Edith Rodriguez

Finnish Metereological Institute · Climate research Unit

Australian smoke from the extraordinary biomass burning in December 2019 was observed over Marambio, Antarctica from the 7th to the 10th January, 2020. The smoke plume was transported thousands of kilometers over the Pacific Ocean, and reached the Antarctic Peninsula at a hight of 13 km, as determined by satellite lidar observations. The proposed o...

Understanding long-term variations in aerosol loading is essential for evaluating the health and climate effects of airborne particulates as well as the effectiveness of pollution control policies. The expected satellite lifetime is about 10 to 15 years. Therefore, to study the variations of atmospheric constituents over longer periods information...

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) patterns and interannual and seasonal variations over China are discussed based on the AOD retrieved from the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR-2, 1995–2002), the Advanced ATSR (AATSR, 2002–2012) (together ATSR) and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite (2000–2017). The...

Understanding long-term trends in aerosol loading is essential for evaluating the health and climate effects of airborne particulates as well as the effectiveness of pollution control policies. Here we introduce a method to construct a combined annual and seasonal AOD long time series using the Along-Track Scanning Radiometers (ATSR: ATSR-2 and AAT...

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) patterns and interannual and seasonal variations over China are discussed based on the AOD retrieved from the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR-2, 1995–2002), the Advanced ATSR (AATSR, 2002–2012) (together ATSR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging spectrometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite (2000–2017). The AOD p...

Satellite-based aerosol products are routinely validated against ground-based reference data, usually obtained from sun photometer networks such as AERONET (AEROsol RObotic NETwork). In a typical validation exercise a spatial sample of the instantaneous satellite data is compared against a temporal sample of the point-like ground-based data. The ob...

The retrieval of aerosol properties from satellite observations provides their spatial distribution over a wide area in cloud-free conditions. As such, they complement ground-based measurements by providing information over sparsely instrumented areas, albeit that significant differences may exist in both the type of information obtained and the te...

Aerosol particle optical properties were measured continuously between years 2013–2015 at the Marambio station in the Antarctic Peninsula. Annual cycles of particle scattering and absorption were studied and explained using measured particle chemical composition and the analysis of air mass transport patterns. The particle scattering was found elev...

Satellite based aerosol products are routinely validated against ground based reference data, usually obtained from sunphotometer networks such as AERONET (AEROsol Robotic Network). In a typical validation exercise a spatial sample of the instantaneous satellite data is compared against a temporal sample of the point-like ground based data. The obs...

The retrieval of aerosol properties from satellite observations provides their spatial distribution over a wide area in cloud-free conditions. As such, they complement ground-based measurements by providing information over sparsely instrumented areas, albeit that significant differences may exist in both the type of information obtained and the te...

Retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on-board the Aqua satellite, 12 years (2003–2014) of aerosol and cloud properties were used to statistically quantify aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI) over the Baltic Sea region, including the relatively clean Fennoscandia and the more polluted central–eastern Europe. These are...

Cloud misclassification is a serious problem in the retrieval of aerosol optical depth (AOD), which might considerably bias the AOD results. On the one hand, residual cloud contamination leads to AOD overestimation, whereas the removal of high-AOD pixels (due to their misclassification as clouds) leads to underestimation. To remove cloud-contaminat...

Twelve years (2003–2014) of aerosol and cloud properties retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on-board the Aqua satellite were used to statistically quantify aerosol-cloud interaction (ACI) over the Baltic Sea region including the relatively clean Fennoscandia and the more polluted Central-Eastern Europe. These a...

Clouds reflect solar light much stronger than aerosol particles. Therefore, the retrieval of aerosol optical depth (AOD) is usually only attempted over cloud-free areas. To achieve this, a strict cloud detection scheme needs to be applied consisting of several tests. However, often not all clouds are detected which results in cloud-contaminated ret...

The polar regions of the Earth are characterized with low solar elevation angles, cold temperatures and large amount of snow and ice. Under the harsh polar conditions, good quality in situ measurements of incoming and outgoing solar radiation, and surface albedo, is a major challenge. Both in the Arctic and Antarctic, the solar radiation at the wav...

A detailed characterization of air quality in Paris (France), a megacity of more than 10 million inhabitants, during two one month intensive campaigns and from additional one year observations, revealed that about 70% of the fine particulate matter (PM) at urban background is transported on average into the megacity from upwind regions. This domina...

The Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) on board the ENVISAT satellite is used to study aerosol properties. The retrieval of aerosol properties from satellite data is based on the optimized fit of simulated and measured reflectances at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). The simulations are made using a radiative transfer model with a var...

A detailed characterization of air quality in Paris (France), a megacity of more than 10 million inhabitants, during two one month intensive campaigns and from additional one year observations, revealed that about 70% of the fine particulate matter (PM) at urban background is transported on average into the megacity from upwind regions. This domina...

In this study, a method is presented to retrieve the surface reflectance using the radiances measured at the top of the atmosphere for the two views provided by the Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR). In the first step, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) is obtained using the AATSR dual-view algorithm (ADV) by eliminating the effect of t...

Multi-year sets of ground-based sun-photometer measurements conducted at 12 Arctic sites and 9 Antarctic sites were examined to determine daily mean values of aerosol optical thickness τ(λ) at visible and near-infrared wavelengths, from which best-fit values of Ångström's exponent α were calculated. Analysing these data, the monthly mean values of...

The retrieval of aerosol properties from satellite data is based on the optimized fit of simulated and measured radiances at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). The simulations are made using a radiative transfer model with a variety of representative aerosol properties.The optimum fit is obtained for a certain combination of aerosol components, which...

An algorithm is presented for the estimation of volcanic ash plume top height using the stereo view of the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) aboard Envisat. The algorithm is based on matching top of the atmosphere (TOA) reflectances and brightness temperatures of the nadir and 55° forward views, and using the resulting parallax to ob...

In this study, a method is presented to retrieve the surface reflectance using reflectance measured at the top of the atmosphere for the two views provided by the Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR). In the first step, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) is obtained using the AATSR dual view algorithm (ADV) by eliminating the effect of the surface...

The Finnish Meteorological Institute, in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, has established a new ground-based remote-sensing network in Finland. The network consists of five topographically, ecologically and climatically different sites distributed from southern to northern Finland. The main goal of the network is to monitor air pollut...

An algorithm is presented for estimation of volcanic ash plume top height using the stereo view of the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) aboard ENVISAT. The algorithm is based on matching the top of atmosphere (TOA) reflectances and brightness temperatures of the nadir and 55° forward views, and using the resulting parallax to obtain...

The Finnish Meteorological Institute, in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, has established a new ground-based remote-sensing network in Finland. The network consists of five topographically, ecologically and climatically different sites distributed from southern to northern Finland. The main goal of the network is to monitor air pollut...

Aerosol particles have a significant effect on the Earth climate on regional and global scales by perturbing the radiation balance both directly due to scattering and absorption of solar radiation and indirectly due to their effect on cloud macroscopic and microphysical properties (IPCC 2007 [1]). One of the main contributors to the radiative effec...

Effects of the pollution plume originating from the Russian forest fires in summer 2010 on the aerosol properties in Finland were analyzed. Main properties were AOD and AE measured with Cimel and PFR sun photometers at five stations. In addition, scattering and absorption coefficient, aerosol particle number concentration and meteorological param...

The uncertainty associated with satellite-retrieved aerosol properties is needed when these data are used to constrain chemical transport or climate models by using data assimilation. Global uncertainty as provided by comparison with independent ground-based observations is usually not adequate for that purpose. Rather the per-pixel uncertainty is...

As part of the The Pan-European Gas-AeroSOls-climate interaction Study (PEGASOS), aerosol and trace gas measurements were made from a Zeppelin flying in the atmospheric layers close to ground over the Benelux area and Po Valley in Italy during late spring and summer 2012. The mission was complemented with ground based and satellite observations. In...

We describe a height estimate algorithm based on radiances measured at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) by the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) aboard the ENVISAT satellite. The algorithm is designed to estimate volcanic ash plume top heights, but it can be used for other high contrast features as well, such as dust and smoke plumes,...

We have carried out a comparison of aerosol optical properties, the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and the Ångström Exponent (AE), as elements that define the aerosol type. Three different sub-arctic locations in Europe are considered in this study: ALOMAR-Andenes (Norway), Abisko (Sweden) and Sodankylä (Finland). We will show data obtained in 2007 du...

In situ measurements of aerosol optical properties and particle size distributions were made in the summer of 2008 at the ALOMAR station facility (69°16' N, 16°00' E), located in a rural site in the north of the island of Andøya (Vesterålen archipelago), approximately 300 km north of the Arctic Circle. The extended three-month campaign was part of...

Aerosol concentration and aerosol type, retrieved from observations with CIMEL sun-photometers at three sub-arctic locations at the Scandinavian Peninsula are presented. The observations were made at ALOMAR-Andenes in Norway, Abisko in Sweden and Sodankylä in Finland. This field campaign took place in late spring and summer 2007 as part of the acti...

Since 2002 sun photometer measurements were carried out at Andenes (Norway), in the ALOMAR observatory, to investigate the aerosol optical properties in the European sub-Arctic region. From 2002 to 2005 measurements were performed during summer campaigns. Since 2006 a Cimel sun photometer has been permanently deployed at the site. The instrument is...

The retrieval of the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols is based on the measurement of earth reflectance by a satellite instrument. This is the so-called top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance. The most common approach in the retrieval is to compare the measured and modeled reflectance. Both atmospheric and surface reflectance have to be taken...

In situ measurements of aerosol optical properties were made in the summer of 2008 at the ALOMAR station facility (69°16 N, 16°00 E), located at a rural site in the north of the island of Andøya (Vesterålen archipelago), approximately 300 km north of the Arctic Circle. The extended three-month campaign was part of the POLARCAT Project (Polar Study...

The global study of atmospheric aerosol is one of the key factors in regards to climate change and those effects. Over the last 4 years a strong research work on aerosols properties characterization have been carried out into the Atmospheric Optics Group of the University of Valladolid (GOA-UVa) in Spain. We present the results about aerosol absorp...

One of the main objectives of the MEGAPOLI project is to assess impacts of megacities and large air-pollution hot-spots on local, regional and global air quality. Megacities are considered as more that ten million inhabitants or more than 2000 inhabitants /km2. Paris and London are the only cities in Europe that fit the definition of a megacity. As...

The increase of anthropogenic pollutants in Asia is evident along with the continuously increasing population and strong economic growth. Several studies have shown, that the mean aerosol mass concentration can be well above national and international standards especially in the Asian mega cities, such as Shanghai, Beijing, and New Delhi. Large emi...

The AATSR Dual-View (ADV) algorithm employs the forward and nadir views of the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR). The AATSR instrument is on board the Envisat satellite. The measurement data that is used for the retrieval of atmospheric aerosol properties is the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance which is modeled as the sum of atmos...

We have studied the long-range aerosol transport over Finland using ground-based sunphotometric and satellite based aerosol optical properties' measurements. More specifically, we have used data from two satellite sensors: the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) flying on ENVISAT and the MODIS instrument onboard Terra. In addition data...

The Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) flying on ENVISAT has been providing information on aerosol properties over widely different areas across the globe, with different land surface properties and different aerosol composition and concentrations. To this end, the single and dual view algorithms have been developed for application ov...

The filter band function of filter radiometers is frequently used in AOD retrieval to improve the accuracy of the Rayleigh and gaseous absorption contributions to the total optical depth. These contributions to the total optical thickness are overestimated when the band-pass filter curve used in the computation exceeds the lower limit of the detect...

The Atmospheric Optics Group (GOA‐UVA) at the University of Valladolid has carried out seven field campaigns to investigate Sub‐Arctic aerosols. The measurements have been made between 2002 and 2007 at the Arctic Lidar Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research (ALOMAR), Ando/ya Rocket Range, Norway (69 N, 16 E, elev. 380 m) in order to investigat...

Aerosol structure measurements in the troposphere were carried out at the Arctic Lidar Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research (ALOMAR), Norway, during summer 2007. ALOMAR troposheric lidar and Cimel CE-318 sun photometer were used to implement the aerosol measurements. Three wavelengths of the sounding laser radiation were used during the exper...

Some available processing algorithms used to calculate the aerosol optical depth from radiometric measurements were tested. The aim was to evaluate the associated uncertainties in polar regions due to the data processing, in order to adjust the methodology of the calculation and illustrate the importance of these error sources. The measurements wer...

We report the results of Sub-Arctic aerosol properties, obtained during three field campaigns conducted in 2005 and 2006. These have been carried out at the Arctic Lidar Observatory for Middle Atmosphere Research (ALOMAR), Andøya Rocket Range, Norway (69N, 16E, 380 m asl), and were supported by the eARI (enhanced Access to Research Infrastructure)...

Sunphotometers are equipments that allow measuring the atmospheric attenuation of the solar irradiance at different wavelengths. With this attenuation, and the suitable relation between wavelengths, possible to characterize aerosols, water vapour, ozone, oxygen, and other gases, in a vertical column through the atmosphere. In this paper we present...

This paper presents the classification and characterization of atmospheric aerosols in Popayan City, Colombia (2,5°N; 76,5°W, 1700m.a.m.s.l.) measured with a manual sunphotometer built to measure the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and the Angstrom alpha parameter (α). Using these parameters we pretend to study and classify the aerosols in the zone of...