Specific features of spatial distribution of atmospheric aerosol optical depth along northern sea route

Abstract

We discuss the aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements with the sun photometers onboard "Akademik Fedorov" and "Professor Khlyustin" research vessels in Arctic and Far East seas along the Northern Sea Route. Coastal observations in Barentsburg, Tiksi, and Vladivostok are employed to analyze the ship-based measurements. It is shown that AOD in Arctic differs little, with the average AOD values being much less than in the background midlatitude regions. In the spatial distributions of AOD and water vapor in Far East seas, we can clearly see the latitudinal dependence: all characteristics in the Bering Sea are close to data in the Arctic zone, these characteristics increase by a factor of 1.5-2 near south coasts of Kamchatka, and the difference reaches a factor of 4-6 in the region of Vladivostok.

Analysis of approaches to modeling the annual and spectral behaviors of atmospheric aerosol optical depth in Siberia and Primorye

“…Analysis of (MODIS) satellite measure ments of the AOD [18,33,38] showed that the aerosol turbidity in most of Siberia (northward of Trans Sibe rian Railway) and Ural largely shows a decrease in the northern direction and only minor variations with lon gitude. The average gradient of the latitudinal decrease in AOD (0.55 μm) for the central months of summer and fall is 0.002-0.003 per degree of latitude.…”

“…Tri modal structure with maxima in January, in summer, and fall; μ = 0.14; max/min ≈ 0.18/0.09 μ is the annual average under usual ("smoke free") conditions, max/min is the amplitude of annual behavior, and Δ S is the smoke addition. In addition to this latitudinal dependence, the sat ellite data can be used to perform the spatial clustering of AOD according to three "signs" [18,38]: 1) with respect to the average level of aerosol turbidity; 2) with respect to the character of the annual AOD behavior; and 3) with respect to interrelation between variations in monthly AOD values in separate regions.…”