Aerosol single-scattering albedo over the global oceans: Comparing PARASOL retrievals with AERONET, OMI, and AeroCom models estimates

The aerosol Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) over the global oceans is evaluated based on polarimetric measurements by the PARASOL satellite. The retrieved values for SSA and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) agree well with the ground-based measurements of the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). The global...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Main Authors: Lacagnina, Carlo, Hasekamp, Otto P., Bian, Huisheng, Curci, Gabriele, Myhre, Gunnar, van Noije, Twan, Schulz, Michael, Skeie, Ragnhild B., Takemura, Toshihiko, Zhang, Kai
Language:unknown
Published: 2022
Subjects:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Aerosol Robotic Network
Online Access:http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1229959
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1229959
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023501
Description
Summary:The aerosol Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) over the global oceans is evaluated based on polarimetric measurements by the PARASOL satellite. The retrieved values for SSA and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) agree well with the ground-based measurements of the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). The global coverage provided by the PARASOL observations represents a unique opportunity to evaluate SSA and AOD simulated by atmospheric transport model runs, as performed in the AeroCom framework. The SSA estimate provided by the AeroCom models is generally higher than the SSA retrieved from both PARASOL and AERONET. On the other hand, the mean simulated AOD is about right or slightly underestimated compared with observations. An overestimate of the SSA by the models would suggest that these simulate an overly strong aerosol radiative cooling at top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and underestimate it at surface. This implies that aerosols have a potential stronger impact within the atmosphere than currently simulated.

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