Aerosol Optical Depth Retrieval over East Asia Using Himawari-8/AHI Data

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Wenhao Zhang, Hui Xu, Fengjie Zheng
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018
• Subjects: Himawari-8/AHI; aerosol optical depth; East Asia; geostationary satellite; AERONET; Science; Q; Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10010137; https://doaj.org/article/e2f7167684b441ee8d8e5d1c23025199

This paper presents a new algorithm to retrieve the aerosol optical depth (AOD) from a Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI). Six typical aerosol models that derived from the long-term ground-based observations of East Asia are used in AOD retrieval. To accurately determine the surface reflectance, improved channel relationships between red, blue, and shortwave infrared (SWIR) are built up according to the infrared Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVISWIR). Based on the new derived aerosol models and improved channel relationships, AOD over East Asian is retrieved by using the AHI data. The results are compared with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol products (MOD04 and MYD04) and yielded a correlation coefficient lager than 0.8 (R = 0.87 and 0.92, respectively). In addition, the retrieved AOD values are also validated by ground-based measurements at 12 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) locations and revealed a good agreement between them (R = 0.86).