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NASA's Next Generation Sunphotometer for Ground-based Remote Sensing ApplicationsAtmospheric aerosol concentrations and their optical properties, in terms of which cause differential warming/cooling effects in the atmosphere and on the surface, constitute one of the largest sources of uncertainty in current assessments and predictions of global climatic change. This is especially true over the regions of bright-reflecting surface, such as desert and urban areas. Under the name of AERONET since the 90's, Cimel's sunphotometers have been deployed worldwide as the standard instrument for aerosol monitoring network, developed to support NASA, CNES, and NASDA's Earth satellite systems. PREDE's skyradiometers, as deployed in SKYNET, serve the similar role. One of the key ingredients for achieving accurate aerosol retrievals from satellite observations is comprehensive understanding of surface spectral BRF's (Bidirectional Reflectance Factors), defined as a ratio of radiance measurements reflected from a targeted surface and from a spectral-angular featureless referencing plate. Although the weather-resistant, automatic, sun/sky-scanning spectroradiometers enable Frequent measurements of atmospheric aerosol optical properties and precipitable water at remote sites, they are too slow for surface BRF measurements (20-25 seconds per 360 degree scan, in addition to filter wheel rotation time). We have designed a next generation sun photometer whose sensor head has no moving parts. A dedicated detector for each channel enables 12 simultaneous measurements ranging from the UV (380 nm) to shortwave-IR (2.13 micron) regions. The scan platform will be capable of traveling 360 degrees in about 6 seconds. This is sufficient to finish a BRDF scan every 30 degrees in azimuth and 15 degrees in elevation in less than 4 minutes. More details about this instrument will be presented, together with its applications to the aerosol and trace gas studies. The current plan for this instrument is to deploy during the EAST-AIRE (East Asian Study of Tropospheric Aerosols: an International Regional Experiment) and BASE-ASIA (Biomass-burning Aerosols in South East-Asia: Smoke Impact Assessment).
Document ID
20050180399
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Shu, Peter K.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Miko, Laddawan
Bly, Vince T.
Chiao, Meng P.
Jones, Hollis H.
Kahle, Duncan M.
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2005
Subject Category
Instrumentation And Photography
Meeting Information
Meeting: Aerosol Study and Climate Change Workshop
Location: Bangkok
Country: Thailand
Start Date: April 22, 2005
End Date: April 30, 2005
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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