• Title/Summary/Keyword: terrestrial albedo

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Earth Albedo perturbations on Low Earth Orbit Cubesats

  • Khalifa, N.S.;Sharaf-Eldin, T.E.
    • International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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    • v.14 no.2
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    • pp.193-199
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    • 2013
  • This work investigates the orbital perturbations of the cubesats that lie on LEO due to Earth albedo. The motivation for this paper originated in the investigation of the orbital perturbations for closed- Earth pico-satellites due to the sunlight reflected by the Earth (the albedo). Having assumed that the Sun lies on the equator, the albedo irradiance is calculated using a numerical model in which irradiance depends on the geographical latitude, longitude and altitude of the satellite. However, in the present work the longitude dependency is disregarded. Albedo force and acceleration components are formulated using a detailed model in a geocentric equatorial system in which the Earth is an oblate spheroid. Lagrange planetary equations in its Gaussian form are used to analyze the orbital changes when $e{\neq}0$ and $i{\neq}0$. Based on the Earth's reflectivity data measured by NASA Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS project), the orbital perturbations are calculated for some cubesats. The outcome of the numerical test shows that the albedo force has a significant contribution on the orbital perturbations of the pico-satellite which can affect the satellite life time.

SUNSHINE, EARTHSHINE AND CLIMATE CHANGE: II. SOLAR ORIGINS OF VARIATIONS IN THE EARTH'S ALBEDO

  • GOODE P. R.;PALLE E.;YURCHYSHYN V.;QIU J.;HICKEY J.;RODRIGUEZ P. MONTANES;CHU M.-C.;KOLBE E.;BROWN C.T.;KOONIN S.E.
    • Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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    • v.36 no.spc1
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    • pp.83-91
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    • 2003
  • There are terrestrial signatures of the solar activity cycle in ice core data (Ram & Stoltz 1999), but the variations in the sun's irradiance over the cycle seem too small to account for the signature (Lean 1997; Goode & Dziembowski 2003). Thus, one would expect that the signature must arise from an indirect effect(s) of solar activity. Such an indirect effect would be expected to manifest itself in the earth's reflectance. Further, the earth's climate depends directly on the albedo. Continuous observations of the earthshine have been carried out from Big Bear Solar Observatory since December 1998, with some more sporadic measurements made during the years 1994 and 1995. We have determined the annual albedos both from our observations and from simulations utilizing the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scene model and various datasets for the cloud cover, as well as snow and ice cover. With these, we look for inter-annual and longer-term changes in the earth's total reflectance, or Bond albedo. We find that both our observations and simulations indicate that the albedo was significantly higher during 1994-1995 (activity minimum) than for the more recent period covering 1999-2001 (activity maximum). However, the sizes of the changes seem somewhat discrepant. Possible indirect solar influences on the earth's Bond albedo are discussed to emphasize that our earthshine data are already sufficiently precise to detect, if they occur, any meaningful changes in the earth's reflectance. Still greater precision will occur as we expand our single site observations to a global network.

Application of High Resolution Land Use Data on the Possibility to Mitigate Urban Thermal Environment (고해상도 지표자료를 이용한 도시 열환경 완화효과 가능성에 관한 연구)

  • Lee, Kwi-Ok;Lee, Hyun-Ju;Lee, Hwa-Woon
    • Journal of Environmental Science International
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    • v.18 no.4
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    • pp.423-434
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    • 2009
  • In recent years, the urban thermal environment has become worse, such as days on which the temperature goes above $30^{\circ}C$, sultry nights and heat stroke increase, due to the changes in terrestrial cover such as concrete and asphalt and increased anthropogenic heat emission accompanied by artificial structure. The land use type is an important determinant to near-surface air temperature. Due to these reasons we need to understand and improve the urban thermal environment. In this study, the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model(MMS) was applied to the metropolitan of Daegu area in order to investigate the influence of land cover changes and urban modifications increase of Albedo to the surface energy budget on the simulated near-surface air temperature and wind speed. The single urban category in existing 24-category U.S. Geological survey land cover classification used in MM5 was divided into 6 classes to account for heterogeneity of urban land cover. As a result of the numerical simulation intended for the metropolitan of Daegu assumed the increase of Albedo of roofs, buildings, or roads, the increase of Albedo (Cool scenario)can make decrease radiation effect of surface, so that it caused drops in ambient air temperature from 0.2 to 0.3 on the average during the daylight hours and smaller (or near-zero) decrease during the night. The Sensible heat flux and Wind velocity is decreased. Modeling studies suggest that increased surface albedo in urban area can reduce surface and air temperatures near the ground and affect related meteorological parameters such as winds, surface air temperature and sensible heat flux.

The Impact of Air Temperature During the Growing Season on NEE of the Apple Orchard (사과 생육기의 기온이 사과원의 NEE에 미치는 영향)

  • Kim, Gun-Yeob;Lee, Seul-Bi;Lee, Jong-Sik;Choi, Eun-Jung;Ryu, Jong-Hee
    • Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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    • v.45 no.6
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    • pp.1211-1215
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    • 2012
  • Terrestrial ecosystem are a strong sink of carbon. Forest ecosystem, one of them, has been expected to play an important role in climate changing process by absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide. On the other hand, agricultural ecosystem that consists mainly of annual crops is regarded as poor contributor to carbon accumulation, because its production (carbon hydrate) is decomposed into carbon at a short period, which is emitted to the atmosphere. However, it is thought that fruit tree plays a great role in decreasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, same as forest. Net ecosystem exchange of $CO_2$ (NEE) was measured to estimate carbon fixation capacity using an eddy covariance (EC) system method in 2 years from 2005 to 2006 at an apple orchard in Uiseong, Gyeongbuk. Average air temperature values were higher in 2006 than in 2005 during the dormant season, and lower by about $5^{\circ}C$ over the growing season causing visible cold injuries. Accordingly, we investigated long-term exchange of carbon to determine how much difference of carbon fixation capacity was shown between 2006 and 2005 in terms of environmental and plant variables such as NEE, leaf area index (LAI), and Albedo. NEE was $4.8Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ in 2005 and $4.7Mg\;C\;ha^{-1}yr^{-1}$ in 2006, respectively. Low temperature after July in 2006 decreased LAI values faster than those in 2005. Meanwhile, Albedo values were higher after July in 2006 than in 2005. These results show that the low temperature after July in 2006 apparently affected apple growth.

Comment on "Estimation of Net Radiation in Three Different Plant Functional Types in Korea" (한국의 세 개의 다른 식생기능형태에서의 순복사 추정 논문에 대한 의견)

  • Kang, Min-Seok;Kim, Joon
    • Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.118-122
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    • 2009
  • Net Radiation ($R_N$) is the major driving force for biophysical and biogeochemical processes in the terrestrial ecosystems, which is one of the most critical variables in both measurement and modeling. Despite its importance, there are only 10 weather stations conducting $R_N$ measurements among the 544 stations operated by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA; KMA, 2008). The measurement of incoming shortwave radiation ($R_S{\downarrow}$) is, however, conducted at 22 stations while that of sunshine duration is conducted at all the manned stations. In this context, the recent research for estimating $R_N$ using $R_S{\downarrow}$ in Korean peninsula by Kwon (2009) is of great worth. The author used a linear regression and the radiation balance methods. We generally agree with the author that, in terms of simplicity and practicality, both methods show reliable applicability for estimating $R_N$. We noted, however, that the author's experimental method and analysis need some clarification and improvement, that are addressed in the following perspectives: (1) the use of daily integrated data for regression, (2) the use of measured albedo, (3) the use of linear coefficients for whole year data, (4) methodological improvement, (5) the use of sunshine duration, and (6) the error assessment.