SATMET–9

Weather Discussion
Presented by
Md. Omar Faruq
Meteorologist
Bangladesh Meteorological Department

Date:12 MAY 2015

 Objective


Electromagnetic Spectrum

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Orbit

Rainfall Estimation

Fog Prediction using WRF(Pilot Project)
 The electromagnetic spectrum

Optical Infrared
Visible 0.4-0.7 m MIR 3.0-8.0 m
NIR 0.7-1.5 m TIR 8-15 m
SWIR 1.5-3.0 m FIR Beyond 15 m
The electromagnetic spectrum
 EM RADIATION DESIGNATIONS

Optical Infrared (OIR) region

Visible 0.4 – 0. 7 m
Near Infrared (NIR) 0.7 – 1.5 m
Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) 1.5 – 3 m
Mid Wave Infrared (MWIR) 3-8 m
Long Wave Infrared (LWIR)
(Thermal Infrared (TIR) 8-15 m
Far Infrared (FIR) Beyond 15 m
 •Figure 3.8 : Atmospheric Absorption

•
 • One Dimensional
Structure of the
Atmosphere

•Adapted from EOS Science, Steering

Committee, 1989
• Types of Clouds
 • Satellite imagery
•VIS - imagery derived from reflected sunlight at
visible
•IR - imagery derived from emissions by the Earth
and its atmosphere at thermal-infrared wavelengths
•WV - imagery derived from water vapor emissions
•3.7μm - (channel 3) imagery from this specific
wavelengths,which is in the overlap region between
solar and terrestrial radiation
INSAT-3A Vis Imagery

Highest spatial resolution

Water appears uniformly dark,
due to the low albedo below
10%
Reflection intensities differ
depending upon cloud thickness.
Land, cloud and ocean are
easily discernible
Lower clouds can be seen well
Limitation: Only available from
the sunlit portion of the earth

23 March 2004 1130 IST

 TYPICAL ALBEDO VALUES
• OCEAN / LAKES8 %
• LAND SURFACE 14 - 27 %
• ICE35 %
• SNOW 80 %
• CU CLOUD 30 %
• CI CLOUD (THICK) 35 %
• ST CLOUD 50 - 60 %
• AC , AS & SC CLOUDS 68 %
• TCU CLOUD 75 %
• CB CLOUD 90 %
 What implies the different cloud albedo?
•Clouds with a high albedo have:
  large optical depth,
  high cloud-water (ice) content,
  small average cloud droplet size
•Clouds with a low albedo have:
  shallow depth,
  low cloud -water (ice) content,
  large average cloud-droplet size.
INSAT-3A IR Imagery (window region)

In this spectral band,

atmosphere is relatively
transparent to radiation
upwelling from earth
Again, clouds, land and
water are easily discerned
The satellite detector
receives the thermal radiation
of the earth's surface and of
the upper sides of clouds
due to the low temperature,
Cirrus clouds are better
visible in the infrared images
They provide image at night
Inverted images

23 March 2004 1130 IST

 RADIATIVE TRANSFER MODEL
For a non-scattering atmosphere under LTE, total brightness temperature
received by an earth-viewing microwave radiometer

TB ( , , p) 
Ts . ( , , p ). ( , )  TBup( , )  TBdn( , ).{1   ( , , p )}. ( , )

 ( , )  exp{ sec    ( , z )z} =atmospheric absorption
0 =surface emissivity

 =atm. transmittance
TBdn( , )  sec  T ( z ). ( , z ). ( , ,0  z )z =incidence angle
0 =frequency
Tbup=up-welling BT

TBup( , )  sec  T ( z ). ( , z ). ( , , z  )z TBdn=down-welling BT
0 Ts=surface temperature
z2 p=polarization
 ( , , z1  z2 )  exp{ sec   ( , z )z}
z1
 INSAT-3A WV Imagery

Most common wavelength is

centered around 6.7 micron
Always available
Shades of levels differ depending upon
humidity in upper to midlevel (WV).
•Most of the radiation comes from 300
hPa and 600 hPa level (middle level)
Notice that highest clouds can be
seen but surface features cannot be
seen because this is not a window
channel
Subsidence Bright and dark areas indicate rising
and sinking motions respectively

Rising Motion
23 March 2004 1130 IST
 Bell-Shape of WF

Why WF has a peak at a particular

altitude?
• Lower atmosphere
– Strong radiation is emitted because of
high atmospheric density
– But, almost all is absorbed by the
upper atmosphere
• Upper atmosphere
– Little radiation is absorbed by the
further upper atmosphere
– But, little radiation is emitted because
of low density.
• As a result, radiation from the
atmosphere at an intermediate
altitude has a maximum
contribution.
 Representation
Imagery White Gray Black

VIS High Albedo Low

IR Low Temperature High

WV Wet Humidity Dry

3.7 m Day time Low Albedo High
3.7 m Night time Low Temperature High
 ORBITS

• Polar orbiting satellites (NOAA, Oceansat, ERS)

 14 orbits/day (850 km attitude)
 global coverage twice in a day (2600 km swath)

• Geostationary satellites
 36000 km, one orbit in 24 hours
 High time-scale resolution (every 30 minutes)
 Limited spatial resolution
 (GMS, GOES-E/W), INSAT, METEOSAT-5/6)

• Low inclination orbits

 Low earth orbits with inclination (20-30)
 Provide high receptivity of tropics (MeghaTropiques, TRMM)
Geostationary
Orbit
Polar Orbit
 INSAT-3A & Kalpana-1
(2003) (2002)
Location : INSAT 3A : 93.5ºE
Kalpana-1 : 74ºE
Payload : (i) VHRR & CCD camera in INSAT 3A
(ii) VHRR in Kalpana-1
• VHRR Bands (µm)
– Visible : 0.55 – 0.75
– Water vapour : 5.70 – 7.10
– Thermal Infra Red : 10.5 – 12.5
• Resolution (km) : 2 X 2 for Visible
8 X 8 for WV & TIR
• CCD Camera Bands (µm)
– Visible : 0.62 – 0.68
– Near Infra Red : 0.77 – 0.86
– Short Wave Infra Red : 1.55 – 1.69
• Resolution (km) : 1 X 1 for all bands
 INSAT - 3D
Improved Understanding of Mesoscale Systems

6 Channel IMAGER 19 Channel SOUNDER

• Spectral Bands (µm)
• Spectral Bands (µm)
Visible : 0.55 - 0.75
Short Wave Infra Red : 1.55 - 1.70 Short Wave Infra Red : Six bands
Mid Wave Infra Red : 3.80 - 4.00 Mid Wave Infra Red : Five Bands
Water Vapour : 6.50 - 7.00 Long Wave Infra Red : Seven Bands
Thermal Infra Red – 1 : 10.2 - 11.3
Visible : One Band
Thermal Infra Red – 2 : 11.5 - 12.5
• Resolution (km) : 10 X 10 for
• Resolution : 1 km for Vis, SWIR all bands
4 km for MIR, TIR
• No of simultaneous : Four
8 km for WV
sounding per band
 Rainfall from Visible-Infrared-Microwave
Physics Parameters

Visible Reflection of solar LWP, Re

radiation
Infrared Emission from Temperature
cloud top, surface
Microwave Emission from LWP, Rain
Low-Frequency cloud/rain water
Microwave Scattering by ice IWP, Snow, Rain
High-Frequency particles
Principle of Vis/IR rainfall estimation
In general rainfall estimation using Vis/IR
observations are based on the
assumptions that:
1. The higher the cloud reflectivity and the
colder their tops, the more rain they
produce
2. Rainfall areas are located directly
beneath the clouds
 Name of the Pilot Project Topic

Fog prediction using WRF model over Bangladesh Region

 Basics of Fog
 Fog consists of water droplets and/or ice crystals that are suspended
close to the Earth's surface (Brown and Roach 1976), i.e. it is a low-
level stratus cloud (Gultepe et al. 2007).
 The minute water drops floating in the air that compose the fog have
sizes of approximately several tens of micrometers i.e., approximately
two orders of magnitude smaller than that of raindrops (Hamazu et al.
2002).
 Mixing (moistening and cooling) and radiative cooling are the main
physical processes responsible for fog formation (Wang, 1983).
 The necessary conditions for fog formation are high relative humidity
(more than 85%), light winds, surface cooling and temperature
Inversion.
 Bangladesh region is mainly influenced by Radiation and Advection
Fog.
 Why need fog prediction?
 The prediction of fog using NWP models is important because
satellite observations cannot be used accurately during nighttime
and when ice and/or snow cover(s) the earth’s surface. Surface
observations over the land are also insufficient to determine the true
extent of fog (Ellrod 1995).
 The necessity of realistic fog simulations has further increased since
it is known that acid fog is responsible for damages to vegetation
and forests (Bott et al. 1990).
 Fog limits the visibility and thus affects human
activities that rely on good visibility conditions like: aircraft,
shipping, road traffic.
 WRF Model
The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model contains two
dynamics cores:
1. Non-hydrostatic Mesoscale Model (NMM) core developed by NCEP
2. Advanced Research WRF (ARW) core developed by NCAR

The ARW is suitable for use in a broad range of applications across

scales ranging from meters to thousands of kilometers.
Study Domain

Bangladesh
 Data Used
in-situ Measurement of Visibility:
  VGHS—  METAR 

Global Model Data:

6-hourly ECMWF Operational Global Model Analysis at
0.125 x 0.125 degree resolution  
Results & Discussions
Results & Discussions
 Methodology
Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) method:

VIS  km   60 exp  2.5 
 RH  15 
 80 

Forecast Systems Laboratory Method (FSL):

T  Td
VIS  km   1.609  6000 
RH 1.75
Steolinga and Warner method ( available in WRF, UPP Model):
 ln( 0.02)
VIS  km  

where, extinction    cw   rw   ci   sn
coefficient,  cw  144 . 7 C 0.88


Cloud liquid water, rw  1 .1C 0.75


Rain, ci  163 .9 C 1.00

Cloud ice,  sn  10.4C 0.78

Snow,  gm 3

 Results & Discussions

We establish a relation (here linear) between observed visibility from in-situ and ECMWF
model analyzed Temperature and dew point temperature using December 2014 data and
applied to WRF Model predicted met. Parameters.

vis  f  t , t d 
 Conclusion

 In spite of the notable improvement of numerical models, fog forecast remains

fairly difficult to achieve. Fog forms, develops, and dissipates as a result of
complex interactions among various local microphysical, dynamical, radiative and
chemical processes, boundary layer conditions, and large-scale meteorological
processes.

 Existing Steolinga and Warner method in Unified Post-processor (UPPV2.1) is not

able to predict the visibility prediction accurately. Similar conclusion is valid for
RUC and FSL visibility scheme.

 Nonlinear relation may give better visibility prediction as compared to current

visibility prediction from WRF model.
(ধন্যবাদ)

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