Abstract
Abstract. In this study, we use sunphotometer (AERONET) data as reference to evaluate MODIS, Himawari-08, and MERRA-2 aerosol products over China. AERONET data from Beijing, Xianghe, Xuzhou, Taihu and Hong Kong are used. The results indicate that aerosol optical depths (AODs) obtained from MODIS, Himawari-08, and MERRA-2 from 2015-2017 over China are consistent with the AERONET observations. The accuracy of these AOD products shows a spatial and temporal variation. MODIS aerosol products tend to overestimate the AODs at Beijing, Xianghe and Xuzhou, with stronger overestimation in winter. For Taihu and Hong Kong, MODIS only overestimates the AODs in winter. Himawari-08 and MERRA-2 underestimate the AODs in autumn over almost all stations except Taihu.
Highlights
Atmospheric aerosols participate directly or indirectly in radiative forcing processes and cloud-forming processes, and have an extremely important impact on global climate change
As for Taihu and Hong Kong, overestimation only appears in winter for MODIS aerosol optical depths (AODs) products
This paper compares the AODs of the three types of aerosol products with AERONET AODs at Beijing, Xianghe, Xuzhou, Taihu and Hong Kong respectively
Summary
Atmospheric aerosols participate directly or indirectly in radiative forcing processes and cloud-forming processes, and have an extremely important impact on global climate change. Nowadays MODIS, Himawari-08 and MERRA-2 aerosol products are widely used as they provide aerosol optical properties with high spatial and temporal resolution on a global scale. Since the 1990s, the inversion algorithm of MODIS aerosol products has been developed for more than 20 years and the accuracy of data is constantly improving [7,8]. Fukuda et al proposed an improved Kaufman algorithm for the inversion of aerosol optical properties from Himawari-08 observations [14]. There are not much work about the evaluation of Himawari-08 and MERRA-2 aerosol products Based on this starting point, this paper evaluates the accuracy and applicability of three satellite aerosol products, MODIS, Himawari-08 and MERRA2, choosing Beijing, Xianghe, Xuzhou, Taihu and Hong Kong as representative stations, and analyzes regional and seasonal differences
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