Investigating enhanced Aqua MODIS aerosol optical depth retrievals over the mid‐to‐high latitude Southern Oceans through intercomparison with co‐located CALIOP, MAN, and AERONET data sets

Toth, Travis D.; Zhang, Jianglong; Campbell, James; Reid, Jeffrey S.; Shi, Yingxi; Johnson, Randall S.; Smirnov, A.; Vaughan, Mark; Winker, David M.

doi:10.1002/jgrd.50311

Cited by 65 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…One of the known issues for satellite aerosol products, including the MISR aerosol products, is cloud contamination (e.g., Zhang et al, 2005;Kahn et al, 2010). Extensive research efforts been attempted to study but the impacts of cloud artifacts and cloud contamination to aerosol retrievals from other sensors, such as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (Zhang et al, 2005;Hyer et al, 2011;Shi et al, 2011b;Toth et al, 2013) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) (Zhao et al, 2013), the impacts of cloud contamination on MISR aerosol products have not been fully explored or quantified. We do know that over-ocean AODs from standard operational MODIS and MISR products have positive biases as large as 0.025-0.04, or roughly one-third of mean background AOD values (Zhang and Reid, 2010;Kahn et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical evaluation of cloud contamination in the MISR aerosol products using MODIS cloud mask products

Shi

Zhang

Reid³

et al. 2014

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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Abstract. Using Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-based cloud screening methods, the impacts of cloud contamination on the Terra Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) aerosol optical depth (AOD) product are evaluated. Based on one year of collocated MISR and MODIS data, this study suggests that cloud contamination exists in both over-water and over-land MISR AOD data, with heavier cloud contamination occurring over the high latitude southern hemispheric oceans. On average globally, this study shows that thin cirrus cloud contamination introduces a possible ∼ 0.01 high bias for the over-water MISR AOD retrievals. Over the mid-to high-latitude oceans and Southeast Asia, this number increases to 0.015-0.02. However, biases much larger than this mean value are found in individual retrievals, especially in retrievals that are near cloud edges. This study suggests that cloud-clearing methods using observations from MISR alone, which has only visible and near-infrared channels, may not be sufficient for all scenarios. Measurements from MODIS can be applied to assist cloud-clearing of the MISR aerosol retrievals. Cloud screening algorithms based on multi-sensor approaches are feasible and should be considered for current and future satellite aerosol studies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical evaluation of cloud contamination in the MISR aerosol products using MODIS cloud mask products

Shi

Zhang

Reid³

et al. 2014

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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“…No accounting is made for subsurface ocean bubbles in any existing MODIS product. For this study, the C5 MODIS DT products are chosen to be consistent with the analysis done in Toth et al (2013). Validated against ground-based observations, Remer et al (2005) suggests that the uncertainty in over-ocean AODs is on the order of ±(0.03 + 0.05 · AOD).…”

Section: Observational Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While surface wind speeds of this magnitude do not occur in broad spatial or long-term averages (average global wind speed is around 6-7 m s −1 ), for oceanic regions with high near-surface wind speed, the impacts of ocean bubbles on the satellite-retrieved AOD values can be significant. For example, over the high-latitude southern oceans (30-70 • S), average MAN AOD is around 0.03-0.07 (at 0.55 µm; Smirnov et al, 2011;Toth et al, 2013). Even a change in satellite-retrieved AOD of 0.01 can be considered significant.…”

Section: Theoretical Estimationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The remote sensing community has long noticed anomalously high aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals over high wind belts of the southern oceans, North Pacific, and North Atlantic (e.g., Myhre et al, 2005;Zhang andReid, 2006, 2010;Shi et al, 2011a, b;Smirnov et al, 2011;Toth et al, 2013;Kalashnikova et al, 2013;Chin et al, 2014). Some passive retrievals of AOD from satellites observe a belt of high AOD over the southern oceans known as the enhanced southern oceans anomaly (ESOA) that is especially biased when compared with ship-based measurements of AOD.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Early studies first verified that the high oceanic AOD belts were in fact highly biased (Smirnov et al, 2011;Toth et al, 2013). This was then followed by the most logical factor, cloud contamination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A theoretical study of the effect of subsurface oceanic bubbles on the enhanced aerosol optical depth band over the southern oceans as detected from MODIS and MISR

Christensen

Zhang

Reid³

et al. 2015

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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Abstract. Submerged oceanic bubbles, which have a much longer life span than whitecaps or bubble rafts, have been hypothesized to increase the water-leaving radiance and thus affect satellite-based estimates of water-leaving radiance to non-trivial levels. This study explores this effect further to determine whether such bubbles are of sufficient magnitude to impact satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals through perturbation of the lower boundary conditions. There has been significant discussion in the community regarding the high positive biases in retrieved AODs in many remote ocean regions. In this study, for the first time, the effects of oceanic bubbles on satellite retrievals of AOD are studied by using a linked Second Simulation of a Satellite Signal in the Solar Spectrum (6S) atmospheric and HydroLight oceanic radiative transfer models. The results suggest an insignificant impact on AOD retrievals in regions with near-surface wind speeds of less than 12 m s −1 . However, the impact of bubbles on aerosol retrievals could be on the order of 0.02-0.04 for higher wind conditions within the scope of our simulations (e.g., winds < 20 m s −1 ). This bias is propagated to global scales using 1 year of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer EOS (AMSR-E) data to investigate the possible impacts of oceanic bubbles on an enhanced AOD belt observed over the high-latitude southern oceans (also called the enhanced southern oceans anomaly, or ESOA) by some passive satellite sensors. Ultimately, this study is supportive of the null hypothesis: submerged bubbles are not the major contributor to the ESOA feature. This said, as retrievals progress to higher and higher resolutions, such as from airborne platforms, the uniform bubble correction in clean marine conditions should probably be separately accounted for against individual bright whitecaps and bubble rafts.

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Preliminary evaluation of S‐NPP VIIRS aerosol optical thickness

et al. 2014

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The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is the next-generation polar-orbiting operational environmental sensor with a capability for global aerosol observations. The VIIRS aerosol Environmental Data Record (EDR) is expected to continue the decade-long successful multispectral aerosol retrieval from the NASA's Earth Observing System Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for scientific research and applications. Since the launch of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP), the VIIRS aerosol calibration/validation team has been continuously monitoring, evaluating, and improving the performance of VIIRS aerosol retrievals. In this study, the VIIRS aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 550 nm EDR at current Provisional maturity level is evaluated by comparing it with MODIS retrievals and measurements from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and the Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN). The VIIRS global mean AOT at 550 nm differs from that of MODIS by approximately À0.01 over ocean and 0.03 over land (0.00 and À0.01 for the collocated retrievals) but shows larger regional biases. Global validation with AERONET and with MAN measurements shows biases of 0.01 over ocean and À0.01 over land, with about 64% and 71% of retrievals falling within the expected uncertainty range established by MODIS over ocean (±(0.03 + 0.05AOT)) and over land (±(0.05 + 0.15AOT)), respectively. The VIIRS retrievals over land exhibit slight overestimation over vegetated surfaces and underestimation over soil-dominated surfaces. These results show that the VIIRS AOT at 550 nm product provides a solid global data set for quantitative scientific investigations and environmental monitoring.

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Investigating enhanced Aqua MODIS aerosol optical depth retrievals over the mid‐to‐high latitude Southern Oceans through intercomparison with co‐located CALIOP, MAN, and AERONET data sets

Cited by 65 publications

References 66 publications

Critical evaluation of cloud contamination in the MISR aerosol products using MODIS cloud mask products

Critical evaluation of cloud contamination in the MISR aerosol products using MODIS cloud mask products

A theoretical study of the effect of subsurface oceanic bubbles on the enhanced aerosol optical depth band over the southern oceans as detected from MODIS and MISR

Preliminary evaluation of S‐NPP VIIRS aerosol optical thickness

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