Basic descriptions
The global gridded aerosol models constitute a comprehensive dataset integrating aerosol models on a spatial grid (5° × 5°) at a climatological monthly scale, encompassing a total of 3,207 new aerosol models. These models cover 310 grid cells across global inland and coastal regions, aiming to enhance the precision of atmospheric corrections for inland and nearshore waters. The gridded aerosol models are derived from data collected at 1,475 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites distributed in inland and coastal regions. The adoption of gridded aerosol models could significantly boosting the accuracies of atmospheric corrections in inland and coastal waters, representing a notable advancement compared to the occasion of using standard aerosol models.
Presently, the aerosol model provides tailored Aerosol Look-Up Tables (LUTs) designed for MODIS Aqua platform applications. These LUTs enable users to directly access aerosol properties at a climatological monthly scale for specific regions, including extinction coefficient, phase functions, single scattering albedo, and Ångström exponent. Furthermore, the LUTs offer coefficients defining the relationships between aerosol single (ρas) and multiple (ρa) scattering reflectance, along with coefficients for calculating diffuse transmittance in atmospheric correction calculations. The aerosol LUTs could be integrated into the SeaDAS software to facilitate the launching of atmospheric correction processing for inland and coastal regions.
Aerosol LUTs dataset information
| Dataset | Description |
| wave | wavelengths |
| scatt | scattering angles |
| solz | solar zenith angles |
| senz | sensor view zenith angles |
| phi | relative azimuth angles |
| albedo | single scattering albedo |
| extc | extinction coefficient |
| angstrom | Ångström coefficient |
| phase | scattering phase function |
| acost bcost ccost | quadratic coefficient of SS to MS function |
| dtran_wave | wavelengths of diffuse transmittance coefficient |
| dtran_theta | zenith angles of diffuse transmittance coefficient |
| dtran_a dtran_b | coefficient of diffuse sensor transmittance |
| dtran_a0 dtran_b0 | coefficient of diffuse solar transmittance |
Data download
The aerosol LUTs for MODIS Aqua are available at Figshare platform:
Related Publications
Zhao, D., Feng, L.*, & He, X. (2023). Global gridded aerosol models established for atmospheric correction over inland and nearshore coastal waters. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128, e2023JD038815.