Eugene A. Sharkov
Remote Sensing of Tropical Regions

John Willey & Sons/PRAXIS Publishing, 1998. 310 p.

      Table of contents

Preface ......................................................... xi
List of figures, plates and tables........................................ xiii

1. INTRODUCTION: SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE FOR TROPICAL STUDIES ......... 1
   1.1 Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere programme ................... 2
      1.1.1 Structure of the programme ...................................... 3
      1.1.2 The observational component of TOGA............................... 4
      1.1.3 Observational requirements........................................ 5
      1.1.4 TOGA-COARE programme.............................................. 5
   1.2 El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) .............................. 7
   1.3 Tropical convective systems and their observations................. 10
      1.3.1 Space-time scales of the tropical convective systems .............. 10
      1.3.2 Required parameters and accuracy................................... 11
   1.4 Tropical land observations ...................................... 12

2. AIRSPACE REMOTE SENSING OF TROPICAL CYCLONES....................... 15
   2.1 Scientific conceptions of TC onsets ............................. 16
      2.1.1 The "thermal hypothesis" ........................................ 17
      2.1.2 The conception of self-organization................................ 18
   2.2 Mature tropical cyclones .......................................... 20
   2.3 Mesoscale feature peculiarities of TC.............................. 30
   2.4 Global cyclogenesis ............................................. 34
   2.5 Databases of TC remote sensing..................................... 38
   2.6 Airspace programmes on TC observations ............................ 40

3. THE TROPICAL ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN SYSTEM AND REMOTE SENSING ......... 43
   3.1 Remote sensing of tropical cloud fields ......................... 44
      3.1.1 Cloud classification schemes ..................................... 44
      3.1.2 Remote sensing of large-scale cloud distributions.................. 48
   3.2 Remote sensing of tropical rainfall................................ 50
      3.2.1 Precipitation inferred from visible/infrared satellite observations 52
      3.2.2 Precipitation estimated from passive microwave satellite observations 53
      3.2.3 Precipitation inferred from IR/VIS and microwave observations...... 54
      3.2.4 Verification of satellite rainfall estimation...................... 56
      3.2.5 Requirements of satellite missions................................. 61
      3.2.6 Advanced active-passive satellite missions for rainfall measurements 63
   3.3 Remote sensing of meso-turbulent atmospheric features by satellite and radar ......... 66
   3.4 Radar images as a mirror of atmospheric features................... 74

4. TROPICAL SEAS AND REMOTE SENSING................................... 77
   4.1 SAR observations of oceanic dynamic features....................... 77
   4.2 IR observations of upwellings and jetstreams....................... 85
   4.3 Tropical ocean colour with remote sensing ....................... 88
      4.3.1 Pigment distribution with remote sensing........................... 91
      4.3.2 Primary production with remote sensing............................. 93
      4.3.3 Fishery production with remote sensing............................. 94
   4.4 Satellite monitoring of offshore transition zones.................. 95

5. ATMOSPHERIC REMOTE SENSING......................................... 101
   5.1 Retrieval problems and measurement schemes......................... 102
      5.1.1 The inversion problem for thermal stratification................... 102
      5.1.2 The inversion problems for water vapour and cloud water distribution.... 103
      5.1.3 The radio occultation technique.................................... 112
   5.2 Mesofeatures of thermal stratification in the tropical atmosphere.. 116
      5.2.1 Initial observation data and processing methodology................ 116
      5.2.2 Spatio-statistical characteristics of gradient fields.............. 117
      5.2.3 Thermal stratification of the atmosphere with tropical disturbances 120
      5.2.4 Thermal stratification of the tropical atmosphere in the act of TC forming .......... 123
   5.3 Tropical troposphere-stratosphere exchange......................... 126

6. THE PHYSICAL BASIS FOR MICROWAVE SOUNDING.......................... 132
   6.1 Passive methods ................................................. 132
      6.1.1 The equation of radiation transfer and basic solutions............. 132
      6.1.2 Absorption of microwaves in gaseous atmosphere .................. 138
      6.1.3 Absorption and scattering of microwaves in dispersed media......... 142
      6.1.4 Emission of the atmosphere-ocean surface system.................... 147
      6.1.5 Emission of non-uniform, non-isothermal media...................... 153
      6.1.6 The inversion problems .......................................... 158
   6.2 Active methods..................................................... 160
      6.2.1 The SAR principles .............................................. 160
      6.2.2 Backscattering by volume targets................................... 163
      6.2.3 The concept of Doppler measurements................................ 167
      6.2.4 Satellite Doppler radar concept.................................... 170
      6.2.5 Polarimetric measurements.......................................... 174

7. TROPICAL LAND AND REMOTE SENSING................................... 175
   7.1 Tropical ecosystem: spectral properties............................ 175
      7.1.1 Understanding microwave signatures................................. 176
      7.1.2 Visible and IR techniques.......................................... 178
      7.1.3 Microwave emission technique....................................... 182
      7.1.4 Scatterometer signatures........................................... 185
   7.2 Remote sensing of ecosystem boundaries............................. 188
   7.3 Remote sensing for tropical rainforest monitoring ................. 192
   7.4 Radar and optical remote sensing of tropical crops................. 198
      7.4.1 Phenological stages of rice plant growth ......................... 199
      7.4.2 Temporal backscattering signature of rice........................... 200
      7.4.3 Radar remote sensing studies for rice crop mapping and monitoring .. 200
      7.4.4 Other tropical crops and plantations................................ 206
      7.4.5 Strategies for crop monitoring systems ........................... 207
   7.5 Remote sensing in tropical hydrology................................ 208
      7.5.1 Remote sensing of surface parameters................................ 208
      7.5.2 Remote sensing of network features.................................. 210
      7.5.3 Remote sensing of hydrogeological structures........................ 212
   7.6 Fire events and biomass burning in tropical zones .................. 214
   7.7 Observations of night-time lights ................................ 217
   7.8 Geodetic hazards and microwave remote sensing....................... 221

8. SPACE ACTIVITY FOR TROPICAL STUDIES................................ 223
   8.1 The position of tropical studies in existing space programmes....... 223
      8.1.1 Ongoing missions and tendencies of their development ............. 223
      8.1.2 Future missions relevant to tropical studies ....................... 235
   8.2 Missions for tropical convective systems study...................... 239
      8.2.1 TRMM ............................................................. 239
      8.2.2 The TROPIQUES mission .............................................. 241
   8.3 Russian satellite systems relevant to climatic and ecological studies 243
      8.3.1 "Meteor-2", and "Meteor-3" series................................... 244
      8.3.2 "Resurs-01" and "Resurs-F" series................................... 247
      8.3.3 Geostationary Operational Meteorological Satellite "Electro" (GOMS)..... 250
      8.3.4 The PRIRODA mission................................................. 251
      8.3.5 The METEOR-3M system ............................................... 256
      8.3.6 Some aspects of the Russian remote sensing programme .............. 256
   8.4 Special Russian missions for the study of TCs...................... 260
      8.4.1 Preliminary background to the projects ............................ 262
      8.4.2 Mission "Zodiak".................................................... 264
      8.4.3 Mission "Helix"..................................................... 269
      8.4.4 International and practical aspects of the projects ............... 272

Conclusion ................................................................. 274
References and bibliography ................................................ 275
List of acronyms .......................................................... 306
Index ............................................................. 308