Surface albedo retrieval from Meteosat. II - Applications

Preliminary applications of an advanced algorithm to retrieve the radiative properties of terrestrial surfaces sampled by the Meteosat visible instrument are performed against a limited set of Meteosat data, and the required procedures to screen 'clear-sky' conditions only and to retrieve...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research 2000-07, Vol.105 (D14), p.18
Main Authors: Pinty, Bernard, Roveda, Fausto, Verstraete, Michel M, Gobron, Nadine, Govaerts, Yves, Martonchik, John V, Diner, David J, Kahn, Ralph A
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Preliminary applications of an advanced algorithm to retrieve the radiative properties of terrestrial surfaces sampled by the Meteosat visible instrument are performed against a limited set of Meteosat data, and the required procedures to screen 'clear-sky' conditions only and to retrieve the 'likely' solution of the inverse problem are presented and evaluated. The accumulation of results over two periods of 20 d each during the Northern Hemisphere summer and winter permits establishing sample geophysical maps of the algorithm products, including the surface albedo (i.e., directional hemispherical reflectance factors) over the entire African continent. The seasonal albedo changes occurring at a continental scale are interpreted on the basis of the most prominent environmental factors, namely, the atmospheric circulation controlling the seasonal monsoon events and the biomass burning activities. The results of this study, supported by additional radiation transfer simulations, suggest that anthropogenic fire activities induce significant perturbations of the surface albedo values in the intertropical zones at the continental scale. (Author)
ISSN:0148-0227