Abstract
Mapping the components, size, and absorbing/scattering properties of particle pollution is of great interest in the environmental and public health fields. Although the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) can detect a greater number of aerosol microphysical properties than most other spaceborne sensors, the Angstrom exponent (AE) and single-scattering albedo (SSA) products are not widely utilized or as robust as the aerosol optical depth (AOD) product. This study focused on validating MISR AE and SSA data using AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) data for China from 2004 to 2014. The national mean value of the MISR data (1.08) was 0.095 lower than that of the AERONET data. However, the MISR SSA average (0.99) was significantly higher than that of AERONET (0.89). In this study, we developed a method to improve the AE and SSA by narrowing the selection of MISR mixtures via the introduction of the following group thresholds obtained from an 11-year AERONET dataset: minimum and maximum values (for the method of MISR_Imp_All) and the top 10% and bottom 10% of the averaged values (for MISR_Imp_10%). Overall, our improved AE values were closer to the AERONET AE values, and additional samples (MISR_Imp_All: 28.04% and 64.72%, MISR_Imp_10%: 34.11% and 73.13%) had absolute differences of less than 0.1 and 0.3 (defined by the expected error tests, e.g., EE_0.1) compared with the original MISR product (18.46% and 50.23%). For the SSA product, our method also improved the mean, EE_0.05, and EE_0.1 from 0.99, 16.13%, and 56.45% (MISR original product) to 0.96, 40.32%, and 70.97% (MISR_Imp_All), and 0.94, 54.84%, and 90.32% (MISR_Imp_10%), respectively.
Highlights
In China, rapid development and urbanization has led to severe haze pollution
The expected error (EE) test shows that 25.2% and 60.63% of Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Angstrom exponent (AE) samples were within the absolute difference of 0~0.1 and 0~0.3 for spring, respectively
Cimel Sun-photometer (CSPHOT) employed by AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) and the multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer (MFRSR) [38], have been utilized to infer single-scattering albedo (SSA) values, and the results indicated that the SSA
Summary
In China, rapid development and urbanization has led to severe haze pollution. the haze formation mechanism is still unclear because of the variety of precursor pollutants from natural and anthropogenic sources. Satellite remote sensing is capable of filling in the gaps of ground-based observations; for example, the Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS) on board the Terra and Aqua satellites has provided consistent and high-quality aerosol data for more than one decade, and the retrieved AOD is within an error range of ±0.05 ± 0.15τ [16]. The unique multi-angle design of the MISR allows it to provide additional aerosol microphysical properties, such as the AE, SSA, and aerosol components, compared with other spaceborne sensors This information has been shown to be highly effective in strengthening the association between the AOD and ground level PM2.5 and its component concentrations [22,23].
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