Abstract: The Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) is a fast, 1-D radiative transfer model designed to simulate top-of-the-atmosphere radiances consistent with a wide variety of satellite based sensors. The CRTM was primarily developed by JCSDA-funded scientists with essential contributions from NOAA/STAR and NOAA/EMC scientists. The primary goal of CRTM is to provide fast, accurate satellite radiance simulations and associated Jacobian calculations under all weather and surface conditions. CRTM supports all current operational and many research passive sensors, covering wavelengths ranging from the visible through the microwave. The model has undergone substantial improvement and expansion, since the first version in 2004. The CRTM has been used in the NOAA/NCEP and U.S. Navy operational data assimilation systems and by many other JCSDA partners such as NOAA/NESDIS/STAR, NOAA/OAR, NASA/GMAO, Naval Research Laboratory, Air Force Weather, and within multiple university environments. Over the past 14 years, both external research groups and operational centers alike have made essential contributions to the continued development and growth of CRTM. A major goal of the CRTM core team is to ensure that CRTM becomes a true community radiative transfer model for all users. The CRTM official baseline code is developed and maintained based on internal and community-wide inputs, consisting of both improvements and externally contributed codes. This presentation will briefly review the scientific and technical basis of CRTM, including its many strengths and limitations. There will also be an overview of the current status of the recently released CRTM version 2.3.0; and the future planned release of CRTM version 3.0.0 - which will represent a major milestone in CRTM’s development and capabilities.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Benjamin T. Johnson joined NOAA/NESDIS/STAR (via AER, Inc.) in support of JCSDA in July 2015. In January 2017, he was hired through UCAR as the JCSDA project lead for the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM). Dr. Johnson's primary responsibilities are to ensure that the CRTM project continues to be proactively developed and managed to meet operational user requirements. This involves coordinating efforts and support for a large number of users and developers across a wide range of agencies and universities, both domestic and international.
Dr. Johnson received a B.S. in Physics from Oklahoma State University, with an emphasis on hard-sphere sedimentation crystallization and photonics. Combining his interest in weather, computing, and physics, he studied Atmospheric Science at Purdue University, where he received a M.S. degree. The next stop was the University of Wisconsin, where he completed his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science advised by Dr. Grant Petty. Before completing his Ph.D. in 2007, Dr. Johnson started working at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 2004 on the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, primarily focused on precipitation retrieval algorithm development and satellite observation simulations. During the intervening years, he has coordinated multiple NASA field campaigns as a mission scientist, and actively participates in the CGMS/WMO International Precipitation Working Group (IPWG), International TOVs Working Group (ITWC), and the International Workshop on Space-based Snowfall Measurement (IWSSM). He is a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Dr. Johnson's primary areas of expertise are measuring and simulating cloud microphysical processes, theoretical and applied atmospheric radiative transfer, satellite remote sensing of clouds and precipitation, and satellite-based radar simulations in cold-cloud precipitating scenes.
