Surface Emissivity at Microwaves to Millimeter Waves over Polar Regions: Parameterization and Evaluation with Aircraft Experiments

• Published in: Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
• Main Authors: Wang, D., Prigent, C., Kilic, L., Fox, S., Harlow, C., Jimenez, C., Aires, F., Grassotti, C., Karbou, F.
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères = Laboratory for Studies of Radiation and Matter in Astrophysics and Atmospheres (LERMA), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris, Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-CY Cergy Paris Université (CY), Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Greenland; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03880899; https://hal.science/hal-03880899/document; https://hal.science/hal-03880899/file/1520-0426-jtech-d-16-0188.1.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0188.1

International audience Abstract The Tool to Estimate Land Surface Emissivity from Microwave to Submillimeter Waves (TELSEM 2 ) is linked to a climatology of monthly emissivity estimates and provides a parameterization of the surface emissivity up to 700 GHz, in the framework of the preparation for the Ice Cloud Imager (ICI) on board the Meteorological Operational Satellite Second Generation (MetOp-SG). It is an updated version of the Tool to Estimate Land Surface Emissivities at Microwave Frequencies (TELSEM; Aires et al. 2011). This study presents the parameterization of continental snow and ice and sea ice emissivities in TELSEM 2 . It relies upon satellite-derived emissivities up to 200 GHz, and it is anchored to the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) TELSEM monthly climatology dataset (19–85 GHz). Emissivities from Météo-France and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at frequencies up to 190 GHz were used, calculated from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B) observations. TELSEM 2 has been evaluated up to 325 GHz with the observations of the International Submillimeter Airborne Radiometer (ISMAR) and the Microwave Airborne Radiometer Scanning System (MARSS), which were operated on board the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) aircraft during the Cold-Air Outbreak and Submillimeter Ice Cloud Study (COSMICS) campaign over Greenland. Above continental snow and ice, TELSEM 2 is very consistent with the aircraft estimates in spatially homogeneous regions, especially at 89 and 157 GHz. Over sea ice, the aircraft estimates are very variable spatially and temporally, and the comparisons with the TELSEM 2 were not conclusive. TELSEM 2 will be distributed in the new version of the RTTOV radiative transfer community code, to be available in 2017.