MONITORING DISASTER-RELATED POWER OUTAGES USING NASA BLACK MARBLE NIGHTTIME LIGHT PRODUCT

Using observations from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Day-Night Band, we developed a method for constructing gridded nighttime aerosol optical thickness (AOT) data based on the spatial derivative of measured top-of-atmosphere attenuated upwelling artificial lights at night. The gridded nighttime AOT retrievals, compared against Aerosol Robotic Network data, show reasonable skill levels for potential data assimilation, air quality and climate studies of significant events.

We adapted the spherical harmonics discrete ordinate method 3-dimentional radiative transfer model (3-D RTM) and developed a nighttime 3-D RTM capability for simulating top-of-atmosphere radiances from artificial light sources for aerosol retrievals. Our study suggests that both aerosol optical depth and aerosol plume height can be effectively retrieved using nighttime observations over artificial light sources, through the newly developed radiative transfer modeling capability.

The current collections of the NASA snow-cover data products generated from the MODIS and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite instruments are described. Revisions in the MODIS snow cover algorithm increased accuracy, and the data content of products is increased from previous collection. The VIIRS algorithm and data product are very similar to those of MODIS. The objective of generating similar products is to enable the creation of a snow-cover extent climate-data record.

We present the first use of spectrometer measurements from a drone to assess reflectance and albedo over the Greenland Ice Sheet. In order to measure albedo – a critical parameter in the earth's energy balance – a drone was flown along 200 km transects coincident with Terra and Aqua satellites flying MODIS. We present a direct comparison of UAV-measured reflectance with satellite data over Greenland and provide a new method to study cryospheric surfaces using UAV with spectral instruments.