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. Quantifying the dust optical depth (DOD) and its uncertainty acrossspatiotemporal scales is key to understanding and constraining the dustcycle and its interactions with the Earth System. This study quantifies theDOD along with its monthly and year-to-year variability between 2003 and2017 at global and regional levels based on the MIDAS (ModIs Dust AeroSol)dataset, which combines Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)-Aqua retrievals and Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research andApplications, version 2 (MERRA-2), reanalysisproducts. We also describe the annual and seasonal geographicaldistributions of DOD across the main dust source regions and transportpathways. MIDAS provides columnar mid-visible (550 nm) DOD at fine spatialresolution (0.1∘×0.1∘), expanding the currentobservational capabilities for monitoring the highly variable spatiotemporalfeatures of the dust burden. We obtain a global DOD of 0.032±0.003 – approximately a quarter (23.4 %±2.4 %) of the global aerosoloptical depth (AOD) – with about 1 order of magnitude more DOD in theNorthern Hemisphere (0.056±0.004; 31.8 %±2.7 %) than inthe Southern Hemisphere (0.008±0.001; 8.2 %±1.1 %) andabout 3.5 times more DOD over land (0.070±0.005) than over ocean(0.019±0.002). The Northern Hemisphere monthly DOD is highlycorrelated with the corresponding monthly AOD (R2=0.94) andcontributes 20 % to 48 % of it, both indicating a dominant dustcontribution. In contrast, the contribution of dust to the monthly AOD doesnot exceed 17 % in the Southern Hemisphere, although the uncertainty inthis region is larger. Among the major dust sources of the planet, themaximum DODs (∼1.2) are recorded in the Bodélé Depressionof the northern Lake Chad Basin, whereas moderate-to-high intensities areencountered in the Western Sahara (boreal summer), along the eastern partsof the Middle East (boreal summer) and in the Taklamakan Desert (spring).Over oceans, major long-range dust transport is observed primarily along thetropical Atlantic (intensified during boreal summer) and secondarily in theNorth Pacific (intensified during boreal spring). Our calculated global andregional averages and associated uncertainties are consistent with some butnot all recent observation-based studies. Our work provides a simpleyet flexible method to estimate consistent uncertainties acrossspatiotemporal scales, which will enhance the use of the MIDAS dataset in avariety of future studies.

Quantification of the dust optical depth across spatiotemporal scales with the MIDAS global dataset (2003–2017)