HR: 09:15h
AN: A21E-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Global Retrieval of Aerosol Single Scattering Albedo from Satellite Observations
AU: * Hu, R
EM: hu@fizz.phys.dal.ca
AF: Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University , Halifax, NS B3H3J5 Canada
AU: Martin, R
EM: rvmartin@fizz.phys.dal.ca
AF: Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science, Dalhousie University , Halifax, NS B3H3J5 Canada
AB: The radiative forcing of aerosols is highly sensitive to single scattering albedo (ω_O). Small changes in ω_O can often change the sign of radiative forcing, depending on the albedo of the underlying surface and the altitude of the aerosols. In this study, we retrieve the global distribution of columnar single scattering albedo by taking advantage of the high sensitivity of measurements at ultraviolet wavelengths by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite instrument to both aerosol optical depth and ω_O, and the high sensitivity of measurements at visible wavelengths by the Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS) satellite instrument to aerosol optical depth. A linearized discrete ordinate radiative transfer model (LIDORT) is used to retrieve ω_O from the TOMS aerosol index, when constrained by MODIS aerosol optical depth and by relative aerosol vertical profiles from a global chemical transport model (GEOS-CHEM). The retrieved ω_O is near 1 over the remote ocean, in contrast with values near 0.8 over biomass burning and industrial regions of central Africa, South America, western North America, eastern Europe and eastern Asia. We validate our retrieval with measurements from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and find significant agreement. The correlation coefficient, slope and intercept are 0.81, 1.02 and -0.016 respectively.
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005