HR: 1340h
AN: A23A-0867    [Abstracts]
TI: The determination of the aerosol optical thickness over land using different satellite instruments and algorithms
AU: * Kokhanovsky, A
EM: alexk@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de
AF: University of Bremen, O. Hahn Allee 1, Bremen, 28234, Germany
AU: Breon, F
EM: Francois-Marie.Breon@cea.fr
AF: Lab. des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environment, CEA/DSML/LSCE, Gif sur Yvette, 91191, France
AU: Carboni, E
EM: elisa@atm.ox.ac.uk
AF: Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
AU: Diner, D
EM: djd@jord.jpl.nasa.gov
AF: JPL, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 169-237, Pasaden, CA91109, United States
AU: de Leeuw, G
EM: leeuw@posti.fmi.fi
AF: FMI, P. O. Box 503, Helsinki, FI-00101, Finland
AU: Grey, W
EM: W.M.F.Grey@swansea.ac.uk
AF: School of Environment and Society, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, United Kingdom
AU: Lee, K
EM: kwonlee@umd.edu
AF: ESSIC, UMD, 2114C Computing and Science Building, Maryland, MD 20742, United States
AU: Braak, R
EM: braak@knmi.nl
AF: KNMI, Wilhelminalaan 10, de Bilt, 3732 GK, Netherlands
AU: Sayer, A
EM: sayer@atm.ox.ac.uk
AF: Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
AU: Grainger, D
EM: r.grainger@physics.ox.ac.uk
AF: Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
AU: von Hoyningen-Huene, W
EM: hoyning@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de
AF: University of Bremen, O. Hahn Allee 1, Bremen, 28234, Germany
AU: Thomas, G
EM: gthomas@atm.ox.ac.uk
AF: Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
AB: An intercomparison of the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 550nm retrieved using different satellite instruments and algorithms based on the analysis of backscattered solar light is performed for a single scene over central Europe on October 13th, 2005. For the first time comparisons have been performed for as many as six instruments on multiple satellite platforms. Ten different algorithms are briefly discussed and intercompared. It was found that on the scale of a single pixel there can be large differences in AOT retrieved over land using different retrieval techniques and instruments. However, these differences are not as pronounced for the average AOT over land. For instance, the average AOT at 550nm for the area 7-12E, 49-53N was equal to 0.14 for MISR, NASA MODIS and POLDER algorithms. It is smaller by 0.01 for the ESA MERIS aerosol product and larger by 0.04 for the MERIS BAER algorithm. AOT as derived using AATSR gives on average larger values as compared to all other instruments, while SCIAMACHY retrievals underestimate the aerosol loading. These discrepancies are explained by uncertainties in a priori assumptions used in the different algorithms and differences in the sensor characteristics. Validation against AERONET shows that MERIS provides the most accurate AOT retrievals for this scene.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting