Automated Satellite Cloud Analysis - Tactical Nephanalysis (TACNEPH).
Abstract
The TACNEPH program was a four year effort to develop a relocatable regional cloud analysis model for operational use in a transportable satellite ground station facility. Key features of the model are the ability to assimilate and analyze data from both military and civilian polar orbiting satellites in real time and to perform cloud analyses in the absence of any data source other than direct satellite sensor transmissions. In particular, data from the DMSP OLS, SSM/I, and SSM/T are used together with NOAA AVHRR multispectral imagery. In addition to direct broadcast satellite data, the only additional data requirements are for surface temperature climatology and geographic classification databases. Algorithms were developed to perform nephanalysis over the range of conditions expected to be encountered in a tactical environment (e.g., variable mix of sensor and supporting data and the absence of conventional observations). The TACNEPH program has the capability to operate in a 'gracefully degrading' mode wherein different algorithms are employed as various sources of data are lost. Cloud algorithms consist of a series of cloud tests, each sensitive to a different satellite sensor spectral signature. Since the model must be able to operate when no conventional data are available, clear scene characteristics are inferred from climatology and sensor data. A technique has been developed to predict clear-scene satellite brightness temperatures through dynamic adjustments to climatological surface temperatures derived from shelter measurements.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 30, 1994
- Accession Number
- ADA320375
Entities
People
- Daniel C. Peduzzi
- Gary B. Gustafson
- James S. Belfiore
- Jeanne M. Sparrow
- Ronald G. Isaacs
Organizations
- Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc