Evaluation of Aerosol Properties Observed by DSCOVR/EPIC Instrument From the Earth‐Sun Lagrange 1 Orbit

Ahn, C.; Torres, Omar; Jethva, Hiren; Tiruchirapalli, R.; Huang, Liang‐Kang

doi:10.1029/2020jd033651

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Torres et al (2020) used the EPIC UV reflectances combined with a limb profiler and the lidar on the Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite to detect and follow smoke plumes injected into the stratosphere by large forest fires in Canada. This tracking includes retrievals of the UV aerosol optical depths (AODv) and single scattering albedos (SSAv) of the smoke particles, which can reside a relatively long time in the atmosphere (e.g., Ahn et al, 2021). The UV aerosol index (UVAI), a standard EPIC product along with SO 2 and O 3 column loading and SSAv and AODv, has been employed with satellite-based lidar profiles of aerosol concentrations and modeling to quantify the impacts of pyrocumulonimbus injections of smoke aerosols into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (Christian et al, 2019).…”

Section: Surface and Atmospheric Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lagrange Point Missions: The Key to next Generation Integrated Earth Observations. DSCOVR Innovation

Valero

Marshak

Minnis

2021

Front. Remote Sens.

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A new perspective for studying Earth processes has been soundly demonstrated by the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission. For the past 6 years, the first Earth-observing satellite orbiting at the Lagrange 1 (L1) point, the DSCOVR satellite has been viewing the planet in a fundamentally different way compared to all other satellites. It is providing unique simultaneous observations of nearly the entire sunlit face of the Earth at a relatively high temporal resolution. This capability enables detailed coverage of evolving atmospheric and surface systems over meso- and large-scale domains, both individually and as a whole, from sunrise to sunset, under continuously changing illumination and viewing conditions. DSCOVR’s view also contains polar regions that are only partially seen from geostationary satellites (GEOs). To exploit this unique perspective, DSCOVR instruments provide multispectral imagery and measurements of the Earth’s reflected and emitted radiances from 0.2 to 100 µm. Data from these sensors have been and continue to be utilized for a great variety of research involving retrievals of atmospheric composition, aerosols, clouds, ocean, and vegetation properties; estimates of surface radiation and the top-of-atmosphere radiation budget; and determining exoplanet signatures. DSCOVR’s synoptic and high temporal resolution data encompass the areas observed during the day from low Earth orbiting satellites (LEOs) and GEOs along with occasional views of the Moon. Because the LEO and GEO measurements can be easily matched with simultaneous DSCOVR data, multiangle, multispectral datasets can be developed by integrating DSCOVR, LEO, and GEO data along with surface and airborne observations, when available. Such datasets can open the door for global application of algorithms heretofore limited to specific LEO satellites and development of new scientific tools for Earth sciences. The utility of the integrated datasets relies on accurate intercalibration of the observations, a process that can be facilitated by the DSCOVR views of the Moon, which serves as a stable reference. Because of their full-disc views, observatories at one or more Lagrange points can play a key role in next-generation integrated Earth observing systems.

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Section: Surface and Atmospheric Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lagrange Point Missions: The Key to next Generation Integrated Earth Observations. DSCOVR Innovation

Valero

Marshak

Minnis

2021

Front. Remote Sens.

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“…The EPIC level 2 UV aerosol product (version 3) obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center (https://doi.org/10.5067/EPIC/ DSCOVR/L2_AER_03) are also used in this study. The EPIC UV aerosol retrieval algorithm (Ahn et al, 2021) uses a set of aerosol models, which are identical to those assumed in OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) algorithm (Herman et al, 1997;Torres et al, 2007;Jethva and Torres, 2011;Torres et al, 2013), to represent the carbonaceous aerosols from wildfires and biomass burning, dust and sulfate-based aerosols. The EPIC UV Aerosol Index (UVAI) is derived from 340 to 388 nm radiances for all sky conditions (Torres et al, 2018;Ahn et al, 2021).…”

Section: Epic L2 Uvaimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The EPIC UV aerosol retrieval algorithm (Ahn et al, 2021) uses a set of aerosol models, which are identical to those assumed in OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) algorithm (Herman et al, 1997;Torres et al, 2007;Jethva and Torres, 2011;Torres et al, 2013), to represent the carbonaceous aerosols from wildfires and biomass burning, dust and sulfate-based aerosols. The EPIC UV Aerosol Index (UVAI) is derived from 340 to 388 nm radiances for all sky conditions (Torres et al, 2018;Ahn et al, 2021). It is indicative of the presence of absorbing aerosols (smoke, dust, or both particles) at free troposphere and above.…”

Section: Epic L2 Uvaimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, the relative vertical position of aerosols and clouds determines the sign and magnitudes of the aerosol radiative effects (Wang and Christopher, 2006a;Zarzycki and Bond, 2010;Ge et al, 2014). Lastly, the characterization of smoke vertical distribution is also very important for the retrieval of aerosol optical depth and single scattering albedo using near-UV observations (Torres et al, 1998;Ahn et al, 2021), as well as the remote sensing of surface air quality (Wang and Christopher, 2003). On the one hand, for a given total column aerosol loading, the lower the smoke layer is, the more severe the surface particulate matter pollution would be (Val Martin et al, 2013;Seo et al, 2015;Griffin et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hourly Mapping of the Layer Height of Thick Smoke Plumes Over the Western U.S. in 2020 Severe Fire Season

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Remote Sens.

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A series of huge smoke plume events from the largest wildfire season recorded in California’s modern history has occurred in 2020. Here, a research algorithm was modified to retrieve the aerosol optical centroid height (AOCH) and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) measurements. The research focus is to gain insights of the algorithm’s feasibility in heavy smoke conditions to study the diurnal variation of AOCH; this is only made possible via EPIC due to its unique position at Lagrange-1 point and its equipment of O2 B-band at which the vegetated surface reflectance is low. Vicarious calibration is applied to the EPIC 443, 680 and 688 nm channels based on the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) observation. This new calibration leads to a better agreement of AOCH values between EPIC retrievals and the counterparts derived from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) aerosol extinction vertical profile. The hourly variation of AOCH up to 0.45 km on September 7 is shown to have important implications for estimating hourly change of surface PM2.5, although more quantitative studies are needed in the future.

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“…Daily averages of EPICAERUV 388 nm AOD retrievals were compared to similarly daily averaged surface observations of 380 nm AOD by the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET, Giles et al, 2019;Holben et al, 1998). The Ahn et al (2021) retrieval evaluation work also carried out a comparison of time collocated EPICAERUV and AERONET SSA retrievals, as well as validation results of EPICAERUV ACAOD retrievals by comparison to airborne measurements during the Observations of Aerosols above Clouds and their interactions (ORACLES) campaigns over the South Atlantic Ocean (Redemann, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local and Regional Diurnal Variability of Aerosol Properties Retrieved by DSCOVR/EPIC UV Algorithm

Torres,

Ahn

2024

JGR Atmospheres

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The hour‐to‐hour variability of 388 nm aerosol optical depth (AOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) derived from near UV observations by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the Deep Space Climate Observatory has been evaluated at multiple locations around the world. AOD retrievals by the EPIC near UV algorithm (EPICAERUV) have been compared to ground based AOD measurements at 16 Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) stations representative of the most commonly observed aerosol types over geographic regions in three continents. Obtained results show that, in general, the EPICAERUV algorithm reproduces closely the hour‐to‐hour AOD variability reported by AERONET ground‐truth observations. Although most sites in the analysis show high correlation between the AOD hourly measurements by the ground‐based and space‐borne measuring techniques. Best algorithm performance is observed in the presence of carbonaceous and desert dust aerosols. The diurnal cycle of the retrieved SSA product was also analyzed. Although, a direct comparison of hourly EPICAERUV retrievals to equivalent ground‐based observations was not possible, the satellite result shows that diurnal SSA variability as large as 0.05 can be observed mostly associated with carbonaceous aerosols. EPICAERUV observed diurnal cycle of retrieved AOD on a regional basis was examined for the unusually active seasons of aerosol production of Saharan desert dust aerosols in 2020, and during the 2023 Canadian wildfires. Results presented in this study confirm the EPIC near UV aerosol product is well suited for observing diurnal variability of aerosols and, therefore, it is an important resource for climate and air quality studies.

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Evaluation of Aerosol Properties Observed by DSCOVR/EPIC Instrument From the Earth‐Sun Lagrange 1 Orbit

Cited by 12 publications

References 57 publications

Lagrange Point Missions: The Key to next Generation Integrated Earth Observations. DSCOVR Innovation

Lagrange Point Missions: The Key to next Generation Integrated Earth Observations. DSCOVR Innovation

Hourly Mapping of the Layer Height of Thick Smoke Plumes Over the Western U.S. in 2020 Severe Fire Season

Local and Regional Diurnal Variability of Aerosol Properties Retrieved by DSCOVR/EPIC UV Algorithm

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