Improving GERB scene identification using SEVIRI: Infrared dust detection strategy

The combination of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) and the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instruments on Meteosat-8 provides a powerful new tool for detecting aerosols and estimating their radiative effect at high temporal and spatial resolution. However, at present no specific aerosol treatment is performed in the GERB processing chain, severely limiting the use of the data for aerosol studies. A particular problem relates to the misidentification of Saharan dust outbreaks as cloud which can bias the shortwave and longwave fluxes. In this paper an algorithm is developed which employs multiple-linear regression, using information from selected thermal infrared SEVIRI channels, to detect dust aerosol over ocean and provide an estimate of the optical depth at 0.55 mu m (tau(055)). To test the performance of the algorithm, it has been applied to a number of dust events observed by SEVIRI during March and June 2004. The results are compared to co-located MODIS observations taken from the Terra and Aqua platforms, and ground based observations from the Cape Verde AERONET site. In terms of detection capability, employing the algorithm results in a notable improvement in the routine GERB scene identification. Locations identified by MODIS as being likely to be dust contaminated were originally classified as cloud in over 99.5% of the cases studied. With the application of the detection algorithm approximately 60-70% of these points are identified as dusty depending on the dust model employed. The algorithm is also capable of detecting dust in regions and at times which would be excluded when using shortwave observations, due for example to the presence of sun-glint, or through the night. We further investigate whether the algorithm is capable of generating useful information concerning the aerosol loading. Comparisons with co-located retrievals from the SEVIRI 0.6 mu m solar reflectance band observations show a level of agreement consistent with that expected from the simulations, with rms differences of between 0.5 and 0.8, and a mean bias ranging from -0.5 to 0.3 dependent on the dust representation employed in the algorithm. Temporally resolved comparisons with observations from the Capo Verde AERONET site through the months of March and June reinforce these findings, but also indicate that the algorithm is capable of discerning the diurnal pattern in aerosol loading. The algorithm has now been incorporated within the routine GERB processing in detection mode, and will be used to provide an experimental aerosol product for assessment by the scientific community. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.