Detection of Optically Thin Mineral Dust Aerosol Layers over the Ocean Using MODIS

Abstract

nalyses show that several existing Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) dust detection techniques, including an approach based on simple brightness temperature difference thresholds, the D-parameter method, and the multichannel image (MCI) algorithm, may be more effective for detection of highly concentrated dust plumes than for thin dust layers. Using the Cloud?Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) cloud and aerosol classification as a reference, the sensitivities of six MODIS radiative parameters (including brightness temperature differences, and standard deviation and ratios of reflectances) to cloud, clear sky, and dust layers are examined in this paper. Reflectance ratios and the standard deviation of reflectances were confirmed to be useful in the discrimination of dust from cloud and underlying ocean surface, while brightness temperature differences alone were not sufficient to separate dust from cloud and clear sky over the ocean surface. Using a collocated MODIS and CALIPSO training dataset from 2008, visible and infrared MODIS radiative parameters from six latitude bands and four seasons were combined using linear and quadratic discriminant analyses to develop a new algorithm for the detection of optically thin dust over the ocean. The validation using collocated MODIS and CALIPSO data from 2009 shows that the present algorithm is effective in detecting thin dust layers having optical thicknesses between 0.1 and 2.0, but that it tends to misclassify optically thicker dust layers as clouds.