<p> The radiation balance at a ship station in the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean is calculated using a term-by-term approach. Irradiances are calculated using upper air data from four daily radiosonde ascents and hourly surface weather observations made at the Canadian vessel 'Quadra' during GATE Phase 1 (June- July, 1974).</p> <p> Global irradiance is calculated by a cloud layer model similar to that used by Davies et al in Southern Ontario, Canada. The model considers first, cloudless sky attenuation of solar irradiance by water vapour, ozone and Rayleigh scattering. Second, cloud effects are added by considering contributions from three cloud layers - high, middle and low and secondary radiation from cloud base of reflected surface radiation. Reflected solar irradiance is calculated using a mean sea-surface albedo of 6% suggested by Payne for that part of the Atlantic Ocean.</p> <p> Estimates of incoming longwave irradiance are made first, from a numerical flux emissivity model which uses radiosonde ascent data and cloud amount at three heights and second, from a simple model which uses surface temperature and total cloud amount.</p> <p> Outgoing longwave emittance is evaluated using surface temperature and an emissivity of 0.98. The radiation balance is then obtained as the algebraic sum of the four components.</p> <p> The estimated values are compared with values measured at 'Quadra'. In 70% of the cases, calculated and measured solar irradiance agree to within 20%. Model performance for cloud amount > 5/10 is least satisfactory.</p> <p> In all cases, model and measured values of daily incoming longwave irradiance agree to within 5%. In 60% of the cases, measured and calculated radiation balance agree to within 20%.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

<p>Wave scattering is the phenomenon in which a wave field interacts with physical objects. An incoming wave is scattered at the surface of the object and a scattered wave is produced. Common practical cases are acoustic, electromagnetic and elastic wave scattering. The numerical simulation of the scattering process is important, for example, in noise control, antenna design, prediction of radar cross sections and nondestructive testing.</p><p>Important classes of numerical methods for accurate simulation of scattering are based on integral representations of the wave fields and theses representations require the knowledge of potentials on the surfaces of the scattering objects. The potential is typically computed by a numerical approximation of an integral equation that is defined on the surface. We first develop such numerical methods in time domain for the scalar wave equation. The efficiency of the techniques are improved by analytic quadrature and in some cases by local approximation of the potential.</p><p>Most scattering simulations are done for harmonic or single frequency waves. In the electromagnetic case the corresponding integral equation method is called the method of moments. This numerical approximation is computationally very costly for high frequency waves. A simplification is suggested by physical optics, which directly gives an approximation of the potential without the solution of an integral equation. Physical optics is however only accurate for very high frequencies.</p><p>In this thesis we improve the accuracy in the physical optics approximation of scalar waves by basing the computation of the potential on the theory of radiation boundary conditions. This theory describes the local coupling of derivatives in the wave field and if it is applied at the surface of the scattering object it generates an expression for the unknown potential. The full wave field is then computed as for other integral equation methods.</p><p>The new numerical techniques are analyzed mathematically and their efficiency is established in a sequence of numerical experiments. The new on surface radiation conditions give, for example, substantial improvement in the estimation of the scattered waves in the acoustic case. This numerical experiment corresponds to radar cross-section estimation in the electromagnetic case.</p>

Wave scattering is the phenomenon in which a wave field interacts with physical objects. An incoming wave is scattered at the surface of the object and a scattered wave is produced. Common practical cases are acoustic, electromagnetic and elastic wave scattering. The numerical simulation of the scattering process is important, for example, in noise control, antenna design, prediction of radar cross sections and nondestructive testing. Important classes of numerical methods for accurate simulation of scattering are based on integral representations of the wave fields and theses representations require the knowledge of potentials on the surfaces of the scattering objects. The potential is typically computed by a numerical approximation of an integral equation that is defined on the surface. We first develop such numerical methods in time domain for the scalar wave equation. The efficiency of the techniques are improved by analytic quadrature and in some cases by local approximation of the potential. Most scattering simulations are done for harmonic or single frequency waves. In the electromagnetic case the corresponding integral equation method is called the method of moments. This numerical approximation is computationally very costly for high frequency waves. A simplification is suggested by physical optics, which directly gives an approximation of the potential without the solution of an integral equation. Physical optics is however only accurate for very high frequencies. In this thesis we improve the accuracy in the physical optics approximation of scalar waves by basing the computation of the potential on the theory of radiation boundary conditions. This theory describes the local coupling of derivatives in the wave field and if it is applied at the surface of the scattering object it generates an expression for the unknown potential. The full wave field is then computed as for other integral equation methods. The new numerical techniques are analyzed mathematically and their efficiency is established in a sequence of numerical experiments. The new on surface radiation conditions give, for example, substantial improvement in the estimation of the scattered waves in the acoustic case. This numerical experiment corresponds to radar cross-section estimation in the electromagnetic case.

Based on airborne spectral imaging observations, three-dimensional (3-D) radiative effects between Arctic boundary layer clouds and highly variable Arctic surfaces have been identified and quantified. A method is presented to discriminate sea ice and open water in cloudy conditions based on airborne upward radiance measurements in the visible spectral range. This separation simultaneously reveals that the transition of radiance between open water and sea ice is not instantaneous in cloudy conditions but horizontally smoothed. In general, clouds reduce the nadir radiance above bright surfaces in the vicinity of open water, while the nadir radiance above open sea is enhanced compared to situations with clouds located above sea ice surfaces. With the help of the observations and 3-D radiative transfer simulations, this effect was quantified. This affected distance deltaL was found to depend on both cloud and sea ice properties. For a low level cloud at 0-200 m altitude, as observed during the Arctic field campaign Vertical Distribution of Ice in Arctic Clouds (VERDI) in 2012, an increase of the cloud optical thickness from tau = 1 to tau = 10 leads to a decrease of deltaL from 600 to 250 m. An increase in cloud base altitude or cloud geometrical thickness results in an increase of deltaL. Furthermore, the impact of these 3-D-radiative effects on a retrieval of cloud optical properties was investigated. The enhanced brightness of a dark pixel next to an ice edge results in uncertainties of up to 90 % in retrievals of tau and up to 30 % in retrievals of the effective radius reff. With the help of detlaL quantified here, an estimate of the distance to the ice edge is given where the retrieval uncertainties due to 3D-effects are negligible. / Mit Hilfe flugzeuggetragener abbildender spektraler Beobachtungen wurden 3-D Strahlungseffekte zwischen arktischen Grenzschichtwolken sowie der hochvariablen arktischen Bodenoberfläche identifiziert und quantifiziert. Eine Methode zur Differenzierung von Meereis und offener Wasserflächen, auf Grundlage flugzeuggetragener Messungen der aufwärtsgerichteten Strahldichte im sichtbaren Spektralbereich, während bewölkter Bedingungen wird vorgestellt. Diese Differenzierung zeigt gleichzeitig auf, dass die Strahldichtereduzierung beim Übergang vom Meereis zu den offenen Wasserflächen nicht unmittelbar erfolgt, sondern horizontal geglättet ist. Allgemein verringern Wolken in der Umgebung von Eiskanten die Nadir-Strahldichte über den hellen Eisflächen und erhöhen sie über dunklen Meeresoberflächen. Mit Hilfe von 3-D Strahlungstransferrechnungen wurde dieser Effekt quantifiziert. Die Reichweite dieses Effektes wird sowohl von den Wolken- als auch den Oberflächeneigenschaften beeinflusst. Für eine flache Wolke zwischen 0 und 200 m, so wie sie während der arktischen Feldkampagne Vertical Distribution of Ice in Arctic Clouds (VERDI), 2012 beobachtet werden konnte, führt eine Erhöhung der wolkenoptischen Dicke von tau = 1 zu tau = 10 zu einer Verringerung in deltaL von 600 zu 250 m. Zudem führt eine Erhöhung der Wolkenhöhe und ihrer geometrischen Dicke zu einer Zunahme von deltaL. Anschließend wurde der Einfluss dieser 3-D Strahlungseffekte auf die Ableitungsergebnisse von tau untersucht. Die Aufhellung eines dunkleren Pixels neben der Eiskante führt zu Unsicherheiten von bis zu 90 % bei der Ableitung von . Beim effektiven Radius zu bis zu 30 %. DeltaL ist ein Maß mit Hilfe dessen die Entfernung zur Eiskante bestimmt werden kann, ab welcher die Unsicherheiten bezüglich der 3-D Effekte vernachlässigt werden können.

The sea ice extent change and variability of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) are quite different compared to the Arctic as a whole due to its unique geographic settings. In this thesis, the sea ice retreat processes, the connection with other Arctic regions, and the linkages to the surface radiation flux in the CAA are examined. The sea ice retreat processes in the CAA follow a four-phase process: a slow ice melt phase that usually lasts until early June (phase 1); a quick melt phase with large daily sea ice extent change which lasts close to half-a-month (phase 2); a slow melt phase that looks like slow sea ice melt or even a small ice increase that lasts another half-a-month (phase 3); and a steady ice decrease phase (phase 4). With the help of Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, it is identified that the quick melt in phase 2 is actually melt ponding, with melt ponds being falsely identified as open water by passive microwave. A simplified data assimilation method is then developed to improve the passive microwave sea ice concentration estimation by fusion with MODIS ice surface temperature data. The ice concentration from the analysis is found to improve the original passive microwave sea ice concentration estimation, with the largest improvements during sea ice melt. The sea ice retreat patterns in the CAA region are correlated with the sea ice retreat patterns in other regions of the Arctic. A decision tree classifier is designed to segment the sea ice retreat patterns in the CAA into several classes and classification maps are generated. These maps are effective in identifying the geographic locations that have large changes in the sea ice retreat patterns through the years. The daily progressions of the surface radiation components are described in detail. Due to the lack of multiple reflection, the percentage of shortwave radiation at the top of atmosphere that reaches the surface is influenced by the form of melt ponds over ice surface. The roles that each surface radiation component plays in forcing sea ice retreat are different in different years.

The scattered field from an object, when illuminated with ultrasound, is useful in the reconstruction of it's cross section - a problem broadly classified as 'tomography'. In many situations of medical imaging, we will be interested in getting to know the location and the extent of growth of the inhomogeneity. The Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation of the location and the shape parameters (of scale and orientation angle), has been done along with the corresponding CR bounds, for the case of weakly scattering objects, where the Fourier Diffraction Theorem(FDT) holds. It has been found that the a-priori information of a reference object function helps in drastic reduction of the number of receivers and illuminations required. For a polygonal object, the shape is specified, when the corner locations are known. We have formulated the problem as, estimation of the frequencies of sum of undamped sinusoids. The result is a substantial reduction in the number of illuminations and receivers required. For acoustically soft and rigid polygons, where the FDT does not hold, the necessary theory is developed to show the dependence of the scattered field on the corner location, using an On Surface Radiation Condition(OSRC). The corner locations are estimated along similar lines, to the one adopted for the weakly scattering objects.