HR: 1340h
AN: A23A-0869    [Abstracts]
TI: Dust Absorption Over Sahara Inferred From MODIS for Four Years
AU: * Yoshida, M
EM: mayum@restec.or.jp
AF: Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan, Tsukuba-Mitsui Bldg 18F, 1-6-1 Takezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0032, Japan
AU: Murakami, H
EM: murakami.hiroshi.eo@jaxa.jp
AF: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 2-1-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8505, Japan
AB: Airborne dust over Sahara can have a significant effect on the Earthfs radiation budget, but most existing observations are available for a limited number of locations, especially near coastal area. Therefore, it is important to find representative dust absorption averaged over whole Sahara area. We estimated dust single scattering albedo averaged over Sahara using MODIS data for 4 years. The method is based on the theory that the critical surface reflectance, for which the TOA reflectance is not affected by the presence of dust, depend on the single scattering albedo (Kaufman,1987 and Kaufman et al.,2001). We derived he critical surface reflectance, by comparing the observed TOA reflectance on less dusty and hazy condition, and estimated the single scattering albedo using the radiative transfer model. The estimated dust single scattering albedo was compared to the past studies which derived the dust absorption from other satellites or ground-based measurements. Use of satellite data over large area and for long terms enables the quantification of the average dust absorption over Sahara including inland.
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906)
DE: 3359 Radiative processes
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting