Remote sensing of surface albedo and cloud properties in the Arctic from AVHRR measurements

Abstract

Based on a comprehensive radiative transfer model, algorithms suitable for arctic conditions are developed to retrieve broadband surface albedo and water cloud properties from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) narrowband measurements. Reflectance anisotropy of snow surfaces is first simulated by an discrete ordinates radiative transfer formulation, and is then included in the comprehensive model for the retrieval. Ground-based irradiance measurements made by NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) in Barrow, Alaska are compared with retrieved albedo and downwelling irradiances computed from retrieved cloud optical depth and effective radius. Good agreement is found between satellite estimates and ground-based measurements, which indicate that the retrieval algorithms proposed in this thesis are suitable for arctic conditions. It is found that the effects of snow bidirectional reflectance on the retrieval of the broadband albedo are significant, and that the Lambertian approximation could lead to a 30% underestimate of the surface albedo. It is also found that cloud effective radius in the Arctic is generally smaller as compared with mid- and low-latitudes.