VELOX – a new thermal infrared imager for airborne remote sensing of cloud and surface properties

VELOX – a new thermal infrared imager for airborne remote sensing of cloud and surface properties

The new airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imager VELOX (Video airbornE Longwave Observations within siX channels) is introduced. VELOX is a commercially available TIR camera system that has been adapted extensively for atmospheric applications, which are introduced in this paper. The system covers six...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric measurement techniques Vol. 15; no. 5; pp. 1491 - 1509
Main Authors: Schäfer, Michael, Wolf, Kevin, Ehrlich, André, Hallbauer, Christoph, Jäkel, Evelyn, Jansen, Friedhelm, Luebke, Anna Elizabeth, Müller, Joshua, Thoböll, Jakob, Röschenthaler, Timo, Stevens, Bjorn, Wendisch, Manfred
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 16-03-2022
Copernicus Publications
Subjects:
Airborne remote sensing
Airborne sensing
Aircraft
Altitude
Analysis
Atmospheric temperature
Brightness temperature
Calibration
Cloud properties
Clouds
Corrections
High altitude
Meteorological satellites
Nonuniformity
Radiance
Radiation
Radiometers
Remote sensing
Research aircraft
Resolution
Sensors
Spectral bands
Surface properties
Surface radiation temperature
Temperature
Terrestrial environments
Wavelengths
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Summary:The new airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imager VELOX (Video airbornE Longwave Observations within siX channels) is introduced. VELOX is a commercially available TIR camera system that has been adapted extensively for atmospheric applications, which are introduced in this paper. The system covers six spectral bands with centre wavelengths between 7.7 and 12 µm. Currently, VELOX is installed on board the German High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) to observe cloud and surface properties. It provides observations of two-dimensional (2D) fields of upward terrestrial spectral radiance with a horizontal resolution of approximately 10 m×10 m at a target distance of 10 km. Atmospheric temperature values are rather low compared to the originally intended commercial applications of VELOX and range close to the detection limit of the sensor. This challenge requires additional calibration efforts to enable atmospheric applications of VELOX. Therefore, required sophisticated calibration and correction procedures, including radiometric calibrations, non-uniformity corrections, bad-pixel replacements, and window corrections, are presented. Furthermore, first observations of cloud properties acquired by VELOX during the EUREC4A (ElUcidating the RolE of Cloud-Circulation Coupling in ClimAte) campaign are discussed, including an analysis of the cloud top brightness temperature, cloud mask/fraction, and cloud top altitude data. The data reveal the potential of VELOX to resolve the cloud top temperature with a resolution of better than 0.1 K, which translates into a resolution of approximately 40 m in cloud top altitude.
ISSN:1867-8548
1867-1381
1867-8548
DOI:10.5194/amt-15-1491-2022