Retrieval of volcanic and man-made stratospheric aerosols from orbital polarimetric measurements.

Stratospheric aerosols that are caused by a major volcanic eruption can serve as a valuable test of global climate models, as well as severely complicate tropospheric-aerosol monitoring from space. In either case, it is highly desirable to have accurate global information on the optical thickness, size, and composition of volcanic aerosols. We report sensitivity study results, which reveal the implications of making precise multi-angle photopolarimetric measurements in a 1.378-µm spectral channel residing within a strong water-vapor absorption band. We demonstrate that, under favorable conditions, such measurements would enable near-perfect retrievals of the optical thickness, effective radius, and refractive index of stratospheric aerosols. Besides enabling accurate retrievals of volcanic aerosols, such measurements can also be used to monitor man-made particulates injected in the stratosphere for geoengineering purposes.

First-principles definition and measurement of planetary electromagnetic-energy budget.

The imperative to quantify the Earth's electromagnetic-energy budget with an extremely high accuracy has been widely recognized but has never been formulated in the framework of fundamental physics. In this paper we give a first-principles definition of the planetary electromagnetic-energy budget using the Poynting-vector formalism and discuss how it can, in principle, be measured. Our derivation is based on an absolute minimum of theoretical assumptions, is free of outdated notions of phenomenological radiometry, and naturally leads to the conceptual formulation of an instrument called the double hemispherical cavity radiometer (DHCR). The practical measurement of the planetary energy budget would require flying a constellation of several dozen planet-orbiting satellites hosting identical well-calibrated DHCRs.

GISS-E2.1: Configurations and Climatology.

This paper describes the GISS-E2.1 contribution to the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Phase 6 (CMIP6). This model version differs from the predecessor model (GISS-E2) chiefly due to parameterization improvements to the atmospheric and ocean model components, while keeping atmospheric resolution the same. Model skill when compared to modern era climatologies is significantly higher than in previous versions. Additionally, updates in forcings have a material impact on the results. In particular, there have been specific improvements in representations of modes of variability (such as the Madden-Julian Oscillation and other modes in the Pacific) and significant improvements in the simulation of the climate of the Southern Oceans, including sea ice. The effective climate sensitivity to 2 × CO2 is slightly higher than previously at 2.7-3.1°C (depending on version) and is a result of lower CO2 radiative forcing and stronger positive feedbacks.

Reducing Multi-sensor Monthly Mean Aerosol Optical Depth Uncertainty Part II: Optimal Locations for Potential Ground Observation Deployments.

Surface remote sensing of aerosol properties provides "ground truth" for satellite and model validation, and is an important component of aerosol observation system. Due to the different characteristics of background aerosol variability, information obtained at different locations usually have different spatial representativeness, implying that the location should be carefully chosen so that its measurement could be extended to a greater area. In this study, we present an objective observation array design technique that automatically determines the optimal locations with the highest spatial representativeness based on the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) theory. The ensemble is constructed using aerosol optical depth (AOD) products from five satellite sensors. The optimal locations are solved sequentially by minimizing the total analysis error variance, which means that observations at these locations will reduce the background error variance to the largest extent. The location determined by the algorithm is further verified to have larger spatial representativeness than some other arbitrary location. In addition to the existing active AERONET sites, the 40 selected optimal locations are mostly concentrated on regions with both high AOD inhomogeneity and its spatial representativeness, namely the Sahel, South Africa, East Asia and North Pacific Islands. These places should be the focuses of establishing future AERONET sites in order to further reduce the uncertainty in the monthly mean AOD. Observations at these locations contribute to approximately 50% of the total background uncertainty reduction.

Reducing multisensor satellite monthly mean aerosol optical depth uncertainty: 1. Objective assessment of current AERONET locations.

Various space-based sensors have been designed and corresponding algorithms developed to retrieve aerosol optical depth (AOD), the very basic aerosol optical property, yet considerable disagreement still exists across these different satellite data sets. Surface-based observations aim to provide ground truth for validating satellite data; hence, their deployment locations should preferably contain as much spatial information as possible, i.e., high spatial representativeness. Using a novel Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF)-based approach, we objectively evaluate the spatial representativeness of current Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites. Multisensor monthly mean AOD data sets from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer, Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor, Ozone Monitoring Instrument, and Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations from a Lidar are combined into a 605-member ensemble, and AERONET data are considered as the observations to be assimilated into this ensemble using the EnKF. The assessment is made by comparing the analysis error variance (that has been constrained by ground-based measurements), with the background error variance (based on satellite data alone). Results show that the total uncertainty is reduced by ~27% on average and could reach above 50% over certain places. The uncertainty reduction pattern also has distinct seasonal patterns, corresponding to the spatial distribution of seasonally varying aerosol types, such as dust in the spring for Northern Hemisphere and biomass burning in the fall for Southern Hemisphere. Dust and biomass burning sites have the highest spatial representativeness, rural and oceanic sites can also represent moderate spatial information, whereas the representativeness of urban sites is relatively localized. A spatial score ranging from 1 to 3 is assigned to each AERONET site based on the uncertainty reduction, indicating its representativeness level.

Atmospheric CO2: principal control knob governing Earth's temperature.

Ample physical evidence shows that carbon dioxide (CO(2)) is the single most important climate-relevant greenhouse gas in Earth's atmosphere. This is because CO(2), like ozone, N(2)O, CH(4), and chlorofluorocarbons, does not condense and precipitate from the atmosphere at current climate temperatures, whereas water vapor can and does. Noncondensing greenhouse gases, which account for 25% of the total terrestrial greenhouse effect, thus serve to provide the stable temperature structure that sustains the current levels of atmospheric water vapor and clouds via feedback processes that account for the remaining 75% of the greenhouse effect. Without the radiative forcing supplied by CO(2) and the other noncondensing greenhouse gases, the terrestrial greenhouse would collapse, plunging the global climate into an icebound Earth state.

Optical depth measurements by shadow-band radiometers and their uncertainties.

Shadow-band radiometers in general, and especially the Multi-Filter Rotating Shadow-band Radiometer (MFRSR), are widely used for atmospheric optical depth measurements. The major programs running MFRSR networks in the United States include the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture UV-B Monitoring and Research Program, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Surface Radiation (SURFRAD) Network, and NASA Solar Irradiance Research Network (SIRN). We discuss a number of technical issues specific to shadow-band radiometers and their impact on the optical depth measurements. These problems include instrument tilt and misalignment, as well as some data processing artifacts. Techniques for data evaluation and automatic detection of some of these problems are described.

Long-term satellite record reveals likely recent aerosol trend.

Analysis of the long-term Global Aerosol Climatology Project data set reveals a likely decrease of the global optical thickness of tropospheric aerosols by as much as 0.03 during the period from 1991 to 2005. This recent trend mirrors the concurrent global increase in solar radiation fluxes at Earth's surface and may have contributed to recent changes in surface climate.

Morphology-dependent resonances of nearly spherical particles in random orientation.

We use precise T-matrix calculations for prolate and oblate spheroids, Chebyshev particles, and spheres cut by a plane to study the evolution of Lorenz-Mie morphology-dependent resonances (MDRs) with increasing asphericity of nearly spherical particles in random orientation. We show that, in the case of spheroids and Chebyshev particles, the deformation of a sphere by as little as one hundredth of a wavelength essentially annihilates supernarrow MDRs, whereas significantly larger asphericities are needed to suppress broader resonance features. The MDR position and profile are also affected when the deviation of the particle shape is increased from that of a perfect sphere. In the case of a sphere cut by a plane, the supernarrow MDRs are much more resistant to an increase in asphericity and do not change their position and profile. These findings are consistent with the widely accepted physical interpretation of the Lorenz-Mie MDRs.