Long-term records of aerosol optical depth (AOD) with high quality, suitable temporal continuity and spatial coverage are of immense interest to climate-related research activities. Both satellite- and ground-based measurements of AOD are typically provided by instruments with different designs, and distinct data acquisition and processing schemes. Thus, the corresponding AOD records likely have different accuracy, spatial coverage, and temporal resolution. Several studies have been focused on the synergy of multi-sensor satellite AOD products. Here we combine multi-year (1997-2018) AOD records available from four collocated ground-based instruments deployed at the mid-continental Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. We demonstrate how to minimize drawbacks (patchy spots) and to maintain benefits (high quality) of these records. Our demonstration finds a combined AOD obtained at two wavelengths (500 and 870 nm), with high temporal resolution (1-min), and provides the user with an estimate of the AOD uncertainty. Finally, we highlight expected applications of the merged dataset and its future extensions.
The total aerosol burden in the atmosphere is typically represented by aerosol optical depth (AOD). To capture important and climate-relevant signatures of the aerosol burden, such as year-to-year and seasonal variability, continuous multi-year AOD observations are required. For more than two decades, these observations have been performed at the mid-continental Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (CF) using ground-based passive remote sensing. The partially overlapping and fragmentary AOD records at the ARM SGP CF have been provided by four individual instruments, namely two co-located (C1 and E13) Multifilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometers (MFRSRs), a Normal Incidence Multifilter Radiometer (NIMFR), and a Cimel Sunphotometer (CSPHOT). Since these individual records are sporadic with instrument- and time-dependent data quality, development of a continuous multi-year high-quality AOD dataset is a challenging task. In this work, an initial development of a continuous 20-year (1997-2017) high-quality AOD product is introduced. The development involves (1) incorporation of the available data quality information and delivery of the historical time series of AOD with high quality from four individual instruments, (2) comparison of multiple AOD retrievals to identify potential instrument-related issues and/or retrieval problems, and (3) merging these individual time series, generation of a two-decade continuous climatology of high-quality AOD and reporting of the uncertainty estimations of the merged product.
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