A091-0002
Airborne Remote Sensing Measurements of Particles in Different Parts of the World

Thursday, 10 December 2020
Poster
Brendan Stover Cornelison1, Meloe S Kacenelenbogen2, Samuel E LeBlanc3, Kristina Pistone2, Stephen P Broccardo4, Michal Segal-Rosenhaimer2, Roy Johnson2, Stephen E Dunagan2, Robert P. Dahlgren5, Conrad Esch6, Lauren Fahey7, Jens Redemann8, Connor Flynn9, Beat Schmid10, Yohei Shinozuka11, Robert C Levy12 and Kerry Meyer13, (1)University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States, (2)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (3)University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Universities Space Research Association San Jose, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (5)California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, CA, United States, (6)Bay Area Environmental Research Institute Moffett Field, Moffett Field, United States, (7)Bay Area Environmental Research Institute Sonoma, Sonoma, United States, (8)University of Oklahoma, School of Meteorology, Norman, OK, United States, (9)University of Oklahoma Norman Campus, Norman, United States, (10)Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, United States, (11)Bay Area Environmental Research Institute Sonoma, Sonoma, CA, United States, (12)NASA/Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (13)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
Abstract:
Around the globe, atmospheric aerosols pose a significant yet uncertain impact on the Earth's climate, environmental air quality and human health. Suborbital sunphotometer measurements of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) (i.e., the amount of direct-beam solar light attenuated by aerosols within the atmospheric column) are used to validate satellite aerosol retrievals and are valuable when studying aerosol-solar radiation and/ or aerosol-cloud interactions.

Since 1985, NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) has been using airborne sun-tracking sunphotometers to measure atmospheric constituents such as aerosols, clouds, and gases. The NASA Ames Airborne Tracking Sunphotometer (AATS-6) and then (AATS-14) operate by tracking the sun and measuring the transmission of solar radiation in 6 to 14 discrete spectral channels (Russell et al., 1986). The AATS systems were followed by the more advanced hyperspectral 4STAR instrument (Spectrometer for Sky-Scanning, Sun-Tracking Atmospheric Research; Dunagan et al., 2013), which combines the airborne sun-tracking capability of the AATS-14 with a sky scanning feature similar to the ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network Sun/sky photometers (AERONET).

We present a comprehensive analysis of ~30 airborne campaigns undertaken by NASA and DoE based on a new database of airborne sunphotometer measurements. Using this database, we present a clear picture of airborne AODs over the range of historical campaigns and the aerosol sizes per region, especially over the ocean where AERONET data is limited. With this database, we can investigate systematic differences in AOD such as those observed over different land and ocean surfaces in specific geographical regions. Finally, we will briefly show comparisons with satellite aerosol retrievals from MODIS and/or VIIRS.

References

Russell, P. B., T. Matsumoto, V. J. Banta, J. M. Livingston, C. Mina, D. S. Colburn, and R. F. Pueschel (1986), Measurements with an airborne, autotracking, external-head sunphotometer, Preprint Volume, Sixth Conference on Atmospheric Radiation, May 13–16, 1986, Amer. Meteor. Soc., Boston, MA, 55–58.

Dunagan, Stephen E., et al. "Spectrometer for sky-scanning sun-tracking atmospheric research (4STAR): Instrument technology." Remote Sensing 5.8 (2013): 3872-3895.

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