Anonymous referee comments on amt-2018-88 “Aerosol Optical Depth retrievals in Central Amazonia from a Multi-Filter Rotating Shadow-band Radiometer on-site calibrated”

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anonymous
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 921-934
Author(s):  
Nilton E. Rosário ◽  
Thamara Sauini ◽  
Theotonio Pauliquevis ◽  
Henrique M. J. Barbosa ◽  
Marcia A. Yamasoe ◽  
...  

Abstract. Extraterrestrial spectral response calibration of a multi-filter rotating shadow band radiometer (MFRSR) under pristine Amazonian Forest atmosphere conditions was performed using the Langley plot method. The MFRSR is installed in central Amazonia as part of a long-term monitoring site, which was used in the context of the GoAmazon2014/5 experiment. It has been operating continuously since 2011 without regular extraterrestrial calibration, preventing its application to accurate monitoring of aerosol particles. Once calibrated, the MFRSR measurements were applied to retrieve aerosol particle columnar optical properties, specifically aerosol optical depth (AODλ) and Ångström exponent (AE), which were evaluated against retrievals from a collocated Cimel Sun photometer belonging to the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). Results obtained revealed that pristine Amazonian conditions are able to provide MFRSR extraterrestrial spectral response with relative uncertainty lower than 1.0 % in visible channels. The worst estimate (air mass =1) for absolute uncertainty in AODλ retrieval varied from ≈0.02 to ≈0.03, depending on the assumption regarding uncertainty for MFRSR direct normal irradiance measured at the surface. The obtained root mean square error (RMSE ≈0.025) from the evaluation of MFRSR retrievals against AERONET AODλ was, in general, lower than estimated MFRSR AODλ uncertainty, and close to the uncertainty of AERONET field Sun photometers (≈0.02).


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilton E. Rosário ◽  
Thamara Sauini ◽  
Theotonio Pauliquevis ◽  
Henrique M. J. Barbosa ◽  
Marcia A. Yamasoe ◽  
...  

Abstract. Extraterrestrial spectral response calibration of a Multi-Filter Rotating Shadow band Radiometer (MFRSR) under Amazonian Forest atmosphere pristine conditions using the Langley plot method was performed and evaluated. The MFRSR is installed in central Amazonia as part of a long-term monitoring site, which was used in the context of the GoAmazon2014/5 Experiment. It has been operating continuously since 2011 without regular extraterrestrial calibration, preventing its application to accurate monitoring of aerosol particles. Once calibrated, the MFRSR measurements were applied to retrieve aerosols particles columnar optical properties, specifically Aerosol Optical Depth (AODλ) and Ångström Exponent (AE), which were evaluated against retrievals from a collocated CIMEL sunphotometer belonging to the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). Results obtained revealed that Amazonian pristine conditions are able to provide MFRSR extraterrestrial spectral response with relative uncertainty lower than 1.0 % at visible channels. The worst estimate (air mass = 1) for absolute uncertainty in AODλ retrieval varied from ~ 0.02 to ~ 0.03, depending on the assumption regarding uncertainty for MFRSR direct-normal irradiance measured at the surface. Obtained Root Mean Square Errors (RMSE ~ 0.025) from the evaluation of MFRSR retrievals against AERONET AODλ were, in general, lower than estimate MFRSR AODλ uncertainties, and close to AERONET field sunphotometers (~ 0.02).


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nilton E. Rosário ◽  
Thamara Sauini ◽  
Theotonio Pauliquevis ◽  
Henrique M. J. Barbosa ◽  
Marcia A. Yamasoe ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Witthuhn ◽  
Hartwig Deneke ◽  
Andreas Macke ◽  
Germar Bernhard

Abstract. The 19 channel rotating shadow band radiometer GUVis-3511 built by Biospherical Instruments is introduced as an instrument which is able to provide automated ship borne measurements of the direct, diffuse and global spectral irradiance components without a requirement for stabilization. Several direct sun products, including spectral direct beam transmittance, aerosol optical depth, Angström exponent, and precipitable water can be derived from these observations. The individual steps of the data analysis are described, and the different sources of uncertainty are discussed. The total uncertainty of the observed direct beam transmittances is estimated to be 4.24 % at 95 % CI for ship borne operation. The calibration is identified as the dominating contribution to the total uncertainty. A comparison of direct beam transmittance with those obtained from a Cimel sun photometer at a land site and a manually operated Microtops II sun photometer on a ship is presented, yielding relative deviations of less than 3 % and 4 % on land and on ship, respectively, for most channels and in agreement with our previous uncertainty estimate. These numbers demonstrate that the instrument is well suited for ship borne operation, and the applied methods for motion correction work accurately. Based on spectral direct beam transmittance, aerosol optical depth at 510 nm can be retrieved with an uncertainty of 0.0032 for a 95 % CI. Only minor deviations occur due to the different methods used for estimating Rayleigh scattering and gas absorption optical depths, as implemented by AERONET and in our processing. Relying on the cross-calibration of the 940 nm water vapor channel with the Cimel sun photometer, the column amount of precipitable water has been estimated with an uncertainty of +−0.034 cm. More research is needed to estimate the accuracy of the instrument for low sun (solar zenith angles larger than 70°) and during periods with strong swell.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fernando Almansa ◽  
Emilio Cuevas ◽  
Benjamín Torres ◽  
África Barreto ◽  
Rosa D. García ◽  
...  

Abstract. A new zenith looking narrow-band radiometer based system (ZEN), conceived for dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) monitoring, is presented in this paper. The ZEN system comprises a new radiometer (ZEN-R41) and a methodology for AOD retrieval (ZEN-LUT). ZEN-R41 has been designed to be stand-alone and without moving parts, making ZEN-R41 a low-cost and robust instrument with low maintenance, appropriated to be deployed in remote and unpopulated desert areas. The ZEN-LUT method is based on the comparison of the measured Zenith Sky Radiance (ZSR) with a lookup table (LUT) of computed ZSRs. The LUT is generated with the LibRadtran radiative transfer code. The sensitivity study proved that the ZEN-LUT method is appropriated to infer AOD from ZSR measurements. The validation of the ZEN-LUT technique was performed using data from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) Cimel Electronique 318 photometers (CE318). A comparison between AOD obtained by applying the ZEN-LUT method on ZSRs (inferred from CE318 diffuse sky measurements) and AOD provided by AERONET (derived from CE318 direct sun measurements) was carried out at three sites characterized by a regular presence of desert mineral dust aerosols: Izaña and Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands, and Tamanrasset in Algeria. The results show a R2 ranging from 0.99 at Santa Cruz to 0.95 at Tamanrasset, and a maximum root mean square error (RMSE) ranging from 0.010 at Izaña to 0.035 at Tamanrasset. The comparison of ZSR values from ZEN-R41 and the CE318 showed absolute relative mean bias (RMB)


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 565-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Fernando Almansa ◽  
Emilio Cuevas ◽  
Benjamín Torres ◽  
África Barreto ◽  
Rosa D. García ◽  
...  

Abstract. A new zenith-looking narrow-band radiometer based system (ZEN), conceived for dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) monitoring, is presented in this paper. The ZEN system comprises a new radiometer (ZEN-R41) and a methodology for AOD retrieval (ZEN-LUT). ZEN-R41 has been designed to be stand alone and without moving parts, making it a low-cost and robust instrument with low maintenance, appropriate for deployment in remote and unpopulated desert areas. The ZEN-LUT method is based on the comparison of the measured zenith sky radiance (ZSR) with a look-up table (LUT) of computed ZSRs. The LUT is generated with the LibRadtran radiative transfer code. The sensitivity study proved that the ZEN-LUT method is appropriate for inferring AOD from ZSR measurements with an AOD standard uncertainty up to 0.06 for AOD500 nm  ∼  0.5 and up to 0.15 for AOD500 nm  ∼  1.0, considering instrumental errors of 5 %. The validation of the ZEN-LUT technique was performed using data from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) Cimel Electronique 318 photometers (CE318). A comparison between AOD obtained by applying the ZEN-LUT method on ZSRs (inferred from CE318 diffuse-sky measurements) and AOD provided by AERONET (derived from CE318 direct-sun measurements) was carried out at three sites characterized by a regular presence of desert mineral dust aerosols: Izaña and Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands and Tamanrasset in Algeria. The results show a coefficient of determination (R2) ranging from 0.99 to 0.97, and root mean square errors (RMSE) ranging from 0.010 at Izaña to 0.032 at Tamanrasset. The comparison of ZSR values from ZEN-R41 and the CE318 showed absolute relative mean bias (RMB)  <  10 %. ZEN-R41 AOD values inferred from ZEN-LUT methodology were compared with AOD provided by AERONET, showing a fairly good agreement in all wavelengths, with mean absolute AOD differences  <  0.030 and R2 higher than 0.97.


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