Using Structure Tensors for Atmospheric Parameter Estimation

The structure tensor is a common tool for estimating motion in image sequences. The structure tensor can be extended to estimate other dynamical parameters such as diffusion constants or exponential decay rates. A general mathematical framework was developed for the direct estimation of the physical parameters that govern the underlying processes from image sequences. This estimation technique can be adapted to the specific physical problem under investigation, so it can be used in a variety of applications in trace gas, aerosol, and cloud remote sensing. The fundamental algorithm will be extended to the analysis of multi-channel (e.g. multi trace gas) image sequences and to provide solutions to the extended aperture problem. Based on this analysis, a method to compute atmospheric data parameter fields will be presented.