Investigating transpacific transport of Asian aerosol using satellite observations and GEOS-Chem

Knowledge of the vertical distribution of Asian aerosol during its transpacific transport is crucial for evaluating its impact on the air quality of regions downwind. We present here results from our investigation of aerosol transport during Spring 2007. The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) instrument provides the first satellite-based record of global vertically-resolved aerosol. We use the aerosol profile product from CALIPSO to examine the long-range transport and detailed vertical distribution of Asian pollution and dust aerosol. The CALIPSO observations are interpreted with a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) and MODIS AOD to test model representation and to place the observations into a large spatial context. While the CALIPSO instrument provides new information on the vertical distribution of aerosols, the associated global coverage is sparse. We examine here the implications of this limited coverage for tracking aerosol transport and characterizing the mean aerosol extinction profile over the North Pacific.