• Atmosphere
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.137-147
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• 2012

The technique of Brightness Temperature Difference (BTD) between 11 and $12{\mu}m$ separates yellow sand dust from clouds according to the difference in absorptive characteristics between the channels. However, this method causes consistent false alarms in many cases, especially over the desert. In order to reduce these false alarms, we should eliminate the background noise originated from surface. We adopted the Background BTD (BBTD), which stands for surface characteristics on clear sky condition without any dust or cloud. We took an average of brightness temperatures of 11 and $12{\mu}m$ channels during the previous 15 days from a target date and then calculated BTD of averaged ones to obtain decontaminated pixels from dust. After defining the BBTD, we subtracted this index from BTD for the Yellow Sand Index (YSI). In the previous study, this method was already verified using the geostationary satellite, MTSAT. In this study, we applied this to the polar orbiting satellite, MODIS, to detect yellow sand dust over Northeast Asia. Products of yellow sand dust from OMI and MTSAT were used to verify MODIS YSI. The coefficient of determination between MODIS YSI and MTSAT YSI was 0.61, and MODIS YSI and OMI AI was also 0.61. As a result of comparing two products, significantly enhanced signals of dust aerosols were detected by removing the false alarms over the desert. Furthermore, the discontinuity between land and ocean on BTD was removed. This was even effective on the case of fall. This study illustrates that the proposed algorithm can provide the reliable distribution of dust aerosols over the desert even at night.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.149-152
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• 2007

The detection of yellow sand dust using satellite has been utilized from various bands from ultraviolet to infrared channels. Among them, Infrared channels have an advantage of detecting aerosols over high reflecting surface as well as during nighttime. Especially, brightness temperature difference between 11 and 12{\mu}m(BTD) was often used to distinguish between water cloud and yellow sand, because Ice and liquid water particles preferentially absorb longer wavelengths while aerosol particles preferentially absorb shorter wavelengths. We have found that the BTD significantly depends on surface temperature, emissivity, and zenith angle and thereby the threshold of BTD. In order to overcome these problems, we have constructed the background brightness temperature threshold of BTD and then subtracted it from BTD. Along with this, we utilized high temporal coverage of geostationary satellite, MTSAT-1R, to verify the reliability of the retrieved signal in conjunction with forecasted wind information. The statistical score test illustrated that this newly developed algorithm showed a promising result for detecting mineral dust by reducing the errors in the current BTD method.

• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.227-236
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• 2009

This study investigates the characteristics of cloud top brightness temperature (CTBT) of WV and IR1 from MTSAT-1R when lightning strikes in South Korea. For temporal and spatial collocations, lightnings, occurred only within ${\pm}5$ minutes from the six minutes added official satellite observation time (e.g., not 0600 UTC but 0606 UTC, considering the real scan time over South Korea), were selected. And the CTBTs corresponding to lightning spots were determined using the nearest pixel within 5 km. The brightness temperature difference (BTD, defined as WV - IR1) between two channels is negatively large when no lightning occurrs, whereas it increases up to positive values (sometimes, +5 K) and the largest frequency distributes around 225 K and 205 K in lightning cases. The probablistic approach for lightning frequency forecast, presented by Machado et al. (2008) in Southern America, was applied over South Korea and new exponential equations, with high coefficients of determination around 0.95 to 0.99, were developed using two channels' BTDs when lightning strikes. Moreover, a case study on 10th June, 2006, the largest number of lightning occurred between 2002 and 2006, was made. The major finding is that lightning activity is closely related to the dramatic decreases in BT and the increases in BTD (esp., equal to or larger than 0 K). Lightning frequency increases exponentially when BTD increases up to 0 K. Therefore, lightning forecast skill will be improved when the integrated strategy (synoptic background and satellite-based CTBT and BTD) is applied. It is believed that this study contributes to the application of the Korean first geostationary satellite (COMS), scheduled to launch at the end of this year, to severe weather detections.