Investigation of aerosol optical properties for remote sensing through DRAGON (distributed regional aerosol gridded observation networks) campaign in Korea

Aerosols in the atmosphere, including dust and pollutants, scatters/absorbs solar radiation and change the microphysics of clouds, thus influencing the Earth’s energy budget, climate, air quality, visibility, agriculture and water circulation. Pollutants have also been reported to threaten the human health. The present research collaborated with the U.S. NASA and the U.S. Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) is to study the aerosol characteristics in East Asia and improve the long-distance transportation monitoring technology by analyzing the observations of aerosol characteristics in East Asia during Distributed Regional Aerosol Gridded Observation Networks (DRAGON) Campaign (March 2012-May 2012). The sun photometers that measure the aerosol optical characteristics were placed evenly throughout the Korean Peninsula and concentrated in Seoul and the metropolitan area. Observation data are obtained from the DRAGON campaign and the first year (2012) observation data (aerosol optical depth and aerosol spatial distribution) are analyzed. Sun photometer observations, including aerosol optical depth (AOD), are utilized to validate satellite observations from Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Additional analysis is performed associated with the Northeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula in particular, to determine the spatial distribution of the aerosol.