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Is the top of atmosphere dust net radiative effect different between Terra and Aqua?
Author(s) -
Jones Thomas A.,
Christopher Sundar A.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl028262
Subject(s) - atmosphere (unit) , aerosol , environmental science , moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer , atmospheric sciences , radiative transfer , satellite , mineral dust , optical depth , sky , meteorology , physics , astronomy , quantum mechanics
We assess the difference in Top of Atmosphere (TOA) cloud‐free Net Radiative Effect (NRE) of dust aerosols between the Terra and Aqua satellites using three years of collocated Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS) and the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data over the Atlantic Ocean [0–30°N, 10–60°W]. The dust aerosol optical thickness at 0.55 μ m ( τ dust ) was first separated from the total aerosol column aerosol optical thickness ( τ ) and our results indicate that the Terra minus Aqua difference for both τ and τ dust is approximately 10%, with Terra values generally being slightly higher. The resulting difference in TOA NRE from dust aerosols is less than 1 Wm −2 . The difference between Terra and Aqua NRE lies well within previously reported uncertainties indicating that data from either satellite can be used interchangeably if independent adjustments for diurnal effects and clear‐sky sample biases are made.