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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Aerosol and clouds represent an important source of uncertainty in climate change studies; therefore, their characterization through their physical and optical properties is fundamental. In this sense, satellite sensors are a great opportunity for the retrieval of properties over large areas, covering regions with a lack or low number of surface observations.

In our first Special Issue, entitled “Aerosol and Cloud Properties Retrieval Using Satellite Sensors”, different contributions presented various methodologies to determine aerosol and cloud characteristics using different satellite sources, with some of them introducing the possibility of creating classifications.

In this second Special Issue on aerosol and cloud properties from satellite sensor observations, we focus on their radiative effects to provide knowledge on the interaction with radiative fluxes, both solar and terrestrial, and especially on their impact on the radiative balance.

This new Special Issue calls for contributions that develop studies on the radiative effects of clouds and aerosols, as well as their mutual interaction with radiative fluxes, based on satellite sensors. We also encourage contributions that deepen our knowledge of the transition zone between cloud and aerosols from satellite data. Studies that combine satellite data with surface observations and radiative models are also welcomed, as well as review papers that compile the current state of the art in the estimation of aerosol and cloud radiative effects.

Dr. Yolanda Sola
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

33 pages, 5439 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Lidar Ratio Impact on CALIPSO Retrievals Utilized for the Estimation of Aerosol SW Radiative Effects across North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe

by Anna Moustaka, Marios-Bruno Korras-Carraca, Kyriakoula Papachristopoulou, Michael Stamatis, Ilias Fountoulakis, Stelios Kazadzis, Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Kleareti Tourpali, Thanasis Georgiou, Stavros Solomos, Christos Spyrou, Christos Zerefos and Antonis Gkikas

Remote Sens. 2024, 16(10), 1689; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs16101689 - 9 May 2024

Viewed by 554

Abstract

North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe (NAMEE domain) host a variety of suspended particles characterized by different optical and microphysical properties. In the current study, we investigate the importance of the lidar ratio (LR) on Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization–Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIOP-CALIPSO) aerosol retrievals towards assessing aerosols’ impact on the Earth-atmosphere radiation budget. A holistic approach has been adopted involving collocated Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) observations, Radiative Transfer Model (RTM) simulations, as well as reference radiation measurements acquired using spaceborne (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System-CERES) and ground-based (Baseline Surface Radiation Network-BSRN) instruments. We are assessing the clear-sky shortwave (SW) direct radiative effects (DREs) on 550 atmospheric scenes, identified within the 2007–2020 period, in which the primary tropospheric aerosol species (dust, marine, polluted continental/smoke, elevated smoke, and clean continental) are probed using CALIPSO. RTM runs have been performed relying on CALIOP retrievals in which the default and the DeLiAn (Depolarization ratio, Lidar ratio, and Ångström exponent)-based aerosol-speciated LRs are considered. The simulated fields from both configurations are compared against those produced when AERONET AODs are applied. Overall, the DeLiAn LRs leads to better results mainly when mineral particles are either solely recorded or coexist with other aerosol species (e.g., sea-salt). In quantitative terms, the errors in DREs are reduced by ~26–27% at the surface (from 5.3 to 3.9 W/m²) and within the atmosphere (from −3.3 to −2.4 W/m²). The improvements become more significant (reaching up to ~35%) for moderate-to-high aerosol loads (AOD ≥ 0.2). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Aerosol and Cloud Properties Retrieval Using Satellite Sensors II: Focusing on Radiative Effects)

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