Publication Date:
2023-07-12
Description:
Satellite measurements of the oceanic atmosphere are an important source of geophysical information, since surface-based measurements are largely missing, except from buoys and ships. Validation of satellite-derived atmospheric products over the ocean is therefore of vital importance for quality assessment and algorithm development of satellite products. Although the oceans cover the largest fraction of the Earth’s surface, validation of atmospheric satellite products is strongly dominated by observations over land. There is a clear need for more atmospheric validation measurements over ocean. We have performed measurements of clouds, aerosols and radiation over the Atlantic Ocean from about 28º N to 52º S in January-February 2023 on the German research vessel Maria S. Merian during cruises MSM-114 and MSM-114/2. Aerosol measurements were performed by handheld sunphotometers (Microtops and Calitoo) for multispectral aerosol optical thickness, an aerosol monitor (TSI Dusttrak) for in-situ particulate mass per size range, and a ceilometer (Jenoptik) for vertical profile of aerosols. Cloud observations consisted of Hatpro microwave radiometer measurements, and Infrared imagery. Radiation observations consisted of broad-band shortwave and longwave irradiance measurements. We will show a comparison of these shipborne observations to retrieved cloud and radiation products from the EUMETSAT Meteosat satellite, and aerosol products from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite, carrying the OLCI and SLSTR multispectral imagers, and the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite carrying the Tropomi spectrometer. Several interesting aerosol events were observed during the cruises: desert dust plumes from the Sahara, biomass burning aerosol plumes from West Africa, and background maritime aerosols.
Language:
English
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject
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