The Deep Blue Aerosol Project: Towards a Space-Based Multi-Sensor Aerosol Optical Depth Climate Data Record

The NASA Deep Blue aerosol project (https://deepblue.gsfc.nasa.gov/) uses measurements made by multiple satellite instruments (SeaWiFS, MODIS, VIIRS) to monitor aerosol optical depth (AOD) over both land and ocean, providing a data record covering late 1997 to the present day. By making use of multiple similar satellite sensors we can apply the same principles in the AOD retrieval algorithms, and having multiple overlapping years of data allows us to check for inter-sensor consistency. The data sets have been evaluated thoroughly against Aerosol Robotic Network and Maritime Aerosol Network ground-truth observations, and used for studies into aerosol trends, particulate matter loading, and aerosol sources. This presentation summarises the key features of the Deep Blue data sets and discusses forthcoming additions such as the quantification of absorbing aerosols above clouds.