Using the OMI Aerosol Index and Absorption Aerosol Optical Depth to Evaluate the NASA MERRA Aerosol Reanalysis.

Abstract:

A radiative transfer interface has been developed to simulate the UV Aerosol Index (AI) from the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) aerosol assimilated fields. The purpose of this work is to use the AI derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements as independent validation for the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero).

In this presentation we show comparisons of model produced AI with the corresponding OMI measurements during several months of 2007 characterized by a good sampling of dust and biomass burning events. In parallel, model produced Absorption Aerosol Optical Depth (AAOD) were compared to OMI AAOD for the same period, identifying regions where the model representation of absorbing aerosols were deficient.

Since AI is dependent on aerosol concentration, optical properties and altitude of the aerosol layer, we make use of complementary observations to fully diagnose the model, including AOD from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors, aerosol retrievals from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) and attenuated backscatter coefficients from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) mission to ascertain misplacement of plume height by the model.