The Effect of Dust Aerosol on Satellite Data from Different Color Scanners

Purpose. The work is purposed at evaluating the errors in atmospheric correction of the satellite ( MODIS Aqua, MODIS Terra, VIIRS SNPP, VIIRS JPSS, NASA HawkEye ( SeaHawk ) and OLCI ( Sentinel 3A)) data for July 28-29, 2021 when a dust transport over the Black Sea region was recorded. Methods and Results. To assess the scale and intensity of the studied dust transfer, the results of in situ photometric measurements and satellite data were analyzed. The in situ measurement data on aerosol optical depth (AOD) were obtained at the western Black Sea stations Galata_Platform and Section_7 of the AERONET network ( AErosol RObotic NETwork). The variability of sea remote sensing reflectance values during the period under study was analyzed using the additional AERONET - Ocean Color ( AERONET-OC ) data. The color scanner ( MODIS Aqua/Terra, VIIRS SNPP/JPSS, HawkEye and OCLI) measurements presented in the Ocean Color database were used as satellite data. Conclusions. The approximation of errors in atmospheric correction of satellite data for July 28-29, 2021 has resulted in obtaining the power-law dependencies close to lambda (-5) . This is explained by the total contribution of molecular component (lambda(-4)) and aerosol absorption (lambda(-1)). On July 29, 2021, a better pronounced power function is observed since the dust aerosol concentration increases on this day, whereas the contribution of aerosol absorption becomes close to the power dependence lambda(-2) . Also on the same day, the CALIPSO satellite data showed the presence of not only dust aerosol, but also the biomass burning over the region under study. Modeling the back trajectories of HYSPLIT air flows has shown that just on this day the aerosol masses moved towards the Black Sea from the southwest (Crete Island), that was additionally confirmed by high AOD values over the eastern Mediterranean Sea on July 29, 2021. The combination of two types of absorbing aerosols is assumed to induce even larger inaccuracies in determining the sea remote sensing reflectance for the period under study.