An overview of mesoscale aerosol processes, comparisons, and validation studies from DRAGON networks

Abstract

Abstract. Over the past 24 years, the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) program has provided highly accurate remote-sensing characterization of aerosol optical and physical properties for an increasingly extensive geographic distribution including all continents and many oceanic island and coastal sites. The measurements and retrievals from the AERONET global network have addressed satellite and model validation needs very well, but there have been challenges in making comparisons to similar parameters from in situ surface and airborne measurements. Additionally, with improved spatial and temporal satellite remote sensing of aerosols, there is a need for higher spatial-resolution ground-based remote-sensing networks. An effort to address these needs resulted in a number of field campaign networks called Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGONs) that were designed to provide a database for in situ and remote-sensing comparison and analysis of local to mesoscale variability in aerosol properties. This paper describes the DRAGON deployments that will continue to contribute to the growing body of research related to meso-and microscale aerosol features and processes. The research presented in this special issue illustrates the diversity of topics that has resulted from the application of data from these networks.

The Fundamental Aerosol Models Over China Region: A Cluster Analysis of the Ground‐Based Remote Sensing Measurements of Total Columnar Atmosphere

“…However, in the operational mode, only SONET sky radiances are used in the inversion to yield aerosol optical and microphysical parameters (e.g., AOD, size distribution, and complex refractive indices) using standard AERONET retrieval algorithm (Dubovik et al, 2000(Dubovik et al, , 2006, and the inversion results formulate the database for this study. The calibration and cloudscreening procedures are also consistent between SONET and AERONET, and thus, the data quality and aerosol product accuracy are comparable as suggested by data analyses (Li et al, 2018) of joint campaigns (Holben et al, 2018). The SONET data set has been employed in many applications, including validation of satellite products (e.g., , assimilation into chemical transport models (e.g., Chang et al, 2015), and radiative forcing studies (e.g., Li et al, 2018).…”

Observations of the Interaction and Transport of Fine Mode Aerosols With Cloud and/or Fog in Northeast Asia From Aerosol Robotic Network and Satellite Remote Sensing

“…For the Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Network (DRAGON)‐Korea and DRAGON‐Japan 2012 networks, there were 22 AERONET Cimel Sun‐sky radiometer sites in a mesoscale DRAGON in South Korea (11 of these in the greater Seoul metropolitan area) and 14 Cimels in Japan in the spring and summer of 2012 (Holben et al, ; Lee & Son, ; Sano et al, ). These site deployments included existing AERONET long‐term monitoring sites in both South Korea and Japan.…”

Collocation mismatch uncertainties in satellite aerosol retrieval validation

“…Fortunately, there are campaigns that can provide ground-based AOD data with sufficient spatial resolution, such as the AERONET DRAGON (Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observational Network) campaign in the Baltimore region in summer 2011, which was part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) DISCOVER-AQ (Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality) field campaign. For a review of the DRAGON campaigns and studies based on them we refer to Holben et al (2018) and references therein.…”