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This paper presents a method for estimating the solar transmittance of urban trees using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and the radiative transfer simulation of vegetation. The leaf area density (LAD) distribution of trees with voxel size 1 m × 1 m × 0.5 m is estimated using high-resolution and multireturn airborne LiDAR data. The LAD of voxels having few incident laser beams is corrected from the surrounding voxels. The LAD of the periphery of the crown is discretized into 0.5 m × 0.5 m × 0.5 m voxels to accurately calculate the shaded area. The resulting LAD distribution is used in a radiative transfer simulation to calculate the solar transmittance of the trees. We verified the accuracy of the calculated transmittance by comparing it with empirical data for a Zelkova serrata. The comparisons were conducted under different angles of incidence of laser beams and solar radiation. When the angle between the incident laser beams and solar radiation was small, the transmittance could be accurately estimated. The LAD correction enabled the method to be applied to a broader range of the angle between beams and solar radiation. When the zenith angle of the incident laser beams was small (< 10 • ) and the LAD correction was carried out, the errors in transmittance were within 0.06 for solar altitudes greater than 40 • . Next, we examined the difference in solar transmittance among streets caused by the layout of trees and buildings and the growth condition of the trees. It was shown that the present method is able to quantify the solar shading provided by urban trees and take into account LAD, tree layout, and the spatial geometry of the surrounding buildings.Index Terms-Airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR), leaf area density (LAD), radiative transfer simulation, solar shading, trees, urban spaces.

Abstract. Satellite remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) has attracted attention as a method for improving the estimation accuracy of the photosynthetic production of terrestrial vegetation in recent years. The Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) has the ability to observe both SIF and the concentrations of CO2 and CH4 and thus is expected to contribute to the understanding of the global carbon budget. Evaluating artefact signals (e.g. zero-level offset caused by non-linearity in the analogue circuit in the case of GOSAT) is effective for inferring the instrument status and important for retrieving SIF from satellite measurements. Here we investigate the characteristics of the zero-level offset and the consistency of satellite-derived SIFs by comparing the derived SIF with the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) SIF at multiple spatial scales (footprint to global). The zero-level offset was evaluated using filling-in signals over bare soil while investigating the criteria for identifying barren areas. An analysis of the temporal variation of the zero-level offset over a period of 9 years suggests that the radiometric sensitivity of the GOSAT spectrometer changed after switching the optics path selector in January 2015. The GOSAT SIF was highly consistent with the OCO-2 SIF, with a bias within 0.1 mW m−2 nm−1 sr−1 for most months and an inter-region bias of about 0.2 mW m−2 nm−1 sr−1. Our results agree with the previous comparisons and support the consistency among the present satellite SIF data, which is important for the utilization of those data.

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We investigated the distribution of air temperature (Ta) and the factors affecting it in low-rise areas surrounding an isolated high-rise building during the Japanese winter. The study site was the central part of a regional city in Japan (36°5′ N, 140°12′ E), lying north-east of the Tokyo metropolitan area. The daytime surface temperature (Ts) in the shade is generally considered to be comparable to Ta; however, according to airborne remote sensing conducted in December 2009 where a multi-spectral scanner was installed on a fixed-wing aircraft, Ts for pavements in the shade of a high-rise building was significantly lower than Ta of sub-urban areas, indicating an influence of cold storage on Ts. Then, we conducted mobile observations using instruments (thermocouple, four component radiometer, and so on) installed on a bicycle in January 2016 to investigate the detailed distribution of Ta and the factors affecting it. The results showed the Ta over the pavements in the shade of the high-rise building was lower than the Ta of sunlit areas in the same urban area by −2 °C and lower than the Ta of sub-urban areas by −1–1.5 °C, although the advection effect was large due to strong winds around the building. In conclusion, a locally lower Ta compared to the surrounding areas can develop during the day in winter, even in spaces that are open to areas beyond the canopy.

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