Correlative study of Aerosol Optical Depth with Precipitable water over five AERONET station across the world

• Published in: BIBECHANA
• Main Authors: Santosh Sapkota, Sabin Gautam, Aayush Gautam, Bhairab Ale
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Physics, Mahendra Morang Adarsh Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University 2023
• Subjects: aerosol; aerosol optical depth; precipitable water; Technology; T; Technology (General); T1-995; Science; Q; Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3126/bibechana.v20i3.57153; https://doaj.org/article/e5fc7ac92c9e40188495e6a1d77bd000

Ground-based measurements were taken at various locations, including Kathmandu Bode, Beijing, Gandhi College (located in South Asian zone, highly polluted area), Canberra, and UNC Gaitan (located in South Eastern zone, low polluted area), from January to December 2016. The study investigated the seasonal and inter-annual AOD that were obtained using CIMEL Sunphotometer, as a part of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). The data showed that Kathmandu (0.45±0.01), Gandhi College (0.45±0.02 and Beijing (0.85±0.03) had higher AOD values compared to other stations, with Kathmandu being a high-altitude site. The analysis found that pre-monsoon AOD were higher over Kathmandu (0.45±0.01), Gandhi College (0.45±0.02), UNC Gaitan (0.28±0.001), and Canberra (0.06±0.002). On the other hand, the monsoon AOD was higher over Beijing (0.85±0.03). The study identified various factors contributing to the higher AOD values in specific regions. Beijing, Gandhi College, and Kathmandu, located in Asian monsoon regions, experienced high aerosol loading due to economic activities, vehicles, urbanization, vegetation fire, land clearing for crop cultivation, as well as winter biomass burning, heating needs, and pollution from bricks kilns, factories, and vehicles. Canberra and UNC Gaitan had higher AOD values primarily due to biomass burning and dust. AOD values are higher for shorter wavelength and vice-versa. We conducted a correlation analysis between AOD and perceptible water at different wavelengths and observed one to one correspondence. The columnar water vapor (CWV) exhibited a high correlation with AOD in Canberra (Coefficient of determination, R2 = 0.61) at 1640 nm but had no relationship with AOD in Gandhi College (Coefficient of determination, R2 = 0) at 1640nm. There is weak negative correlation between AOD and preceptable water over Kathmandu and UNC Gaitan, but have positive correlation in Canberra, Beijing and Gandhi College