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Dataset associated with "Near-Cloud Aerosol Retrieval Using Machine Learning Techniques, and Implied Direct Radiative Effects"

Abstract

There is a lack of satellite-based aerosol retrievals in the vicinity of low-topped clouds, mainly because reflectance from aerosols is overwhelmed by three-dimensional cloud radiative effects. To account for cloud radiative effects on reflectance observations, we develop a Convolutional Neural Network and retrieve aerosol optical depth (AOD) with 100–500 m horizontal resolution for all cloud-free regions regardless of their distances to clouds. The retrieval uncertainty is 0.01+5%AOD, and the mean bias is approximately –2%. In an application to satellite observations, aerosol hygroscopic growth due to humidification near clouds enhances AOD by 100% in regions within 1 km of cloud edges. The humidification effect leads to an overall 55% increase in the clear-sky aerosol direct radiative effect. Although this increase is based on a case study, it highlights the importance of aerosol retrievals in near-cloud regions, and the need to incorporate the humidification effect in radiative forcing estimates.

Description

The dataset contains two parts: 1) Large eddy simulation (LES) output 2) a module that performs all-clear-sky aerosol retrieval using a machine-learning-based model. There are also example data and a script to demonstrate how to use the module.
Department of Atmospheric Science

Rights Access

Subject

Aerosol direct radiative effect
Aerosol remote sensing
Machine Learning

Citation

Associated Publications

Yang, C. K., Chiu, J. C., Marshak, A., Feingold, G., Várnai, T., Wen, G., et al. (2022). Near-cloud aerosol retrieval using machine learning techniques, and implied direct radiative effects. Geophysical Research Letters, 49, e2022GL098274. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098274