Comparison of Aerosol Single Scattering Albedo Derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument with Aerosol Robotic Network Observations

The single-scattering albedo (SSA), which quantifies radiative absorption capability, is an important optical property of aerosols. Ground-based methods have been extensively exploited to determine aerosol SSA but there were no satellite-based SSA measurements available until the advent of advanced remote sensing techniques, such as the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Although the overall accuracy of OMI SSA is estimated to approach 0.1, its regional availability is unclear. Four-year SSA daily measurements from three Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites in China (Xianghe, Taihu, and Hong Kong) are chosen to determine the accuracy of OMI SSA in specific locations. The results show that on a global scale, the OMI SSA is systematically higher (with a mean relative bias of 3.5% and a RMS difference of ~0.06) and has poor correlation with the AERONET observations. In the Xianghe, Taihu, and Hong Kong sites, the correlation coefficients are 0.16, 0.47, and 0.44, respectively, suggesting that the distinct qualities of OMI SSA depend on geographic locations and/or dominant aerosol environments. The two types of SSA data yield the best agreement in Taihu and the worst in Hong Kong; the differing behavior is likely caused by varying levels of cloud contamination. The good consistency of the aerosol variation between the two SSA datasets on a seasonal scale is promising. These findings suggest that the current-version OMI SSA product can be applied to qualitatively characterize climatological variations of aerosol properties despite its limited accuracy as an instantaneous measurement.