Abstract
Abstract. A demonstration study to examine the feasibility of retrieving dust radiative effects based on combined satellite data from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System) and CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) lidar vertical profiles along their orbit is presented. The GAME (Global Atmospheric Model) radiative transfer model is used to estimate the shortwave and longwave dust radiative effects below the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite) orbit assuming an aerosol parameterization based on the CALIOP vertical distribution at a horizontal resolution of 5 km and additional AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) data. Two study cases are analyzed: a strong long-range transport mineral dust event (aerosol optical depth, AOD, of 0.52) that originated in the Sahara Desert and reached the United Kingdom and a weaker event (AOD = 0.16) that affected eastern Europe. The radiative fluxes obtained are first validated in terms of radiative efficiency at a single point with space–time colocated lidar ground-based measurements from EARLINET (European Aerosol Research Lidar Network) stations below the orbit. The methodology is then applied to the full orbit. The strong dependence of the radiative effects on the aerosol load (and to a lesser extent on the surface albedo) highlights the need for accurate AOD measurements for radiative studies. The calculated dust radiative effects and heating rates below the orbits are in good agreement with previous studies of mineral dust, with the radiative efficiency obtained at the surface ranging between −80.3 and −63.0 W m−2 for lower dust concentration event and −119.1 and −79.3 W m−2 for the strong event. Thus, results demonstrate the validity of the method presented here to retrieve 2-D accurate radiative properties with large spatial and temporal coverage.
Highlights
Mineral dust particles have a strong impact on the atmospheric radiative properties both in the short- and longwave regions of the radiation spectrum (Sokolik and Toon, 1996; Pérez et al, 2006; Balkanski et al, 2007); they indirectly affect the cloud microphysical properties by acting as cloud condensation and ice nuclei (DeMott et al, 2003; Karydis et al, 2011)
The dust radiative effects (DRE) estimations are highly dependent on the aerosol optical depth (AOD); by using the well-established MODIS data, we aim to improve the accuracy of the retrievals
Despite the larger noise in the CALIPSO signals compared with EARLINET, the results indicate that the vertical distribution of the mineral dust provided by CALIPSO combined with MODIS AOD provide similar results to those obtained by ground-based stations
Summary
Mineral dust particles have a strong impact on the atmospheric radiative properties both in the short- and longwave regions of the radiation spectrum (Sokolik and Toon, 1996; Pérez et al, 2006; Balkanski et al, 2007); they indirectly affect the cloud microphysical properties by acting as cloud condensation and ice nuclei (DeMott et al, 2003; Karydis et al, 2011). The mineral dust effect on the radiation balance of the Earth–atmosphere system is of special relevance due to its large spatial and temporal extent, being one of the most abundant aerosol particles in the atmosphere (Rosenfeld et al, 2001). Mineral dust is frequently transported far from its sources to Europe, America and East Asia due to the preva-. The importance of mineral dust in Europe has been recognized, and several studies have focused on the mineral dust vertical distribution using ground-based lidar systems (e.g., Ansmann et al, 2003; Mona et al, 2006; Papayannis et al, 2005, 2008; Navas-Guzmán et al, 2013)
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