Satellite-Derived Aerosol Properties For Climate Prediction

28 geophysical variables from the SGLI sensor onboard the GCOM-C satellite monitor aerosol properties over land and ocean. The dataset includes aerosol optical thickness, Angstrom exponent, and single scattering albedo at 1 km spatial resolution. It is produced by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) from observations beginning after the satellite's launch on December 23, 2017.

Use Cases

• Assimilating AROT (Aerosol Optical Thickness) and ARAE (Angstrom Exponent) values into numerical weather and climate prediction models to improve accuracy.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends in ASSA (Single Scattering Albedo) to study aerosol radiative forcing and its impact on climate.
• Validating aerosol transport models by comparing predicted AROT_uncertainty fields against the satellite-derived uncertainty estimates.
• Investigating aerosol type and size distribution over different surfaces using the co-variation of AROT at 500 nm and the ARAE derived from 380 nm and 500 nm.

Strengths

• Provides 3 core aerosol physical variables (AROT, ARAE, ASSA) plus their associated uncertainty estimates.
• Offers 1 km spatial resolution data with a swath width of 1150 km (visible) to 1400 km (infrared).
• Utilizes a consistent aerosol optical model for both land and ocean retrieval, based on skyradiometer observations.

Limitations

• Aerosol retrieval assumes fixed particle shapes, real refractive indices, and size distributions, which may not capture all real-world variability.
• The spatial coverage is described as 'Tile', which may indicate discontinuous global coverage or a tiling system requiring mosaicking.
• Sample size and temporal range are unspecified, limiting assessment of statistical robustness for time-series analysis.

Provenance

Source

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), from the SGLI sensor on the GCOM-C satellite.

Collection Method

Derived Level 2 products (physical variables) generated from Level 1B sensor data using a numerical retrieval algorithm.

Time Range

Observations began after the satellite launch on December 23, 2017; specific date range is unknown.

Freshness

null

Geography

Global coverage over land and ocean, delivered in a 'Tile' projection (EQA).