The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) updates NASA's previous satellite era (1980 - onward) reanalysis system to include additional observations and improvements to the Goddard Earth Observing System, Version 5 (GEOS-5) Earth system model. As a major step towards a full Integrated Earth Systems Analysis (IESA), in addition to meteorological observations, MERRA-2 now includes assimilation of aerosol optical depth (AOD) from various ground- and space-based remote sensing platforms. Here, in the first of a pair of studies, we document the MERRA-2 aerosol assimilation, including a description of the prognostic model (GEOS-5 coupled to the GOCART aerosol module), aerosol emissions, and the quality control of ingested observations. We provide initial validation and evaluation of the analyzed AOD fields using independent observations from ground, aircraft, and shipborne instruments. We demonstrate the positive impact of the AOD assimilation on simulated aerosols by comparing MERRA-2 aerosol fields to an identical control simulation that does not include AOD assimilation. Having shown the AOD evaluation, we take a first look at aerosol-climate interactions by examining the shortwave, clear-sky aerosol direct radiative effect. In our companion paper, we evaluate and validate available MERRA-2 aerosol properties not directly impacted by the AOD assimilation (e.g. aerosol vertical distribution and absorption). Importantly, while highlighting the skill of the MERRA-2 aerosol assimilation products, both studies point out caveats that must be considered when using this new reanalysis product for future studies of aerosols and their interactions with weather and climate.

[1] The Earth Observing System (EOS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) aboard the Aura satellite has provided essentially daily global measurements of ozone (O 3 ) profiles from the upper troposphere to the upper mesosphere since August of 2004. This paper focuses on validation of the MLS stratospheric standard ozone product and its uncertainties, as obtained from the 240 GHz radiometer measurements, with a few results concerning mesospheric ozone. We compare average differences and scatter from matched MLS version 2.2 profiles and coincident ozone profiles from other satellite instruments, as well as from aircraft lidar measurements taken during Aura Validation Experiment (AVE) campaigns. Ozone comparisons are also made between MLS and balloon-borne remote and in situ sensors. We provide a detailed characterization of random and systematic uncertainties for MLS ozone. We typically find better agreement in the comparisons using MLS version 2.2 ozone than the version 1.5 data. The agreement and the MLS uncertainty estimates in the stratosphere are often of the order of 5%, with values closer to 10% (and occasionally 20%) at the lowest stratospheric altitudes, where small positive MLS biases can be found. There is very good agreement in the latitudinal distributions obtained from MLS and from coincident profiles from other satellite instruments, as well as from aircraft lidar data along the MLS track.

Aerosol classification products from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL-1) on the NASA B200 aircraft are compared with coincident V3.01 aerosol classification products from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) instrument on the CALIPSO satellite. For CALIOP, aerosol classification is a key input to the aerosol retrieval, and must be inferred using aerosol loading-dependent observations and location information. In contrast, HSRL-1 makes direct measurements of aerosol intensive properties, including the lidar ratio, that provide information on aerosol type. In this study, comparisons are made for 109 underflights of the CALIOP orbit track. We find that 62% of the CALIOP marine layers and 54% of the polluted continental layers agree with HSRL-1 classification results. In addition, 80% of the CALIOP desert dust layers are classified as either dust or dusty mix byHSRL-1. However, agreement is less for CALIOP smoke (13%) and polluted dust (35%) layers. Specific case studies are examined, giving insight into the performance of the CALIOP aerosol type algorithm. In particular, we find that the CALIOP polluted dust type is overused due to an attenuation-related depolarization bias. Furthermore, the polluted dust type frequently includes mixtures of dust plus marine aerosol. Finally, we find that CALIOP's identification of internal boundaries between different aerosol types in contact with each other frequently do not reflect the actual transitions between aerosol types accurately. Based on these findings, we give recommendations which may help to improve the CALIOP aerosol type algorithms

We couple airborne, ground‐based, and satellite observations; conduct regional simulations; and develop and apply an inversion technique to constrain hourly smoke emissions from the Rim Fire, the third largest observed in California, USA. Emissions constrained with multiplatform data show notable nocturnal enhancements (sometimes over a factor of 20), correlate better with daily burned area data, and are a factor of 2–4 higher than a priori estimates, highlighting the need for improved characterization of diurnal profiles and day‐to‐day variability when modeling extreme fires. Constraining only with satellite data results in smaller enhancements mainly due to missing retrievals near the emissions source, suggesting that top‐down emission estimates for these events could be underestimated and a multiplatform approach is required to resolve them. Predictions driven by emissions constrained with multiplatform data present significant variations in downwind air quality and in aerosol feedback on meteorology, emphasizing the need for improved emissions estimates during exceptional events.

Abstract. The Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) assimilates fire radiative power (FRP) observations from satellite-based sensors to produce daily estimates of biomass burning emissions. It has been extended to include information about injection heights derived from fire observations and meteorological information from the operational weather forecasts of ECMWF.Injection heights are provided by two distinct methods: the Integrated Monitoring and Modelling System for wildland fires (IS4FIRES) parameterisation and the one-dimensional plume rise model (PRM). A global database of daily biomass burning emissions and injection heights at 0