Harmonized and high-quality datasets of aerosol optical depth at a US continental site, 1997-2018

Evgueni Kassianov; Erol Cromwell; Justin Monroe; Laura D Riihimaki; Connor Flynn; Jaime Barnard; Joseph J Michalsky; Gary Hodges; Yan Shi; Jennifer M Comstock

doi:10.1038/s41597-021-00866-2

Harmonized and high-quality datasets of aerosol optical depth at a US continental site, 1997-2018

Sci Data. 2021 Mar 11;8(1):82. doi: 10.1038/s41597-021-00866-2.

Authors

Evgueni Kassianov¹, Erol Cromwell², Justin Monroe^{3

4}, Laura D Riihimaki^{5

6}, Connor Flynn⁷, Jaime Barnard⁸, Joseph J Michalsky⁶, Gary Hodges^{5

6}, Yan Shi⁹, Jennifer M Comstock⁹

Affiliations

¹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. Evgueni.Kassianov@pnnl.gov.
² Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA. Erol.Cromwell@pnnl.gov.
³ Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA.
⁴ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, OK, USA.
⁵ Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁶ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁷ School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA.
⁸ University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA.
⁹ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA.

Abstract

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) characterizes the aerosol burden in the atmosphere, while its wavelength dependence is a sign of particle size. Long-term records of wavelength-resolved AOD with high quality and suitable continuity are required for climate change assessment. Typically, climate-related studies use AOD products provided by several, and perhaps different, ground-based instruments. The measurements from these instruments often have different accuracy and temporal resolution. To preserve the advantages of these products (high quality) and to reduce their disadvantages (patchy records), we generate a merged dataset obtained from four instruments deployed at a US continental site in which a nearly-continuous AOD record is found at two wavelengths (500 and 870 nm) with high quality and high temporal resolution (1-min) for a 21-yr period (1997-2018). The combined dataset addresses: (1) varying data quality and resolution mismatch of the individual AOD records, and (2) the uncertainty of the merged AOD and its relevance for user-specified needs. The generated dataset will be beneficial for a wide range of applications including aerosol-radiation interactions.