Kwon H. Lee
Advanced Environmental Monitoring Research Center (ADEMRC)
Dept. of Environmental Science & Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science &
Technology (GIST)
1 Oryong-dong,
Buk-gu,
Gwangju 500-712
KOREA
envtech@gist.ac.kr
16.07.2004, 13.00 c.t.
Room N3380
Atmospheric aerosols interact with sunlight and affect the global radiation balance, causing climate change through direct and indirect radiative effects. It is known that atmospheric aerosols affect climate not only directly [Charlson et al., 1991] by scattering and absorbing visible and infrared energy, but also indirectly by modifying the properties of clouds and lifetime [Twomey, 1991]. Especially, Asian continent is one of the most important sources for aerosols. Most common Asian dust and biomass-burning aerosol observed in the North-east Asia in spring can cause visibility degradation and adverse health effects. Asian dust plume could be several kilometers in depth, hundred kilometers wide. Moreover it can increase the albedo over the Earth surface and attenuate solar irradiance by strong scattering in short wavelength region. However for the biomass burning due to the high soot content, this aerosol can absorb solar radiation significantly. The absorption of solar radiation can also heat the atmosphere and alter the cloud formation. Biomass burning releases large amounts of particulates and gases into the atmosphere, resulting in adverse effects on regional air quality and the global radiation budget. Aerosol optical thickness (AOT) retrieval using a separation technique called as Bremen Aerosol Retrieval (BAER) [Hoyningen et al., 2003] was applied to satellite data. A retrieval algorithm based on Mie theory calculation and radiative transfer code was used to retrieve aerosol optical characteristics. Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data were used to estimate AOT. The results show that the satellite data can provide useful information on aerosol distribution on regional scale.