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Cross-calibration of brightness temperature obtained by FY-3B/MWRI using Aqua/AMSR-E data for snow depth retrieval in the Arctic

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Abstract

This study cross-calibrated the brightness temperatures observed in the Arctic by using the FY-3B/MWRI L1 and the Aqua/AMSR-E L2A. The monthly parameters of the cross-calibration were determined and evaluated using robust linear regression. The snow depth in case of seasonal ice was calculated by using parameters of the cross-calibration of data from the MWRI Tb. The correlation coefficients of the H/V polarization among all channels Tb of the two sensors were higher than 0.97. The parameters of the monthly cross-calibration were useful for the snow depth retrieval using the MWRI. Data from the MWRI Tb were cross-calibrated to the AMSR-E baseline. Biases in the data of the two sensors were optimized to approximately 0 K through the cross-calibration, the standard deviations decreased significantly in the range of 1.32 K to 2.57 K, and the correlation coefficients were as high as 99%. An analysis of the statistical distributions of the histograms before and after cross-calibration indicated that the FY-3B/MWRI Tb data had been well calibrated. Furthermore, the results of the cross-calibration were evaluated by data on the daily average Tb at 18.7 GHz, 23.8 GHz, and 36.5 GHz (V polarization), and at 89 GHz (H/V polarization), and were applied to the snow depths retrieval in the Arctic. The parameters of monthly cross-calibration were found to be effective in terms of correcting the daily average The results of the snow depths were compared with those of the calibrated MWRI and AMSR-E products. Biases of 0.18 cm to 0.38 cm were observed in the monthly snow depths, with the standard deviations ranging from 4.19 cm to 4.80 cm.

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Acknowledgements

The MWRI data were provided by the NSMC Satellite Data Center, and the AMSR-E data were provided by the DAAC of NASA at the American National Snow and Ice Data Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Information Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Haihua Chen, Lele Li & Lei Guan

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  1. Haihua Chen
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  2. Lele Li
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  3. Lei Guan
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Correspondence to Lei Guan.

Additional information

Foundation item: The National Key Research and Development Program of China under contract Nos 2019YFA0607001 and 2016YFC1402704; the Global Change Research Program of China under contract No. 2015CB9539011.

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Chen, H., Li, L. & Guan, L. Cross-calibration of brightness temperature obtained by FY-3B/MWRI using Aqua/AMSR-E data for snow depth retrieval in the Arctic. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 40, 43–53 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-021-1717-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-021-1717-2

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