The NOAA global Aerosol ReAnalysis (NARA)

NOAA global Aerosol ReAnalysis (NARA) for years 2018-2022 is being produced at NOAA/OAR/GSL as an extension of our initial aerosol reanalysis product for year 2016 (Wei et al., 2024). In our extended NARA product, the forecast model adopts the NOAA United Forecast System-Aerosols (UFS-Aerosols) that is coupled with NASA second-generation Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model. The data assimilation system is based on the three-dimensional ensemble-variational (3DEnVar) framework built in the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI). The Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrievals at 550 nm derived from the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite are assimilated to provide the reanalysis of mass mixing ratios of fifteen aerosol species in UFS-Aerosols. Compared to the model free run without AOD assimilation, the aerosol reanalysis shows significantly improved agreement with both assimilated VIIRS AOD retrievals and independent Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) AOD. Such improvement of the aerosol reanalysis was extended to the subsequent forecasts beyond five days. System description and comprehensive evaluation of NARA will be presented.