Finding the right tool for the specific job: Strengths and weaknesses of different satellite data sets to characterize aerosol over south Asia
Abstract
South Asia is one of the most complex locations in the world to characterize aerosols. The south Asian air shed contains transported and locally-generated combustion particles and also dust from various sources. These particles are important to local and intercontinental air quality, and they influence global climate forcing and regional circulations. Ground-based monitoring networks and focused field experiments have made much progress in characterizing these particles, allowing ingest into models that predict climate effects and suggest air quality mitigation. However, satellite products can provide a means to complement the existing characterization effort by providing a different perspective. The EOS-era satellite sensors continue to provide important observations of south Asian particles. They are joined most recently by Suomi-NPP VIIRS, a broad swath, wide spectral range imager, in the MODIS tradition. Each of these sensors has strengths and weaknesses that enable it to provide unique information about south Asian aerosols. In bringing together the data from the various sensors and from different retrieval algorithms on the same sensor, we must be aware of each data set's strengths and weaknesses, which can be regionally specific. For example, VIIRS AOT exhibits a positive bias globally over land when compared to either MODIS or to AERONET, except over south Asia, where the bias is negative during the pre-monsoon season. We compare the abilities of different satellite data sets to characterize south Asian aerosol, emphasizing newly available data sets including the VIIRS aerosol product, the MODIS 3 km product and the combined MODIS Dark Target/Deep Blue product.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.A12A..03K
- Keywords:
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- 0305 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Aerosols and particles;
- 0345 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Pollution: urban and regional;
- 3360 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES / Remote sensing