Aerosol

Overview

This page provides a gateway to both the Deep Blue (DB) Aerosol and Dark Target (DT) Aerosol products derived from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments. The DB aerosol products originate from observations from both the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series (NOAA-20) platforms. The DT aerosol products include those from the SNPP VIIRS source.

The DB aerosol algorithm was first developed to fill in gaps over bright surfaces, such as deserts, in the DT Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) algorithm. Such gaps are deemed important given their role as key sources for aerosols like wind-blown mineral dust. The DB algorithm has not only evolved to incorporate darker land surfaces (vegetation) besides the brighter surfaces, its AOD measurements have become more accurate and precise with well-quantified error characteristics. The VIIRS v2.0 DB aerosol global aerosol suite has now expanded to include the following products from both the NOAA20 VIIRS and SNPP VIIRS sources: a Level-2 6-minute/6-km swath product, a Level-3 daily/1-degree, and a Level-3 monthly/1-degree aggregated products.

The DT Aerosol product provides satellite-derived measurements of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT )and their properties over land and ocean, and spectral AOT and their size parameters over oceans, globally. Based on the same MODIS heritage, two distinct DT algorithms help retrieve aerosol information over ocean, and over vegetated/dark-soiled land surfaces. The SNPP VIIRS DT aerosol includes a single Level-2 6-minute/6-km swath product.

Product Information

• Deep Blue: Christina Hsu
• Dark Target: Robert Levy
• Deep Blue Project Web Page
• Deep Blue User Guide
• Deep Blue ATBD
• Deep Blue Validation
• Dark Target Project Web Page
• Aerosol Dark Target User Guide
• Dark Target ATBD
• DOI
  • Refer to individual product pages (below) for the appropriate DOI, citation text, and file spec for that product

Product Details