Multi-Sensor Ensemble Aerosol Assimilation - CERES, MODIS and VIIRS

Accurate estimates of the radiative effects of clouds and aerosols are essential for an understanding of the Earth's climate system. Under the EOS program, NASA has placed into orbit a series of satellites devoted to long term observations of the climate state. Central to the observation of the radiation balance are the CERES instruments that fly on both the Terra (2000-present) and Aqua (2002-present) platforms, each in tandem with a MODIS imager. Another CERES instrument has been launched (late 2011) upon the Suomi NPP satellite along with the MODIS successor, VIIRS. The CERES mission depends on an aerosol assimilation system to augment information from MODIS-based aerosol inversions and allow for the creation of datasets such as surface radiative fluxes. This project will enhance the existing CERES aerosol assimilation system in several ways. (1) We will construct assimilation functionality for VIIRS aerosols, merged MODIS and VIIRS aerosols and potentially aerosol retrievals from other instruments. (2) To facilitate multi-sensor data assimilation we will create an IDL toolkit, SatelliteDL, for the analysis of satellite Earth observations from a diverse set of platforms and sensors. The design will feature an abstraction layer that allows for easy inclusion of new datasets in a modular way. The core function of the toolkit will be the spatial and temporal alignment of satellite swath and geostationary data. (3) We will construct an ensemble Kalman filter aerosol assimilation system. This will allow for robust statistical uncertainty estimates in aerosol quantities of importance to the radiative forcing of the climate. Two recent advances have made such an approach possible. First, the MODIS mission has quantified aerosol retrieval uncertainties based on extensive comparisons to surface measurements, and second, the international AeroCom collaboration has established the feasibility of generating aerosol ensembles based on statistical model emulation.

This project will directly support the generation of NASA CERES mission data products. It will provide continued MODIS-based aerosol analysis for the CERES Edition 4 surface flux datasets that are currently in production, as well as VIIRS-based aerosols for post-MODIS and future CERES editions. Emphasis will be on data continuity between MODIS and VIIRS and the effect of the switch on the climate record. CERES instruments are presently in operation on the Terra, Aqua and Suomi NPP satellites.

CERES and VIIRS instruments are scheduled for launch on the NOAA JPSS-1 satellite in 2017, when CERES aerosol and flux products should be based primarily on VIIRS. The SatelliteDL software package and its multi-sensor cloud and aerosol datasets, as well as the ensemble aerosol analysis, will contribute to the international AeroCom collaboration.

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