PhD Proposal: Neranga Hannadige

Location

Off Campus : via Webex

Date & Time

June 18, 2020, 2:00 pm4:00 pm

Description

ADVISOR: Dr. Pengwang Zhai

TITLE: Remote sensing of aerosols and ocean color with multi-angle polarimeters and spectroradiometers

ABSTRACT: The robustness of the ocean color retrievals in optically complex regions depends on the accuracy of atmospheric correction, which is hindered by the presence of absorbing aerosols and coastal waters. A joint retrieval algorithm, Multi-Angular Polarimetric Ocean coLor (MAPOL), has been developed to retrieve aerosol and ocean color properties in optically complex situations. It simultaneously retrieves both water leaving and aerosol properties from multi-angle multi-wavelength polarimetric measurements. The algorithm has been validated with respect to synthetic data, Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) measurements and SPEX airborne measurements over both open and coastal waters. MAPOL employs bio-optical models to treat open and coastal waters separately. The open water bio-optical model solely depends on chlorophyll-a concentration and has demonstrated good retrieval performances over applicable waters. The seven parameter generalized coastal water bio-optical model requires further modification due to the significant retrieval uncertainties caused by the large dimension of the retrieval parameter space. In this work we propose to develop: i) a simplified general coastal water bio-optical model for MAPOL which is capable of retrieving ocean color products with reduced retrieval uncertainties; ii) a fast and accurate POLYnomial based Atmospheric Correction (POLYAC) algorithm for hyper-spectral radiometric measurements, which parameterizes the atmospheric path radiances using aerosol properties retrieved from co-located multi-wavelength Multi-Angle Polarimeter (MAP) measurements. This algorithm will be applied to measurements acquired by several multiangular polarimeters, including Spectrometer for Planetary Exploration (SPEX) airborne, Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP), Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP), and Airborne Multiangle Spectro Polarimetric Imager (AirMSPI). Validation will be performed against in-situ measurements and those from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET).

Proposal will be held using Webex.