Logan Lee

Date of Award

January 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Atmospheric Sciences

First Advisor

Jianglong Zhang

Abstract

A comparison of 1064 nm aerosol optical depth (AOD) from the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) with collocated Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), Aqua and Terra Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Dark Target, and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) AOD for the period of Mar. 2015-Oct. 2017 is presented in this study. In addition, vertical profiles of aerosol extinction from CATS and CALIOP are also compared for the same period. Upon quality assurance checks of CATS data, reasonable agreement is found between aerosol data from CATS and other sensors. Using quality assured CATS aerosol data, for the first time, variations in AODs and aerosol extinction profiles are evaluated at 00, 06, 12, and 18 UTC (and/or 0:00 am, 6:00 am, 12:00 pm and 6:00 pm local solar times) on both regional and global scales. This study suggests that marginal variations are found in AOD from a global mean perspective, with the minimum aerosol extinction values found at 6:00 pm (local time) near the surface layer for global oceans, for both the June-November and December-May seasons. Over land, below 500m, the daily minimum and maximum aerosol extinction values are found at 12:00pm and 00:00/06:00 am (local time), respectively. Strong diurnal variations are also found over Africa-North and India for the December-May season, and over Africa-North, Africa-South, Middle East, and India for the June-November season.

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