Maritime Aerosol Network as a Component of AERONET - a Useful Tool for Evaluation of the Global Sea-Salt Aerosol Distribution
Alexander Smirnov1, Brent Holben2, Stefan Kinne3, Norman B Nelson4, Georgiy L Stenchikov5, Stephen P Broccardo6, Derek Sowers7, Meme Lobecker8, Michael Ondrusek9, Tymon Przemyslaw Zielinski10, Lindsay McKenna Gray11, Robert Frouin12, Vladimir F Radionov13, Timothy J Smyth14, Giuseppe Zibordi15, Maija Iris Heller16, Violeta Slabakova17, Kirstin Krüger18, Elizabeth A Reid19, Larysa Istomina20, Ryan Anthony Vandermeulen21, Norman T. O'Neill22, Gad Levy23, David Matthew Giles1, Ilya Slutsker1, Mikhail G Sorokin2 and Thomas F Eck24, (1)Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD, United States, (2)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Atmosphere, Hamburg, Germany, (4)University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, (5)King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, (6)University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, (7)Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping Joint Hydrographic Center, Durham, NH, United States, (8)NOAA, Boulder, CO, United States, (9)NOAA College Park, College Park, MD, United States, (10)Institute of Oceanology, Sopot, Poland, (11)Earth Resources Technology Inc., Silver Spring, MD, United States, (12)University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, (13)Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia, (14)Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, United Kingdom, (15)JRC, Ispra, Italy, (16)University of California Santa Cruz, Department of Ocean Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (17)Institute of Oceanology, Varna, Bulgaria, (18)University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, (19)Naval Research Lab Monterey, Monterey, CA, United States, (20)University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, (21)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/SSAI, Ocean Ecology Laboratory, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (22)University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, (23)NorthWest Research Associates, Inc, Redmond, WA, United States, (24)Nasa Goddard SFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States
Abstract:
Sea-salt aerosol plays an important role in radiation balance and chemistry of marine atmosphere. Sea-salt production depends on various factors. There is a significant uncertainty in the parametrization of the sea-salt production and budget. Ship-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements can be used as an important validation tool for various global models and in-situ measurements. The paper presents the current status of the Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN) which is a component of Aerosol Robotic Network. Since 2006 over 300 cruises were completed and data archive of more than 5500 measurement days is accessible at
http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/new_web/maritime_aerosol_network.html . AOD measurements from ships of opportunity complemented island-based AERONET measurements and provided important reference points for satellite retrieved and modelled AOD climatology over the oceans. The program exemplifies mutually beneficial international, multi-agency effort in atmospheric aerosol optical studies over the oceans.
