Sub-seasonal aerosol characterization at the Middle East regions of AERONET site

• Published in: Urban climate Vol. 37; p. 100827
• Main Author: Anoruo, C.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.05.2021
• Subjects: AERONET; Aerosol type; Characterization; Middle East; AERONET; Characterization; Middle East; Aerosol type
• ISSN: 2212-0955; 2212-0955
• DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100827

The present study used Angstrom Exponent (AE) and relationship with Precipitable water vapor (PW) and cloud fraction (CF) obtained from space-based direct sky-radiometer of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and direct Sun algorithm surface-based AERONET network (level 2.0 version 3) to evaluate aerosol optical depth (AOD) predominance and characterization at the Middle East sites: IASBS (36 N, 48E), EILAT (29 N, 34E), KAUST_CAMPUS (22 N, 39E) and MEZAIRA (23 N, 53E). The study was strictly limited to the monsoon period (June–September), where dust is exposing to be dominant AOD. To address AE robustness, standardize and standard deviation method of analysis was used to indicate seasonal connection of aerosols, precipitable water vapor and cloud fraction. In order to remove the large influence of annual cycle, the data were first deseasonalize. The results show that IASBS site indicated AE and AOD standard deviation of (1.41 ± 1.28) in June with corresponding values of (0.82 ± 1.17) in July, (0.20 ± 0.91) in August and (0.25 ± 0.57) in September. EILAT site indicated AE and AOD standard deviation of (1.11 ± 1.07) in June with corresponding values of (1.12 ± 0.87) in July, (0.49 ± 0.83) in August and (0.85 ± 1.24) in September. KAUST_CAMPUS site indicated AE and AOD standard deviation of (0.61 ± 0.63) in June with corresponding values of (0.30 ± 0.78) in July, (0.86 ± 1.27) in August and (0.36 ± 1.24) in September. MEZAIRA site located in United Arab Emirates presents AE and AOD standard deviation of (1.04 ± 0.96) in June with corresponding values of (0.99 ± 1.22) in July, (0.88 ± 1.03) in August and (0.80 ± 0.50) in September. The AE > 1 (fine-mode aerosol) dominate mostly in June but did not prevail over other monsoon month. Further integrated assessment is needed to confirm this study interpretation using other site. •Characterization were utilized using the Angstrom Exponent (AE)•Characterization using standardized anomaly presents robust contributing factor•Results shows biomass and dust aerosols predominantly driven by near surface wind•AE values <0.6 display coarse mode dominance originating from dust storms