RESUMEN
Tracking climate variables at the levels of precision and accuracy required to detect global change requires satellite sensors to make highly consistent measurements that can be compared to measurements made at different times and with different instruments. Gaps in climate data records, such as those resulting from launch delay or instrument failure, and inconsistencies in radiometric scales between satellites can introduce unnecessary measurement error and thus undermine the credibility of fundamental climate data records. To address these issues, leading experts in satellite remote sensing and lunar observation and modeling assembled at the National Institute of Standards and Technology from 12-15 May 2012 for a workshop to discuss the utility of and strategies for using the Moon to calibrate satellite remote sensing measurements. This report summarizes the outcome of the workshop, including suggested steps to maximize the value of the Moon as an exoatmospheric calibration source for satellite remote sensing.
RESUMEN
We report a measurement of lunar spectral irradiance with an uncertainty below 1 % from 420 nm to 1000 nm. This measurement uncertainty meets the stability requirement for many climate data records derived from satellite images, including those for vegetation, aerosols, and snow and ice albedo. It therefore opens the possibility of using the Moon as a calibration standard to bridge gaps in satellite coverage and validate atmospheric retrieval algorithms. Our measurement technique also yields detailed information about the atmosphere at the measurement site, suggesting that lunar observations are a possible solution for aerosol monitoring during the polar winter and can provide nighttime measurements to complement aerosol data collected with sun photometers. Our measurement, made with a novel apparatus, is an order of magnitude more accurate than the previous state-of-the-art and has continuous spectral coverage, removing the need to interpolate between filter passbands.
RESUMEN
We used a torsion pendulum containing approximately 9 x 10(22) polarized electrons to search for CP-violating interactions between the pendulum's electrons and unpolarized matter in the laboratory's surroundings or the Sun, and to test for preferred-frame effects that would precess the electrons about a direction fixed in inertial space. We find, /g(P)(e)g(S)(N)//(Planck's constant x c) < 1.7 x 10(-36), and /g(A)(e)g(V)(N)//(Planck's constant x c) < 4.8 x 10(-56) for lambda > 1 AU. Our preferred-frame constraints, interpreted in the Kostelecký framework, set an upper limit on the parameter /b(e)/