title: Intercomparison of Aerosol Optical Thickness Derived from MODIS and in Situ Ground Datasets over Jaipur, a Semi-arid Zone in India.
abstract: The first detailed seasonal validation has been carried out for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua satellites Level 2.0 Collection Version 5.1 AOT (τMODIS) with Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Level 2.0 AOT (τAERONET) for the years 2009-2012 over semi-arid region Jaipur, northwestern India. The correlation between τMODIS versus τAERONET at 550 nm is determined with different spatial and temporal size windows. The τMODIS overestimates τAERONET within a range of +0.06 ± 0.24 during the pre-monsoon (April-June) season, while it underestimates the τAERONET with -0.04 ± 0.12 and -0.05 ± 0.18 during dry (December-March) and post-monsoon (October-November) seasons, respectively. Correlation without (with) error envelope has been found for pre-monsoon at 0.71 (0.89), post-monsoon at 0.76 (0.94), and dry season at 0.78 (0.95). τMODIS is compared to τAERONET at three more ground AERONET stations in India, i.e., Kanpur, Gual Pahari, and Pune. Furthermore, the performance of MODIS Deep Blue and Aqua AOT550 nm (τDB550 nm and τAqua550 nm) with τAERONET is also evaluated for all considered sites over India along with a U.S. desert site at White Sand, Tularosa Basin, NM. The statistical results reveal that τAqua550 nm performs better over Kanpur and Pune, whereas τDB550 nm performs better over Jaipur, Gual Pahari, and White Sand High Energy Laser Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) (U.S. site).
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Excellence in Climatology, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jaipur Campus, 27 Malviya Industrial Area, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302017, India.
authors.forename: Swagata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Payra
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Excellence in Climatology, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jaipur Campus, 27 Malviya Industrial Area, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302017, India.
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soni
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Chemical and Environment Engineering, National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.
authors.forename: Anikender
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Excellence in Climatology, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jaipur Campus, 27 Malviya Industrial Area, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302017, India.
authors.forename: Divya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.affiliation: †Centre for Excellence in Climatology, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jaipur Campus, 27 Malviya Industrial Area, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302017, India.
authors.forename: Sunita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verma
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D019992:Databases as Topic; D003889:Desert Climate; D005843:Geography; D007194:India; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D063809:Satellite Imagery / Q000379:methods*; D012621:Seasons; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols