Tropospheric Aerosol Optical Thickness from the GOCART Model and Comparisons with Satellite and Sun Photometer Measurements

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Abstract
The Georgia Institute of Technology–Goddard Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model is used to simulate the aerosol optical thickness τ for major types of tropospheric aerosols including sulfate, dust, organic carbon (OC), black carbon (BC), and sea salt. The GOCART model uses a dust emission algorithm that quantifies the dust source as a function of the degree of topographic depression, and a biomass burning emission source that includes seasonal and interannual variability based on satellite observations. Results presented here show that on global average, dust aerosol has the highest τ at 500 nm (0.051), followed by sulfate (0.040), sea salt (0.027), OC (0.017), and BC (0.007). There are large geographical and seasonal variations of τ, controlled mainly by emission, transport, and hygroscopic properties of aerosols. The model calculated total τs at 500 nm have been compared with the satellite retrieval products from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) over... Abstract The Georgia Institute of Technology–Goddard Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model is used to simulate the aerosol optical thickness τ for major types of tropospheric aerosols including sulfate, dust, organic carbon (OC), black carbon (BC), and sea salt. The GOCART model uses a dust emission algorithm that quantifies the dust source as a function of the degree of topographic depression, and a biomass burning emission source that includes seasonal and interannual variability based on satellite observations. Results presented here show that on global average, dust aerosol has the highest τ at 500 nm (0.051), followed by sulfate (0.040), sea salt (0.027), OC (0.017), and BC (0.007). There are large geographical and seasonal variations of τ, controlled mainly by emission, transport, and hygroscopic properties of aerosols. The model calculated total τs at 500 nm have been compared with the satellite retrieval products from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) over...