Real Effect or Artifact of Cloud Cover on Aerosol Optical Thickness?
Aerosol measurements over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud And Radiation Test bed (CART) site under Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program characterize the temporal variability, vertical distribution, and optical properties of aerosols in the region. They were made by the Cimel sunphotometer and Multifilter Rotating Shadow-band Radiometer (MFRSR), Raman Lidar, In situ Aerosol Profiling (IAP) flights, and the Aerosol Observing System (AOS). The spatial variability of aerosols relies a network of MFRSR at the Central Facility (CF) and Extended Facilities (EF), together with satellite remote sensing. The current state-of-art satellite-based estimates over land--e.g., MODerate resolution Imaging Scanner (MODIS) aerosol optical thickness--still suffer from large uncertainties. Contamination due to sub-pixel and/or thin cirrus clouds is believed to be one of the major sources of uncertainties. Retrievals near clouds are discouraged to use, which reduces considerably the amount of useful data. In this regard, cloud is considered as an artifact. However, cloud could have a real impact on AOT by changing humidity, which affects aerosol through the aerosol swelling effect. As a preliminary study, we first investigate the effects of cloud cover and humidity on the retrievals of AOT from ground-based Cimel sunphotometer measurements, in order to help us sort out the real influence and artifact. In general, it is very difficult to verify and quantify the effects of cloud on satellite retrieval of aerosol quantities. Speculation and warning of cloud contamination have been made whenever there is a correlation between the retrieved AOT and cloud fraction or their spatial variabilities, while it has also been argued that aerosol humidification effect (AHE) might be at work. The ample measurements available from ARM over the SGP region may allow us to unravel this complex issue. Our ultimate goals are to (1) evaluate various effects on the retrievals of AOT from both satellite and ground sensors; (2) separate artifact from real effect; (3) create ''clean'' aerosol products for studying their direct and indirect effect. Presented are some very preliminary findings.
- Research Organization:
- University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-01ER63166
- OSTI ID:
- 841617
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Fifteenth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Science Team Meeting, Daytona Beach, FL (US), 03/14/2005--03/18/2005; Other Information: PBD: 18 Mar 2005
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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