# Presentation: 640927

## Stratified Arctic Clouds 

**August 23, 2000**

## Salt Playas of the Bolivian Altiplano

**Notes:**
In the high plateau of southwestern Bolivia, two large salt deserts, or playas, are located between the eastern and western Andes. The Salar de Uyuni is the largest and highest playa in the world, encompassing an area of more than 9000 square kilometers and situated more than 3600 meters above sea level. It is separated by a range of hills from its smaller neighbor to the north, the Salar de Coipasa. During the Pleistocene the climate of the region was wetter and the entire area was covered by a massive lake. As the waters slowly dried, abundant dissolved minerals were left behind to form the playas. The salt pans are now excellent indicators of rainfall fluctuations within the region and are also important sites for the study of paleoclimatology.

These two image pairs from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) depict the playas on January 16, 2002 and January 3, 2003. At this time of year the wet season has already begun, and the Salar de Coipaso is usually at least partially flooded. Data from these two dates were processed identically to preserve relative variations in brightness between them. Varying degrees of surface moisture around the two playas are illustrated by the different display techniques of the right and left-hand panels.

At left are two false-color views acquired by MISR's nadir camera. Data from the near-infrared, green and blue bands are displayed as red, green and blue. This spectral display causes bright, wet surfaces to appear blue-green because water selectively absorbs longer wavelengths such as near-infrared. Significantly more standing water is present in the Salar de Coipaso in 2002 than in 2003. However, a stronger signal at the near-infrared band on the 2003 date, which causes the overall hue in the 2003 image to be redder than 2002, suggests an increase in photosynthetic activity (plant growth) at the 2003 date compared with one year earlier.

The right-hand panels were created using only red band data, and are multi-angle composites in which color variations serve as a proxy for changes in angular reflectance. Data from the 46-degree forward, nadir and 46-degree backward-viewing cameras are displayed here as red, green and blue. The angular composites contain information relating to surface moisture and/or texture characteristics that are not apparent with a single view. In the southern hemisphere, the backward pointing cameras receive a stronger signal from surfaces which predominantly forward scatter sunlight (which generally tend to be smooth and/or wet surfaces). The salt encrusted playas appear bright white and gray but the edges of the playas and some smaller salt flats exhibit a purple-blue hue that corresponds with enhanced forward scattering, possibly caused by greater moisture content of these soils. If this interpretation is correct, it indicates that the soil moisture content is greater around the playa perimeters on the 2003 date.

Thin, wispy clouds that are almost invisible over the Salar de Uyuni in the nadir 2003 image are also more easily identified using the composite views, since geometric parallax associated with the clouds' elevation above the surface causes the individual camera images to be spatially separated.
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. These data products were generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbits 11071 and 16197. The panels cover an area of 199 kilometers x 174 kilometers, and utilize data from blocks 106 to 107 within World Reference System-2 path 233.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.
Text acknowledgment: Clare Averill (Acro Service Corporation/Jet Propulsion Laboratory), David J. Diner (Jet Propulsion Laboratory).

## Ice Types in the Beaufort Sea, Alaska

**19 March 2001**

**Notes:**
Determining the amount and type of sea ice in the polar oceans is crucial to improving our knowledge and understanding of polar weather and long term climate fluctuations. These views from two satellite remote sensing instruments; the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board the RADARSAT satellite and the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), illustrate different methods that may be used to assess sea ice type. Sea ice in the Beaufort Sea off the north coast of Alaska was classified and mapped in these concurrent images acquired March 19, 2001 and mapped to the same geographic area.

To identify sea ice types, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Ice Center constructs ice charts using several data sources including RADARSAT SAR images such as the one shown at left. SAR classifies sea ice types primarily by how the surface and subsurface roughness influence radar backscatter. In the SAR image, white lines delineate different sea ice zones as identified by the National Ice Center. Regions of mostly multiyear ice (A) are separated from regions with large amounts of first year and younger ice (B-D), and the dashed white line at bottom marks the coastline. In general, sea ice types that exhibit increased radar backscatter appear bright in SAR and are identified as rougher, older ice types. Younger, smoother ice types appear dark to SAR. Near the top of the SAR image, however, red arrows point to bright areas in which large, crystalline "frost flowers" have formed on young, thin ice, causing this young ice type to exhibit an increased radar backscatter. Frost flowers are strongly backscattering at radar wavelengths (cm) due to both surface roughness and the high salinity of frost flowers, which causes them to be highly reflective to radar energy.

Surface roughness is also registered by MISR, although the roughness observed is at a different spatial scale. Older, rougher ice areas are predominantly backward scattering to the MISR cameras, whereas younger, smoother ice types are predominantly forward scattering. The MISR map at right was generated using a statistical classification routine (called ISODATA) and analyzed using ice charts from the National Ice Center. Five classes of sea ice were found based upon the classification of MISR angular data. These are described, based on interpretation of the SAR image, by the image key. Very smooth ice areas that are predominantly forward scattering are colored red. Frost flowers are largely smooth to the MISR visible band sensor and are mapped as forward scattering. Areas mapped as blue are predominantly backward scattering, and the other three classes have statistically distinct angular signatures and fall within the middle of the forward/backward scattering continuum. Some areas that may be first year or younger ice between the multi year ice floes are not discernible to SAR, illustrating how MISR potentially can make a unique contribution to sea ice mapping.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. This data product was generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 6663. The MISR image has been cropped to include an area that is 200 kilometers wide, and utilizes data from blocks 30 to 33 within World Reference System-2 path 71.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team; RADARSAT image courtesy NOAA Satellite Active Archive. Figure courtesy IEEE, previously published in: A. Nolin et al., IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, July 2002, v. 40, pp. 1605-1615.

Text acknowledgment: Clare Averill (Acro Service Corporation/Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Florence Fetterer (National Snow and Ice Data Center) and Anne W. Nolin (Oregon State University).

## Fires in the Australian Capital Territory

**18 January 2003**

**Notes:**
The height and extent of billowing smoke plumes from bushfires near Canberra, the Australian capital, are illustrated by these views from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR). The images were acquired on January 18, 2003. Never before had fires of this magnitude come so close to Australia's capital. Four people lost their lives and over 500 homes were destroyed, mostly in the southwestern suburbs. Australia's famous Mount Stromlo Observatory, located immediately west of the city, was also incinerated by the fires.

The top panel portrays a natural-color view from MISR's nadir camera, in which the eastern portion of the Australian Capital Territory is located south of a pale, ephemeral lake in the upper left-hand corner (Lake George). Several smoke plumes originate within the eastern part of the Australian Capital Territory, while the major plumes originate to the west of the image area. The Australian Capital Territory and much of New South Wales are completely obscured by the smoke, which is driven by fierce westerly winds and extends eastward to the coast and over the Pacific Ocean. 

The lower panel provides a stereoscopically retrieved height field of the clouds and smoke plumes. The greenish areas indicate where smoke plumes extend several kilometers above a bank of patchy stratus clouds below. A few high clouds appear near the bottom of the image. Wind retrievals were excluded from this image in order to generate a smooth and continuous field. Although relative height variations are well-represented here, the inclusion of wind retrievals for this scene reduces the actual cloud height results by 1 to 2 kilometers. Areas where heights could not be retrieved are shown as dark gray.

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously and every 9 days views the entire globe between 82 degrees north and 82 degrees south latitude. This data product was generated from a portion of the imagery acquired during Terra orbit 16421. The panels cover an area of 380 kilometers x 253 kilometers, and utilize data from blocks 118 to 120 within World Reference System-2 path 89.

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.
Text acknowledgment: Clare Averill (Acro Service Corporation/Jet Propulsion Laboratory).

## Aerosols over Houston and Galveston Bay

**12 September 2002**