HR: 0830h
AN: A21A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Comparing Aerosol Properties Measured by the SAGE II and SAGE III Satellite Experiments
AU: * Yue, G K
EM: Glenn.K.Yue@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, 100 NASA Road, Hampton, VA 23681 United States
AU: Lu, C
EM: Sarah.Lu@noaa.gov
AF: RS Information Systems, 1651 Old Meadow Road, McLean, VA 22102 United States
AU: Wang, P
EM: p.wang@larc.nasa.gov
AF: Science & Technology Corp., 10 Basil Sawyer Drive, Hampton, VA 23666 United States
AB: SAGE II and SAGE III are two currently operating satellite systems designed to measure aerosol extinction coefficients and concentrations of trace gases in the atmosphere by using the techniques of solar and/or lunar occultation. Since February 2002, there are occasions when measurement locations for both satellites are nearly coincident, thereby providing opportunities for a measurement comparison. In this paper, the coincidences in the years from 2002 to 2004 are identified. Aerosol properties, including extinctions, optical depths, surface area densities, and volume densities measured by SAGE II and SAGE III at these coincidences are compared. The retrieval errors for the SAGE II and SAGE III are discussed. It was found that generally in the main aerosol layer, between about 18 to 26 km, the differences are less than about 30%. Larger differences are shown at altitudes near the tropopause and around 30 km. The contribution of measurement uncertainties to the differences in aerosol properties is also discussed.
DE: 0300 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
DE: 0305 Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801)
DE: 0394 Instruments and techniques
DE: 0399 General or miscellaneous
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly