Introducing the 4.4 km spatial resolution Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) aerosol product

Abstract

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument has been operational on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Observing System (EOS) Terra satellite since early 2000, creating an extensive data set of global Earth observations. Here we introduce the latest version of the MISR aerosol products. The level 2 (swath) product, which is reported on a 4.4 km spatial grid, is designated as version 23 (V23) and contains retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol particle property information derived from MISR's multiangle observations over both land and water. The changes from the previous version of the algorithm (V22) have significant impacts on the data product and its interpretation. The V23 data set is created from two separate retrieval algorithms that are applied over dark water and land surfaces, respectively. Besides increasing the horizontal resolution to 4.4 km compared with the coarser 17.6 m resolution in V22 and streamlining the format and content, the V23 product has added geolocation information, pixel-level uncertainty estimates, and improved cloud screening. MISR data can be obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center at https://eosweb.larc.nasa. gov/project/misr/misr_table (last access: 11 October 2019). The version number for the V23 level 2 aerosol product is F13_0023. The level 3 (gridded) aerosol product is still reported at 0.5 • ×0.5 • spatial resolution with results aggregated from the higher-resolution level 2 data. The format and content at level 3 have also been updated to reflect the changes made at level 2. The level 3 product associated with the V23 level 2 product version is designated as F15_0032. Both the level 2 and level 3 products are now provided in NetCDF format.

Understanding processes that control dust spatial distributions with global climate models and satellite observations

“…MERRA-2 (Gelaro et al, 2017) is the latest atmospheric reanalysis of the modern satellite era produced by combining GEOS atmospheric model version 5 (GEOS-5) with a 3D variational data assimilation (3D-Var) algorithm to ingest a wide range of observational data. MERRA-2 assimilates AOD from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), MODIS, MISR, and AERONET.…”

Disproving the Bodélé Depression as the Primary Source of Dust Fertilizing the Amazon Rainforest

“…Version 23, Level 2 MISR 550-nm nonspherical, DAOD at 4.4-km resolution (Garay et al, 2020) is used to validate the horizontal distribution of dust loading assessed by the current trajectory analysis. The MISR nonspherical AOD fraction is often referred to as "fraction of total AOD due to dust," as dust is the primary nonspherical aerosol particle in the atmosphere, especially over desert regions such as those found in North Africa (Kalashnikova et al, 2005).…”

“…Data sets for this research are included in this paper and in the supporting information. MISR CMVP and DAOD data are available through Garay et al (2020)…”

How Long Is Too Long? Variogram Analysis of AERONET Data to Aid Aerosol Validation and Intercomparison Studies

“…As a result DT retrievals are used in DJF and SON; in MAM DT accounts for about two thirds of retrievals, while the others are DB or average; and in JJA almost 90% of retrievals are from DB. The Version 23 MISR data set (2000 to present), described by Garay et al. (2020). MISR is a narrow‐swath (380 km) multiangle passive imager.…”