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Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Atmospheric Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmos

Validation of MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm for aerosol


retrieval against globally distributed AERONET observations
and comparison with MODIS aerosol product
N. Benas a,b,⁎, N. Chrysoulakis a, G. Giannakopoulou a
a
Foundation for Research and Technology — Hellas, Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, N. Plastira 100, Vassilika Vouton, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
b
Department of Physics, University of Crete, Greece

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A new synergy algorithm has been recently developed, to retrieve Aerosol Optical Thickness
Received 18 January 2013 (AOT) in high spatial resolution (1 km × 1 km), which may improve the study of aerosols at
Received in revised form 16 May 2013 local scale. The algorithm combines spectral and angular information provided by the MERIS
Accepted 16 May 2013 and the AATSR sensors, respectively, offering improved characterization of aerosol properties.
In the present study, the MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm was validated by comparing the
Keywords: retrieved AOT with the respective AOT values observed at AERONET stations globally, considering
Aerosol Optical Thickness different land cover types. Spatial patterns and differences between the MERIS/AATSR and the
MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm MODIS derived AOT were also investigated. Results indicated that the MERIS/AATSR synergy
AERONET
algorithm substantially improves the spatial resolution of the derived AOT and it is capable of
retrieving AOT for most land cover types, with a good correlation relative to AERONET station
measurements (R2 ranges between 0.60 and 0.90, depending on the land cover type).
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction most widely used ground data come from the Aerosol Robotic
Network (AERONET), a network of ground based stations which
Atmospheric aerosols are a crucial parameter in studies of provides a long term and continuous database of aerosol optical,
the Earth-Atmosphere system. Through their impacts in microphysical and radiative properties (Holben et al., 1998).
atmospheric radiation fluxes, they constitute an important However, this database is limited only over land and specifically
factor that can have impacts on climate change, along with over regions where stations are available and operational.
greenhouse gases (Battrick, 2006; IPCC, 2007). However, the Furthermore, station point measurements provide no informa-
quantification of the aerosol effects is more complex compared tion on possible aerosol spatial patterns of the wider station
to greenhouse gases, due to their high spatial and temporal area. Satellite remote sensing of aerosols has been performed for
variability. In local scale, aerosols can also affect air quality and over three decades (Nagaraja Rao et al., 1989; Kaufman et al.,
human health. The local scale variability is caused primarily by 1997; King et al., 1999; Deuze et al., 2001; Yu et al., 2006; Lee
a huge number of different aerosol local sources, combined et al., 2009; Bréon et al., 2011). Although the advantage of
with their relatively short life time (e.g. Kaufman et al., 2002) aerosol remote sensing compared to station measurements
and the modification processes which change their properties. is obvious (global spatial coverage), the spatial and temporal
The study of aerosols is based on two different approaches, resolution of satellite retrieved aerosols remains a drawback in
namely ground measurements and satellite remote sensing. The case of local scale studies (Hadjimitsis, 2008; Al-Hamdan et al.,
2009; Chrysoulakis et al., 2010; Retalis and Sifakis, 2010; van
⁎ Corresponding author at: Foundation for Research and Technology — Hellas, Donkelaar et al., 2010; Lee et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2013).
Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, N. Plastira 100, Vassilika
Vouton, 70013 Heraklion, Greece. Tel.: +30 2810 391775; fax: +30 2810
Although early aerosol monitoring from space used data from
391761. sensors that were designed for other purposes (e.g. Advanced
E-mail address: benas@physics.uoc.gr (N. Benas). Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)) (Holben et al., 1992;

0169-8095/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.05.011
N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113 103

Mishchenko et al., 1999) and Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer increases the potential of Earth Observation to support local
(TOMS) (Torres et al., 2002), modern satellite aerosol products level air quality studies, which include the conversion of AOT
include Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), as well as other aerosol in particulate matter (PM) using remote sensing techniques,
properties, in multiple wavelengths in the ultraviolet through in order to further investigate urban air pollution patterns
the thermal infrared, and at spatial resolutions reaching up (e.g. Gupta and Christopher, 2009a,b; Yap and Hashim, 2013).
to 10 km × 10 km. These products include NASA's Moderate The objective of this study is to validate the MERIS/AATSR
Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 2 synergy algorithm for AOT against global-scale AERONET
aerosol data products (Levy et al., 2010) and the GlobAEROSOL measurements and to compare its outputs with the MODIS
product, which aims to produce a 10-year global aerosol data aerosol product. In the next section, MERIS and AATSR
set from European satellite radiometers (Thomas et al., 2006). instruments, as well as the synergy algorithm are presented in
Most of the modern aerosol products are based on data more detail. Section 3 describes the methodology and proce-
from instruments with a single sampling of the angular domain. dure used for the validation of the synergy algorithm output
The main problem in AOT and other aerosol properties retrieval against corresponding AERONET and MODIS data. Results of
is to decouple the signal contributed by atmospheric scattering the validation processes and the spatial distribution inter-
from that contributed by surface reflectance. The separation comparison are presented in Section 4, before the summary
of the surface contribution to the received radiance at the and conclusions.
sensor is always based on a priori knowledge about the spectral
properties of the surface and it is based on identification of dark 2. The MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm for aerosol retrieval
pixels, spectral mixing and a priori assumptions based on
existence of an independent estimate of surface reflectance MERIS and AATSR instruments were launched on board
from other instruments (Themistocleous et al., 2012). Gener- the Envisat satellite on March 1st 2002. MERIS is a medium
ally these methods are suitable only for dark targets with resolution imaging spectrometer, operating in the solar reflec-
relatively low spectral variability, thus giving a sparse estimate tive spectral range and possessing 15 spectral bands between
of AOT, and are normally inappropriate for bright surfaces such 390 nm and 1040 nm. Three of these bands are dedicated to the
as arid or snow covered land (e.g. North et al., 2009). Use of retrieval of aerosol properties. The instrument's field of view
multiple view-angle imagery allows an additional constraint to around nadir covers a swath width of 1150 km across-track. The
be placed, since the same area of surface is viewed through Earth is imaged with a spatial resolution of 300 m × 300 m
different atmospheric path lengths. The principal advantage of (Full Resolution data), while Reduced Resolution data pixel
a multiple view-angle approach is that no a priori information size covers an area of 1.2 km × 1.2 km (ESA, 2011). Only Fine
of the surface spectrum is required and aerosol properties can Resolution data were used in this study.
be retrieved over all surface types. A limitation of the angular AATSR is a scanning radiometer with seven spectral bands
approach is that the algorithms require accurate co-registration in the visible, reflective infrared and thermal infrared regions.
of the images acquired from multiple view angles. Several Special features of the AATSR include its use of a conical scan
multi-angle approaches for aerosol retrieval have been devel- to give a dual view of the Earth's surface, thus improving the
oped in the past (e.g. Diner et al., 2009; Martonchik et al., capacity for atmospheric correction. The AATSR swath covers
1998; Leroy et al., 1997; Grey et al., 2006; Frankenberg et al., approximately half of the MERIS swath (~ 500 km), with
2012). Most of them use data from MISR (Multi-angle Imaging pixel sizes of 1 km × 1 km at the center of the nadir swath
SpectroRadiometer), POLDER (POLarization and Directionality and 1.5 km × 1.5 km at the center of the forward swath. For
of the Earth's Reflectances) and AATSR (Advanced Along-track the AATSR Level 1 products, forward pixels are resampled to
Scanning Radiometer) sensors. 1 km2 resolution, in order to be the same size as the nadir
The present study aims to validate the AOT of a multiple pixels (ESA, 2007).
view-angle approach, developed to make a synergistic use of The MERIS/AATSR synergistic algorithm for retrieval of
the AATSR and the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer aerosol properties has been described in detail by North et al.
(MERIS) instruments (North et al., 2009). Both sensors are (2009). It consists of three major procedures: in the first step,
carried on board the Envisat satellite, launched in 2002, and the MERIS and AATSR data collocation is performed, and a
provided until 2012, complementary information, encompassing combined MERIS/AATSR Level 1b product is created, containing
different spectral domains and viewing geometries. Specifically, all the data that will be used as input to the algorithm. These
the input of the algorithm consist of Top of Atmosphere (TOA) data are resampled into the AATSR nadir view spatial resolution
reflectance data from 21 channels: the 4 solar reflective AATSR (1 km × 1 km) and cover the area where both data sets are
bands at both nadir and forward views (a total of 8 input available. The center of this area's swath coincides with the
channels), and 13 out of 15 MERIS bands (O2 absorption band 11 centers of the MERIS and AATSR swaths, while the width is
and water vapor band 13 are excluded). This algorithm therefore equal to the AATSR swath width (~500 km). The second step of
combines the spectral information provided by MERIS with the the algorithm consists of a cloud screening procedure applied to
angular information provided by AATSR. Its main advantage the collocated product, while in the third step the atmospheric
is the higher spatial resolution of the aerosol retrieval, compared correction and aerosol retrieval are performed. Specifically,
to the 10 km × 10 km spatial resolution available from MODIS a physical model of spectral change with view angle was
and GlobAEROSOL products. This spatial resolution offers new developed to separate the angular effects of the surface into
possibilities in discriminating aerosol spatial patterns, previously two components, a structural parameter that is dependent
undetected by other satellite sensors or ground-based instru- only on the viewing and illumination geometry and a spectral
ments, and generally studying spatial aerosol characteristics in parameter that is dependent only on the wavelength. The
areas of high interest, such as urban regions. Furthermore, it angular reflectance of a wide variety of natural land surfaces
104 N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113

fits this model, whereas reflectance that is a mixture of Table 1


atmospheric and surface scattering does not fit it. As a result, Land cover types considered in this study and percentage of AERONET
stations in each land cover type.
the model can be used to estimate the degree of atmospheric
contamination for a particular set of reflectance measurements Land cover type AERONET stations (%)
and to find the atmospheric parameters which allow retrieval
Croplands 13
of a realistic surface reflectance. An iterative optimization Broad-leaved 5
procedure has been adopted based on the minimization of an Needle-leaved 10
error metric which is a function of both the MERIS derived Mixed vegetation 10
Shrubland/grassland/sparse 16
spectral information and the AATSR derived angular informa-
Urban areas 34
tion. Since the optimal AOT values for a specific wavelength and Bare areas 5
aerosol model are defined, the respective Angstrom exponent Water bodies 7
(α) can be extracted. A two-stage optimization process is
employed by the algorithm: 1) given a set of 21 satellite TOA
radiances (from the 4 solar reflective AATSR bands – nadir and variability, respectively; d) three subset sizes were tested
forward – and the 13 MERIS non-absorbing bands) and an initial (N = 1, N = 3 and N = 5); e) all possible combinations of
guess of the atmospheric profile (which includes AOT at 550 nm the subset sizes with the above AOT spatial resolutions were
and aerosol model), a corresponding set of surface reflectances performed and the test areas ranged between 1 km × 1 km
is estimated; 2) testing of this set against a constraint results in and 10 km × 10 km; and f) four AERONET-satellite observa-
an error metric, a minimum value of which corresponds to a tion time difference intervals were considered: simultaneous
realistic set of surface reflectances (and hence atmospheric AOT observations and interpolated AERONET AOT observations
profile). The procedure is repeated using a refined atmospheric from the time intervals of 20, 30 and 60 min centered on the
profile, until convergence to an optimal solution is achieved. For satellite overpass time.
the surface reflectance retrieval, an approximation of a radiative In each comparison, the AOT at 550 nm retrieved by the
transfer model based on look-up tables is used. The output algorithm is compared to the AERONET AOT measured at
of the algorithm includes AOT at 550 nm, α, aerosol model the same wavelength. For several AERONET stations where
used and error estimates of AOT and α. The algorithm is capable measurements at this wavelength were not available, AOT
of retrieving AOT over land and ocean, in spatial resolution was estimated by interpolation from measurements at 500
reaching 1 km × 1 km. and 675 nm. All AERONET data used in the present study are
of quality level 1.5 (cloud screened). Level 2 quality data
3. Data and methodology were not yet available for the period under study.
To minimize the effect of outliers in each data set, we have
AOT data from AERONET stations around the globe were used a robust regression analysis with bisquare weights, instead
used, in order to examine the synergy algorithm performance of the ordinary least square method (Maronna et al., 2006): the
under different surface conditions and aerosol sources. Global bisquare weights line fitting technique is a method which
MERIS and AATSR data were used. These data were provided minimizes a weighted sum of squares, where the weight given
by the European Space Agency in the framework of a user's to each data point depends on how far the point is from the
Category-1 project. The study period covers two months fitted line. Points near the line get full weight, while points
(August–September 2011) and the global coverage of both
satellite and station data ensures the acquisition of a data set
suitable for the validation of the synergy algorithm AOT and the
study of its spatial characteristics. MODIS Level 2 Collection 051
AOT data were also validated against the same stations and for
the same period, allowing the comparison of the performance
between the two algorithms. Finally, MODIS Level 2 AOT images
were used, to compare the aerosol spatial patterns derived by
the algorithm with a similar product that has been tested and
validated in the past and is known to perform well (e.g. Levy
et al., 2010; He et al., 2010; Misra et al., 2008). The MERIS/
AATSR synergy algorithm was implemented by using the
BEAM platform (Brockmann Consult, 2011).
The MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm is capable of retrieving
aerosol properties in various spatial resolutions. Outputs with
three different spatial resolutions were tested in the present
study: 1 km × 1 km, 1.5 km × 1.5 km and 2 km × 2 km. For
the validation of AOT against AERONET observations, the
following procedure was followed: a) in each algorithm derived
AOT map, the pixels corresponding to AERONET stations Fig. 1. Scatter plot of AOT (550 nm) from MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm
(validation points) were identified; b) a N × N pixel subset of against corresponding simultaneous values from AERONET stations for all
land cover types. The red line is the linear regression fit, with the equation,
the AOT map, centered on each validation point, was extracted; correlation coefficient, RMSE and number of points used shown at the upper
c) the mean AOT and standard deviation were computed, left corner. The dashed and dotted lines are the 1–1 line and the MODIS AOT
representing the average value of AOT and its local spatial expected error lines, respectively.
N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113 105

Fig. 2. Scatter plots of AOT (550 nm) from MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm against simultaneous AERONET observations for croplands (a); broad-leaved
vegetation (b); needle-leaved vegetation (c); sparse vegetation (d); urban (e); and bare areas (f). The red lines are the linear regression fits, with the equations,
correlation coefficients, RMSEs and number of points used in each case shown at the upper left corners. The dashed and dotted lines are the 1–1 line and the
MODIS AOT expected error lines, respectively.
106 N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113

farther from the line acquire reduced weight. Thus the effect of windows was more representative of extended areas, as it was
outliers in the data set is minimized, compared to the ordinary expected due to the motion of air masses.
least square fitting technique. In addition, only points lying Fig. 2 shows the scatter plots of the MERIS/AATSR synergy
between two standard deviations from the mean difference algorithm derived AOT against the simultaneous AERONET
were considered, accounting for roughly 95% of each data set. AOT values, with spatial resolutions that best fit station
To examine if the algorithm's performance depends on measurement data, for the six land cover types examined.
the surface characteristics, we have classified the AERONET This spatial resolution corresponds to a 1.5 km × 1.5 km
stations into 8 classes, according to the land cover types of the pixel size for croplands (Fig. 2a) and needle-leaved vegetation
respective areas. This categorization was based on the MERIS (Fig. 2c); 1 km × 1 km for broad-leaved vegetation (Fig. 2b);
derived GLOBCOVER product (2009), which provides global 6 km × 6 km for sparse vegetation (Fig. 2d) and urban areas
land cover information at 300 m × 300 m spatial resolution (Fig. 2e); and 10 km × 10 km for bare areas (Fig. 2f). The
(Bicheron et al., 2008). The 22 land cover types of GLOBCOVER corresponding slopes, correlation coefficients, RMSEs and num-
were reclassified into 8 (Table 1). A total of 123 AERONET ber of points used are also given. It is worth noting that in all
stations were used and at least 5% of them corresponded to cases, the MODIS AOT expected error (dotted lines) represents
each land cover type (Table 1). very well the synergy AOT results.
The MODIS Level 2 Collection 051 AOT data that were used in In the case of croplands, the correlation coefficient and
this study were initially filtered based on the corresponding the RMSE obtained their maximum and minimum values,
MODIS quality flag data. The validation of MODIS derived AOT respectively, using the 1.5 km × 1.5 km pixel size, in all four
was performed using the above procedure, AERONET stations time intervals tested. Comparing the maps of 1.5 km × 1.5 km
and time period, allowing the direct comparison of the per- pixels with the simultaneous AERONET values, the correlation
formance of two aerosol retrieval algorithms. In the case of coefficient was found at 0.8, with an RMSE equal to 0.09, while
MODIS Level 2 AOT, the spatial resolution is 10 km × 10 km. The the slope of the fit (1.07) indicated a slight underestimation of
subset sizes tested (N = 1, N = 3 and N = 5) correspond to the algorithm AOT compared to the corresponding AERONET
areas of 10 km × 10 km, 30 km × 30 km and 50 km × 50 km, values (Fig. 2a). Mean AOT values of a 5 × 5 pixel area
respectively. (7.5 km × 7.5 km) also performed good, when compared to
mean AERONET AOT values from a 30 minute time interval
4. Results (R = 0.74, RMSE = 0.09, slope = 0.99).
In broad-leaved vegetation areas the best algorithm
4.1. Validation of the MERIS/AATSR AOT against performance was achieved using the highest possible spatial
AERONET measurements resolution (one pixel of 1 km × 1 km), in all time intervals
tested. The correlation was higher compared to the respective
All tests showed that the algorithm's performance was for croplands, with a value of 0.95, while the RMSE was
relatively poor over mixed vegetation areas and water bodies. reduced to 0.03 for all time intervals. The slope of the
The overall performance of the algorithm, disregarding these regression fit, which ranged between 0.75 and 0.78, showed a
two land cover types, indicated that the best correlation between tendency of AOT overestimation (Fig. 2b). As in the case of
the algorithm and the AERONET stations was achieved compar- croplands, wider areas (10 km × 10 km), with mean AOT values
ing the 1.5 km × 1.5 km pixel size with the simultaneous station from 5 × 5 pixels of 2 km × 2 km size, performed good for
values, with a correlation coefficient R = 0.79. The slope of
the regression fit (0.72) reveals an AOT overestimation,
compared to the station measurements, as shown in Fig. 1. This
overestimation is enhanced by a group of points lying in the
area where AERONET AOT is less than 0.1, while the synergy
algorithm AOT is greater than 0.2. These points were found to
correspond only to urban and sparse vegetation land cover
types. A possible explanation of this overestimation is that,
as these two land cover types enhance multiple scattering
effects in the atmosphere, there is an increase in the atmo-
spheric scattering signal estimated by the decoupling process of
the algorithm, causing an overestimation in the corresponding
AOT. The dashed and dotted lines in Fig. 1 represent the 1–1 line
and the expected error lines of MODIS AOT (±0.05 ± 0.15AOT,
Levy et al., 2010), respectively. This error envelope appears
to represent the synergy AOT results very well. While the
algorithm performance using this pixel size remained
almost invariant under different AERONET time intervals,
the correlation coefficient using 6 km × 6 km spatial resolu-
tion (3 × 3 pixels of 2 km × 2 km size) was improved as the
time interval is increased. Starting from a value of 0.71 when Fig. 3. Scatter plots of AOT (550 nm) derived from MERIS/AATSR synergy
algorithm and from MODIS Level 2 aerosol product versus simultaneous
compared against instantaneous AERONET values, R reached AERONET observations for all land cover types. The solid lines represent the
0.78 against the 1-hour mean AERONET value. This fact reveals linear regression fits, while the dashed and dotted lines are the 1–1 line and
that the mean AERONET AOT calculated based on wider time the MODIS AOT expected error lines, respectively.
N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113 107

30-minute and 1-hour mean AERONET AOT values (R = 0.94, was the same and the correlation was better (R = 0.78), slopes
RMSE = 0.04, slope = 0.82 for both cases). ranging between 0.72 and 0.76 indicate a systematic tendency
In needle-leaved regions, the 1.5 km × 1.5 km pixel size of AOT overestimation.
performed better than all other spatial resolutions, and was For bare areas (practically deserts in the present study) the
almost invariant under all time intervals. While the correlation lowest RMSE (0.06) and best correlation coefficients (over 0.90)
coefficient and RMSE were similar to those found in croplands were found in 5 × 5 pixel mean AOT with 1 km × 1 km pixel
(0.8 and 0.07, respectively), the slope (0.95) indicated no size (equal to 5 km × 5 km area), with slopes of the regression
systematic tendency in the AOT retrieval over these areas fits ranging between 0.75 and 0.81 (Fig. 2f). The slopes were
(Fig. 2c). improved when mean AOTs from 10 km × 10 km areas were
The group of shrubland, grassland and sparse vegetation, considered, reaching values of 0.87 to 0.89. In these cases, the
along with the one regarding urban environments, showed a correlation coefficients remained almost unchanged (0.88),
different behavior compared to the previously examined land while the RMSEs slightly increased to 0.08.
cover types. In both cases, the best algorithm performance
was achieved using a 3 × 3 pixel mean AOT of 2 km × 2 km 4.2. Validation of MODIS Level 2 AOT against AERONET
size, corresponding to a 6 km × 6 km area, independently of measurements and comparison with MERIS/AATSR
time intervals. In the case of sparse vegetation (Fig. 2d), the derived AOT
correlation was fair, with a coefficient ranging between 0.70
and 0.77, a constant RMSE equal to 0.06 and a slope in the MODIS Level 2 AOT has been validated against ground
range of 0.80–0.87. In urban areas (Fig. 2e), although the RMSE measurements in the past. The determination coefficients

Fig. 4. Scatter plots of AOT (550 nm) from MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm and MODIS Level 2 aerosol product against corresponding simultaneous values from
AERONET stations for croplands (a); broad-leaved vegetation (b); needle-leaved vegetation (c); sparse vegetation (d); urban areas (e); water bodies (f); and bare
areas (g). The solid lines represent the linear regression fits, with the slopes, correlation coefficients, RMSEs and numbers of points used shown at the lower right
corner. The dashed and dotted lines are the 1–1 line and the MODIS AOT expected error lines, respectively.
108 N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113

Fig. 4 (continued).

found range between 0.69 and 0.83 (Levy et al., 2010; Yang et al., found to overestimate AOT, especially for large values, as can be
2010; Pan et al., 2010; Misra et al., 2008). Li et al. (2012) report seen from Fig. 3. The correlation coefficient was also fair for
an overestimation of MODIS AOT, while He et al. (2010) found both data sets (0.75 for MODIS and 0.76 for MERIS/AATSR).
that the MODIS AOT performs better in dense vegetation In croplands, the MERIS/AATSR product performed better
regions, compared to regions with complex surfaces (e.g. urban for low AOT values as shown in Fig. 4a. In broad-leaved
sites). In both these studies, MODIS AOT was validated against vegetation, the MERIS/AATSR product performed much better
instruments from the China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network than the MODIS product, in terms of slope and correlation
(CARSNET, Che et al., 2009), which are identical with those coefficient (Fig. 4b). The performance of both products was
used by the AERONET. Xie et al. (2011), also validating MODIS relatively poor in the cases of needle-leaved and sparse
AOT against CARSNET measurements, showed the high depen- vegetation (Fig. 4c and d), while in urban areas both performed
dence of MODIS AOT on the underlying surface. fair (Fig. 4e). Important differences resulted over water bodies,
In this study, in order to compare between the two aerosol where the performance of the MERIS/AATSR product was
products, since the spatial resolution of the MODIS Level 2 AOT poor (Fig. 4f). In bare areas the MERIS/AATSR product
is 10 km × 10 km, the MERIS/AATSR product of the resolution performed well enough (Fig. 4g). MODIS Level 2 Collection
of 10 km × 10 km (by averaging AOT in a 5 × 5 pixel area 051 AOT product was used in this study, therefore the
with pixel size 2 km × 2 km) was used. Furthermore, the MODIS product over bare areas is not shown in Fig. 4g,
performance of different MODIS AOT product spatial scales because this product is provided by the Deep Blue Algorithm
(30 km × 30 km and 50 km × 50 km) against AERONET obser- (Hsu et al., 2004, 2006).
vations was also examined. Disregarding land cover types, the The MODIS product performed better when a subset of
overall performance of the two products was similar and both N × N pixels of size 10 km × 10 km is compared against a
N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113 109

Fig. 5. Land cover of the area in Southern Italy used in this study (a); spatial distribution of AOT (550 nm) for the same area, using MERIS/AATSR synergy
algorithm (b); and MODIS Level 2 aerosol product data (c).

mean AERONET AOT value of a time interval t, where N = 5 correlation coefficient was increased in most cases (croplands,
and t = 1 h, as was also indicated by Ichoku et al. (2002). broad-leaved vegetation, urban areas and water bodies), the
The present study confirmed this behavior of the MODIS RMSE remained almost invariant and the slope was also
aerosol product: using this spatial scale and time interval, the increased, reducing the tendency for AOT overestimation.
110 N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113

4.3. Intercomparison of the spatial characteristics of the MERIS/ algorithm and by MODIS Level 2 aerosol product. The selection
AATSR synergy and the MODIS Level 2 AOT products criteria were: the high variability of land cover types; the
sufficient spatial coverage from both products; and the mini-
Two study areas were selected to compare the spatial mum observation time differences. According to these criteria,
characteristics of the AOT derived by MERIS/AATSR synergy the broader area of Cairo, Egypt, and a part of South Italy were

Fig. 6. Land cover of the wider Cairo and Nile delta area (a); spatial distribution of AOT (550 nm) for the same area, using MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm (b); and
MODIS Level 2 aerosol product data (c).
N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113 111

selected. The land cover in both areas was extracted from


GLOBCOVER as it was described in Section 3 (Figs. 5a and 6a).
The South Italy is dominated primarily by croplands and urban
areas, as shown in Fig. 5a, while regions of mixed and sparse
vegetation are also present. In Fig. 6a, the city of Cairo is depicted
in orange, while two different land types dominate the area:
croplands in the Nile delta region and bare areas (desert)
elsewhere.
Fig. 5b and c shows the spatial distribution of the AOT at
550 nm in South Italy, derived from the MERIS/AATSR and
MODIS, respectively. In the case of the MERIS/AATSR synergy
AOT, a smoothing filter (3 × 3 pixel average) was applied to the
data, while the initial spatial resolution is 1.5 km × 1.5 km. The
MODIS AOT spatial resolution (Fig. 5c) is 10 km × 10 km. The
two images were acquired with a 2 minute time difference
(August 23, 2011, 09:18 UTC for MERIS/AATSR and 09:20 UTC for
MODIS). Comparing the two maps, the differences in AOT spatial
patterns are obvious: details in the first case (MERIS/AATSR) are
more evident, while the spatial distribution of AOT suggests
a possible connection with land cover types (Fig. 5a): higher
AOT values are observed over urban areas (north coastline)
and croplands (south coastline). Back-trajectory calculations,
conducted using the HYSPLIT modeling system (Draxler and
Hess, 1998), verify that airborne particles in the area should
be attributed to local sources (Fig. 7a). Air masses transported
from the Balkans in high altitude (3000 m) are not expected to
transfer high aerosol loads. The low AOT values across the
entire north coastline should probably be attributed to water
contamination effects, where the algorithm was shown to have
poor performance. In the case of MODIS (Fig. 5c), while the
spatial variability is presented, the covered area is lower due
to algorithm limitations, and the observed high AOT values
cannot be directly assigned to local sources.
For Cairo, the two images (Fig. 6b and d) were acquired
with a 23 minute time difference (August 22, 2011, 08:17 UTC
for MERIS/AATSR and 08:40 UTC for MODIS). In the case of
MERIS/AATSR AOT (Fig. 6b), areas with high AOT values are
located south of Cairo and over specific regions in the Nile
delta. Back-trajectory analysis showed no specific transfer
patterns (Fig. 7b): high aerosol loads were probably caused by
the city air pollution and the intense agricultural activities in
the Nile delta area, while desert dust contribution in the total
AOT should not be excluded. Regions with high AOT values are
also found in the desert and were probably naturally generated
(dust). Using the MODIS 10 km × 10 km AOT (Fig. 6c), the
high aerosol load over the city of Cairo is also obvious, but lower
values are observed in this case, due to the spatial averaging of
the MODIS received radiance at the level of 10 km × 10 km.
Similar behavior is observed in the area of Nile delta.
Both cases examined above show that using the higher
resolution MERIS/AATSR algorithm, more details on the spatial
distribution and characteristics of AOT become evident. Specif-
ically, high aerosol loads are better correlated with their possible
sources (e.g. urban areas and cropland activities).
Fig. 7. Back-trajectory analysis from the HYSPLIT model, at 24 hour intervals,
for air parcels terminating in South Italy (a) and Cairo and Nile delta (b) regions.
5. Conclusions

In this study, the MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm for AOT and the validation procedure was performed for each specific
retrieval was validated against AERONET observations world- land cover type, as well as for the whole data set.
wide and compared against MODIS Level 2 AOT data. AERONET The MERIS/AATSR synergy algorithm was capable of
observations over eight different land cover types were used retrieving AOT in spatial resolutions reaching 1 km × 1 km.
112 N. Benas et al. / Atmospheric Research 132–133 (2013) 102–113

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