Global distribution of monthly aerosol optical properties (extinction, single scattering albedo and assymetry parameter) created from the NASA MERRA-2 3-hourly reanalysis profiles of aerosol mixing ratio and relative humidity (1), and MERRA-2 species level aerosol optical properties for different humidities and spectral bands (2). The data are given on the native MERRA2 vertical coordinate grid along with correponding MERRA2 surface pressure, pressure layer thickness and layer air density fields (3). Spectral bands refer to RRTMG spectral intervals and file names are flagged by wave band wb_X ( e.g. wb_10 refers to RRTMG band 10, visible), see Technicalinfo for further band definitions .
(1) Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) (2015), MERRA-2 inst3_3d_aer_Nv: 3d,3-Hourly,Instantaneous,Model-Level,Assimilation,Aerosol Mixing Ratio V5.12.4, Greenbelt, MD, USA, Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), Accessed: [Data Access Date], 10.5067/LTVB4GPCOTK2.
Relevant web page : https://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/reanalysis/MERRA-2/
MERRA-2 General overview :
Gelaro, Ronald, McCarty, Will, Suarez, Max J., Todling, Ricardo, Molod, Andrea, Takacs, Lawrence, Randles, Cynthia A., Darmenov, Anton, Bosilovich, Michael G., Reichle, Rolf, Wargan, Krzysztof, Coy, Lawrence, Cullather, Richard, Draper, Clara, Akella, Santha, Buchard, Virginie, Conaty, Austin, da Silva, Arlindo M., Gu, Wei, Kim, Gi-Kong, Koster, Randal, Lucchesi, Robert, Merkova, Dagmar, Nielsen, Jon Eric, Partyka, Gary, Pawson, Steven, Putman, William, Rienecker, Michele, Schubert, Siegfried D., Sienkiewicz, Meta, Zhao, Bin. 2017. The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). J. Clim.. Vol. 30, No. 14, pp. 5419-5454. DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0758.1 ISSN: 0894-8755
(2) Relevant publications for optical properties :
Chin, M. et al. Tropospheric Aerosol Optical Thickness from the GOCART Model and Comparisons with Satellite and Sun Photometer Measurements. J Atmos Sci59, 461–483 (2002).
Colarco, P., Silva, A. D., Chin, M. & Diehl, T. Online simulations of global aerosol distributions in the NASA GEOS‐4 model and comparisons to satellite and ground‐based aerosol optical depth. J Geophys Res Atmospheres 1984 2012 115, D10S07 (2010).
Colarco, P. R. et al. Impact of radiatively interactive dust aerosols in the NASA GEOS‐5 climate model: Sensitivity to dust particle shape and refractive index. J Geophys Res Atmospheres 119, 753 786 (2014).
(3) Scientific evaluation of MERRA-2 Aerosol reanalysis :
Randles, C. A., da Silva, A. M., Buchard, V., Colarco, P. R., Darmenov, A., Govindaraju, R., Smirnov, A., Holben, B., Ferrare, R., Hair, J., Shinozuka, Y., Flynn, C. J.. 2017. The MERRA-2 Aerosol Reanalysis, 1980 Onward. Part I: System Description and Data Assimilation Evaluation. J. Clim.. Vol. 30, No. 17, pp. 6823-6850. DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0609.1 ISSN: 0894-8755, 1520-0442
Buchard, V., Randles, C. A., da Silva, A. M., Darmenov, A., Colarco, P. R., Govindaraju, R., Ferrare, R., Hair, J., Beyersdorf, A. J., Ziemba, L. D., Yu, H.. 2017. The MERRA-2 Aerosol Reanalysis, 1980 Onward. Part II: Evaluation and Case Studies. J. Clim.. Vol. 30, No. 17, pp. 6851-6872. DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0613.1 ISSN: 0894-8755, 1520-0442
RRTMG Visible Spectral Bands , given here as wavelenght interval and mean value in nm.
File name wb index : Band # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
λav : 3462 2789 2325 2046 1784 1463 1271 1010.1 701.6 533.2 393.1 304.0 231.6 8021
λmin : 3077 2500 2150 1942 1626 1299 1242 778.2 625.0 441.5 344.8 263.2 200.0 3846
λmax : 3846 3077 2500 2150 1942 1626 1299 1242.0 778.2 625.0 441.5 344.8 263.2 12195
