75812 - Radiative Transfer and Remote Sensing

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the Student knows the fundamentals laws of the radiative transfer in atmosphere. He learns the phenomenology and equations governing the fundamental physical of the energy transfer by electromagnetic waves in a multiple scattering atmosphere.

The Student is able to use approximations to interpret the radiative transfer equation in different regimes. He also knows the basics of the satellite remote sensing and is capable to use geolocated calibrated radiances and create surface, atmospheric and cloud products for climate and meteorology.

Course contents

* Basic definitions of the radiative transfer

* Black body

* Fundamental of thermal radiation

* Absorption line formation

* Schwarzschild equation

* Weighting functions

* Chapman layer

* Dipole scattering (Rayleigh)

* Scattering by particulates

* Multiple scattering

* Radiative transfer in presence of clouds

* Heating and cooling rates

* Approximate solution of the radiative transfer

* Polarization

* Optical phenomena

* Introduction to the satellite remote sensing of surface and atmosphere

* NDVI, NDSI, fire detection

* Split window techniques

* Cloud detection and properties retrievals

* RGB

Readings/Bibliography

* Rizzi R. Radiative transfer and remote sensing (in pdf format available from the teacher)

* K.N.Liou: An introduction to atmospheric radiation. Academic Press

* K.N.Liou: Radiation and cloud processes in the atmosphere. Oxford University Press

Teaching methods

The teacher will discuss the program content (6 ects) by using both the blackboard and the video projector.

Simple exercises will be solved during the classes to facilitate the understanding of the theoretical part of the program.

A satellite data software toolkit will be used (working on any kind of workstation) for the remote sensing analysis. Satellite data will be visualised and simple graphical and mathematical operations will be performed to derive satellite products.

Assessment methods

The verification of the student's learnings occurs through an oral test that will evaluate the achievements of the main objectives of the course:

*) understanding the fundamental laws regulating the radiative transfer in atmosphere

*) ability to interpret satellite remote sensing data and products of atmosphere and surface

The test will cover the whole program. The student will start the test presenting a written work concerning a specific topic of satellite remote sensing. The oral test will last at about 1 hour.

Teaching tools

The following items will be available to the Students:

* Lectures notes (in pdf format).

* Scientific articles useful for the investigation of specific lines of research.

* Software algorithms for the numerical solution of specific problems.

* A data analysis software kit and satellite data

* Bibliography and references

Links to further information

https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/index.html

Office hours

See the website of Tiziano Maestri