The Development of a Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer and Its Application to Remote Sensing of the Earth
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Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations Electrical & Computer Engineering Spring 1980 The Development of a Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer and Its Application to Remote Sensing of the Earth Richard Forrest Harrington Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ece_etds Part of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Commons, and the Remote Sensing Commons Recommended Citation Harrington, Richard F.. "The Development of a Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer and Its Application to Remote Sensing of the Earth" (1980). Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/5b7z-rm03 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ece_etds/195 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electrical & Computer Engineering at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STEPPED FREQUENCY MICROWAVE RADIOMETER AND ITS APPLICATION TO REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH 137 Richard Forrest Harrington B.S.E.E. June i960, Virginia Polytechnic Institute M.E. December 1976, Old Dominion University A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ENGINEERING OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY May 1980 Approved by: William D. /Stanley ind R. Mielke all MolenMolen (J Calvin tT Bwiff f T Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to ray wife, Patricia; and my three daughters, Susan, Janey, and Courtney. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STEPPED FREQUENCY MICROWAVE RADIOMETER AND ITS APPLICATION TO REMOTE SENSING OF THE EARTH Richard Forrest Harrington Old Dominion University, 1980 Director: Dr. William D. Stanley The design, development, application, and capabilities of a vari able frequency microwave radiometer are described. This radiometer has demonstrated the versatility, accuracy, and stability required to pro vide contributions to the geophysical understanding of ocean and ice processes. The design technique utilized a closed-loop feedback method, whereby noise pulses were added to the received electromagnetic radia tion to achieve a null balance in a Dicke switched radiometer. Sta bility was achieved through the use of a constant temperature enclosure around the low loss microwave front end. The Dicke reference tempera ture was maintained to an absolute accuracy of 0.1 K using a closed-loop proportional temperature controller. Versatility was achieved by devel oping a microprocessor based digital controller which operates the radiometer and records the data on computer compatible tapes. Accuracy analysis has shown that this radiometer exhibits an absolute accuracy of better than 0.5 K when the sensitivity is 0.1 K. The sensitivity varies between 0.0125 K and 1.25 K depending upon the bandwidth and integration time selected by the digital controller. Computational techniques were developed to (l) predict the radio- metric brightness temperature at the input to the radiometer antenna as Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. a function of the geophysical parameters, (2 ) compute the required input radiometric brightness temperature as a function of the radiometer out put using a mathematical model of the radiometer, (3 ) achieve computa tional efficiency through a simplified algorithm to determine the expected radiometric brightness temperature, and (If) calculate the emissivity of a layered dielectric media such as ice over water. The effects of atmospheric absorption due to oxygen, water vapor, nonpre cipitating clouds have been included. Correction factors for the finite antenna beamwidth, surface roughness, and wind induced foam were employed in these computations. Remote sensing experiments were conducted from an aircraft platform using this radiometer. The purpose of these experiments was to demon strate that the accuracy and versatility of this instrument had been achieved in actual field experiments. Four significant scientific observations were accomplished during these experiments. These observa tions consisted of the first radiometric mapping of an ocean polar front, exploratory experiments to measure the thickness of lake ice, first dis crimination between first year and multiyear ice below 10 GHz, and the first known measurements of frequency sensitive characteristics of sea ice. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to and wish to acknowledge with sincere appre ciation the never ending encouragement and assistance of Dr. Calvin T. Swift of NASA, Langley Research Center, during the past seven years. Dr. Swift urged me to return to my studies after an absence of fourteen years and provided guidance throughout my years of study and research. Also, I would like to acknowledge ray appreciation to my principal advisor, Dr. William D. Stanley, for the guidance and inspiration throughout my studies at Old Dominion University. The assistance of Dr. Roland R. Mielke, Dr. John H. Heinbockel, Dr. G. Marshall Molen, and Dr. Steven A. Zahorian in reviewing this thesis is appreciated. I would like to express a special thanks to Dr. William J. Campbell of the U.S. Geological Survey and Dr. Ola M. Johannessen of the Geo physical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway, who provided that final inspiration needed to complete ray research. I wish to thank the personnel of the Flight Electronics Division, Langley Research Center, especially William F. Croswell, Richard H. Couch, John C. Fedors, Herbert F. Thornton, and Evelyn S. Martin for their assistance over the past seven years. Sue Seward and Richard Peacock of the Technical Library at the Langley Research Center pro vided outstanding assistance to me during my research. Special appreciation is extended to James L. Lindemann, mission manager; Richard D. Tuntland and Kenneth R. Haugen, pilots; and the entire flight crew of the NASA C-130 "Earth Survey 2" from the Johnson Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Space Center, Houston, Texas. The field measurements obtained during this research would have not been possible without the excellent capa bility of these people to perform their duties in the severe environment of the Arctic. The assistance of two students from Old Dominion University, Wes Lawrence who provided the computer modeling of the radiometer and Sally Kerpelman who assisted in the data analysis was very valuable. Also, my sincere thanks to Mary Edwards for her outstanding talents in typing this dissertation. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF T A B L E S ....................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES...................................................viii LIST OF SYMBOLS....................................................xii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION ............................................... 1 Objective of This Research .............................. 1 Background of Microwave Radiometers ...................... 2 Background of Microwave Radiometer Remote Sensing Measurements.................................... I* O v e r v i e w .................... 7 II. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS ...................................... 9 Radiative Transfer Equation .............................. 9 Atmospheric Absorption and Emission ...................... 15 Thermal Emission From NaturalSurfaces ................... 23 Radiating Properties of Water and I c e ..................... 3^ III. INSTRUMENT DESIGN AND A N A L Y S I S ............................ U7 Design Technique ........................................ H7 Design Description ...................................... 52 A n a l y s i s ................................................ 83 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vi Chapter Page IV. RADIOMETER ALGORITHMS ...................................... 10U Radiative Transfer Equation Algorithm...................... 10lf Antenna Pattern Correction ................................ Ill* Windspeed Correction ..................................... 116 Cloud C o r r e c t i o n .......................................... 119 Sea Surface Temperature Inversion Algorithm ................. 122 V. AIRCRAFT' REMOTE SENSING RESULTS ............................. 12k Radiometric Mapping of an Ocean Polar Front ................. 12k Ice Thickness Measurements ............................... 129 Sea Ice Measurements...................................... 139 VI. CONCLUSIONS.................................................. 153 LIST OF R E F E R E N C E S ................................................ 156 APPENDIXES A. ERROR DUE TO RAYLEIGH-JEANS APPROXIMATION ..................... 162 B. RADIATIVE TRANSFER EQUATION PROGRAM ........................... l6 k Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further