A study of global aerosol optical climatology with two-channel AVHRR remote sensing

Global distributions of the aerosol optical thickness and Angstrom exponent are estimated from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Advance d Very High Resolution Radiometer channel-1 and -2 radiances for four month s in 1990. Global distributions of those Angstrom parameters are consistent with present knowledge on the distributions of desert-derived, biomass-bur ning, and anthropogenic pollutant aerosols obtained by groundbased and airc raft measurements. Especially, it is found that thin anthropogenic aerosols can be identified with large Angstrom exponent values around the east coas t of North America, Europe, and eastern Asia. Satellite-retrieved values of Angstrom parameters are further compared with measured spectral optical th ickness obtained by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Aeros ol Robotic Network sky radiometer network.