L. G. Tilstra

Development, Production and Evaluation of Aerosol Climate Data Records from European Satellite Observations (Aerosol_cci)

Producing a global and comprehensive description of atmospheric aerosols requires integration of ground-based, airborne, satellite and model datasets. Due to its complexity, aerosol monitoring requires the use of several data records with complementary information content. This paper describes the lessons learned while developing and qualifying algorithms to generate aerosol Climate Data Records (CDR) within the European Space Agency (ESA) Aerosol_cci project. An iterative algorithm development and evaluation cycle involving core users is applied. It begins with the application-specific refinement of user requirements, leading to algorithm development, dataset processing and independent validation followed by user evaluation. This cycle is demonstrated for a CDR of total Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from two subsequent dual-view radiometers. Specific aspects of its applicability to other aerosol algorithms are illustrated with four complementary aerosol datasets. An important element in the development of aerosol CDRs is the inclusion of several algorithms evaluating the same data to benefit from various solutions to the ill-determined retrieval problem. The iterative approach has produced a 17-year AOD CDR, a 10-year stratospheric extinction profile CDR and a 35-year Absorbing Aerosol Index record. Further evolution cycles have been initiated for complementary datasets to provide insight into aerosol properties (i.e., dust aerosol, aerosol absorption).

In‐flight degradation correction of SCIAMACHY UV reflectances and Absorbing Aerosol Index

[1] In this paper we study the close relationship between the radiometric calibration of a satellite instrument and the Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) derived from the observed Earth reflectance. Instrument degradation of the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument in the ultraviolet wavelength range is examined by analyzing time series of global means of the AAI, making use of the experience that the global mean should be more or less constant when instrument degradation is absent. The analysis reveals the magnitude of the (scan angle dependent) instrument degradation of SCIAMACHY and also shows that currently available correction techniques are not able to correct the instrument degradation in a sufficient manner. We therefore develop and introduce a new method for degradation correction, which is based on the analysis of the time evolution of the global mean reflectance. Seasonal variations in the global mean reflectance, which mainly result from seasonal variations in scattering geometry and global cloud coverage, are separated from the time series in order to isolate the instrument degradation. Finally, we apply the derived reflectance correction factors to the SCIAMACHY reflectances and calculate the AAI to find that the effects of instrument degradation are reduced to within the 0.1 index point level. The derived AAI is also compared with the AAI based on other correction techniques. The proposed in-flight reflectance degradation correction method performs best in all aspects.

Aerosol direct radiative effect of smoke over clouds over the southeast Atlantic Ocean from 2006 to 2009

The aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE) of African smoke was analyzed in cloud scenes over the southeast Atlantic Ocean, using Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) satellite observations and Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2 (HadGEM2) climate model simulations. The observed mean DRE was about 30–35 W m−2 in August and September 2006–2009. In some years, short episodes of high-aerosol DRE can be observed, due to high-aerosol loadings, while in other years the loadings are lower but more prolonged. Climate models that use evenly distributed monthly averaged emission fields will not reproduce these high-aerosol loadings. Furthermore, the simulated monthly mean aerosol DRE in HadGEM2 is only about 6 W m−2 in August. The difference with SCIAMACHY mean observations can be partly explained by an underestimation of the aerosol absorption Angstrom exponent in the ultraviolet. However, the subsequent increase of aerosol DRE simulation by about 20% is not enough to explain the observed discrepancy between simulations and observations.

Intercomparison of reflectances observed by GOME and SCIAMACHY in the visible wavelength range

We compare the Earth reflectances of the spectrometers Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) and Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) over their overlapping wavelength range (240-800 nm). The goal is to investigate the quality of the radiometric calibration of SCIAMACHY using calibrated GOME data as a reference. However, severe degradation of the GOME instrument in the UV since 2001 prevents it from being a reliable reference below 500 nm. Above 500 nm, GOME is reliable and we find substantial disagreement between GOME and SCIAMACHY, of the order of 15%-20%, which we can attribute completely to the current calibration problems of SCIAMACHY. These numbers are supported by a previous study in which SCIAMACHY was compared with the imager Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) onboard the Envisat satellite.

Southeast Atlantic Ocean aerosol direct radiative effects over clouds: Comparison of observations and simulations

Absorbing aerosols exert a warming or a cooling effect on the Earth’s system, depending on the circumstances. The direct radiative effect (DRE) of absorbing aerosols is negative (cooling) at the top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) over a dark surface like the ocean, as the aerosols increase the planetary albedo, but it is positive (warming) over bright backgrounds like clouds. Furthermore, radiation absorption by aerosols heat the atmosphere locally, and, through rapid adjustments of the atmospheric column and cloud dynamics, the net effect can be amplified considerably. We developed a technique to study the absorption of radiation of smoke over low lying clouds using satellite spectrometry. The TOA DRE of smoke over clouds is large and positive over the southeast Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa, which can be explained by the large decrease of reflected radiation by a polluted cloud, especially in the UV. However, general circulation models (GCMs) fail to reproduce these strong positive DRE, and in ge...

Quantification of the aerosol direct radiative effect from smoke over clouds using passive space-borne spectrometry

The solar radiative absorption by smoke layers above clouds is quantified, using the unique broad spectral range of the space-borne spectrometer Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) from the ultraviolet (UV) to the shortwave infrared (SWIR). Aerosol radiative effects in the UV are separated from cloud radiative effects in the shortwave infrared (SWIR). In the UV, aerosol absorption from smoke is strong, creating a strong signal in the measured reflectance. In the SWIR, absorbing and scattering effects from smoke are negligible, allowing the retrieval of cloud parameters from the measured spectrum using existing retrieval techniques. The spectral signature of the cloud can be modelled using a radiative transfer model (RTM) and the cloud parameters retrieved in the SWIR. In this way, the aerosol effects can be determined from the measured aerosol-polluted cloud shortwave spectrum and the modelled aerosol-unpolluted cloud shortwave spectrum. This can be used to derive the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE) over marine clouds, independent of aerosol parameter retrievals, significantly improving the current accuracy of aerosol DRE estimates. Only cloud parameters are needed to model the aerosolunpolluted cloud reflectance, while the effects of the aerosol absorption are in the aerosol-polluted cloud reflectance measurements. In this paper we present a case study of the above method using SCIAMACHY data over the South Atlantic Ocean west of Africa on 13 August 2006, when a huge plume of smoke was present over persistent cloud fields. The aerosol DRE over clouds was as high as 128 ± 8 Wm−2 for this case, while the aerosol DRE over clouds averaged through August 2006 was found to be 23 ± 8 Wm−2 with a mean variation over the region in this month of 22 Wm−2.