Validation of Modis Aerosol Optical Thickness Retrieval Over Yangtze Delta Region of China

doi:10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2011.02.0224

Advances in Earth Science ›› 2011, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (2): 224-234. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2011.02.0224

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Validation of Modis Aerosol Optical Thickness Retrieval Over Yangtze Delta Region of China

Zheng Youfei ¹, Dong Zipeng ², Wu Rongjun ², Li Zhanqing ^3,4, Jiang Hong ^5,6

1.Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Nanjing210044, China; 2.Department of Environmental Science and Engineering,Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing210044, China;
3.Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing100029, China;
4.Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science,University of Maryland,College Park,Maryland,MD20782,USA;
5.International Institute for Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing210093, China;
6.International Research Center of SpatialEcology & Ecosystem Ecology, Zhejiang Forestry University, Hangzhou311300, China

Received:2010-04-07 Revised:2010-09-14 Online:2011-02-10 Published:2011-02-10

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Zheng Youfei, Dong Zipeng, Wu Rongjun, Li Zhanqing, Jiang Hong. Validation of Modis Aerosol Optical Thickness Retrieval Over Yangtze Delta Region of China[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2011, 26(2): 224-234.

This paper presents a comparison of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrieved from MODIS (both terra and aqua) collections with in situ groundbased data at three Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites over Yangtze Delta region from 2007 to 2009. The validation results show that the performances of the MODIS AOT retrievals have significant regional differences. MODIS is found to overestimate AOT observably at Taihu site, with only about 30% of retrieval data falling within the expected uncertainty. The systematic biases are mainly due to incorrect assumptions in the surface reflectance. There is a poor MODIS retrieval in this region. On the other hand, AQUA and TERRA MODIS derived AOTs are negatively biased at Zhejiang Forestry University (ZFU) site with 81.8% and 53.3% of retrieval data falling in the expected uncertainty, and the dominant sources of MODIS aerosol retrieval errors are aerosol models and surface reflectance estimations, respectively. The MODIS algorithm can deal well with this area. For Qiandaohu site, the MODIS data are significantly underestimated due to the overestimation of aerosol single scattering albedo. Unfortunately, there is no sufficient level 2.0 AERONET data to take a more reliable validation at this site. The analysis in this paper indicates the need for systematic modification of the MODIS algorithm over Yangtze delta region of China. 

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