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Regional Changes in Earths Color and Texture as Observed From Space Over a 15-Year PeriodEarth-observing satellites provide global observations of many geophysical variables. As these variables are derived from measured radiances, the underlying radiance data are the most reliable sources of information for change detection. Here, we identify statistically significant trends in the color and spatial texture of the Earth as viewed from multiple directions from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), which has been sampling the angular distribution of scattered sunlight since 2000. Globally, our results show that the Earth has been appearing relatively bluer (up to 1.6 % per decade from both nadir and oblique views) and smoother (up to 1.5 % per decade only from oblique views) over the past 15 years. The magnitude of the global blueing trends is comparable to that of uncertainties in radiometric calibration stability. Regional shifts in color and texture, which are significantly larger than global means, are observed, particularly over polar regions, along the boundaries of the subtropical highs, the tropical western Pacific, Southwestern Asia, and Australia. We demonstrate that the large regional trends cannot be explained either by uncertainties in radiometric calibration or variability in total or spectral solar irradiance; hence, they reflect changes internal to the Earths climate system. The 15-year-mean true color composites and texture images of the Earth at both nadir and oblique views are also presented for the first time.
Document ID
20170003431
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Zhao, Guangyu
(Illinois Univ. at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, United States)
Di Girolamo, Larry
(Illinois Univ. at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL, United States)
Diner, David J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Bruegge, Carol J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Mueller, Kevin J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Wu, Dong L.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
April 14, 2017
Publication Date
April 12, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Publisher: IEEE
Volume: 54
Issue: 7
ISSN: 0196-2892
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN41270
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
regional trends
satellite remote sensing

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