HR: 15:25h
AN: A12C-06    [PDF]
TI: Contribution of AURA-OMI and A-train observations to the understanding of tropospheric aerosol absorption effects on climate
AU: * Torres, O
EM: torres@tparty.gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 United States
AU: Veefkind, P
AF: KNMI, P.O. Box 201, NL3730, De Bilt, 3730 Netherlands
AU: Stammes, P
AF: KNMI, P.O. Box 201, NL3730, De Bilt, 3730 Netherlands
AU: Joiner, J
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AU: Bhartia, P
AF: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771 United States
AB: It is well known that aerosols contribute to the mitigation of the warming effect of the greenhouse gases by scattering back to space a fraction of the incoming solar radiation. Particle absorption, however, alters the radiative properties of the atmosphere by reducing the aerosol cooling effect and warming the atmosphere. Since black carbon containing aerosols are of anthropogenic origin, the quantification of the atmospheric aerosol load over the industrialized areas as well as over the areas affected by biomass burning is necessary to reduce the currently large uncertainties on the climate role of aerosol absorption. The near UV approach of aerosol absorption sensing from space developed and tested using measurements by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), will be applied to observations by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), on the AURA platform. OMI will measure the aerosol absorption optical depth by taking advantage of the strong signal resulting from the interaction of aerosol absorption and the large molecular scattering in the near UV spectral region. OMI measurements of aerosol absorption optical depth over ocean and land surfaces, in conjunction with additional aerosol related information derived from other sensors in the A-train (e.g., aerosol vertical distribution from CALIPSO observations and aerosol size and optical depth in the visible and near IR from Aqua-MODIS), will provide valuable information on the spatial and temporal variability of absorbing aerosols. The AURA-OMI observational record of aerosol absorption optical depth over the estimated 6-year lifetime of the mission will constitute the first global long-term data set on aerosol absorption optical depth.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0345 Pollution--urban and regional (0305)
DE: 0368 Troposphere--constituent transport and chemistry
DE: 1600 GLOBAL CHANGE (New category)
DE: 1640 Remote sensing
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting