Maritime component in aerosol optical models derived from Aerosol Robotic Network data

Abstract

Aerosol optical properties above the oceans vary considerably, depending on contributions of major aerosol components, i.e., urban/industrial pollution, desert dust, biomass burning, and maritime. The optical characterization of these aerosols is fundamental to the parameterization of radiative forcing models as well as to the atmospheric correction of ocean color imagery. We present a model of the maritime aerosol component derived using Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data from three island locations: Bermuda (Atlantic Ocean), Lanai, Hawaii (Pacific Ocean), and Kaashidhoo, Maldives (Indian Ocean). To retrieve the maritime component, we have considered the data set with aerosol optical depth at a wavelength 500 nm less than 0.15 and Angstrom parameter α less than 1. The inferred maritime component in the columnar size distribution, which was found to be very similar for the three study sites, is bimodal with a fine mode at an effective radius (reff) ∼ 0.11–0.14 μm and a coarse mode reff of ∼1.8–2.1 μm. The results are comparable with size distributions reported in the literature. The refractive index is spectrally independent and estimated to be 1.37‐0.001i (single‐scattering albedo is about 0.98), based on the single‐component homogenous particle composition assumption. Fractional contributions of the fine and coarse modes to the computed τa (500 nm) are within the range of τfine ∼ 0.03–0.05 and τcoarse ∼ 0.05–0.06 correspondingly. Angstrom parameters vary from ∼0.8 to 1.0 computed in the UV‐visible (340–670 nm) and from 0.4 to 0.5 estimated in the near IR (870–2130 nm) spectral ranges. Aerosol phase functions are very similar for all three sites considered. The maritime aerosol component presented in this paper can serve as a candidate model in atmospheric correction algorithms.