Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Remote Sensing Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Earth Radiation Budget and Earth Energy Imbalance

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Atmospheric Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 June 2024 | Viewed by 4749

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Steven Dewitte

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium, Ringlaan 3 Avenue Circulaire, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium
Interests: earth radiation budget; atmospheric remote sensing; climate monitoring; weather forecast
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) at the top of the atmosphere describes how the Earth gains energy from the Sun and loses energy to space through reflection of solar radiation and the emission of thermal radiation. The ERB is measured from space with dedicated remote sensing instruments. Its long-term monitoring is of fundamental importance for understanding climate change.

The most fundamental quantity to be monitored is the Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI), which is closely related to Ocean Heat Content (OHC) and Sea level Rise (SLR).

For this Special Issue, original contributions are invited focusing on ERB and EEI remote sensing for either

the establishment of past and current ERB and EEI Climate Data Records (CDRs)
the outlook for continued or improved future ERB and EEI monitoring
insight in climate change gained from the analysis of ERB and EEI CDRs. e.g. related to aerosol radiative forcing or climate feedback.

Dr. Steven Dewitte
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

earth radiation budget
earth energy imbalance
climate data record
climate change analysis

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Other

20 pages, 10796 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Cloud Water Path-Based Model for Cloudy-Sky Downward Longwave Radiation Estimation from FY-4A Data

by Shanshan Yu, Xiaozhou Xin, Hailong Zhang, Li Li, Lin Zhu and Qinhuo Liu

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(23), 5531; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15235531 - 28 Nov 2023

Viewed by 719

Abstract

Clouds are a critical factor in regulating the climate system, and estimating cloudy-sky Surface Downward Longwave Radiation (SDLR) from satellite data is significant for global climate change research. The models based on cloud water path (CWP) are less affected by cloud parameter uncertainties and have superior accuracy in SDLR satellite estimation when compared to those empirical and parameterized models relying mainly on cloud fraction or cloud-base temperature. However, existing CWP-based models tend to overestimate the low SDLR values and underestimate the larger SDLR. This study found that this phenomenon was caused by the fact that the models do not account for the varying relationships between cloud radiative effects and key parameters under different Liquid Water Path (LWP) and Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) ranges. Based upon this observation, this study utilized Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) cloud parameters and ERA5 data as data sources to develop a new CWP-based model where the model coefficients depend on the cloud phase and cloud water path range. The accuracy of the new model’s estimated SDLR is 20.8 W/m² for cloudy pixels, with accuracies of 19.4 W/m² and 23.5 W/m² for overcast and partly cloudy conditions, respectively. In contrast, the accuracy of the old CWP-based model was 22.4, 21.2, and 24.8 W/m², respectively. The underestimation and overestimation present in the old CWP-based model are effectively corrected by the new model. The new model exhibited higher accuracy under various station locations, cloud cover scenarios, and cloud phase conditions compared to the old one. Comparatively, the new model showcased its most remarkable improvements in situations involving overcast conditions, water clouds with low PWV and low LWP values, ice clouds with large PWV, and conditions with PWV ≥ 5 cm. Over a temporal scale, the new model effectively captured the seasonal variations in SDLR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Radiation Budget and Earth Energy Imbalance)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 5376 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Multispectral Camera Suite for the Observation of Earth’s Outgoing Radiative Energy

by Steven Dewitte, Al Ameen Abdul Nazar, Yuan Zhang and Lien Smeesters

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(23), 5487; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15235487 - 24 Nov 2023

Viewed by 1032

Abstract

As part of the Earth Climate Observatory space mission concept for the direct observation from space of the Earth Energy Imbalance, we propose an advanced camera suite for the high-resolution observation of the Total Outgoing Radiation of the Earth. For the observation of the Reflected Solar Radiation, we propose the use of two multispectral cameras covering the range from 400 to 950 nm, with a nadir resolution of 1.7 km, combined with a high-resolution RGB camera, with a nadir resolution of 0.57 km. For the observation of the Outgoing Longwave Radiation, we propose the use of six microbolometer cameras, with each a spectral bandwidth of 1 μm in the range from 8 to 14 μm, with a nadir resolution of 2.2 km. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Radiation Budget and Earth Energy Imbalance)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 5846 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Uncertainty Analysis of the Entrance Pupil Irradiance for a Moon-Based Earth Radiation Observation Instrument

by Yuan Zhang, Steven Dewitte and Shengshan Bi

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(17), 4132; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15174132 - 23 Aug 2023

Viewed by 912

Abstract

Moon-Based Earth Radiation Observation (MERO) is expected to improve and enrich the current Earth radiation budget (ERB). For the design of MERO’s instrument and the interpretation of Moon-based data, evaluating the uncertainty of the instrument’s Entrance Pupil Irradiance (EPI) is an important part. In this work, by analyzing the effect of the Angular Distribution Models (ADMs), Earth’s Top of Atmosphere (TOA) flux, and the Earth–Moon distance on the EPI, the uncertainty of EPI is finally studied with the help of the theory of errors. Results show that the ADMs have a stronger influence on the Short-Wave (SW) EPI than those from the Long-Wave (LW). For the change of TOA flux, the SW EPI could keep the attribute of varying hourly time scales, but the LW EPI will lose its hourly-scale variability. The variation in EPI caused by the hourly change of the Moon–Earth distance does not exceed 0.13 mW∙m⁻² (1σ). The maximum hourly combined uncertainty reveals that the SW and LW combined uncertainties are about 5.18 and 1.08 mW∙m⁻² (1σ), respectively. The linear trend extraction of the EPI demonstrates that the Moon-based data can effectively capture the overall linear change trend of Earth’s SW and LW outgoing radiation, and the uncertainty does not change the linear trend of data. The variation of SW and LW EPIs in the long term are 0.16 mW∙m⁻² (SW) and 0.23 mW∙m⁻² (LW) per decade, respectively. Based on the constraint of the uncertainty, a simplified dynamic response model is built for the cavity radiometer, a kind of MERO instrument, and the results illuminate that the Cassegrain optical system and electrical substitution principle can realize the detection of Earth’s outing radiation with the sensitivity design goal 1 mW∙m⁻². Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Radiation Budget and Earth Energy Imbalance)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 9296 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Model for Estimating the Earth’s Outgoing Radiative Flux from A Moon-Based Radiometer

by Yuan Zhang, Steven Dewitte and Shengshan Bi

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(15), 3773; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15153773 - 29 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 841

Abstract

A Moon-based radiometer can provide continuous measurements for the Earth’s full-disk broadband irradiance, which is useful for studying the Earth’s Radiation Budget (ERB) at the height of the Top of the Atmosphere (TOA). The ERB describes how the Earth obtains solar energy and emits energy to space through the outgoing broadband Short-Wave (SW) and emitted thermal Long-Wave (LW) radiation. In this work, a model for estimating the Earth’s outgoing radiative flux from the measurements of a Moon-based radiometer is established. Using the model, the full-disk LW and SW outgoing radiative flux are gained by converting the unfiltered entrance pupil irradiances (EPIs) with the help of the anisotropic characteristics of the radiances. Based on the radiative transfer equation, the unfiltered EPI time series is used to validate the established model. By comparing the simulations for a Moon-based radiometer with the satellite-based data from the National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR) and the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) datasets, the simulations show that the daytime SW fluxes from the Moon-based measurements are expected to vary between 194 and 205 Wm⁻²; these simulations agree well with the CERES data. The simulations are about 5 to 20 Wm⁻² smaller than the NISTAR data. For the simulated Moon-based LW fluxes, the range is 251~287 Wm⁻². The Moon-based and NISTAR fluxes are consistently 5~15 Wm⁻² greater than CERES LW fluxes, and both of them also show larger diurnal variations compared with the CERES fluxes. The correlation coefficients of SW fluxes for Moon-based data and NISTAR data are 0.97, 0.63, and 0.53 for the months of July, August, and September, respectively. Compared with the SW flux, the correlation of LW fluxes is more stable for the same period and the correlation coefficients are 0.87, 0.69, and 0.61 for July to September 2017. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Radiation Budget and Earth Energy Imbalance)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research

16 pages, 3346 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Spatial and Temporal Variation Patterns of NO 5.3 µm Infrared Radiation during Two Consecutive Auroral Disturbances

by Fan Wu, Congming Dai, Shunping Chen, Cong Zhang, Wentao Lian and Heli Wei

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(8), 1420; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16081420 - 17 Apr 2024

Viewed by 323

Abstract

The variation in key parameters of the solar–terrestrial space during two consecutive auroral disturbances (the magnetic storm index, Dst index = −422 nT) that occurred during the 18–23 November 2003 period was analyzed in this paper, as well as the spatiotemporal characteristics of NO 5.3 μm radiation with an altitude around the location of 55°N 160°W. The altitude was divided into four regions (50–100 km, 100–150 km, 150–200 km, and 200–250 km), and it was found that the greatest amplification occurs at the altitude of 200–250 km. However, the radiance reached a maximum of 3.38 × 10⁻³ W/m²/sr at the altitude of 123 km during the aurora event, which was approximately 10 times higher than the usual value during “quiet periods”. Based on these findings, the spatiotemporal variations in NO 5.3 μm radiance within the range of latitude 51°S–83°N and longitude of 60°W–160°W were analyzed at 120 km, revealing an asymmetry between the northern and southern hemispheres during the recovery period. Additionally, the recovery was also influenced by the superposition of a second auroral event. The data used in this study were obtained from the OMNI database and the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) infrared radiometer onboard the TIMED (Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) satellite. Finally, the correlation of NO 5.3 μm radiance at 120 km with temperature, solar wind speed, auroral electrojet index (AE index), and Dst index were analyzed. It was found that only the Dst index had a good correlation with the radiance value. Furthermore, the correlation between the Dst index and radiance at different altitudes was also analyzed, and the highest correlation was found at 170 km. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Earth Radiation Budget and Earth Energy Imbalance)

► Show Figures