Aerosol Direct Radiative Forcing by Three Dimensional Observations from Passive- and Active- Satellite Sensors

Aerosol direct radiative forcing (ADRF) retrieval method was developed by combining data from passive and active satellite sensors. Aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrieved form the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) as a passive visible sensor and aerosol vertical profile from to the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) as an active laser sensor were investigated an application possibility. Especially, space-born Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) observation provides a specific knowledge of the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols with spatial, temporal, vertical, and spectral resolutions. On the basis of extensive radiative transfer modeling, it is demonstrated that the use of the aerosol vertical profiles is sensitive to the estimation of ADRF. Throughout the investigation of relationship between aerosol height and ADRF, mean change rates of ADRF per increasing of 1 km aerosol height are smaller at surface than top-of-atmosphere (TOA). As a case study, satellite data for the Asian dust day of March 31, 2007 were used to estimate ADRF. Resulting ADRF values were compared with those retrieved independently from MODIS only data. The absolute difference values are 1.27% at surface level and 4.73% at top of atmosphere (TOA).