LBA-ECO TG-03: AERONET Aerosol Measurements in Brazil

LBA-ECO TG-03 provides AERONET Level 2.0 aerosol optical thickness measurements from 22 ground-based CIMEL sunphotometer sites across Brazil. The data, collected from 1993 to 2005, are cloud-screened and quality-assured, serving to assess aerosol properties and validate satellite retrievals. Each site's latitude, longitude, and elevation are included in a companion file.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived aerosol optical depth retrievals based on ground-truth measurements.
• Analyzing temporal trends in atmospheric aerosol loading across diverse Brazilian biomes from 1993-2005.
• Assessing aerosol optical properties for climate modeling and radiative forcing studies.
• Studying the spatial distribution of aerosols using the provided site location metadata.

Strengths

• Data is quality-assured Level 2.0 AERONET product, indicating cloud-screening and calibration.
• Covers a 13-year time series (1993-2005) across 22 distinct geographic sites.
• Part of a standardized global network (AERONET) ensuring instrument and processing consistency.

Limitations

• Column names and exact data structure are not specified in the provided metadata.
• Conflicting last-updated dates: one source lists 2005-01-01 (end of data collection), another lists 2026-04-10 (likely a platform metadata refresh).
• Dataset size and row counts are unknown, limiting immediate assessment of data volume.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) via the AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) program.

Collection Method

Ground-based remote sensing measurements from standardized CIMEL sunphotometers.

Time Range

1993-2005

Freshness

2026-04-10 (from datagov, likely a metadata update); primary data collection ended in 2005.

Geography

22 sites in Brazil