Global Surface-Based Sun Photometer Network for Long-Term Observations of Column Aerosol Optical Properties: Intercomparison of Aerosol Optical Depth
Titel:
Global Surface-Based Sun Photometer Network for Long-Term Observations of Column Aerosol Optical Properties: Intercomparison of Aerosol Optical Depth
Auteur:
Kim, Sang-Woo Yoon, Soon-Chang Dutton, Ellsworth G. Kim, Jiyoung Wehrli, Christoph Holben, Brent N.
Verschenen in:
Aerosol science and technology
Paginering:
Jaargang 42 (2008) nr. 1 pagina's 1-9
Jaar:
2008-01
Inhoud:
Comparisons of aerosol optical depths (AODs) determined from several types of Sun photometers operating side by side as part of four different networks (GAW PFR, AERONET, SKYNET, and NOAA/ESRL aerosol monitoring programs) were made at 6 different environmental stations to evaluate the different types of current state-of-the-art instruments under different aerosol loading conditions. A comparison between AERONET CIMEL and GAW PFR at a high altitude calibration site, Mauna Loa, shows an excellent agreement with 0.001 bias for 500 nm AOD. AODs obtained from direct Sun-pointing instruments are within 0.01 bias, though these results are similar to or slightly larger than those given in previous short-term intensive studies. These results suggest that well-maintained networks of direct Sun-pointing instruments developed by different companies/institutions can provide quality-assured AOD data across the globe to the aerosol-climate research community. The poorer agreement between a hemispherical field-of-view (FOV) MFRSR and the finite FOV Sun-pointing instrument is found to be due to uncertainty in the angular characterization of the MFRSR optics.