An Automated Method of MFRSR Calibration for Aerosol Optical Depth Analysis with Application to an Asian Dust Outbreak over the United States

Abstract Over the past decade, networks of Multifilter Rotating Shadowband Radiometers (MFRSR) and automated sun photometers have been established in the United States to monitor aerosol properties. The MFRSR alternately measures diffuse and global irradiance in six narrow spectral bands and a broadband channel of the solar spectrum, from which the direct normal component for each may be inferred. Its 500-nm channel mimics sun photometer measurements and thus is a source of aerosol optical depth information. Automatic data reduction methods are needed because of the high volume of data produced by the MFRSR. In addition, these instruments are often not calibrated for absolute irradiance and must be periodically calibrated for optical depth analysis using the Langley method. This process involves extrapolation to the signal the MFRSR would measure at the top of the atmosphere (Iλ0). Here, an automated clear-sky identification algorithm is used to screen MFRSR 500-nm measurements for suitable calibration da...

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