Lecture 2 Remote Sensing: Radiation Theory and Solar Radiation Professor Menglin S. Jin Department of Meteorology San Jose State University

How much energy is emitted by some medium? What “kind” of energy (what frequency/wavelength) is emitted by some medium? What happens to radiation (energy) as it travels from the “target” (e.g., ground, cloud...) to the satellite’s sensor?

Brief history Since the 1960s, most remote sensing has been conducted from satellites Prior to that remote sensing is associated mainly with aerial photography, using cameras mounted in aircraft that fly at various altitudes (with scale emcompassed) Aircraft remote sensing continues through today but is usually directed towards specific tasks and missions.

"Remote" and "Proximal" Sensing “Remote” sensing involves making measurements and collecting data for (and from) objects, classes, and materials that are not in contact with the sensor (sensing device) whereas the “Proximal” sensing includes making direct contact with these targets

if the objective is to measure a person's bodily temperature the proximate approach would be the remote approach would be Both need “Calibrated” to place a thermometer in or on the body to hold a radiometer sensitive to thermal energy at some distance from the body its response as a sensor must be transformable into a good approximation of the actual temperature by determining the response using a target whose temperature range is specifically known.

Passive and Active Remote Sensors Remote sensing systems which measure energy that is naturally available are called Passive Sensors. (Sun, surface emission, etc) Active sensors, on the other hand, transmit short bursts or 'pulses' of electromagnetic energy in the direction of interest and record the origin and strength of the backscatter received from objects within the system's field of view. Passive systems sense low level microwave radiation given off by all objects in the natural environment.

Example of passive and active remote sensing In this figure, find out passive and active remote sensing environment

diagram for remote sensing for surafce (1) –solar radiation

diagram for remote sensing for (2) – longwave emission

Electromagnetic Spectrum Electromagnetic radiation can be described in terms of a stream of photons, which are massless particles each traveling in a wave-like pattern and moving at the speed of light. Each photon contains a certain amount (or bundle) of energy, and all electromagnetic radiation consists of these photons.photonsspeed of light

Electromagnetic Spectrum Remote sensing relies on measurements in the electromagnetic spectrum (except sonar) Remote sensing of the ground from space Need to see through the atmosphere The ground must have some feature of interest in that spectral region Studying reflected light requires a spectral region where solar energy dominates Radar approaches mean we need frequencies that we can generate Also need to ensure that we are not affected by other radio sources Atmosphere should be transparent at the selected frequency

The wavelengths we are most interested in for climatology and meteorology are between 0.01 and 100 μm

Need to know Solar constant solar radiaiton at TOA TOA radiation budget Basic definition

Measuring energy: ( Important !) Radiant energy: Total energy emitted in all directions (J) Radiant flux: Total energy radiated in all directions per unit time (W = J/s) Irradiance (radiant flux density): Total energy radiated onto (or from) a unit area in a unit time (W m -2 ) Radiance: Irradiance within a given angle of observation (W m -2 sr -1 ) Spectral radiance: Radiance for range in

Radiance Toward satellite Solid angle, measured in steradians (1 sphere = 4  sr = sr) Normal to surface Radiance is what satellite sensor can measure, but in wavelength

Blackbody radiation Examine relationships between temperature, wavelength and energy emitted Blackbody: A “perfect” emitter and absorber of radiation... does not exist

Stefan-Boltzmann Law M BB =  T 4 Total irradiance emitted by a blackbody (sometimes indicated as E*) Stefan-Boltzmann constant The amount of radiation emitted by a blackbody is proportional to the fourth power of its temperature Sun is 16 times hotter than Earth but gives off 160,000 times as much radiation

Planck’s Function Blackbody doesn't emit equal amounts of radiation at all wavelengths Most of the energy is radiated within a relatively narrow band of wavelengths. The exact amount of energy emitted at a particular wavelength lambda is given by the Planck function:

Planck’s function B (T) = c 1 -5 exp (c 2 / T ) -1 Irridance: Blackbody radiative flux for a single wavelength at temperature T (W m -2  m -1 ) Second radiation constant Absolute temperature First radiation constantWavelength of radiation Total amount of radiation emitted by a blackbody is a function of its temperature c 1 = 1.19x W m -2 sr -1 c 2 = 1.44x10 -2 m K

Planck curve

Wein’s Displacement Law m T =  m K Gives the wavelength of the maximum emission of a blackbody, which is inversely proportional to its temperature 300K: ~10  m 6000K: ~0.5  m

Rayleigh-Jeans Approximation B (T) = (c 1 / c 2 )  -4 T When is this valid: 1. For temperatures encountered on Earth 2. For millimeter and centimeter wavelengths At microwave wavelengths, the amount of radiation emitted is directly proportional to T... not T 4 (c 1 / c 2 )  -4 Brightness temperature (T B ) is often used for microwave and infrared satellite data, where it is called equivalent blackbody temperature. The brightness temperature is equal to the actual temperature times the emissivity. B (T) T B =

Emissivity and Kirchoff’s Law     Actual irradiance by a non-blackbody at wavelength Emittance: Often referred to as emissivity Emissivity is a function of the wavelength of radiation and the viewing angle and) is the ratio of energy radiated by the material to energy radiated by a black body at the same temperatureradiatedblack body    absorbed /   incident  Absorptivity (r, reflectivity; t, transmissivity)

Solar spectrum composition The spectrum of the Sun's solar radiation is close to that of a black body with a temperature of about 5,800 K.spectrumSunblack bodyK The Sun does, however, emit X-rays, ultraviolet, visible light, infrared, and even Radio wavesX-raysultraviolet visible lightinfraredRadio waves UV – μm visible – μm (namely so called light) infrared – 0.7 μm – 1mm

Intensity and Wavelength of Emitted Radiation : Earth and Sun

Atmosphere Window window

Solar constant The solar constant is defined as the quantity of solar energy (W/m²) at normal incidence outside the atmosphere (extraterrestrial) at the mean sun-earth distance. Its mean value is W/m². The spectral distribution is given in the figure. The solar constant includes all wavelengths of solar electromagnetic radiation, not just the visible lightvisible light Question: How to calculate solar radiation? Assuming sun’s surface temperature is 5780K, Average distance between Sun-Earth is 1.5x10 8 km mean Sun radius is 7x10 5 km. a.Energy from the Sun (E) Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law, calculate t the average irradiance of the sun. b. Reverse law The inverse square law is used to calculate this constant: S o = E(sun) x (R(sun)/r) 2

How to calculate solar radiaiton at TOA? The Earth receives a total amount of radiation determined by its cross section (π·R E ²), but as it rotates this energy is distributed across the entire surface area (4·π·R E ²).surface area Hence the average incoming solar radiation is one-fourth the solar constant (approximately 342 W/m²)

Is solar radiation at TOA a real constant? Does this value vary with latitude and season, and local hour? Answer: At any given moment, the amount of solar radiation received at a location on the Earth's surface depends on the state of the atmosphere and the location's latitude.latitude

Solar Zenith Angle ( important ) The angle between the local zenith and the line of sight to the sun.

the extraterrestrial solar illuminance (Eext), corrected for the elliptical orbit by using the day number of the year (dn), is given by See handout correction for the elliptical orbit - declination /glossary.html Declination is analogous to latitude on Earth's surface, and measures an angular displacement north or south from the projection of Earth's equator on the celestial sphere to the location of a celestial body. See Celestial Sphere Figure. celestial sphereCelestial Sphere Figure

Sun Spot numbers solar energy incident to earth

the "solar constant" images above, from a variety of calibrated satellite instruments aboard SOHO. SOHO was launched in December 1995 by an Atlas Centaur rocket and became operational in March SOHO weighs about two tons and with its solar panels extended stands about 25 feet across. SOHO will continue operating well past the next solar maximum in (Image credit: Alex Lutkus)

HW1 – solar radiaiton IDL tutorial for HW1