HR: 11:35h
AN: A12A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Long-term global comparisons of aerosol optical depth from MISR, MODIS and AERONET using AMAPS (the Aerosol Measurement and Processing System)
AU: * Paradise, S
EM: susan.paradise@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: JPL, 4800 Oak Grove Dr M/S 169-414, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AU: Braverman, A
EM: amy.braverman@jpl.nasa.gov
AF: JPL, 4800 Oak Grove Dr M/S 169-414, Pasadena, CA 91109, United States
AU: Kahn, R
EM: ralph.kahn@gsfc.nasa.gov
AF: Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Road, Greenbelt, MD 20771, United States
AB: NASA's Terra satellite has been in orbit for nearly eight years. Both the MODIS (the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and MISR (Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer) instruments have produced validated data sets of optical depth which are now ripe for comprehensive comparison against AERONET (the Aerosol Robotic Network) over the entire life of the mission. We compare both MODIS and MISR to AERONET as follows. First, we stratify AERONET locations by climatological zone and season. Second, we reduce each AERONET time series corresponding to a Terra overpass to a single value, and associate each such value with one MISR and one MODIS value. Note that various methods to reduce and associate measurements are possible at this stage of the analysis. Third, we regress MISR and MODIS on AERONET separately and record the intercept, slope, and coefficient of determination. Fourth, we evaluate and compare these statistics as functions of location, time, and instrument, paying special attention to the effects of different data reduction and association strategies on our conclusions. We use the Aerosol Measurement and Processing System (AMAPS) to conduct this analysis because it provides streamlined access to and manipulation of large volumes of Level 2 data. This allows us to efficiently repeat our analysis under a variety of assumptions and methodologies. Finally, we comment on how our results, derived using the same methodology to compare both MISR and MODIS to AERONET, differs from earlier validation results in which different methodologies were used by the MISR and MODIS teams.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting