HR: 1330h
AN: A12B-0099    [PDF]
TI: Assimilation of Satellite-derived Aerosol Optical Thickness in a Mesoscale Model: A Case Study.
AU: Nair, U
EM: nair@nsstc.uah.edu
AF: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805
AU: * Wang, J
EM: wangjun@nsstc.uah.edu
AF: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805
AU: Christopher, S A
EM: sundar@nsstc.uah.edu
AF: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alabama in Huntsville, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805
AB: Aerosol retrievals from satellite measurements play an important role in monitoring aerosol spatio-temporal distributions. Few studies have attempted to assimilate the satellite aerosol products into the models to improve aerosol forecast. Furthermore, most current aerosol models are off-line, in which the aerosol radiative effects are not directly considered during the simulations. This study uses the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modeling Systems (CSU RAMS) and the GOES8 aerosol retrievals during Puerto Rico Dust Experiment to investigate how the aerosol modeling can be improved by assimilating the satellite retrievals. A four-stream radiative transfer model was integrated into the RAMS to consider the aerosol radiative effect in the model simulation in a "real" scenario (rather than offline). Aerosol transport model is built upon a tracer advection module in RAMS with addition of emission and deposition components. Satellite retrievals from GOES8 are assimilated into the RAMS using nudging schemes. Modeled aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and mass concentration are then compared with the measured quantities. Results show that the assimilation of GOES8 AOTs with high-temporal resolutions provides a promising method to improve aerosol modeling. The challenges in assimilation of satellite column AOTs into the 3D models are discussed.
DE: 0345 Pollution--urban and regional (0305)
DE: 0355 Thermosphere--composition and chemistry
DE: 0368 Troposphere--constituent transport and chemistry
DE: 3359 Radiative processes
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting