Evaluation of OMI Aerosol Type and Extinction Optical Depth With AERONET Ground Measurements

Ultraviolet (UV) aerosol products (OMAERUV) including Aerosol Index (AI), aerosol extinction optical depth, single scattering albedo, and absorption optical depth from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) onboard the Aura spacecraft provide unique information for understanding the global effect of absorbing aerosols on Earth's radiation budget. Recently we have released a new data set with significant improvements by reducing uncertainties in retrievals due in part to the inaccuracies of aerosol type identification, layer height estimates, and the spectral dependence of aerosol absorption properties. These improvements include the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) aerosol layer height data, Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) carbon monoxide data which is used to distinguish smoke from dust type aerosols in conjunction with OMI UVAI, updated carbonaceous aerosol models that account for the presence of organics, and a better optimization of the algorithm. In this study, we will demonstrate how a combined multi-sensors approach can be used for improving OMI aerosol products and evaluate them with AERONET Angstrom exponent and aerosol optical depth data at selected sites and regions.