Study of Aerosols’ Characteristics and Dynamics over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Using a Multisensor Approach Combined with Ground Observations

Farahat, Ashraf; El-Askary, Hesham; Al-Shaibani, Abdulaziz

doi:10.1155/2015/247531

Cited by 37 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(74 reference statements)

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“…Alharbi et al (2013) reported that the AOD is unexpectedly increased over Dhahran is of an exceptionally high level as a result of frequent sand and dust events, in addition to the industrial activities in that region. Moreover, it has been related by Farahat et al (2015) based on MODIS DB AOD at 550 nm data, that the AOD levels peak during spring season over the Rub Al Khali desert due to the frequent dust events. The authors also used OMI data to highlight excessive levels of air contamination over Dhahran.…”

Section: Spatial Distribution Of Seasonal Mean Aodmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are limited studies available on satellite based AOD over Saudi Arabia. For example, the AOD climatology based on the satellite remote sensing data has been studied over different Provinces of Saudi Arabia (Farahat et al, 2015). Sabbah and Hasan (2008) studied the ground-based measurements of aerosol optical depth over the Solar Village, Saudi Arabia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seasonal Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) Variability Using Satellite Data and its Comparison over Saudi Arabia for the Period 2002?2013

Ali

Assiri

Dambul

2017

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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This study analyzes the spatiotemporal variations of seasonal Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Deep Blue (DB) AOD at 550 nm from the Aqua satellite over Saudi Arabia for the period 2002-2013. Satellite retrieved AOD is also compared with AERONET AOD over the Solar Village and KAUST station. The result of the seasonal AOD spatial distribution shows that the peak AOD value of 0.6 is observed over Hafr Al Batin, Riyadh, and the Rub Al Khali desert during spring, whereas the Gizan area shows the peak AOD during summer. In contrast, the autumn shows the peak AOD value of 0.5 over Dhahran and in the proximity of Jeddah, whereas Hafr Al Batin, Al Khafji, Al Jubail, and the Rub Al Khali desert show the peak AOD value of 0.4 in winter. Regression analysis shows the AOD increasing trends during spring, summer, and autumn (except for winter) over the entire Saudi Arabia. Over the Solar Village, the AOD increasing trends are also noted during spring and summer, whereas autumn and winter display the AOD decreasing trends. The AOD increasing trends are displayed in all seasons over KAUST. Hence, the AOD increasing/decreasing trends indicate that the number of dust storms either increases or decreases over these regions. Over the Solar Village, the correlation values for MODIS DB AOD versus AERONET AOD are 0.77 (spring), 0.62 (summer), 0.65 (autumn), and 0.75 (winter). Likewise, over KAUST, the correlation values for the same pairing are 0.85 (spring), 0.71 (summer), 0.81 (autumn), and 0.89 (winter). The incorrect aerosol model selection and imperfect surface reflectance calculation are responsible for reducing the correlation. Therefore, this study recommends that the DB algorithm can be used effectively to detect AOD over Saudi Arabia, which will further help to improve the MODIS DB AOD product utilizing the next version of the algorithm.

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Section: Spatial Distribution Of Seasonal Mean Aodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) Variability Using Satellite Data and its Comparison over Saudi Arabia for the Period 2002?2013

Ali

Assiri

Dambul

2017

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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“…Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter) sand desert is a major source of frequent dust outbreaks and 32 severe dust storms that has major effect on human activity in the Arabian Peninsula (Böer, 33 1997, Elagib and Addin 1997, Farahat et al, 2015. 34…”

Section: Introduction 28mentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Analysis of MODIS, MISR and AERONET Climatology over the Middle East and North Africa

Farahat¹

2018

Preprint

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10 Comparative analysis of MISR MODIS, and AERONET AOD products is performed over 11 seven AERONET stations located in the Middle East and North Africa for the period of 12 2000 -2015. Sites are categorized into dust, biomass burning and mixed. MISR and 13 MODIS AOD agree during high dust seasons but MODIS tends to underestimate AOD 14 during low dust seasons. Over dust dominated sites, MODIS/Terra AOD indicate a 15 negative trend over the time series, while MODIS/Aqua, MISR, and AERONET depict a 16 positive trend. A deviation between MODIS/Aqua and MODIS/Terra was observed 17 regardless of the geographic location and data sampling. The performance of MODIS is 18 similar over the entire region with ~68% of AOD within the 0.05 0.15 AERO τ τ Δ = ± ± 19 confidence range. MISR AOD retrievals fall within 72% of the same confidence range for 20 all sites examined here. Both MISR and MODIS capture aerosol climatology; however few 21 cases were observed where one of the two sensors better captures the climatology over a 22 certain location or AOD range than the other sensor. 23 Niña conditions (Hoell et al., 2013) have caused increment in Saudi Arabian dust activity 54 during 2008 -2012. Energy subsidies also encourages energy overconsumption in the 55 Middle East and North Africa with little incentive to adopt cleaner technology. Lack of 56 applying strict environmental regulations have permitted exacerbated urban air pollution. 57During the last two decades, a large number of satellites, ground stations and computational 58 models contributed to build global and regional maps for the temporal and spatial aerosol 59 distributions. While, ground-based stations and field measurements can identify aerosols 60properties over specific geographic locations, the spare and non-continues data from 61 ground-based sensors scattered over the Middle East and North Africa is not sufficient to 62 provide information on spatial and temporal trends of particulate pollution. On the other 63 hand, satellites imagery could provide a significant source of data mapping over larger 64 areas. 65In the first part of this article, we validated MISR and MODIS retrievals against collocated 80 AERONET observations. We also assessed the consistency in aerosol trends between 81 space-borne sensors and ground-based data. 82In the second part, we evaluated representativeness of satellite-derived aerosol climatology 83 over the study region from the long-term AERONET data for MISR and MODIS AOD 84 products. It is especially relevant for the MISR instrument, as its sampling is limited by 85 once per week observations of the same region from the two overlapping paths. MODIS 86 provides nearly daily observations to the same geographic location; however, the quality of 87 the product diminishes over the bright targets potentially affecting MODIS-derived aerosol 88 climatology. 89The collocated MISR, MODIS and AERONET data were obtained at the MAPSS website 90 (http://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov/mapss.html). 91 92 2. Materials and Methods 93 2.1 MISR 94 The Mult...

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“…Optical techniques are used to estimate particle sizes; however, determining particle types requires more information regarding aerosol sources, trajectories, regional topography, and atmospheric conditions. As for radiative impacts, aerosol characterization and types are major input parameters for obtaining precise climate predictions (Ramanathan et al, 1989;Satheesh and Moorthy, 2005;Farahat et al, 2015). For instance, particle absorption characteristics are used in assessing aerosol emission sources, types, and interaction phases .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of aerosol absorption properties and transport over North Africa and the Middle East using AERONET data

et al. 2016

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Abstract. In this paper particle categorization and absorption properties were discussed to understand transport mechanisms at different geographic locations and possible radiative impacts on climate. The long-term Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data set (1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015) is used to estimate aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA), and the absorption Ångström exponent (α abs ) at eight locations in North Africa and the Middle East. Average variation in SSA is calculated at four wavelengths (440, 675, 870, and 1020 nm), and the relationship between aerosol absorption and physical properties is used to infer dominant aerosol types at different locations. It was found that seasonality and geographic location play a major role in identifying dominant aerosol types at each location. Analyzing aerosol characteristics among different sites using AERONET Version 2, Level 2.0 data retrievals and the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT) backward trajectories shows possible aerosol particle transport among different locations indicating the importance of understanding transport mechanisms in identifying aerosol sources.

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Study of Aerosols’ Characteristics and Dynamics over the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Using a Multisensor Approach Combined with Ground Observations

Cited by 37 publications

References 67 publications

Seasonal Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) Variability Using Satellite Data and its Comparison over Saudi Arabia for the Period 2002?2013

Seasonal Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) Variability Using Satellite Data and its Comparison over Saudi Arabia for the Period 2002?2013

Comparative Analysis of MODIS, MISR and AERONET Climatology over the Middle East and North Africa

Analysis of aerosol absorption properties and transport over North Africa and the Middle East using AERONET data

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