Satellite Investigations during the ACE-Asia Field Program

One of the goals of the ACE-Asia campaign is to characterize volumes of atmosphere, and ocean surfaces below them, in enough detail so we can refine the algorithms that retrieve aerosol properties from global satellite measurements. Detailed environmental observations made by aircraft, ships, and island stations in the ACE-Asia study region were timed to coincide with overflights of satellites carrying the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), the MODerate resolution Imaging Sptecroradiometer (MODIS), the Advanced, Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and the Sea-Viewing Wide-Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) instruments. An extensive collection of coordinated, multi-platform experiments was performed, sampling a range of meteorological conditions, and capturing aerosol air masses that contain Gobi desert dust, biomass burning particles, marine aerosols, and pollution from sources in China, Korea, and Japan. The data are now being organized and analyzed, a process that will take several years to complete.