AeroCenter-CPC seminar series
We hold weekly discussion-based, interactive seminars, with aerosol-related topics on the 1st and 3rd weeks of the month, and cloud/precipitation-related topics on the 2nd and 4th weeks. Seminars are currently held virtually on the Webex platform on Tuesdays at 11:00 am. When in-person seminars resume, they will be held at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, building 33, room G133. If you are interested in showing your research during one of our seminars, please contact the AeroCenter-CPC committee:
AeroCenter Committee:
Jasper Lewis, Sampa Das, Mijin Kim.
CPC Committee:
Welcome to AEROCENTER-CPC
Aerosol, Cloud, and Precipitation research are among the nine cross-cutting themes of the Earth Sciences Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The AeroCenter-Cloud Precipitation Center (AeroCenter-CPC) is an interdisciplinary union of researchers at NASA Goddard and other organizations in the Washington DC metropolitan area (including NOAA, University of Maryland, and other institutions) who are interested in many facets of atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and precipitation. AeroCenter interests include aerosol effects on radiative transfer, clouds and precipitation, climate, the biosphere, the role of aerosols in air quality and human health, and the atmospheric correction of aerosol blurring of satellite imagery of the ground. CPC topics include 1) cloud-precipitation processes and interactions with surface processes, aerosols, mesoscale dynamics, and large scale circulations, 2) remote sensing, radiative transfer, and scattering theory of cloud and precipitation particles, 3) cloud microphysics and convection measurements and parameterizations, and 4) satellite missions and field campaigns associated with cloud and precipitation processes.
Our regular activities include strong collaborations amongst the aerosol, clouds, precipitation communities, informal weekly AeroCenter-CPC Forum (seminars, discussions, posters, and paper reviews) and annual aerosol research update.
If you would like to join AeroCenter-CPC, please send an email to aerocenter-cpc-join@lists.nasa.gov with the subject line "subscribe".
Dr. Yoram Kaufman
Recent Publications
Rajapakshe, C., Z. Zhang, J. E. Yorks, H. Yu, Q. Tan, K. Meyer, S. Platnick, and D. M. Winker (2017), Seasonally Transported Aerosol Layers over Southeast Atlantic are Closer to Underlying Clouds than Previously Reported, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, doi:10.1002/2017GL073559.
Two seasons of CATS 1064 nm observations reveal that the bottom of the above-cloud aerosol (ACA) layer in SE Atlantic region is much lower than previously estimated based on CALIPSO 532 nm observations. For about 60% of CATS nighttime ACA scenes, the aerosol layer base is within 360 m distance to the top of the underlying cloud. Our results are important for future studies of the microphysical indirect and semi-direct effects of ACA in the SE Atlantic region.
Sayer, A. M., N. C. Hsu, C. Bettenhausen, R. E. Holz, J. Lee, G. Quinn, and P. Veglio, Cross-calibration of S-NPP VIIRS moderate-resolution reflective solar bands against MODIS Aqua over dark water scenes, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1425-1444, doi:10.5194/amt-10-1425-2017.
The satellite instrument VIIRS is being used to carry on observations of the Earth made by older satellites like MODIS. Data sets created from these satellite observations depend on the quality of the satellite instruments' calibration. This paper describes a comparison between the calibration of these two sensors. MODIS is believed to be more reliable and so VIIRS is corrected to bring it in line with MODIS. These corrections are shown to improve the quality of VIIRS aerosol data.
Visioni, D., G. Pitari, and V. Aquila. Sulfate geoengineering: a review of the factors controlling the needed injection of sulfur dioxide. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 3879-3889, doi: 10.5194/acp-17-3879-2017 (2017).
This paper reviews the current research on geoengineering via injection of stratospheric sulfate. After reviewing the effects of such a sulfate injection on radiation, ozone, water vapor, methane, and cirrus formation, we describe the uncertainties that hinder the estimate of the amount of sulfate needed to counteract the warming due to increasing greenhouse gases.
AeroCenter-CPC Highlights
We are pleased to announce that version 1 (V001) of the AVHRR Deep Blue aerosol data set is available. This provides aerosol optical depth at 550 nm and AVHRR band 1 (around 630 nm), among other quantities, using versions of the Deep Blue (DB) algorithm over land and Satellite Ocean Aerosol Retrieval (SOAR) algorithm over ocean. Version 1 consists of data from the following platforms:
- NOAA18 from 2006-2011
- NOAA14 from 1995-1999
- NOAA11 from 1989-1990
Note: this should be considered a demonstration research-level data product, still under validation, and comments/suggestions are welcome..
Level 2 data are provided in 5-minute granules, similar to MODIS, at approximately 8.8 km x 8.8 km pixel size at the sub-satellite point. Level 3 daily and monthly composites at 1 degree horizontal resolution are also available. All files are in NetCDF4 format, and compliant with CF version 1.6 metadata conventions.
The data set is available through the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) data portal:
- http access is at https://portal.nccs.nasa.gov/datashare/AVHRRDeepBlue
- ftp access is at ftp://dataportal.nccs.nasa.gov or ftp://nccs.nasa.gov with username AVHRRDeepBlue and no password
A data product user guide is also available at the above link. Access is free and does not require registration. Algorithm and validation papers have been submitted and we are happy to discuss these in more detail. If you have any questions, comments, or problems, please feel free to get in touch: N. Christina Hsu (project PI), Jaehwa Lee, Andrew Sayer.
AeroCenter-CPC iCal
Download AeroCenter-CPC iCal file
The AeroCenter-CPC Calendar is compatible with Apple's iCal and other applications that can read V-Card formatted calendar files. To subscribe to the AeroCenter-CPC Calendar, use the following URL:
https://aerocenter.gsfc.nasa.gov/ical/aerocenter.ics