Articles | Volume 19, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1279-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1279-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
17 Mar 2025
Research article |
| 17 Mar 2025
| 17 Mar 2025
Do we still need reflectance? From radiance to snow properties in mountainous terrain: a case study with the EMIT imaging spectrometer
Niklas Bohn
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Edward H. Bair
Civil Group, Leidos, Inc., Reston, VA, USA
Philip G. Brodrick
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Nimrod Carmon
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Robert O. Green
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Thomas H. Painter
Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
David R. Thompson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
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Sunlight can pass diagonally through the atmosphere, cutting through the 3-D water vapour field in a way that
smears2-D maps of imaging spectroscopy vapour retrievals. In simulations we show how this smearing is
towardsor
away fromthe Sun, so calculating
across the solar direction allows sub-kilometre information about water vapour's spatial scaling to be calculated. This could be tested by airborne campaigns and used to obtain new information from upcoming spaceborne data products.
Mark T. Richardson, David R. Thompson, Marcin J. Kurowski, and Matthew D. Lebsock
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5555–5576, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5555-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5555-2021, 2021
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Modern and upcoming hyperspectral imagers will take images with spatial resolutions as fine as 20 m. They can retrieve column water vapour, and we show evidence that from these column measurements you can get statistics of planetary boundary layer (PBL) water vapour. This is important information for climate models that need to account for sub-grid mixing of water vapour near the surface in their PBL schemes.
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Short summary
A new type of Earth-observing satellite is measuring reflected sunlight in all its colors. These measurements can be used to characterize snow properties, which give us important information about climate change. In our work, we emphasize the difficulties of obtaining these properties from rough mountainous regions and present a solution to the problem. Our research was inspired by the growing number of new satellite technologies and the increasing challenges associated with climate change.
A new type of Earth-observing satellite is measuring reflected sunlight in all its colors. These...
