Retrieving Aerosol Plume Height Information by Synergistic Use of VIIRS, OMPS, and CALIOP Observations

Abstract:

The plume height of aerosols is one of the crucial parameters for better assessing the radiative forcing of aerosols. Recent advances in satellite remote sensing technique (both in instrumentation and retrieval algorithms) have allowed for retrieving extinction profile from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) in its operational data processing stream. However, information over broad areas is not readily achieved from CALIOP observations due to its narrow swath width. This study presents a method for retrieving the plume height of UV-absorbing aerosols, such as dust and biomass burning smoke, in a much broader area than CALIOP observations by combining aerosol products from multiple satellite sensors: aerosol optical depth (AOD) from Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), UV aerosol index (UVAI) from Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), and aerosol total backscatter coefficient from CALIOP. When VIIRS, OMPS, and CALIOP products are available for a certain aerosol event, the presented algorithm retrieves aerosol plume height and single-scattering albedo (SSA). If the CALIOP track misses the aerosol event, it only retrieves the plume height using an assumed SSA. Case studies are presented to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the developed method and shed light on paths to further improving the retrieval accuracy. Comparisons between the retrieved SSA with those of AERONET inversion products support possible use of the SSA climatology derived from the developed algorithm to improve the retrieval accuracy when CALIOP observations are missing.