ATMO/OPTI 656B Syllabus Spring 2008 (updated 01/29/2008)

 

ATMO/OPTI 656b   Atmospheric Radiation and Remote Sensing

 

Note:  ATMO/OPTI 656a is NOT a prerequisite for this semester

 

Location:        PAS488, T Th 11:00-12:30

 

Professor:  E. Robert Kursinski, Office PAS 580, office phone: 621-2139, Cell: 260-8404 e-mail:  kursinski@atmo.arizona.edu

 

Purpose and Scope of class:

This class is focused on remote sensing of the atmosphere.  It could be named ÒIntroduction to the physics and techniques of atmospheric remote sensingÓ. It will go into just enough radiative transfer to understand the techniques. It is a survey course because there is not enough time to go through all approaches in detail.  Some surface sensing will be included that is relevant to atmospheric remote sensing such sensing ocean surface roughness to infer near-surface winds. It will be mostly on satellite techniques.

We will go through a subset of the techniques relevant to atmospheric science,

We will also go through a simple introduction to data assimilation to understand some of the basics of how these observations are used in numerical weather prediction (NWP) and the generation of weather and climate analyses.

 

Homework:

There will be a reading assignment for most classes

Homework will generally be assigned every 1 to 2 weeks.

 

Grading:

The grade will be divided up between homework and a final project as follows:  60% Homework and 40% Final Project.  There will be no exams.

 

Required Textbook

Introduction to the Physics and Techniques of Remote Sensing, Charles Elachi and Jakob van Zyl, 2nd Ed., 2006, Wiley-Interscience. 

 

Supplemental References

Satellite Meteorology, An Introduction, Stanley Q. Kidder and Thomas H. Vonder Haar, 1995, Academic Press. (http://www1.cira.colostate.edu/satmet/default.htm). 

Good book mostly on operational sounders of the early 1990Õs but getting dated.

 

Remote Sensing of the Lower Atmosphere, An Introduction, Graeme Stephens, 1994, Oxford Press. 

Good book in many ways but many errors and getting a bit dated.

 

Atmospheric Radiation Theoretical Basis, R.M.Goody and Y.L.Yung, 1989, Oxford Press

            Good reference book on radiation, difficult reading, some equation errors

 

Inverse methods for atmospheric sounding: Theory and Practice, Clive Rodgers, 2000, World Scientific. 

Excellent text on retrieval and information theory

 

Introduction to the Mathematics of Inversion in Remote Sensing and Indirect Measurements, Sean Twomey, 1977, Dover

From UA Atmospheric Science. First understanding of what Clive Rodgers eventually wrote about.  Dover publishing means inexpensive.

 

Atmospheric Modeling, Data Assimilation and Predictability, Eugenia Kalnay, 2003, Cambridge

Only Data Assimilation text around.

 

 

Material covered in lectures:

Introduction:  overview of remote sensing, types and applications

Satellite Orbits (Appendix B)

Properties of Electromagnetic Radiation (Ch 2)

 

Principles of atmosphere sensing (Ch. 8)

Basic properties of the atmosphere

Spectroscopy:  Atomic and Molecular absorption and emission

Optical depth

Radiative transfer equation

 

Atmospheric temperature profiling

Water vapor and other trace constituent profiling

Inverse theory and information content

Clouds and aerosols

Winds

Precipitation

Earth Radiation Budget

Data assimilation in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) systems

 

Microwave remote sensing of the atmosphere (Ch 9)

Mm and sub-mm (Ch 10)

Radio Occultation GPS and ATOMMS

Vis and IR (Ch 11)

Ocean sensing (ch 7)

Cryosphere

Water mass movement via Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)