Pre-Meeting Workshop
Monday, June 10 | 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. MDT
The MODTRAN Statistical Band Model Algorithm and Application of the Model as a Tool for Sensor Calibration
The MODTRAN® (MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission) radiative transfer model enjoys worldwide acceptance as a sensor spectral channel radiance simulation and validation tool. Since its inception in the late 1980s, the MODTRAN statistical band model gained popularity for both its greatly enhanced speed relative to the first principle, line-by-line codes of the day (in particular, FASCODE), and for its comparable radiometric accuracy. While there have been many substantial advances to the MODTRAN band model transmittance algorithm over almost four decades, the core of the statistical algorithm remains a constant. In this session, the MODTRAN statistical band model transmittance algorithm will be described. This will be followed by a demonstration of MODTRAN’s use, including an opportunity for participants to request calculations for problems of interest.
Dr. Alexander Berk, Principal Scientist, Spectral Sciences, Inc.
Dr. Alexander Berk’s first project upon joining Spectral Sciences, Inc. (SSI) in 1986 was an effort to increase the spectral resolution of LOWTRAN, leading to the development of MODTRAN. His research activities have concentrated on narrow spectral channel radiative transfer (RT) and the modeling of absorption, scattering, radiance, flux, and remote sensing phenomena in the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, microwave, and longer wavelength spectral regions. As the lead developer of MODTRAN, he greatly enhanced the accuracy of the MODTRAN band model RT algorithm, collaborated on the development of the first statistical correlated-k algorithm, generalized the plane-parallel DISORT discrete ordinate scattering model for application to MODTRAN’s spherical shell layered atmosphere, and introduced a new and rapid line-by-line radiance algorithm. Dr. Berk is also the lead model developer for the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) RT algorithms in MCScene, SSI’s state-of-the-art 3D hyperspectral image simulation software; for this model, Dr. Berk reformulated the RT equations to enable spectral channel solar and thermal radiances to be computed without requiring sub-channel spectral sampling, accelerating processing by orders of magnitude. His current work includes involvement in the development of polarimetric VDISORT and MODTRAN7, introducing a 3-parameter spectrally universal (UV to RF) molecular line shape function, development of twilight MODTRAN, and extending MCScene and MODTRAN RT through the air-water interface and into the underwater environment.
