Comparison of Aerosol Properties in the Korean Peninsula Between AERONET Version 2 and 3 Data Set

Abstract

To investigate the consistency and difference between AERONET version 2 and 3 data set in the Korean peninsula, we compared several aerosol optical properties for 12 Korean AERONET sites having at least 2-year measurement records. Generally, both version products have similar patterns, but we sometimes found a little regional difference. While the aerosol optical depth (AOD) is analogous between version 2 and 3, the version difference of single scattering albedo (SSA) is the largest. Angstrom exponent (AE) and fine mode fraction (FMF) values are sometimes different in maritime conditions. Two AERONET sites in Seoul (Seoul_SNU and Yonsei_Univ) have some differences between version 2 and 3, probably related to the higher sensitivity of version 3 data to the fine mode particle. Since parameters revealing the aerosol radiative property (e.g., SSA) and size information (e.g., AE and FMF) show some version differences regionally, we compared the result of aerosol type classification using these parameters. As a result, we found that the version difference of aerosol size and radiative property can induce the different diagnosis of locally dominant aerosol types. In spite of these findings, consistency between version 2 and 3 is quite large. Thus, regional patterns of aerosol optical properties previously found based on AERONET version 2 look still valid in the Korean peninsula.