Written byAaron GronstalSourceA fast and accurate PCA based radiative transfer model: Extension to the broadband shortwave region
April 12, 2016
Research Highlight
A Fast PCA-Based Radiative Transfer Model
Earth’s thin atmosphere is all that stands between life on Earth and the cold, dark void of space.Image credit: NASA.
Radiative transfer (RT) calculations are used in many applications for studying interactions between the Earth and its atmosphere, including remote sensing and climate modelling. One method, known as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), has been shown to increase computational speed while maintaining the accuracy of calculations over narrow spectral bands.
A new study has extended the PCA method for RT calculations over the entire shortwave region of the spectrum. The region from 0.3 to 3 microns is divided into 33 spectral fields, and covers all major gas absorption regimes.
The study, “A fast and accurate PCA based radiative transfer model: Extension to the broadband shortwave region,” was published in the Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. The work was supported by the NASA Astrobiology Institute element of the NASA Astrobiology Program.