Satellite Meteorology and Atmospheric Remote Sensing: An Introduction

Filling the gap for a comprehensive one-stop reference and textbook geared towards graduate students and practicing specialists, this book provides complete coverage of the relevant atmospheric parameters derived using satellites today, as well as a sound understanding of the underlying physics, thus helping readers apply and optimize the methods. Following a refresher in radiative transfer and celestial mechanics, this text covers imaging and sounding, treating the retrieval of ozone, clouds, aerosols, and surface properties. Throughout, the mathematical derivations are given, and each chapter includes between five and ten exercises with the solutions available separately. A must have for environmental and atmospheric researchers, as well as for those working in industrial sectors involved with satellite based sounding systems.

Table of Contents:
1 Introduction 1.1 Definition of Remote Sensing 1.2 History of Satellite Meteorology 2 Satellite Orbits and Keplerian Orbital Dynamics 2.1 Kepler's laws 2.2 Newton's second law of motion and law of universal gravitation 2.3 two-body problem 2.4 A naïve approach to orbital dynamics 2.5 Polar coordinates 2.6 Kinematics in polar coordinates 2.7 Dynamics of a satellite in a gravitational field 2.8 Orbital perturbations 2.9 Commonly-used satellite orbit types 3 Radiative Transfer 3.1 Basic radiometric quantities 3.2 Blackbody radiation 3.3 Single-scattering properties of particulate matter in the atmosphere 3.4 Absorption and emission by gases 3.5 Radiative transfer equation 3.6 Transfer of solar radiation 3.7 Transfer of thermal infrared radiation 4 Passive and active satellite instruments 4.1 Satellites 4.2 Instruments on NOAA Polar Orbiters 4.3 Instruments on the "A-Train" satellites 5 Image Interpretation 5.1 Satellite imagery 5.2 Spectral properties 5.3 Geolocation and Calibration 5.4 Image processing techniques 6 Sounder 6.1 Temperature sounding 6.2 Retrieval of water vapor 7 Retrievals of Surface Properties 7.1 Retrieval of sea surface temperature from infrared radiation 7.2 Microwave methods for retrieving sea surface temperature 7.3 Surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) 8 Ozone 8.1 Transmitted ultraviolet 8.2 backscattered ultraviolet 8.3 Infrared emission 9 Retrievals of cloud and aerosol properties 9.1 Determination of cloud thermodynamic phase 9.2 Determination of cloud-top pressure and temperature 9.3 Retrieval of cloud optical thickness and effective size 9.4 Retrieval of cloud water from microwave observations 9.5 Retrieval of aerosol properties 10. Precipitation Retrieval 10.1 Satellites 10.2 Passive microwave methods 10.3 Space-borne radar methods. 10.4 Infrared method and global precipitation index 11. Active Sensors 11.1 Spaceborne lidar 11.2 Retrieval wind speed over oceans from lidar returns 11.3 Use lidar signals to study cloud systems Suggested Reading Problems and Exercises List of Acronyms and Symbols

About the Author :
Kenneth Bowman is professor at Texas A&M University. Prior stations have been with NASA GSFC and Princeton University. An experienced teacher and book author, he is member of a large variety of boards and committees, making his standing with the community impeccable. His research focuses on atmospheric transport and mixing, climate dynamics and stratospheric ozone. Ping Yang is Associate Professor with the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University, USA. Before taking this position, he carried out research at various institutions, including the Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, both Maryland, and the UCLA, California. He received coveted awards and serves as editor to three reviewed journals.