Articles | Volume 16, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15097-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-15097-2016
Research article
 | 
06 Dec 2016
Research article |  | 06 Dec 2016

An observationally constrained estimate of global dust aerosol optical depth

David A. Ridley, Colette L. Heald, Jasper F. Kok, and Chun Zhao

Data sets

Level 2 “all points” aerosol optical depth, AERONET http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/

2D 3-hourly primary aerosol diagnostic product MERRAero https://cds.nccs.nasa.gov/merra/

Terra MIL3DAE Level 3 daily gridded aerosol optical depth MISR https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov

Terra MOD08_D3 and Aqua MYD08_D3 Level 3 daily gridded aerosol optical depth MODIS https://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/getData/accessData/

Maritime Aerosol Network as a component of Aerosol Robotic Network A. Smirnov, B. N. Holben, I. Slutsker, D. M. Giles, C. R. McClain, T. F. Eck, S. M. Sakerin, A. Macke, P. Croot, G. Zibordi, P. K. Quinn, J. Sciare, S. Kinne, M. Harvey, T. J. Smyth, S. Piketh, T. Zielinski, A. Proshutinsky, J. I. Goes, N. B. Nelson, P. Larouche, V. F. Radionov, P. Goloub, K. Krishna Moorthy, R. Matarrese, E. J. Robertson and F. Jourdin http://10.1029/2008JD011257

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Short summary
Mineral dust aerosol affects climate through interaction with radiation and clouds, human health through contribution to particulate matter, and ecosystem health through nutrient transport and deposition. In this study, we use satellite and in situ retrievals to derive an observational estimate of the global dust AOD with which evaluate modeled dust AOD. Differences in the seasonality and regional distribution of dust AOD between observations and models are highlighted.
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