• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2014

The radiative transfer for TIROS operational vertical sounder (RTTOV) and the community radiative transfer model (CRTM) are two fast radiative transfer models (RTM) that are used as observation operators in numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. This study compares the basic structure and input data of the two models. With data from Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A), which has channels of various frequencies, observed brightness temperature ($T_B$) and simulated $T_B$s from the two models are compared over the ocean surface in two cases-one where cloud information is included and the other without it. Regarding AMSU-A sounding channels (5-14), the two models produce no large significant differences in their calculated $T_B$, but RTTOV produces smaller first guess (FG) departures (i.e., better results) in window and near-surface sounding channels than does CRTM. When adding cloud water and ice particles from Unified Model (UM), the $T_B$ bias between observations and simulations are reduced in both models and the bias at 31.4 and 89 GHz is substantially decreased in CRTM compared to those of RTTOV.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.34 no.6_1
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• pp.1101-1117
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• 2018

The clear sky radiance (CSR) is one of the baseline products of the Himawari-8 which was launched on October, 2014. The CSR contributes to numerical weather prediction (NWP) accuracy through the data assimilation; especially water vapor channel CSR has good impact on the forecast in high level atmosphere. The focus of this study is the quality analysis of the CSR of the Himawari-8 geostationary satellite. We used the operational CSR (or clear sky brightness temperature) products in JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) as observation data; for a background field, we employed the CSR simulated using the Radiative Transfer for TOVS (RTTOV) with the atmospheric state from the global model of KMA (Korea Meteorological Administration). We investigated data characteristics and analyzed observation minus background statistics of each channel with respect to regional and seasonal variability. Overall results for the analysis period showed that the water vapor channels (6.2, 6.9, and $7.3{\mu}m$) had a positive mean bias where as the window channels(10.4, 11.2, and $12.4{\mu}m$) had a negative mean bias. The magnitude of biases and Uncertainty result varied with the regional and the seasonal conditions, thus these should be taken into account when using CSR data. This study is helpful for the pre-processing of Himawari-8/Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) CSR data assimilation. Furthermore, this study also can contribute to preparing for the utilization of products from the Geo-Kompsat-2A (GK-2A), which will be launched in 2018 by the National Meteorological Satellite Center (NMSC) of KMA.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.309-324
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• 2008

In this study the retrieval algorithms have been developed to retrieve total precipitable water (TPW) from Terra/Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) infrared measurements using a physical iterative retrieval method and a split-window technique over East Asia. Retrieved results from these algorithms were validated against Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) over ocean and radiosonde observation over land and were analyzed for investigating the key factors affecting the accuracy of results and physical processes of retrieval methods. Atmospheric profiles from Regional Data Assimilation and Prediction System (RDAPS), which produces analysis and prediction field of atmospheric variables over East Asia, were used as first-guess profiles for the physical retrieval algorithm. We used RTTOV-7 radiative transfer model to calculate the upwelling radiance at the top of the atmosphere. For the split-window technique, regression coefficients were obtained by relating the calculated brightness temperature to the paired radiosonde-estimated TPW. Physically retrieved TPWs were validated against SSM/I and radiosonde observations for 14 cases in August and December 2004 and results showed that the physical method improves the accuracy of TPW with smaller bias in comparison to TPWs of RDAPS data, MODIS products, and TPWs from split-window technique. Although physical iterative retrieval can reduce the bias of first-guess profiles and bring in more accurate TPWs, the retrieved results show the dependency upon initial guess fields. It is thought that the dependency is due to the fact that the water vapor absorption channels used in this study may not reflect moisture features in particular near surface.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.469-483
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• 2006

An algorithm was developed to estimate stability indices (SI) over the Korean peninsula using Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) infrared brightness temperatures (TBs). The SI is defined as the stability of the atmosphere in the hydrostatic equilibrium with respect to the vertical displacements and is used as an index for the potential severe storm development. Using atmosphere temperature and moisture profiles from Regional Data Assimilation and Prediction System (RDAPS) as initial guess data for a nonlinear physical relaxation method, K index (KI), KO Index (KO), lifted index (LI), and maximum buoyancy (MB) were estimated. A fast radiative transfer model, RTTOV-7, is utilized for reducing the computational burden related to the physical relaxation method. The estimated TBs from the radiative transfer simulation are in good agreement with observed MODIS TBs. To test usefulness for the short-term forecast of severe storms, the algorithm is applied to the rapidly developed convective storms. Compared with the SIs from the RDAPS forecasts and NASA products, the MODIS SI obtained in this research predicts the instability better over the pre-convection areas. Thus, it is expected that the nowcasting and short-term forecast can be improved by utilizing the algorithms developed in this study.

• Atmosphere
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.453-470
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• 2013

As a part of the KIAPS Observation Processing System (KOPS), we have developed the modules of satellite radiance data pre-processing and quality control, which include observation operators to interpolate model state variables into radiances in observation space. AMSU-A (Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A) level-1d radiance data have been extracted using the BUFR (Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data) decoder and a first guess has been calculated with RTTOV (Radiative Transfer for TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder) version 10.2. For initial quality checks, the pixels contaminated by large amounts of cloud liquid water, heavy precipitation, and sea ice have been removed. Channels for assimilation, rejection, or monitoring have been respectively selected for different surface types since the errors from the skin temperature are caused by inaccurate surface emissivity. Correcting the bias caused by errors in the instruments and radiative transfer model is crucial in radiance data pre-processing. We have developed bias correction modules in two steps based on 30-day innovation statistics (observed radiance minus background; O-B). The scan bias correction has been calculated individually for each channel, satellite, and scan position. Then a multiple linear regression of the scan-bias-corrected innovations with several predictors has been employed to correct the airmass bias.