A Synergistic Retrieval of Mid-Visible and Thermal Infrared Dust Optical Depth and Coarse Mode Particle Size from MODIS Observation (Invited)

Mineral dust aerosol impacts the radiation budget of Earth, cloud formations, ocean and terrestrial biogeochemical processes, visibility, and human health. The quantification of each impact relies on understanding the spatiotemporal variation of dust physicochemical properties, such as dust loading, optically represented by dust aerosol optical depth (DAOD) and dust particle size distribution. Recently, we developed a novel algorithm of retrieving the thermal infrared DAOD and coarse mode effective diameter of dust over ocean (along the CALIPSO track) from MODIS thermal infrared observations with a constraint by CALIOP-derived dust vertical profiles. In this study, we further improve the algorithm to cover off-CALIOP-track MODIS pixels over both ocean and land based and to retrieve dust properties simultaneously in mid-visible and thermal infrared wavelengths leveraging the climatological CALIOP dust vertical profiles. The retrievals are evaluated with AERONET observations, the independent products from MODIS, CALIOP, IASI, and the multiple in-situ measurements of dust particle size distribution. The produced 10-year record of global dust properties at 1 degree resolution can be used to advance the understanding of dust climate impacts.