NPOESS Preparatory Project

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NPOESS Preparatory Project

• Assessment of NPOESS aerosol algorithm
  enhancement using VIIRS and OMPS observations

Omar Torres Joint Center for Earth Systems
Technology University of Maryland, Baltimore
County Paul Ginoux GFDL, Princeton University
NPP Science Team Meeting Annapolis, MD, November
4-6, 2003
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• Team Composition
• PI Omar Torres (JCET-UMBC)
• - Responsible for overall planning and
  implementation
• of proposed work (radiative transfer
  calculations, algorithm testing and evaluation)
• TOMS Science Team member (Near UV aerosol
  sensing)
• OMI (Aura) Science Team member (PI Aerosol
  Algorithm)
• Co-I Paul Ginoux (NOAA-GFDL)
• - Chemical Transport Model calculations to
  generate 3D global
• aerosol distributions.
• -GOCART Model Co-developer
• - TOMS Science Team member

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• Main Objective
• Evaluation of aerosol EDRs optical depth and
  particle size
• - Algorithm performance over arid and semi-arid
  regions
• Algorithm capability to differentiate between
  aerosol types
• Small/large particles
• Absorbing/non-absorbing particles
• Test data sets MODIS measured radiances,
  synthetic data
• Ancillary data AERONET observations, TOMS
  aerosol data

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Secondary objective Assessment of synergic use
of VIIRS and OMPS measurements for aerosol
characterization
Like MODIS, the VIIRS aerosol algorithm will
retrieve aerosol optical depth over the oceans
and dark vegetated land areas.
Like TOMS, the OMPS sensor will detect the
presence of carbonaceous and mineral aerosols
over all surface types.

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Synergic use of VIIRS and OMPS observations
-Assess benefits of enhancing current VIIRS
aerosol algorithm making use of OMPS near UV
observations
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Sharing of resources with other NPP projects
Analysis of aerosol and surface reflectance EDRs
over land from VIIRS (A. Lyapustin) Assessment
of aerosol, albedo and surface type (C.
Schaaf) Evaluation of VIIRS aerosol, ocean color
and snow/ice products (K. Stammes) Atmospheric
correction for the ocean color EDRs (M.
Wang) Evaluation of VIIRS land surface EDRs for
climate objectives (E. Vermote)

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Contribution to deliverables -Participation in
NPP related meetings as required -Interaction
with other NPP science team members -Algorithm
analysis report -Assessment of algorithm
enhancement