Changes in Aerosol Optical Depth over the Arctic Ocean as Seen by CALIOP, MAIAC, and MODIS C6.1

Due to the recent increase in Arctic shipping, 2006-2020 June to October Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection 6.1 (C6.1), and Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) data were examined for changes in AOD from period 1 (P1, 2006-2012) to period 2 (P2, 2014-2020 (P2). Herein, AOD was statistically analyzed on a 0.25° × 0.25° grid and in the airsheds over the various ocean basins over the Arctic north of 59.75°N. According to heatmaps of the correlation between AOD and ship traffic, and AOD and fire emissions for the airsheds, all three AOD products captured the observed inter-annual variability in wildfire occurrence well, and showed wildfire emissions over Siberia were more severe in P2 than P1. Except for the Atlantic, North, and Baltic Seas, Beaufort Sea, and Barents Sea, all three AOD products indicated that AOD was higher over the various basins in P2 than P1, but disagreed on the magnitude. This fact suggests that the detection of changes in the typical low AOD over the Arctic Ocean might be rather qualitative than quantitative. While all products captured increases in AOD due to ships at berth, only MODIS C6.1 caught the elevated AOD due to shipping on the Siberian rivers. Obviously, sub-daily resolutions are required to capture increased AOD due to short-term events like a traveling ship or short-interval fire.

Using MAN and Coastal AERONET Measurements to Assess the Suitability of MODIS C6.1 Aerosol Optical Depth for Monitoring Changes from Increased Arctic Shipping

Collocated data of the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MO-DIS) Collection 6.1 aerosol optical depths (AOD) at 3 km × 3 km north of 59.9°N over ocean were assessed at 550 nm by aerosol robotic network (AERONET) data from coastal sites and marine aerosol network (MAN) data from vessels during June to October 2006 to 2018. Typically, MODIS AOD was higher at low and lower at high values than the AERONET AOD. Discrepancies were largest for sites where the Earth’s surface around the site is very heterogeneous (Canadian Archipelago, coast of Greenland). Due to the higher likelihood for sea-ice, MAN and MODIS AOD differed stronger west of Greenland and over the Beaufort Sea than at location in the Greenland and Norwegian Seas and Atlantic. MODIS AOD well captured the inter-seasonal variability found in the AERONET AOD data (R = 0.933). At all sites, MO-DIS and AERONET AOD agreement improved as time progressed in the shipping season, hinting at errors in sea-ice vs. open water classification. Overall 75.3% of the MODIS AOD data fell within the limits of the error envelops of the AERONET/MAN AOD data with MAN ranging between 87.5% and 100%. Changes in both MODIS and AERONET mean AOD between two periods of same length (2006-2011, 2013-2018) were explainable by changes in emissions for all sites.

The relationships among aerosol optical depth, ice, phytoplankton and dimethylsulfide and the implication for future climate in the Greenland Sea

The sea-to-air flux of dimethylsulphide（DMS） is one of the major sources of marine biogenic aerosol, and can have an important radiative impact on climate, especially in the Arctic Ocean. Satellite-derived aerosol optical depth（AOD） is used as a proxy for aerosol burden which is dominated by biogenic aerosol during summer and autumn. The spring sea ice melt period is a strong source of aerosol precursors in the Arctic. However, high aerosol levels in early spring are likely related to advection of continental pollution from the south（Arctic haze）.Higher AOD was generally registered in the southern part of the study region. Sea ice concentration（SIC） and AOD were positively correlated, while cloud cover（CLD） and AOD were negative correlation. The seasonal peaks of SIC and CLD were both one month ahead of the peak in AOD. There is a strong positive correlation between AOD and SIC. Melting ice is positively correlated with chlorophyll a（CHL） almost through March to September,but negatively correlated with AOD in spring and early summer. Elevated spring and early summer AOD most likely were influenced by combination of melting ice and higher spring wind in the region. The peak of DMS flux occurred in spring due to the elevated spring wind and more melting ice. DMS concentration and AOD were positively correlated with melting ice from March to May. Elevated AOD in early autumn was likely related to the emission of biogenic aerosols associated with phytoplankton synthesis of DMS. The DMS flux would increase more than triple by 2100 in the Greenland Sea. The significant increase of biogenic aerosols could offset the warming in the Greenland Sea.

Determining the environmental and atmospheric effects of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)quarantining by studying the total aerosol optical depth,black carbon,organic matter,and sulfate in Blida City of Algeria

Background:To study,estimate and discuss the variations of the aerosol optical depth(AOD),black carbon,sulfate and organic matter,in the atmosphere in Blida City of Algeria,which was greatly affected by COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:We analyzed the effects of changes in the total AOD,black carbon,sulfate,and organic matter in the atmosphere(λ=550 nm)in the same period of 2019 and 2020,following the COVID-19 epidemic in Blida City,which was the most-affected city in Algeria.Results:The quarantine that was enacted to limit the spread of COVID-19 resulted in side effects that were identifiable in the total AOD and in some of its atmospheric components.Comparing these variables in 2019 and 2020(in the months during the quarantine)revealed that in April,the BCAOD values were much lower in 2020than in 2019.Conclusion:Based on the effects of the emerging COVID-19,the research listed the changes received from the AOD,and is considered as a comparative study and represents a significant side effect of the quarantine that was mainly designed to limit COVID-19.

Theoretical Analysis of Retrieving Atmospheric Columnar Mie Optical Depth from Downward Total Solar Radiative Flux

In this paper, the principle to determine the atmospheric columnar Mie optical depth from downward total solar radiative flux is theoretically studied, and the effect on Mie optical depth solution of the errors in surface albedo, sin-gle scattering albedo, asymmetrical factor of scattering phase function, instrumental constant and the approximate expression of diffusion flux is analy/ed, and then a method for determining surface albedo in shorter wavelength range is presented.

Recent Trends in Satellite-Derived Chlorophyll and Aerosol Optical Depth Together with Simulated Dimethylsulfide in the Eastern China Marginal Seas

The biogenic compound dimethylsulfide(DMS)produced by a range of marine biota is the major natural source of re-duced sulfur to the atmosphere and plays a major role in the formation and evolution of aerosols,potentially affecting climate.The spatio-temporal distribution of satellite-derived chlorophyll_a(CHL)and aerosol optical depth(AOD)for the recent years(2011-2019)in the Eastern China Marginal Seas(ECMS)(25°-40°N,120°-130°E)are studied.The seasonal CHL peaks occurred during late April and the CHL distribution displays a clear zonal gradient.Elevated CHL was also observed along the northern and western coastlines during summer and winter seasons.Trend analysis shows that mean CHL decreases by about 10%over the 9-year study period,while AOD was higher in south and lower in north during summertime.A genetic algorithm technique is used to calibrate the key model parameters and simulations are carried out for 2015,a year when field data was available.Our simulation results show that DMS seawater concentration ranges from 1.56 to 5.88 nmol L^(−1) with a mean value of 2.76 nmol L^(−1).DMS sea-air flux ranges from 2.66 to 5.00mmol m^(−2) d^(−1) with mean of 3.80mmol m^(−2) d^(−1).Positive correlations of about 0.5 between CHL and AOD were found in the study region,with higher correlations along the coasts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces.The elevated CHL concentration along the west coast is correlated with increased sea-water concentrations of DMS in the region.Our results suggest a possible influ-ence of DMS-derived aerosol in the local ECMS atmosphere,especially along the western coastline of ECMS.

Can MODIS Detect Trends in Aerosol Optical Depth over Land?

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer （MODIS） sensor onboard NASA＇s Aqua satellite has been collect- ing valuable data about the Earth system for more than 14 years, and one of the benefits of this is that it has made it possible to detect the long-term variation in aerosol loading across the globe. However, the long-term aerosol optical depth （AOD） trends derived from MODIS need careful validation and assessment, especially over land. Using AOD products with at least 70 months＇ worth of measurements collected during 2002-15 at 53 Aerosol Robotic Network （AERONET） sites over land, Mann-Kendall （MK） trends in AOD were derived and taken as the ground truth data for evaluating the corresponding results from MOD｜S onboard Aqua. The results showed that the AERONET AOD trends over all sites in Europe and North Amer- ica, as well as most sites in Africa and Asia, can be reproduced by MODIS/Aqua. However, disagreement in AOD trends between MODIS and AERONET was found at a few sites in Australia and South America. The AOD trends calculated from AERONET instantaneous data at the MODIS overpass times were consistent with those from AERONET daily data, which suggests that the AOD trends derived from satellite measurements of 1-2 overpasses may be representative of those from daily measurements.

Simulating Aerosol Optical Depth and Direct Radiative Effects over the Tibetan Plateau with a High-Resolution CAS FGOALS-f3 Model

Current global climate models cannot resolve the complex topography over the Tibetan Plateau(TP)due to their coarse resolution.This study investigates the impacts of horizontal resolution on simulating aerosol and its direct radiative effect(DRE)over the TP by applying two horizontal resolutions of about 100 km and 25 km to the Chinese Academy of Sciences Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere Land System(CAS FGOALS-f3)over a 10-year period.Compared to the AErosol RObotic NETwork observations,a high-resolution model(HRM)can better reproduce the spatial distribution and seasonal cycles of aerosol optical depth(AOD)compared to a low-resolution model(LRM).The HRM bias and RMSE of AOD decreased by 0.08 and 0.12,and the correlation coefficient increased by 0.22 compared to the LRM.An LRM is not sufficient to reproduce the aerosol variations associated with fine-scale topographic forcing,such as in the eastern marginal region of the TP.The difference between hydrophilic aerosols in an HRM and LRM is caused by the divergence of the simulated relative humidity(RH).More reasonable distributions and variations of RH are conducive to simulating hydrophilic aerosols.An increase of the 10-m wind speed in winter by an HRM leads to increased dust emissions.The simulated aerosol DREs at the top of the atmosphere(TOA)and at the surface by the HRM are–0.76 W m^(–2)and–8.72 W m^(–2)over the TP,respectively.Both resolution models can capture the key feature that dust TOA DRE transitions from positive in spring to negative in the other seasons.

Cold Atom Cloud with High Optical Depth Measured with Large Duty Cycle

We present a cold atom system with a dark-line two-dimensional magneto-optical trap, to increase the atomic density by suppressing the atomic radiation pressure. Optical depth （OD） and duty cycle are used to evaluate the system performance. We demonstrate a 100% increase in OD with the dark line, and obtain an ultrahigh OD of 264 with 10% for the duty cycle. Also, with an efficient dark line region, the OD could maintain above i00 with duty cycle as high as 30%. The cold atomic ensemble with an ultrahigh OD with a 10%-30% duty cycle is particularly advantageous in quantum i^formation processing and communication.

Optical coherence tomography enhanced depth imaging of chorioretinal folds in patients with orbital tumors

AIM:To characterize spectral-domain optical coherence tomography(SD-OCT)features of chorioretinal folds in orbital mass imaged using enhanced depth imaging(EDI).METHODS:Prospective observational case-control study was conducted in 20 eyes of 20 patients,the uninvolved eye served as a control.All the patients underwent clinical fundus photography,computed tomography,EDI SDOCT imaging before and after surgery.Two patients with cavernous hemangiomas underwent intratumoral injection of bleomycin A5;the remaining patients underwent tumor excision.Patients were followed 1 to 14mo following surgery(average follow up,5.8mo).RESULTS:Visual acuity prior to surgery ranged from 20/20 to 20/200.Following surgery,5 patients’visual acuity remained unchanged while the remaining 15 patients had a mean letter improvement of 10(range 4 to 26 letters).Photoreceptor inner/outer segment defects were found in 10 of 15 patients prior to surgery.Following surgical excision,photoreceptor inner/outer segment defects fully resolved in 8 of these 10 patients.CONCLUSION:Persistence of photoreceptor inner/outer segment defects caused by compression of the globe by an orbital mass can be associated with reduced visual prognosis.Our findings suggest that photoreceptor inner/outer segment defects on EDI SD-OCT could be an indicator for immediate surgical excision of an orbital mass causing choroidal compression.

A Method for Spaceborne Synthetic Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Aerosol Optical Depth and Vegetation Reflectance

Spaceborne synthetic remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol optical depth and vegetation reflectance is very significant, but it remains to be a question unresolved yet. Based on the property of vegetation reflectance spectra from near ultra violet to near infrared and the sensitivity of outgoing radiance to vegetation reflectance and atmospheric aerosol optical depth, a new method for spaceborne synthetic remote sensing of the reflectance and the depth is proposed, and an iteration correlation inversion algorithm is developed in this paper. According to numerical experiment, effects of radiance error, error in aerosol imaginary index and vegetation medium inhomogeneity on retrieved result are analyzed. Inversion results show that the effect of error in aerosol imaginary index is very important. As the error of aerosol imaginary index is within 0.01, standard errors of aerosol optical depth and vegetation reflectance solutions for 14 spectral channels from 410 nm to 900 nm are respectively less than 0.063 and 0.023. And as the radiance error is within 2%, the standard errors are less than 0.023 and 0.0056.

Long-term trend in aerosol optical depth from 1980 to 2001 in north China

Using the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer （TOMS） monthly aerosol optical depth （AOD） at 500 nm data from 1980 to 2001 in north China, the spatial and temporal variations of AOD were examined. Seasonal AODs in Taklimakan Desert were 0.69 and 0.44 in spring and summer, respectively, which were mainly due to frequent occurrences of dust events in this region. Dust activities in spring also led to high aerosol loading in Gobi Desert and in northeast China where spring AODs were 0.33 and 0.29, respectively. Heavily impacted by events such as volcano eruption, forest fires and extraordinary dust storms, AODs showed large inter-annual variations. A decreasing tendency in AOD was observed in north China during 1980-1991, though a reverse tendency was revealed during 1997-2001, especially for spring AOD in northeast China. Further study is required to figure out how much human activities have contributed to the AOD tendency in north China.

ANALYSIS OF THE ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOL OPTICAL DEPTH OVER CHINA IN 1980s

This paper retrieves the yearly and monthly mean 0.75μm aerosol optical depth(AOD)of 41 A-class solar radiation stations over China from 1979 to 1990,and analyzes the spatial and temporal distribution of AOD over China mainland.The data employed are daily direct solar radiation and sunshine duration,as well as the TOMS version-7 ozone observation data in the same time.The results indicate that the Siehuan Basin is the largest center of yearly mean AOD over China.and the other two larger centers lie in Wuhan City and the South Xinjiang Basin, separately.AOD values are also relatively larger in the middle-and-lower reaches area of Changjiang River.Shandong Peninsula and coastal area of Guangdong Province:while in Yunnan Province,coastal area of Fujian Province.most parts of Northwest and Northeast China,AOD values are relatively smaller.The distribution of AOD varies with different months.In most parts of China.the maximum of AOD occurs in spring season;but the minimum varies in different regions,From 1979 to 1990.in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau,West Siehuan Basin,North Guizhou Province.most areas of the middle-and-lower reaches of Changjiang River,Shandong Peninsula and west part of South Xinjiang Basin.AOD shows an increasing trend.But in Northeast China, most part of Northwest China,Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau,western Guangxi Region and the coastal areas of East China,AOD shows decreasing tendency.Generally,the seasonal variation characteristics of AOD in China can be classified into four typical models,i.e.,mono-modal types A and B,bimodal and Poly-modal.

Retrieval of Aerosol Optical Depth for Chongqing Using the HJ-1 Satellite Data

Aerosol optical depth （AOD） is a common indicator applied in monitoring aerosols in the atmosphere. The hilly landscape and rapid economic growth of the megacity Chongqing have facilitated increased aerosol concentration, and it is meaningful to accurately retrieve AOD over Chongqing. The HJ-1A/B satellite of China carries a sensor/camera called the Charge Coupled Device （CCD）, the spatial resolution of which meets the requirement for re- trieving high resolution AOD. In this paper, analysis of the AOD retrievals from different methods using the H J-1 satellite data revealed the most suitable algorithm. Through comparison with the AOD product of Moderate Resolu- tion Imaging Spectroradiometer （MODIS）, the AOD retrieval results using enhanced vegetation index （EVI） to estim- ate dark pixels showed the highest correlation. The continental aerosol model was used to build a lookup table that was able to facilitate a good AOD retrieval for both city and rural areas. Finally, the algorithm that combined dark pixels, buffer areas, and the deep blue algorithm was found to be most suitable for AOD retrieval. The AOD retrieval results based on the HJ-1 data were consistent with MODIS products, and our algorithm yields reasonable results in most cases. The results were also compared with ground-based PMl0 measurements synchronized with the overpass time of the HJ-1 satellite, and high correlation was found. The findings are relevant to other Chinese satellite data used for retrieving AOD on the same channels.

Atmospheric aerosol pollution across China:a spatiotemporal analysis of satellite-based aerosol optical depth during 2000–2016

Increasing attention has been paid to the deterioration of air quality in China during the past decade.This study presents the spatiotemporal variations of aerosol concentration across China during 2000–2016 using aerosol optical depth(AOD)from the atmospheric product of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.Percentile thresholds are applied to define AOD days with different loadings.Temporally,aerosol concentration has increased since 2000 and reached the highest level in 2011;then it has declined from 2011 to 2016.Seasonally,aerosol concentration is the highest in summer and the lowest in winter.Spatially,North China and Sichuan Basin are featured by high aerosol concentration with increasing trends in North China and decreasing trends in Sichuan Basin.North,Southeast and Southwest China have been through increasing days with low AOD loading;however,Northeast China has experienced increasing days with high AOD loading.It is likely that air quality influenced by aerosols has notably improved over North China in spring and summer,over Southwest and Southeast China in autumn,but has degraded over Northeast China in autumn.

Estimation of aerosol optical depth in relation to meteorological parameters over eastern and western routes of China Pakistan economic corridor

This study finds out seasonal and monthly variations in Aerosol Optical Depth(AOD)over eastern and western routes of China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC)and the relationship between AOD and meteorological parameters(i.e.,temperature,rainfall and wind speed).The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)and Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer(MISR)data was used from the terra satellite for the period of 2000-2016.This study aims to overtake the conventional view of the purpose of using the satellite datasets.This study takes on to the concept that validated satellite data sets rather should be used for the analysis instead of just validation specifically for our study region.Hence,after comparing MODIS AOD with MISR AOD,only MISR AOD dataset is used for further analysis.The results show a decreasing trend of AOD in summer season,a positive relationship between temperature and AOD during winter and spring seasons whereas a positive relationship between wind speed and AOD in winter and spring seasons over eastern and western routes.Periodic analysis of MODIS AOD and MISR AOD depicts May-Aug as the peak period of aerosol concentration over central Pakistan.The inter-annual analysis shows the aerosol trend remained higher during summer season however rainfall shows the washout effect.Eastern route has higher standard deviation and larger values for aerosol prevalence as compared to western route.The trajectory analysis using the HYSPLIT model suggests the bias of air mass trajectory caused deviation in the aerosol trend in the year 2014.

Seasonal Variations of Aerosol Optical Depth over East China and India in Relationship to the Asian Monsoon Circulation

Seasonal variation features of aerosol optical depth （AOD） over East China and India in association with the Asian monsoon system are investigated, based on the latest AOD data derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spec-troradiometer （MODIS） aboard the Terra satellite, the NCEP Final （FNL） Operational Global Analysis data, the Cli-mate Prediction Center （CPC） Merged Analysis of Precipitation （CMAP） data, and the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data from March 2000 to February 2017. The results indicate that AOD in East China is significantly larger than that in India, especially in spring. The seasonal mean AOD in East China is high in both spring and summer but low in fall and winter. However, the AOD averaged over India is highest in summer and lower in spring, fall, and winter. Ana-lysis reveals that AOD is more closely related to changes in surface wind speed in East China, while no obvious rela-tion is found between precipitation and the AOD distribution on the seasonal timescale. As aerosols are mainly dis-tributed in the atmospheric boundary layer （ABL）, the stability of the ABL represented by Richardson number （Ri） is closely correlated with spatial distribution of AOD. The upper and lower tropospheric circulation patterns signific-antly differ between East China and India, resulting in different effects on the AOD. The effect of advection associ-ated with lower tropospheric circulation on the AOD and the influence of convergence and divergence on the AOD distribution play different roles in maintaining the AOD in East China and India. These results improve our under-standing of the mechanism responsible for and differences among the aerosol changes in East China and India.

Seasonal Variations in the Vertical Structure of Water Vapor Optical Depth in the Lower Troposphere over a Tropical Station

Spatio-temporal variations of water vapor optical depth in the lower troposphere (450-3850 m) over Pune (18°32′N, 73°51′E, 559 m Above Mean Sea Level), India have been studied over a period of five years. The mean vertical structure showed that the moisture content is greatest at the lowest level and decreases with increasing altitude, except in the south-west monsoon season (June to September) where an increase upto 950 m has been found. Optical depths are maximum in the monsoon season. The increase from pre-monsoon (March-May) to monsoon season in moisture content on an average is by about 58% in the above altitude range. The temporal variations in surface Relative Humidity and optical depth at 450 m show positive correlation. The amplitude of seasonal oscillation is the largest at 1465 m altitude. The time-height cross-sections of water vapor optical depths in the lower troposphere showed a contrast between years of good and bad monsoon.

Analysis of the origin of peak aerosol optical depth in springtime over the Gulf of Tonkin

By aggregating MODIS（moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer） AOD（aerosol optical depth） and OMI（ozone monitoring instrument） UVAI（ultra violet aerosol index）datasets over 2010–2014, it was found that peak aerosol loading in seasonal variation occurred annually in spring over the Gulf of Tonkin（17–23°N, 105–110°E）. The vertical structure of the aerosol extinction coefficient retrieved from the spaceborne lidar CALIOP（cloud-aerosol lidar with orthogonal polarization） showed that the springtime peak AOD could be attributed to an abrupt increase in aerosol loading between altitudes of 2 and 5 km.In contrast, aerosol loading in the low atmosphere（below 1 km） was only half of that in winter. Wind fields in the low and high atmosphere exhibited opposite transportation patterns in spring over the Gulf of Tonkin, implying different sources for each level. By comparing the emission inventory of anthropogenic sources with biomass burning, and analyzing the seasonal variation of the vertical structure of aerosols over the Northern Indo-China Peninsula（NIC）, it was concluded that biomass burning emissions contributed to high aerosol loading in spring. The relatively high topography and the high surface temperature in spring made planetary boundary layer height greater than 3 km over NIC. In addition, small-scale cumulus convection frequently occurred, facilitating pollutant rising to over 3 km, which was a height favoring long-range transport. Thus, pollutants emitted from biomass burning over NIC in spring were raised to the high atmosphere, then experienced long-range transport, leading to the increase in aerosol loading at high altitudes over the Gulf of Tonkin during spring.

An efficient geosciences workflow on multi-core processors and GPUs:a case study for aerosol optical depth retrieval from MODIS satellite data

Quantitative remote sensing retrieval algorithms help understanding the dynamic aspects of Digital Earth.However,the Big Data and complex models in Digital Earth pose grand challenges for computation infrastructures.In this article,taking the aerosol optical depth(AOD)retrieval as a study case,we exploit parallel computing methods for high efficient geophysical parameter retrieval.We present an efficient geocomputation workflow for the AOD calculation from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)satellite data.According to their individual potential for parallelization,several procedures were adapted and implemented for a successful parallel execution on multicore processors and Graphics Processing Units(GPUs).The benchmarks in this paper validate the high parallel performance of the retrieval workflow with speedups of up to 5.x on a multi-core processor with 8 threads and 43.x on a GPU.To specifically address the time-consuming model retrieval part,hybrid parallel patterns which combine the multicore processor’s and the GPU’s compute power were implemented with static and dynamic workload distributions and evaluated on two systems with different CPU–GPU configurations.It is shown that only the dynamic hybrid implementation leads to a greatly enhanced overall exploitation of the heterogeneous hardware environment in varying circumstances.