Graphical Abstract

Yoshida, M., M. Kikuchi, T. M. Nagao, H. Murakami, T. Nomaki, and A. Higurashi, 2018: Common retrieval of aerosol properties for imaging satellite sensors. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 96B, 193-209.
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2018-039 Graphical Abstract with highlights

We developed a common algorithm (common aerosol models and lookup tables, and automatic selection of the optimum channels) to retrieve aerosol properties for various satellite sensors over land and ocean.
This method was applied to the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) on board the Japan Meteorological Agency’s geostationary satellite Himawari-8, showing a continuous estimate of aerosol optical thickness over land and ocean (Fig.1).
In addition, we applied our algorithm to MODIS onboard the Aqua satellite and compared the retrieval results to that obtained from the AHI (Fig.2). The comparison of the two retrievals using the common algorithm could evaluate the assumptions in the aerosol model (e.g., sphericity or size distribution).