Abstract. The Yonsei Aerosol Retrieval (YAER) algorithm for the
Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) retrieves aerosol optical properties
only over dark surfaces, so it is important to mask pixels with bright
surfaces. The Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) is equipped with three
shortwave-infrared and nine infrared channels, which is advantageous for
bright-pixel masking. In addition, multiple visible and near-infrared
channels provide a great advantage in aerosol property retrieval from the
AHI and GOCI. By applying the YAER algorithm to 10 min AHI or 1 h GOCI
data at 6 km×6 km resolution, diurnal variations and aerosol
transport can be observed, which has not previously been possible from
low-Earth-orbit satellites. This study attempted to estimate the optimal
aerosol optical depth (AOD) for East Asia by data fusion, taking into
account satellite retrieval uncertainty. The data fusion involved two steps:
(1) analysis of error characteristics of each retrieved result with respect
to the ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), as well as bias correction
based on normalized difference vegetation indexes, and (2) compilation of
the fused product using ensemble-mean and maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE)
methods. Fused results show a better statistics in terms of fraction
within the expected error, correlation coefficient, root-mean-square error (RMSE),
and median bias error than the retrieved result for each product. If the RMSE and mean AOD bias values used for MLE fusion are correct, the MLE fused products show better accuracy, but the ensemble-mean products
can still be useful as MLE.