北京师范大学全球变化与地球系统科学研究院
北京师范大学全球变化与地球系统科学研究院
   
当前位置: 首页»科研成果» 2014 李占清等在JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES发表论文 全球院

Opposite effects of absorbing aerosols on the retrievals of cloud optical depth from spaceborne and ground-based measurements

 

Zhanqing Li1,2, Fengsheng Zhao2, Jianjun Liu1, Mengjiao Jiang2, Chuanfeng Zhao2, and Maureen Cribb1

 

1 Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and ESSIC, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA,

2 College of Global Change and Earth System Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

 

ABSTRACT

Absorbing aerosols above or within cloud layers have drawn much attention in recent years due to substantially enhanced absorption of solar radiation that may affect reflection at the top of the atmosphere. The retrieval of cloud properties is usually conducted without any regard to aerosols. This study illustrates that retrievals of cloud optical depth (τc) from spaceborne and ground-based sensors are both affected by such aerosols and lead to opposite biases. A ground-based retrieval algorithm is developed for the simultaneous retrieval of τc and cloud droplet effective radius using spectral irradiance measurements from a multifilter rotating spectroradiometer and liquid water path (LWP) data from a microwave radiometer deployed in China. The algorithm is applied to data acquired from 17 May 2008 to 12 May 2009 at a heavily polluted site in the heart of the Yangtze delta region in China. The ground-based retrieval of cloud droplet effective radius increases with increasing LWP. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer retrievals tend to overestimate (underestimate) LWP when cloud LWP is less (greater) than about 200g/m2. Model tests show strong sensitivities to the retrieval of τc from ground and spaceborne sensors under varying absorption, loading, and vertical distribution conditions. For absorbing aerosol mixed with cloud, τc tends to be underestimated from space, but overestimated from the ground, leading to very poor agreement between ground-based and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer retrievals. Their differences increase with increasing τc. This finding suggests that in a turbid atmosphere with absorbing aerosols, the aerosol effect should be considered, or it would mislead any validation using satellite and ground-based retrievals.

 

KEY WORDS: Cloud; aerosol; cloud optical depth; China; aerosol absorption; satellite

 

PUBLISHED BY: JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 2014, 119 (9): 5104-5114

 

SOURCE:  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013JD021053/abstract