scholarly journals Assessment of nocturnal aerosol optical depth from lunar photometry at the Izaña high mountain observatory

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 3007-3019 ◽  
Author(s):  
África Barreto ◽  
Roberto Román ◽  
Emilio Cuevas ◽  
Alberto J. Berjón ◽  
A. Fernando Almansa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Moon Phase ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Lunar Observations ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Single Night ◽  
Calibration Techniques

Abstract. This work is a first approach to correct the systematic errors observed in the aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved at nighttime using lunar photometry and calibration techniques dependent on the lunar irradiance model. To this end, nocturnal AOD measurements were performed in 2014 using the CE318-T master Sun–sky–lunar photometer (lunar Langley calibrated) at the Izaña high mountain observatory. This information has been restricted to 59 nights characterized as clean and stable according to lidar vertical profiles. A phase angle dependence as well as an asymmetry within the Moon's cycle of the Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO) model could be deduced from the comparison in this 59-night period of the CE318-T calibration performed by means of the lunar Langley calibration and the calibration performed every single night by means of the common Langley technique. Nocturnal AOD has also been compared in the same period with a reference AOD based on daylight AOD extracted from the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) at the same station. Considering stable conditions, the difference ΔAODfit, between AOD from lunar observations and the linearly interpolated AOD (the reference) from daylight data, has been calculated. The results show that ΔAODfit values are strongly affected by the Moon phase and zenith angles. This dependency has been parameterized using an empirical model with two independent variables (Moon phase and zenith angles) in order to correct the AOD for these residual dependencies. The correction of this parameterized dependency has been checked at four stations with quite different environmental conditions (Izaña, Lille, Carpentras and Dakar) showing a significant reduction of the AOD dependence on phase and zenith angles and an improved agreement with daylight reference data. After the correction, absolute AOD differences for day–night–day clean and stable transitions remain below 0.01 for all wavelengths.

scholarly journals Assessment of nocturnal Aerosol Optical Depth from lunar photometry at Izaña high mountain Observatory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
África Barreto ◽  
Roberto Román ◽  
Emilio Cuevas ◽  
Alberto J. Berjón ◽  
A. Fernando Almansa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Moon Phase ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Stable Conditions ◽  
Lunar Observations ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Single Night ◽  
Calibration Techniques

Abstract. This work is a first approach to correct the systematic errors observed in the aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved at night-time using lunar photometry and calibration techniques dependent on the lunar irradiance model. To this end, nocturnal AOD measurements were performed in 2014 using the CE318-T master Sun-sky-lunar photometer (Lunar-Langley calibrated) at Izaña high mountain Observatory. This information has been restricted to 59 nights characterized as clean and stable according to lidar vertical profiles. A phase angle dependence as well as an asymmetry within the Moon's cycle of the ROLO model could be deduced from the comparison in this 59-nights period of the CE318-T calibration performed by means of the Lunar-Langley and the calibration performed every single night by means of the common Langley technique. Nocturnal AOD has also been compared in the same period with a reference AOD based on daylight AOD extracted from the AERONET network at the same station. Considering stable conditions, the difference ΔAODfit, between AOD from lunar observations and the linearly interpolated AOD (the reference) from daylight data, has been calculated. The results show that ΔAODfit values are strongly affected by Moon phase and zenith angles. This dependency has been parameterized using an empirical model with two independent variables (Moon phase and zenith angles) in order to correct the AOD for these residual dependencies. The correction of this parameterized dependency has been checked at four stations with quite different environmental conditions (Izaña, Lille, Carpentras and Dakar) showing a significant reduction of the AOD dependence on phase and zenith angles, and an improved agreement with daylight reference data. After the correction, absolute AOD differences for day-night-day clean and stable transitions remain below 0.01 for all wavelengths.

scholarly journals Daytime aerosol optical depth above low-level clouds is similar to that in adjacent clear skies at the same heights: airborne observation above the southeast Atlantic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohei Shinozuka ◽  
Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen ◽  
Sharon P. Burton ◽  
Steven G. Howell ◽  
Paquita Zuidema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Wavelength Dependence ◽  
Single Scattering ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Satellite Retrieval ◽  
Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. To help satellite retrieval of aerosols and studies of their radiative effects, we demonstrate that daytime 532 nm aerosol optical depth over low-level clouds is similar to that in neighboring clear skies at the same heights in recent airborne lidar and sunphotometer observations above the southeast Atlantic. The mean AOD difference is between 0 and −0.01, when comparing the two sides, each up to 20 km wide, of cloud edges. The difference is not statistically significant according to a paired t-test. Systematic differences in the wavelength dependence of AOD and in situ single scattering albedo are also minute. These results hold regardless of the vertical distance between cloud top and aerosol layer bottom. AOD aggregated over ~ 2° grid boxes for each of September 2016, August 2017 and October 2018 also shows little correlation with the presence of low-level clouds. We posit that a satellite retrieval artifact is entirely responsible for a previous finding of generally smaller AOD over clouds (Chung et al., 2016), at least for the region and season of our study. Our results also suggest that the same values can be assumed for the intensive properties of free-tropospheric biomass-burning aerosol regardless of whether clouds exist below.

scholarly journals OMI tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> air mass factors over South America: effects of biomass burning aerosols

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 3831-3849 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Castellanos ◽  
K. F. Boersma ◽  
O. Torres ◽  
J. F. de Haan
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Cloud Parameters ◽  
Tropospheric No2 ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Aerosol Parameters

Abstract. Biomass burning is an important and uncertain source of aerosols and NOx (NO + NO2) to the atmosphere. Satellite observations of tropospheric NO2 are essential for characterizing this emissions source, but inaccuracies in the retrieval of NO2 tropospheric columns due to the radiative effects of aerosols, especially light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols, are not well understood. It has been shown that the O2–O2 effective cloud fraction and pressure retrieval is sensitive to aerosol optical and physical properties, including aerosol optical depth (AOD). Aerosols implicitly influence the tropospheric air mass factor (AMF) calculations used in the NO2 retrieval through the effective cloud parameters used in the independent pixel approximation. In this work, we explicitly account for the effects of biomass burning aerosols in the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) tropospheric NO2 AMF calculation for cloud-free scenes. We do so by including collocated aerosol extinction vertical profile observations from the CALIOP instrument, and aerosol optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) retrieved by the OMI near-UV aerosol algorithm (OMAERUV) in the DISAMAR radiative transfer model. Tropospheric AMFs calculated with DISAMAR were benchmarked against AMFs reported in the Dutch OMI NO2 (DOMINO) retrieval; the mean and standard deviation of the difference was 0.6 ± 8 %. Averaged over three successive South American biomass burning seasons (2006–2008), the spatial correlation in the 500 nm AOD retrieved by OMI and the 532 nm AOD retrieved by CALIOP was 0.6, and 68 % of the daily OMAERUV AOD observations were within 30 % of the CALIOP observations. Overall, tropospheric AMFs calculated with observed aerosol parameters were on average 10 % higher than AMFs calculated with effective cloud parameters. For effective cloud radiance fractions less than 30 %, or effective cloud pressures greater than 800 hPa, the difference between tropospheric AMFs based on implicit and explicit aerosol parameters is on average 6 and 3 %, respectively, which was the case for the majority of the pixels considered in our study; 70 % had cloud radiance fraction below 30 %, and 50 % had effective cloud pressure greater than 800 hPa. Pixels with effective cloud radiance fraction greater than 30 % or effective cloud pressure less than 800 hPa corresponded with stronger shielding in the implicit aerosol correction approach because the assumption of an opaque effective cloud underestimates the altitude-resolved AMF; tropospheric AMFs were on average 30–50 % larger when aerosol parameters were included, and for individual pixels tropospheric AMFs can differ by more than a factor of 2. The observation-based approach to correcting tropospheric AMF calculations for aerosol effects presented in this paper depicts a promising strategy for a globally consistent aerosol correction scheme for clear-sky pixels.

Lidar Measurements for Comparison of Atmospheric Aerosol Extinction and Scattering Properties over Lanzhou, China

2011 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 256-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xian Jie Cao ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Xiao Jing Quan ◽  
Bi Zhou ◽  
Jing Bao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Extinction Coefficient ◽  
Atmospheric Aerosol ◽  
Aerosol Extinction ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Lidar Measurements ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Aerosol Extinction Coefficient ◽  
Semi Arid

The aerosol comparison experiment was conducted in the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University since March to April 2007 with the measurements of two micro-pulse lidars MPL-4B and CE370-2. In the paper, the differences of aerosol extinction coefficient and optical depth retrieved from the observations of MPL-4B and CE370-2 are analyzed, and the results show: the aerosol extinction coefficient retrieved from the observation of MPL-4B is in general smaller than that from CE370-2, and the difference mainly exists in the low layer, while their trends of vertical profiles agree well; the aerosol optical depths from the observations of MPL-4B and CE370-2 correlate linearly rather well with the coefficient of 0.71, and the aerosol optical depth retrieved from the measurement of MPL-4B is less than that from CE370-2 in whole.

scholarly journals Effects of Ocean Ecosystem on Marine Aerosol-Cloud Interaction

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Meskhidze ◽  
Athanasios Nenes
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Surface Ocean ◽  
Microphysical Properties ◽  
Microphysical Parameters ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Ocean Ecosystem ◽  
Positive Correlations

Using satellite data for the surface ocean, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and cloud microphysical parameters, we show that statistically significant positive correlations exist between ocean ecosystem productivity, the abundance of submicron aerosols, and cloud microphysical properties over different parts of the remote oceans. The correlation coefficient for remotely sensed surface chlorophyllaconcentration ([Chl-a]) and liquid cloud effective radii over productive areas of the oceans varies between−0.2and−0.6. Special attention is given to identifying (and addressing) problems from correlation analysis used in the previous studies that can lead to erroneous conclusions. A new approach (using the difference between retrieved AOD and predicted sea salt aerosol optical depth,AODdiff) is developed to explore causal links between ocean physical and biological systems and the abundance of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in the remote marine atmosphere. We have found that over multiple time periods, 550 nmAODdiff(sensitive to accumulation mode aerosol, which is the prime contributor to CCN) correlates well with [Chl-a] over the productive waters of the Southern Ocean. Since [Chl-a] can be used as a proxy of ocean biological productivity, our analysis demonstrates the role of ocean ecology in contributing CCN, thus shaping the microphysical properties of low-level marine clouds.

scholarly journals Daytime aerosol optical depth above low-level clouds is similar to that in adjacent clear skies at the same heights: airborne observation above the southeast Atlantic

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 11275-11285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yohei Shinozuka ◽  
Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen ◽  
Sharon P. Burton ◽  
Steven G. Howell ◽  
Paquita Zuidema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Wavelength Dependence ◽  
Single Scattering ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Satellite Retrieval ◽  
Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. To help satellite retrieval of aerosols and studies of their radiative effects, we demonstrate that daytime aerosol optical depth over low-level clouds is similar to that in neighboring clear skies at the same heights. Based on recent airborne lidar and sun photometer observations above the southeast Atlantic, the mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) difference at 532 nm is between 0 and −0.01, when comparing the cloudy and clear sides, each up to 20 km wide, of cloud edges. The difference is not statistically significant according to a paired t test. Systematic differences in the wavelength dependence of AOD and in situ single scattering albedo are also minuscule. These results hold regardless of the vertical distance between cloud top and aerosol layer bottom. AOD aggregated over ∼2∘ grid boxes for each of September 2016, August 2017 and October 2018 also shows little correlation with the presence of low-level clouds. We posit that a satellite retrieval artifact is entirely responsible for a previous finding of generally smaller AOD over clouds (Chung et al., 2016), at least for the region and time of our study. Our results also suggest that the same values can be assumed for the intensive properties of free-tropospheric biomass-burning aerosol regardless of whether clouds are present below.

scholarly journals Comparison of MODIS- and CALIPSO-Derived Temporal Aerosol Optical Depth over Yellow River Basin (China) from 2007 to 2015

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-550
Author(s):  
Ziyue Zhang ◽  
Miao Zhang ◽  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
Bo Su ◽  
Chun Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Yellow River ◽  
Yellow River Basin ◽  
Temporal And Spatial Distribution ◽  
Deep Blue ◽  
Modis Aod ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Government

Abstract In this study, Collection 6.1 (C6.1) of different aerosol optical depth (AOD) products of different spatial resolutions were used from the aqua moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) including dark target (DT), deep blue (DB), deep blue (DB), and DT-DB (DTB). These products were compared with cloud-aerosol lidar, and infrared pathfinder satellite observation (CALIPSO) AOD retrievals over the Yellow River Basin (YERB), China from 2003 to 2017. The YERB was divided into three sub-regions, namely YERB1 (the mountainous terrain in the upper reaches of the YERB), YERB2 (the Loess Plateau region in the middle reaches of the YERB), and YERB3 (the plain region downstream of the YERB). Errors and agreement between MODIS and CALIPSO data were reported using Pearson’s correlation (R) and relative mean bias (RMB). Results showed that the CALIPSO whole layers AOD (AODS) were better matched with MODIS AOD than the CALIPSO lowest layer AOD (AOD1). The time series of AOD shows higher values in spring and summer, and a small difference in AOD products was observed in autumn. The overall average value of CALIPSO AOD and MODIS AOD both fitted the order: YERB3 > YERB2 > YERB1. The CALIPSO AOD retrievals have the best consistency with the DTB10K and the lowest consistency with DT3K. Overall, the regional distributions of the CALIPSO AOD and MODIS AOD are significantly different over the YERB, and the difference is closely related to the season, region, and topography. This study can help researchers understand the difference of aerosol temporal and spatial distribution utilizing different satellite products over YERB, and also can provide data and technical support for the government in atmospheric environmental governance over YERB.

Study of Variation of aerosols on High Mountain, Jomsom

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
Prakash M. Shrestha ◽  
Usha Joshi ◽  
Narayan P. Chapagain ◽  
Indra B. Karki ◽  
Khem N. Poudyal
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Meteorological Parameters ◽  
Research Work ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
One Year

The daily aerosol optical depth (AOD) data are derived from AERONET over Jomsom (lat.:28.47°N, long.:83.83°E, alt.: 2,700 m above sea level) for a period of one year 2012. Annual mean of parameters of aerosols are calculated. The effect of different physical as well as meteorological parameters on Angstrom exponential (α) were analyzed. Annual mean of Angstrom exponential (α), Angstrom turbidity coefficient (β) and curvature of AOD (a2) are 1.24 ± 0.54, 0.05 ± 0.04, 4.06 ± 1.44 respectively. Annual average of visibility is 18.48 ± 1.093km. Result of this research work is beneficial for the further identification, impact and analysis of aerosols at different places.

scholarly journals OMI tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> air mass factors over South America: effects of biomass burning aerosols

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 2683-2733 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Castellanos ◽  
K. F. Boersma ◽  
O. Torres ◽  
J. F. de Haan
Keyword(s):  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Air Mass ◽  
Cloud Parameters ◽  
Tropospheric No2 ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Aerosol Parameters

Abstract. Biomass burning is an important and uncertain source of aerosols and NOx (NO + NO2) to the atmosphere. OMI observations of tropospheric NO2 are essential for characterizing this emissions source, but inaccuracies in the retrieval of NO2 tropospheric columns due to the radiative effects of aerosols, especially light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols, are not well understood. It has been shown that the O2–O2 effective cloud fraction and pressure retrieval is sensitive to aerosol optical and physical properties, including aerosol optical depth (AOD). Aerosols implicitly influence the tropospheric air mass factor (AMF) calculations used in the NO2 retrieval through the effective cloud parameters used in the independent pixel approximation. In this work, we explicitly account for the effects of biomass burning aerosols in the tropospheric NO2 AMF calculation by including collocated aerosol extinction vertical profile observations from the CALIOP instrument, and aerosol optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) retrieved by the OMI near-UV aerosol algorithm (OMAERUV) in the DISAMAR radiative transfer model for cloud-free scenes. Tropospheric AMFs calculated with DISAMAR were benchmarked against AMFs reported in the Dutch OMI NO2 (DOMINO) retrieval; the mean and standard deviation (SD) of the difference was 0.6 ± 8%. Averaged over three successive South American biomass burning seasons (2006–2008), the spatial correlation in the 500 nm AOD retrieved by OMI and the 532 nm AOD retrieved by CALIOP was 0.6, and 72% of the daily OMAERUV AOD observations were within 0.3 of the CALIOP observations. Overall, tropospheric AMFs calculated with observed aerosol parameters were on average 10% higher than AMFs calculated with effective cloud parameters. For effective cloud radiance fractions less than 30%, or effective cloud pressures greater than 800 hPa, the difference between tropospheric AMFs based on implicit and explicit aerosol parameters is on average 6 and 3%, respectively, which was the case for the majority of the pixels considered in our study. Pixels with effective cloud radiance fraction greater than 30% or effective cloud pressure less than 800 hPa corresponded with stronger shielding in the implicit aerosol correction approach because the assumption of a opaque effective cloud underestimates the altitude resolved AMF; tropospheric AMFs were on average 30–50% larger when aerosol parameters were included, and for individual pixels tropospheric AMFs can differ by more than a factor of two. The observation-based approach to correcting tropospheric AMF calculations for aerosol effects presented in this paper depicts a promising strategy for a globally consistent aerosol correction scheme for clear sky pixels.

Error Analysis for the Himawari-8 Aerosol Optical Depth Basing on Parts of Aerosol Model and Sun Position over Wuhan, Central China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingying Ma ◽  
Ming Zhang ◽  
Yifan Shi ◽  
Wei Gong ◽  
Shikuan Jin
Keyword(s):  
Error Analysis ◽  
Aerosol Optical Depth ◽  
Optical Depth ◽  
Central China ◽  
Scattering Angle ◽  
Aerosol Model ◽  
Transfer Path ◽  
Geostationary Satellites ◽  
Sun Photometer ◽  
The Difference

&lt;p&gt;Aerosols attract great attention as having critical influence on the Earth&amp;#8217;s energy budget and human health. Geostationary satellites like Himawari-8 process advantages on temporal resolution that allows rapidly changing weather phenomena tracking and aerosol monitoring. This work aims at providing a novel error analysis for the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval from the aspect of aerosol model and sun position combing with the high quality ground-based observation in Wuhan, central China. Three-year co-located AOD dataset from AHI and sun-photometer are used. AHI underestimates AOD in all the seasons. Aerosol size distributions and phase functions are discussed as parts of aerosol model to explain the underestimation of AOD. AHI sets a low fine-mode particle median radius comparing with the in-site measurement in Wuhan that increases backscattering, and finally leads to the underestimation of AOD. Sun position also affects AHI AOD retrieval, and we use solar zenith angle (SZA) and scattering angle to represent sun position. Geostationary satellites get fixed satellite position for one site that provides convenience to the discussion. SZA influences AOD retrieval mainly through the length of transfer path and higher percent of samples within expected error often appears at low SZAs. Scattering angle also has obvious influence on AOD retrieval through the simulation of phase function and causes the difference of correlation performance between AHI and sun-photometer in aspect of SZA in morning and afternoon. Finally, we applied the dark target method to retrieve AHI AOD. The comparison of AODs reveals that the retrieval method of AHI performs better in Wuhan. The better performance of AHI AOD may be due to high aerosol loading and lack of enough prior information of aerosol properties in Wuhan. Our work could also be performed on other areas or other geostationary satellites, and help us to further understand the controlling factors that affect AOD retrieval accuracy, then contribute to better AOD retrieval.&lt;/p&gt;

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