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This dissertation reports on three different yet related topics in light scattering computation, radiative transfer simulation, and remote sensing implementation, regarding the cloud properties and the retrieval of cloud properties from satellite-based infrared radiometric measurements. First, the errors associated with the use of circular cylinders as surrogates for hexagonal columns in computing the optical properties of pristine ice crystals at infrared (8-12 µm) wavelengths are investigated. It is found that the differences between the results for circular cylinders and hexagonal columns are on the order of a few percent at infrared wavelengths. Second, investigated in this dissertation are the outgoing broadband longwave and window channel radiances at the top-of-atmosphere under clear-sky conditions on the basis of the data acquired by the Cloud and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument onboard the NASA Terra satellite platform. Based on the comparison of the observed broadband radiances with those obtained from rigorous radiative transfer simulations, it is found that the theoretical results tend to be larger than their measured counterparts. Extensive sensitivity studies regarding the uncertainties of various parameters were carried out. Within the considered uncertainties of various factors, the computed radiances are still larger than the observed radiances if thin cirrus clouds are excluded. Thus, a potential cause for the differences could be associated with the presence of thin cirrus clouds whose visible optical thickness is smaller than approximately 0.3. Third, presented in this dissertation is an illustration of the application of hyperspectral infrared channel observations to the retrieval of the cloud properties. Specifically, the hyperspectral measurements acquired from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard the NASA Aqua platform are used to infer cloud top pressure, effective cloud amount, cloud thermodynamic phase, cloud optical thickness, and the effective size of cloud particles. The AIRS-based retrievals are compared with the counterparts of the operational cloud products derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The two retrievals agree reasonably well except for the retrieved cloud effective particle size. Furthermore, the diurnal and seasonal contrasts of cloud properties are also investigated on the basis of the cloud properties retrieved from the AIRS data.

Thin cirrus clouds play an important radiative role in the earth's atmosphere and climate system, yet are one of the least understood components of the climate system. With the use of data from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), thin cirrus and thick cloud distributions in the tropics are analyzed at 121, 100, and 82 hPa. Observations obtained between December 2006 and November 2007 show that thin cirrus between 30°N and 30°S occur in close proximity to regions of intense convection and are positively correlated with low values of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). In conjunction with the CALIPSO data, water vapor data from the Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), OLR data provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their Web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/, and linearly interpolated NCEP reanalysis temperature data were used. These data were used to examine how thick and thin cirrus cloud fractions at 121-hPa and 100-hPa are related to relative humidity with respect to ice (RHI), temperature, and OLR. Our observations show that both RHI and convection play important roles in the development and maintenance of thick and thin cirrus clouds at the pressure levels of interest. The highest fractions of clouds are almost always seen within OLR values representative of convection and at relatively high values of RHI. However, when peaks in cloud fraction are found above the convective threshold, higher RHI values are needed than are needed when convection is responsible for the formation and maintenance of these clouds.

Snowpack energy balance in forest environment: spatial and temporal variability of shortwave and longwave radiation Assessment of the role of forest on snowmelt processes and snowpack attributes contributes to the accuracy of spring floods forecasting. An importance of the coniferous forest consists in change of the snowpack energy balance. Forest reduces the total amount of solar radiation, however trees cause emitting of longwave radiation, both factors are fundamentally reflected in time of snowmelt in forest environment. Master thesis focuses on temporal and spatial variability of shortwave and longwave radiation depending on the structures of vegetation cover. Individual site types were defined as an open area, a forest affected by the bark beetle (Ips typographus) and a healthy coniferous forest, based on the hemispheric images of vegetation and its Leaf Area Index (LAI). Moreover, repeated manual measurements of the snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) were done in plots during winter period 2016/2017 in the Ptačí Brook catchment in the Šumava Mountains, and an analysis of shortwave and longwave radiation data the radiometers in plots was performed. Radiation fluxes in different plots were described in daily and seasonal scale, including the calculation of total heat from shortwave and...

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of droughts in all parts of the United States (US). Snow packs are disappearing earlier in the spring and summer, with reduced stream-flow. Lower reservoir levels, higher temperatures, and greater precipitation variability have been observed. Drought events in the US have threatened drinking water supplies for communities in Maryland and Chesapeake Bay as observed in 2001 through September 2002; Lake Mead in Las Vegas in 2000 through 2004; Peace River and Lake Okeechobee in South Florida in 2006; and Lake Lanier in Atlanta, Georgia in 2007. ENSO influences the climate of Florida; where El Niño years tend to be cooler and wetter, while La Niña years tend to be warmer and drier than normal in the fall through the spring, with the strongest effect in the winter. Both prolonged heavy rainfall and drought potentially have impacts on land uses and many aspects of Florida's economy and quality of life. Drought indices could integrate various hydrological and meteorological parameters and quantify climate anomalies in terms of intensity, duration, and spatial extent, thus making it easier to communicate information to diverse users. Hence, understanding local ENSO patterns on regional scales and developing a new land use drought index in Florida are critical in agriculture and water resources planning and managements. Current drought indices have limitations and drawbacks such as calculation using climate data from meteorological stations, which are point measurements. In addition, weather stations are scarce in remote areas and are not uniformly distributed. Currently used drought indices like the iv PDSI and the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) could not fully demonstrate the land use effects. Other limitations include no single index that addresses universal drought impact. Hence, there is a renewed interest to develop a new “Regional Land Use Drought Index (RLDI) that could be applied for various land use areas and serve for short term water resources planning. In this study, the first and second research topics investigated water and energy budgets on the specific and important land use areas (urban, forest, agriculture and lake) in the State of Florida by using the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) reanalysis data. NARR data were used to understand how drought events, EI Niño, La Niña, and seasonal and inter-annual variations in climatic variables affect the hydrologic and energy cycle over different land use areas. The results showed that the NARR data could provide valuable, independent analysis of the water and energy budgets for various land uses in Florida. Finally, the high resolution land use (32km×32km) adapted drought indices were developed based on the NARR data from 1979 to 2002. The new regional land use drought indices were developed from normalized Bowen ratio and the results showed that they could reflect not only the level of severity in drought events resulting from land use effects, but also La Niña driven drought impacts.

This thesis deals with tropical intraseasonal variation (TISV) having time scales in 20-80 day range. Variations on this time scale have been observed to have profound influence on the weather and climate of the entire globe, and hence its study forms an important area of current research. A large number of studies have been carried out on this topic since the pioneering work of Madden and Julian in 1971. However, the observational studies are biased towards using the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) as the variable of interest, and other variables, pressure in particular, have received less attention. The present thesis explores features of intraseasonal variations in sea level pressure (SLP) with the following main objectives. 1. Compare and contrast wavenumber – frequency spectra of OLR, zonal winds and SLP. 2. Quantify temporal and spatial variations of different tropical modes observed in the above variables. 3. Investigate intraseasonal variations in sea level pressure in the tropics and its meridional connections. 4. Document the movement of cloud bands during the periods of high and low TISV activity during different seasons. 5. Explore the relations between intraseasonal variations in SLP and monsoon rainfall over India. The study considered global data for a time period of 25 years from 1979 to 2003. Spectral analysis and correlations are the main tools of analysis. A combined FFT-wavelet spectral method, which uses FFT in longitude and wavelet transform in time, was developed for this purpose. This method provided an effective way of obtaining wavenumber - frequency spectra as well as in quantifying temporal variations of different modes. The transform gives spectral intensity as a function of wavenumber, frequency and time. The analysis is applied to OLR, zonal wind and SLP to understand spectral characteristics of different modes and their temporal variations. The thesis shows that the nature of spectra for OLR, SLP and wind is different although these variables are physically connected. OLR spectrum shows many of the equatorial modes observed from the previous studies for an equivalent depth of 40 m. Spectra of zonal winds at three vertical levels (850 mb, 500 mb and 200 mb) shows peaks corresponding to MJO, Kelvin modes at an equivalent depth of 75 m and Rossby Haurwitz modes. SLP spectrum is different from others. It has peaks at wavenumber zero and at MJO and Rossby Haurwitz modes. Another important new result of the thesis is the spatial and temporal behavior of SLP on intraseasonal time scales. It is shown that the the global atmosphere exhibits quasi-periodic oscillations in SLP with variations in the tropics and high latitudes strongly correlated but in opposite phases. Importantly, the strength of TISV is correlated with sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. This may have some predictive value for predicting the active and weak TISV activity.

Submitted by LUCAS CARVALHO LENZ null (lclenz@fca.unesp.br) on 2016-09-07T05:10:45Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Lucas Carvalho Lenz_Dissertação.pdf: 1833415 bytes, checksum: 14828a9cb36f4cf06e265eb7953cc909 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Juliano Benedito Ferreira (julianoferreira@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-09-08T17:25:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 lenz_lc_me_bot.pdf: 1833415 bytes, checksum: 14828a9cb36f4cf06e265eb7953cc909 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-08T17:25:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 lenz_lc_me_bot.pdf: 1833415 bytes, checksum: 14828a9cb36f4cf06e265eb7953cc909 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-07-14 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O uso de ambientes protegidos na agricultura tem ganhado importância nas ultimas décadas, por proporcionar ao agricultor a possibilidade de produzir produtos agrícolas de maior qualidade e possibilitar a produção em períodos em que normalmente a oferta de tais produtos é baixa, devido à inadequação das condições climáticas para o desenvolvimento das culturas (denominados períodos de entressafra), aumentando assim, o lucro obtido pelo produtor. O trabalho é composto por dois capítulos que se complementam e visam avaliar o comportamento da radiação solar no interior de uma estufa de polietileno e a parametrização de modelos clássicos de estimativa da radiação de ondas longas atmosféricas. No Capítulo 1, o saldo de radiação foi medido por um saldoradiômetro modelo CNR1 da Kipp & Zonnen, que tem a capacidade de medir as quatro componentes ao mesmo tempo: as radiações de ondas curtas (Global e Refletida) e as radiações de ondas longas (Atmosférica e Terrestre). As medidas foram realizadas no interior de uma estufa de polietileno tipo túnel durante período de 01/03/2008 a 28/03/2009, situada no campus da FCA,UNESP de Botucatu. Posteriormente foi realizada uma análise climática do Saldo de Radiação (NR) e sua sazonalidade. No Capítulo 2, Objetivou-se parametrizar modelos de estimativa da radiação de ondas longas atmosférica (LW) para o interior de uma estufa de polietileno em Botucatu - SP. Estes modelos (modelos clássicos) só tem validade para dias de céu completamente limpo (sem nuvens) e estimam a LW em função da temperatura do ar (Ta) e pressão atual de vapor (ea). Foram feitas medidas das quatro componentes do saldo de radiação no interior de uma estufa plástica de polietileno (100 micra) no intervalo de um ano. Com estes dados 13 modelos da literatura tiveram seus parâmetros originais ajustados para o interior da estufa. / The use of greenhouses in agriculture has gained importance in recent decades, by giving the farmer the possibility to produce agricultural products of higher quality and enable the production in periods where normally the offer of such products is low due to the inadequacy of climate conditions for crop development (called off-season periods) , thus increasing the profit made by the producer. The work consists of two chapters that complement each other and seek to evaluate the behavior of solar radiation inside a polyethylene greenhouse and parameterization of classic estimation of radiation atmospheric long-wave models. In Chapter 1, the net radiation was measured by a net-radiometer model CNR1 by Kipp & Zonnen, which has the capacity to measure the four components simultaneously: the shortwave radiation (Global and Reflected) and longwave radiation (Atmospheric and Terrestrial). The measurements were performed inside a tunnel type polyethylene greenhouse during the period of 01/03/2008 to 28/03/2009, located on the campus of FCA, UNESP Botucatu. Later, a climatic analysis of the Net radiation (NR), and its seasonality was performed. In Chapter 2, the objective is modeling the atmospheric longwave radiation (LW) into a polyethylene greenhouse in Botucatu - SP. These models (classical models) are only valid for days of completely clear sky (without clouds) and estimate the LW depending on air temperature (Ta) and a steam current pressure (ea). Measurements were made of the four components of the net radiation inside a polyethylene greenhouse (100 microns) within one year. From these data, 13 models of the literature had their original parameters adjusted.

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Modern tools, nontraditional datasets and a better understanding of the interaction between climate and ecohydrology are continuously being developed as today's society is in critical need for improving water management, predicting hydrometeorological hazards and forecasting future climate. In particular, the study of the intra- and inter-annual variations in grass productivity and evapotranspiration caused by variations in precipitation/soil moisture and other biophysical factors is of great significance due to their relation to future climatic changes. The research presented here falls in three parts. In the first part of the dissertation, a land use adaptable model, based on the superposition of the temperature and water vapor pressure effects, is proposed for the effective clear sky emissivity. Ground radiometer and meteorological data, applicable in the subtropical climate of Saint Johns River Water Management District, Florida, were utilized for the model development over the spring season of 2004. The performance of this model was systematically evaluated by pertinent comparisons with previously established models using data over various land covers. The second part of the thesis investigates the dynamics of evapotranspiration with respect to its significant environmental and biological controls over an unmanaged bahia grassland. Eddy correlation measurements were carried out at a flux tower in Central Florida over the annual course of 2004. The main focus was on the sensitivity of the water vapor flux to wetness variables, namely the volumetric soil water content and the current precipitation index. It was shown that the time scales involved with the dynamics of evapotranspiration were on the order of six days, suggesting that depletion of the soil moisture was mostly responsible for the temporal fluctuations in evapotranspiration. Finally, simple models for the Priestley-Taylor factor were employed in terms of water availability, and the modeled results closely matched the eddy covariance flux values on daily time scale during all moisture conditions. In the third part of this work, the partitioning between latent and sensible heat fluxes was systematically examined with respect to biophysical factors. It was found that the seasonal variations in leaf area index, soil water content and net radiation were reflected in a strong seasonal pattern of the energy balance. Calculations of the bulk parameters, namely Priestley-Taylor parameter and decoupling coefficient, indicated that evapotranspiration of this grassland was controlled by water supply limitations and surface conductance. At an annual basis, the cumulative evapotranspiration was 59 percent of the precipitation received at the site. The results of this research complemented with other studies will promote better understanding of land-atmosphere interactions, accurate parameterizations of hydroclimatic models, and assessment of climate impact of grassland ecosystems.

Climate modeling and tropical cyclone forecasting are two significant is- sues that are continuously being improved upon for more accurate weather forecasting and preparedness. In this thesis, we have studied three climate models and formulated a new model with a view to determine the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) budget at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) as ob- served by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) satellite based Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). In 2006, Karnauskas proposed the African meridional OLR as an Atlantic hur- ricane predictor, the relation was further proven in 2016 by Karnauskas and Li. Here we have considered a similar study for all other tropical cyclone basins.