The aerosol properties retrieved from the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) measurements during the period 2009 to 2012 over Jaipur (26.9°N, 75.8°E, 450m asl) in Northwestern India are used for the first time to identify the types of aerosols. In order to consider the appropriate threshold of aerosol optical thickness (τ) at 500 nm (τ 500 ) and Angstrom exponent (α) in the spectral band 440-870 nm, a novel approach has been conducted and applied for the identification process. Five prevailing aerosol classes are identified: desert dust, biomass, maritime, arid background and mixed aerosols. Arid background and desert dust type aerosols are the most common at Jaipur (34.7% and 13.6%, respectively), with a wide variability in both τ and α. In about 8.4% of the cases, aerosols can be classified as maritime, although mixing with other aerosols (33.6%) is substantial. The ground-based spectral optical thickness and the refractive index estimated at visible and near-infrared wavelengths are used to account for the type of atmospheric aerosols. They are compared with four more AERONET sites located in India based upon their geographical distribution and extensive data availability. Simultaneously, single scattering albedo of dust is also inferred for all the available AERONET sites for the same period over India. The comparison results suggest that Jaipur arid background is more scattering in nature than Northern and Western regions in India. Finally, the absorption is less in summer than in winter over the Jaipur site.

In this study, we systematically document the link between dust episodes and local scale regional aerosol optical properties over Jaipur located in the vicinity of Thar Desert in the northwestern state of Rajasthan. The seasonal variation of AOT(500 nm) (aerosol optical thickness) shows high values (0.51 ± 0.18) during pre-monsoon (dust dominant) season while low values (0.36 ± 0.14) are exhibited during winter. The Ångström wavelength exponent has been found to exhibit low value (<0.25) indicating relative dominance of coarse-mode particles during pre-monsoon season. The AOT increased from 0.36 (Aprilmean) to 0.575 (May-June(mean)). Consequently, volume concentration range increases from April through May-June followed by a sharp decline in July during the first active phase of the monsoon. Significantly high dust storms were observed over Jaipur as indicated by high values of single scattering albedo (SSA(440 nm) = 0.89, SSA(675 nm) = 0.95, SSA870 nm = 0.97, SSA(1,020 nm) = 0.976) than the previously reported values over IGP region sites. The larger SSA values (more scattering aerosol), especially at longer wavelengths, is due to the abundant dust loading, and is attributed to the measurement site's proximity to the Thar Desert. The mean and standard deviation in SSA and asymmetry parameter during pre-monsoon season over Jaipur is 0.938 ± 0.023 and 0.712 ± 0.017 at 675 nm wavelength, respectively. Back-trajectory air mass simulations suggest Thar Desert in northwestern India as the primary source of high aerosols dust loading over Jaipur region as well as contribution by long-range transport from the Arabian Peninsula and Middle East gulf regions, during pre-monsoon season.

Sensors based on metamaterial absorbers are very promising when it comes to high sensitivity and quality factor, cost, and ease of fabrication. The absorbers could be used to sense physical parameters such as temperature, pressure, density as well as they could be used for determining electromagnetic properties of materials and their characterization. In this work, an attempt has been made to explore the various possible applications of these sensors. Metamaterial-based sensors are very popular for its diverse applications in areas such as biomedical, chemical industry, food quality testing, agriculture. Split-ring resonators with various shapes and topologies are the most frequently used structures where the sensing principle is based on electromagnetic interaction of the material under test with the resonator. Overcoming the design challenges using metamaterial sensors involving several constraints such as cost, compactness, reusability, ease in fabrication, and robustness is also addressed.

The first detailed seasonal validation has been carried out for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua satellites Level 2.0 Collection Version 5.1 AOT (τMODIS) with Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Level 2.0 AOT (τAERONET) for the years 2009-2012 over semi-arid region Jaipur, northwestern India. The correlation between τMODIS versus τAERONET at 550 nm is determined with different spatial and temporal size windows. The τMODIS overestimates τAERONET within a range of +0.06 ± 0.24 during the pre-monsoon (April-June) season, while it underestimates the τAERONET with -0.04 ± 0.12 and -0.05 ± 0.18 during dry (December-March) and post-monsoon (October-November) seasons, respectively. Correlation without (with) error envelope has been found for pre-monsoon at 0.71 (0.89), post-monsoon at 0.76 (0.94), and dry season at 0.78 (0.95). τMODIS is compared to τAERONET at three more ground AERONET stations in India, i.e., Kanpur, Gual Pahari, and Pune. Furthermore, the performance of MODIS Deep Blue and Aqua AOT550 nm (τDB550 nm and τAqua550 nm) with τAERONET is also evaluated for all considered sites over India along with a U.S. desert site at White Sand, Tularosa Basin, NM. The statistical results reveal that τAqua550 nm performs better over Kanpur and Pune, whereas τDB550 nm performs better over Jaipur, Gual Pahari, and White Sand High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) (U.S. site).

No abstract