MISR abstract

Kinne, S. (2003). Aerosol Optical Depth Global Fields From Measurements and Simulations. Eos Trans. AGU, 84(46), Fall Meet. Suppl. 2003, Abstract # A11E-0016

Aerosol properties are highly variable in space and time. This is one of the reasons, why aerosols introduce one of the largest uncertainties in climate research. Probably the most important optical aerosol property is the visible aerosol optical depth. As measure for the attenuation of direct sunlight, this property is easily imagined by the human eye. Here, global data-sets from different satellite retrievals and model simulations are compared. Monthly statistics of aerosol optical depth focus on data of the year 2000, whenever possible, to avoid contamination from year-to-year variations. Satellite data include aerosol retrievals from AVHRR, TOMS, MODIS and MISR. Ground data are based on statistics from AERONET- and GAW-sites. Model data are based on simulations with several global models, which for the determiniation of optical depth distinguish among different aerosol types (sulfate, org.carbon, black carbon, sea-salt and dust). Measurement limitations (and uncertainty) are discussed and performances of model are addressed.

[Full text not yet available]