial and temporal scales by utilizing the MODIS LAI/FPAR products and the available field measurements. These suggest that the generated Himawari-8 AHI LAI/FPAR fields were spatially and temporally consistent with the benchmark MODIS LAI/FPAR products. We also evaluated the AHI LAI/FPAR products for their potential to accurately monitor the vegetation phenology—the results show that AHI LAI/FPAR products closely match the phenological development captured by the MODIS products. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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28 pages, 4057 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relative Azimuthal-Angle Matching (RAM): A Screening Method for GEO-LEO Reflectance Comparison in Middle Latitude Forests

by Yusuke Adachi, Ryota Kikuchi, Kenta Obata and Hiroki Yoshioka

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(9), 1095; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11091095 - 08 May 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4930

Abstract

This study introduced a data screening method for comparing the reflectances in middle latitude forest regions collected by a Geostationary Earth Observing (GEO) satellite and a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. This method attempts to reduce the differences between the relative azimuth angles [...] Read more.

This study introduced a data screening method for comparing the reflectances in middle latitude forest regions collected by a Geostationary Earth Observing (GEO) satellite and a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. This method attempts to reduce the differences between the relative azimuth angles of the GEO and LEO observations. The method, called relative azimuthal-angle matching (RAM), takes advantage of the high temporal resolution of the GEO satellites, which enables collection of a wide range of relative azimuth angles within a day. The performance of the RAM method was evaluated using data in the visible and near-infrared bands collected by the Himawari-8/Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) and the Terra/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The consistency of the reflectance pairs of MODIS and AHI selected by the RAM method was compared with the consistency of the reflectance pairs acquired simultaneously by the two sensors. The data were matched pixel-by-pixel after applying atmospheric corrections and cloud screening. The results show that RAM improved the reflectance ratio by approximately 10% for the red and NIR bands on average relative to the simultaneous observations. Significant improvements in the two bands were observed (20%), especially among data collected in the fall and winter. Performance of RAM depends largely on season. Especially in summer, the reflectance pair chosen by RAM showed less consistency than solar zenith-angle matching (SZM). The results also indicated the relatively large influence of the spectral response functions on the green and red bands of the two sensors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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15 pages, 3208 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperLetter

Geolocation Accuracy Assessment of Himawari-8/AHI Imagery for Application to Terrestrial Monitoring

by Yuhei Yamamoto, Kazuhito Ichii, Atsushi Higuchi and Hideaki Takenaka

Remote Sens. 2020, 12(9), 1372; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12091372 - 26 Apr 2020

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 6076

Abstract

Recent advancements in new generation geostationary satellites have facilitated the application of their datasets to terrestrial monitoring. In this application, geolocation accuracy is an essential issue because land surfaces are generally heterogeneous. In the case of the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard Himawari-8, [...] Read more.

Recent advancements in new generation geostationary satellites have facilitated the application of their datasets to terrestrial monitoring. In this application, geolocation accuracy is an essential issue because land surfaces are generally heterogeneous. In the case of the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) onboard Himawari-8, geometric correction of the Himawari Standard Data provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA data) was conducted using thermal infrared band with 2 km spatial resolution. Based on JMA data, the Center for Environmental Remote Sensing (CEReS) at Chiba University applied a further geometric correction using a visible band with 500 m spatial resolution and released a dataset (CEReS data). JMA data target more general users mainly for meteorological observations, whereas CEReS data aim at terrestrial monitoring for more precise geolocation accuracy. The objectives of this study are to clarify the temporal and spatial variations of geolocation errors in these two datasets and assess their stability for unexpected large misalignment. In this study, the temporal tendencies of the relative geolocation difference between the two datasets were analyzed, and temporal fluctuations of band 3 reflectances of JMA data and CEReS data at certain fixed sites were investigated. A change in the geolocation trend and occasional shifts greater than 2 pixels were found in JMA data. With improved image navigation performance, the geolocation difference was decreased in CEReS data, suggesting the high temporal stability of CEReS data. Overall, JMA data showed an accuracy of less than 2 pixels with the spatial resolution of band 3. When large geolocation differences were observed, anomalies were also detected in the reflectance of JMA data. Nevertheless, CEReS data successfully corrected the anomalous errors and achieved higher geolocation accuracy in general. As CEReS data are processed during the daytime due to the availability of visible bands, we suggest the use of CEReS data for effective terrestrial monitoring during the daytime. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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12 pages, 3823 KiB

Open AccessLetter

First Provisional Land Surface Reflectance Product from Geostationary Satellite Himawari-8 AHI

by Shuang Li, Weile Wang, Hirofumi Hashimoto, Jun Xiong, Thomas Vandal, Jing Yao, Lexiang Qian, Kazuhito Ichii, Alexei Lyapustin, Yujie Wang and Ramakrishna Nemani

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(24), 2990; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11242990 - 12 Dec 2019

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4404

Abstract

A provisional surface reflectance (SR) product from the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on-board the new generation geostationary satellite (Himawari-8) covering the period between July 2015 and December 2018 is made available to the scientific community. The Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm [...] Read more.

A provisional surface reflectance (SR) product from the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on-board the new generation geostationary satellite (Himawari-8) covering the period between July 2015 and December 2018 is made available to the scientific community. The Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm is used in conjunction with time series Himawari-8 AHI observations to generate 1-km gridded and tiled land SR every 10 minutes during day time. This Himawari-8 AHI SR product includes retrieved atmospheric properties (e.g., aerosol optical depth at 0.47µm and 0.51µm), spectral surface reflectance (AHI bands 1–6), parameters of the RTLS BRDF model, and quality assurance flags. Product evaluation shows that Himawari-8 AHI data on average yielded 35% more cloud-free, valid pixels in a single day when compared to available data from the low earth orbit (LEO) satellites Terra/Aqua with MODIS sensor. Comparisons of Himawari-8 AHI SR against corresponding MODIS SR products (MCD19A1) over a variety of land cover types with the similar viewing geometry show high consistency between them, with correlation coefficients (r) being 0.94 and 0.99 for red and NIR bands, respectively. The high-frequency geostationary data are expected to facilitate studies of ecosystems on daily to diurnal time scales, complementing observations from networks such as the FLUXNET. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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13 pages, 2464 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

A Statistical Model for Estimating Midday NDVI from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) 16 and 17

by Kathryn I. Wheeler and Michael C. Dietze

Remote Sens. 2019, 11(21), 2507; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11212507 - 26 Oct 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4393

Abstract

The newest version of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series (GOES-16 and GOES-17) includes a near infrared band that allows for the calculation of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) at a 1 km at nadir spatial resolution every five minutes throughout the continental [...] Read more.

The newest version of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series (GOES-16 and GOES-17) includes a near infrared band that allows for the calculation of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) at a 1 km at nadir spatial resolution every five minutes throughout the continental United States and every ten minutes for much of the western hemisphere. The usefulness of individual NDVI observations is limited due to the noise that remains even after cloud masks and data quality flags are applied, as much of this noise is negatively biased due to scattering within the atmosphere. Fortunately, high temporal resolution NDVI allows for the identification of consistent diurnal patterns. Here, we present a novel statistical model that utilizes this pattern, by fitting double exponential curves to the diurnal NDVI data, to provide a daily estimate of NDVI over forests that is less sensitive to noise by accounting for both random observation errors and atmospheric scattering biases. We fit this statistical model to 350 days of observations for fifteen deciduous broadleaf sites in the United States and compared the method to several simpler potential methods. Of the days 60% had more than ten observations and were able to be modeled via our methodology. Of the modeled days 72% produced daily NDVI estimates with <0.1 wide 95% confidence intervals. Of the modeled days 13% were able to provide a confident NDVI value even if there were less than five observations between 10:00–14:00. This methodology provides estimates for daily midday NDVI values with robust uncertainty estimates, even in the face of biased errors and missing midday observations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Monitoring from A New Generation of Geostationary Satellites)

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