A Dark Target Algorithm for the GOSAT TANSO-CAI Sensor in Aerosol Optical Depth Retrieval over Land

Cloud and Aerosol Imager (CAI) onboard the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) is a multi-band sensor designed to observe and acquire information on clouds and aerosols. In order to retrieve aerosol optical depth (AOD) over land from the CAI sensor, a Dark Target (DT) algorithm for GOSAT CAI was developed based on the strategy of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) DT algorithm. When retrieving AOD from satellite platforms, determining surface contributions is a major challenge. In the MODIS DT algorithm, surface signals in the visible wavelengths are estimated based on the relationships between visible channels and shortwave infrared (SWIR) near the 2.1 μm channel. However, the CAI only has a 1.6 μm band to cover the SWIR wavelengths. To resolve the difficulties in determining surface reflectance caused by the lack of 2.1 μm band data, we attempted to analyze the relationship between reflectance at 1.6 μm and at 2.1 μm. We did this using the MODIS surface reflectance product and then connecting the reflectances at 1.6 μm and the visible bands based on the empirical relationship between reflectances at 2.1 μm and the visible bands. We found that the reflectance relationship between 1.6 μm and 2.1 μm is typically dependent on the vegetation conditions, and that reflectances at 2.1 μm can be parameterized as a function of 1.6 μm reflectance and the Vegetation Index (VI). Based on our experimental results, an Aerosol Free Vegetation Index (AFRI2.1)-based regression function connecting the 1.6 μm and 2.1 μm bands was summarized. Under light aerosol loading (AOD at 0.55 μm < 0.1), the 2.1 μm reflectance derived by our method has an extremely high correlation with the true 2.1 μm reflectance (r-value = 0.928). Similar to the MODIS DT algorithms (Collection 5 and Collection 6), a CAI-applicable approach that uses AFRI2.1 and the scattering angle to account for the visible surface signals was proposed. It was then applied to the CAI sensor for AOD retrieval; the retrievals were validated by comparisons with ground-level measurements from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites. Validations show that retrievals from the CAI have high agreement with the AERONET measurements, with an r-value of 0.922, and 69.2% of the AOD retrieved data falling within the expected error envelope of ± (0.1 + 15% AODAERONET).