Applications to hydrosphere

Sea Surface Temperature April 06, 2005 derived from satellite data

What is hydrosphere?
The totality of water surrounding the Earth, comprising all the bodies of water, ice, and water vapor in the atmosphere i.e. water held in oceans, rivers, lakes, glaciers, ground water, plants, animals, soil, and air.

Remote Sensing of Water: Objectives

To introduce some of the fundamental principles associated with remote sensing surface water and its constituents,

Remote Sensing of Water: Water covers 70% of the Hydrological Cycle earth's surface
The global water cycle has three major pathways: precipitation, evaporation/transpiration and vapor transport. Water precipitates from the sky as rain or snow, most of which (385,000 cubic kilometers per year) falls into the oceans. It returns to the atmosphere by evaporation. Some flows from the land to the sea as runoff or groundwater; in the other direction, water vapor is carried by atmospheric currents from the sea to the land. Net flow is measured in thousands of cubic kilometers per year.

Remote Sensing Surface Water Biophysical Characteristics

How can remote sensing be used to inventory and monitor the spatial extent, organic/inorganic constituents, depth and temperatures of water in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, seas and oceans?

Water Surface, Subsurface, Volumetric and Bottom Radiance

The total radiance (Lt) recorded by the sensor onboard an aircraft or satellite is a function of the electromagnetic energy from four sources: 1. Lp never reaches the surface (unwanted path radiance) 2. Ls reaches the air-water interface called the freesurface layer or boundary layer 3. Lv penetrates the surface and interacts with water and organic/inorganic constituents (subsurface volumetric radiance) 4. Lb reaches the bottom

Spectral Response of Pure Water as a Function of Wavelength

Least amount of absorption and scattering of incident light takes place in the blue wavelength region (400-500 nm) Minimum located at 460480 nm, penetrate water column further than any other type of light Nearly all incident nearand middle infrared (740 3000 nm) radiant flux entering a pure body of water is absorbed Scattering of violet and blue and absorption of 520 700 nm results in pure water appearing blue

Spectral Response of Pure Water as a Function of Wavelength

Scattering in the water column is important in the violet, dark blue and light blue portions of the spectrum (400500 nm) This is the reason water appears blue to our eyes Almost all of the incident near- and middle infrared (740-2500 nm) radiant flux entering a pure water body is absorbed with negligible scattering

Monitoring the Surface Extent of Water Bodies

The best wavelength region for discriminating land from water is the nearand middle-infrared regions at wavelengths between 740-2500 nm Water bodies appear very dark in these regions as they absorb almost all of the incident radiant flux Soils and vegetation reflect significant amounts of near- and middle-infrared This causes land surfaces to appear relatively bright in near- and middleinfrared imagery

Ikonos Near Infrared Image

Band 4: 0.77 - 0.88 m (near infra-red) 4 meters

Monitoring the Surface Extent of Water Bodies

If have organic and inorganic constituents in the water column (especially those near the surface) more infrared scattering will occur Water may then appear almost as bright as land features

Mississippi River Delta: What is water and what is sediment?

Landsat TM

Spectral Response of Water as a Function of Organic and Inorganic Constituents

The spectral reflectance of suspended sediment in surface water is a function of both the quantity and characteristics (particle size, absorption) of material in water Remote sensing data must be validated with in situ measurements This can be done using a secchi disk or a spectroradiometer

Measurements of Suspended Sediment

A secchi disk is used to measure suspended sediment in water bodies by lowering it into water column and determining the depth at which it disappears, then the depth is correlated with the amount of the suspended material The accuracy of the measurement is a function of the visual acuity of the observer, which can vary dramatically

Measurements of Suspended Sediment using a Spectroradiometer

Spectroradiometer can also be used to collect spectral reflectance data of pure water and water with various suspended sediment and chlorophyll a concentrations 252 bands between 368 and 1114 nm

Measurements using a Spectroradiometer

Spectral reflectance of water drops continuously after about 580 nm due to absorption in the water column As suspended sediment is increased, reflectance increases at all wavelengths for both clayey and silty soils Peak reflectance shifts toward longer wavelengths in the visible region as more suspended sediments are added

Measurements of Suspended Sediment using a Spectroradiometer

Results suggest that the visible wavelength range of 580-690 nm may provide information on the type of suspended sediments (soil) in surface waters; and the near infrared wavelength range of 714880 nm may be a useful wavelength range for determining the amount of suspended materials in surface waters where suspended minerals are the predominant constituent

Chlorophyll in Water
Plankton is the generic term used to describe all the living organisms (plant and animal) present in a water body Phytoplankton plant organisms Zooplankton animal organisms Bacterioplankton bacteria

Chlorophyll in Water
Phytoplankton use carbon dioxide and produce oxygen during the photosynthetic process Thus, water bodies and oceans act as a carbon sink (dead phytoplankton and zooplankton), a place that disposes of global carbon Uncertainties remain as to how much carbon inland water bodies and ocean accumulate As such, phytoplankton are very important to our knowledge of the global carbon cycle

Chlorophyll in Water
Phytoplankton contain chlorophyll pigments As chlorophyll concentration increases in the water column there is a significant decrease in the relative amount of energy reflected in the blue and red wavelengths but an increase in green wavelength reflectance Different spectral response if have suspended mineral sediment and chlorophyll

Chlorophyll in Ocean Water

Satellites can determine plankton content by analyzing the color variations (mainly in the visible) of seawater Color changes in the ocean correspond to presence of life Remote sensing of ocean color uses multispectral data Three main satellites, the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) on Nimbus 7, SeaWiFS and MODIS provide valuable data on ocean color

Chlorophyll in Ocean Water

Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) October 1978 - June 1986 1 km and 4 km grid resolution data products available for free from http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataset/CZCS/index.html Seaviewing Wide Field-of-view Scanner (SeaWIFS) since September 1997 1 km and 4 km gridded data data products available for free for scientific use from http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataset/SEAWIFS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) since February 2000 1 km gridded data data products available for free from http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/dataset/MODIS

Chlorophyll in Ocean Water

Spectral characteristics of the two most important ocean-color remote sensing systems Surprisingly, there is no SeaWiFS band at 700 nm

Chlorophyll in Ocean Water

The distribution of chlorophyll on a global scale averaged between 1978 and 1986 from the CZCS. The warmer the color the greater the chlorophyll concentration near the surface

Sea Surface Temperature (SST)

The temperature of the sea is the most important parameter in understanding the role of the ocean as a heat reservoir. SST is an important geophysical parameter, providing the boundary condition used in the estimation of heat flux at the air-sea interface. On the global scale this is important for climate modeling, study of the earth's heat balance, and insight into atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns and anomalies (such as El Nio).

Sea Surface Temperature (SST)

Two methods for determining SST from satellite data, Thermal infrared and passive microwave: Thermal sensors Sensors used for deriving SST include AVHRR, Along Track scanning Radiometer (ATSR), GOES, MODIS good spatial resolution and accuracy long heritage (>20 years) with thermal infrared (8-14 m) the skin temperature (20 m) at the sea-air interface can be measured TIR measurements are affected by water vapor and clouds in the atmosphere, thus atmospheric corrections are required

Sea Surface Temperature (SST)

Passive microwave sensors PM sensors include SMMR, TMI, AMSR clouds are transparent long heritage (>20 years) relatively insensitive to atmospheric effects lower spatial resolution and accuracy than with thermal, Due to lower signal strength of the Earth's Planck radiation curve in the microwave region sensitive to surface roughness (waves) and precipitation measures SST at depth of 1 mm

Water Surface Temperature: Differences in Spatial Coverage

AVHRR and Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) (Microwave Imager). AVHRR Has white patches where cloud free pixels could not be obtained.

Sea Surface Temperature (SST)

Methods of TIR Three methods can be used: One channel, low flying aircraft (<300 m) Knowledge of atmospheric transmittance Two channels, split window method

Sea Surface Temperature

Corrections applied for one channel TIR Emissivity Emissivities of natural surfaces are smaller than of a blackbody Multiple reflection Terrestrial radiation is reflected several times between cloud bottom and the ground Atmospheric absorption Atmospheric gases such as H2O, CO2, O3 Atmospheric emission Atmospheric gases emit TIR

Sea Surface Temperature

This involves making radiance measurements in two infrared wavelengths: 7-9 m 10-12 m The SST (Ts) can be derived using the following formula: Ts = e0 + e1Tb(v1) + e2Tb(v2) ei are parameters to be determined by regression analysis Accuracy: Validation studies showed a mean difference of 0.3 K with in situ measurements over the ocean Over Greenland ice sheet our validation study showed a root mean square error of 0.4 K

Split window method

Sea Surface Temperature

Correction for the effect of multiple reflection between cloud bottoms and ground surfaces

rs=reflectivity of the ground surface; rs=reflectivity of the cloud bottom Ls=terrestrial radiation; Lc=thermal infrared radiation of the cloud

Sea Surface Temperature

Radiative quantity of Lm for radiometric surface temperature measurement under influence of overlying cloud layer

rs=reflectivity of the ground surface; rs=reflectivity of the cloud bottom Ls=terrestrial radiation; Lc=thermal infrared radiation of the cloud

Sea Surface Temperature

Temperature correction of multiple reflection in the spectral band of 9.5 to 11.5 m to compensate for an overlying stratus cloud for a water surface
Ts = thermodynamic temperature TPRT= brightness temperature Tc = cloud temperature The radiation error in the infrared caused by a homogenous cloud layer is given by: L = Ls - (Ls + Lcrs)(1 - rsrc)-1

Oceanic Circulation
The ocean is important as the atmosphere in transporting heat The mechanism is ocean currents Warm ocean currents are transporting warm water from the tropics northward where they release energy to the air Cold ocean currents transport cold water from higher latitudes toward the equator Ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics towards higher latitudes are very efficient in transporting heat at latitudes of about 20

The northward transport of energy by ocean and atmosphere as a function of latitude (averaged at each latitude around the globe over a year). Negative values denote southward transport
(http://www.ouh.nl/open/dja/Klimaat/System/oceanic_circulatio n.htm)

Factors affecting Oceanic Circulation Many factors affect ocean circulation: Winds Bottom topography Sea-surface height Sea-surface temperature Coriolis forces resulting from the rotation of the earth

Platforms for Oceanic Circulation

The factor influencing the oceanic circulation determines the platform. Sea Surface Height Early platforms are Geosat and ERS-1 were designed for the remote estimation of seasurface height NASA/CNES satellite TOPEX/POSEIDON, a seasurface height sensor of high accuracy with an RMS error of 4.7 cm for TOPEX and 5.1 cm for POSEIDON Jason-1 (similar to TOPEX/POSEIDON)

Platforms for Oceanic Circulation

Sea Surface Height
TOPEX/POSEIDON launched in 1992 and still operating measures SSH between 66o N lat and 66o S lat C and Ku band altimeters Sea surface height accurate to 4.2 cm data available for free from http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov Jason-1 launched in December 2001 some data are now available for free from http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov

Ocean Winds
NASA Scatterometer (NSCAT) produced data from Sept 1996 - June 1997 C-band 50 km grid resolution QuikSCAT SeaWinds scatterometer launched in June 1999 C-band 25 km spatial resolution for wind vectors measures winds of 3- 20 ms-1, with 2 ms-1 accuracy Data from NSCAT and QuikSCAT are available for free from http://podaac.jpl.nasa.gov

Ocean Winds

Ocean Winds

ERS-2 SAR image of waves at Half Moon Bay. SAR measures wave direction and wave height

El Nio and La Nia

El Nio: A name given to an extensive ocean warming in the equatorial eastern Pacific along the coast of Peru and Ecuador. The warming brings nutrient-poor tropical water southward along the west coast of South America in major events that recur at intervals of 3-7 years. El Nio is associated with atmospheric circulations having important consequences for weather and climate around the globe.

El Nio and La Nia

La Nia: is characterized by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, compared to El Nio which is characterized by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific.

El Nio and La Nia

Normal Equatorial Pacific Ocean surface temperatures (December 1993) are shown in the middle panel, including cool water, called the 'cold tongue', in the Eastern Pacific (in blue, on the right of the plot) and warm water in the Western Pacific (in red, on the left). Strong La Nia conditions during December 1998 are shown in the top panel. The Eastern Pacific is cooler than usual, and the cool water extends farther westward than is usual (see the blue color extending further to the left). Strong El Nio conditions, in December 1997, are shown on the bottom panel, with warm water (red) extending all along the equator. El Nio and La Nia are opposite phases of the El NioSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle, with La Nia sometimes referred to as the cold phase of ENSO and El Nio as the warm phase of ENSO.

El Nio and La Nia

Mean and anomalies of sea surface temperature from 1986 to 2004, showing El Nio events 1986-1987, 1991-1992, 1993, 1994 and 1997 and La Nia events in 1985 and 1995.

El Nio and La Nia Impact on the Climate

At higher latitudes, El Nio and La Nia are among a number of factors that influence climate the impacts of El Nio and La Nia at these latitudes are most clearly seen in wintertime In the US, during El Nio years, temperatures in the winter are warmer than normal in the North Central States, and cooler than normal in the Southeast and the Southwest During a La Nia year, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the Southeast and cooler than normal in the Northwest

For more information: http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/lanina.html