A Long-Term Historical Aerosol Optical Depth Data Record (1982–2011) Over China From AVHRR.

A long-term historical aerosol optical depth (AOD) data set from 1982 to 2011 over China (15–45° N; 75–135° E) with 0.1 spatial resolution has been produced from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Pathfinder Atmospheres—Extended level-2B data. The spatial distribution pattern shows that high AOD values are found in central and eastern China over the entire period with AODs larger in summer and spring than in autumn and winter. As the high-quality products from AERONET were absent for this period over mainland China, AOD data obtained using the broadband extinction method from solar radiation stations have been used to verify the quality of the AVHRR AOD data set over China. The intercomparison results show that the interannual variation of AOD has been well captured in the variation curve of the AOD monthly mean and the variation trend is also consistent over the whole period. The correlation coefficient of the monthly mean is mostly larger than 0.55, the agreement index is larger than 0.57, and the relative error is less than 21%. Both AVHRR and visibility data sets show high values in regions with rapid economic development. Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer AOD data as references, it is found that AVHRR AOD from this paper has better accuracy in general than that from Deep Blue (DB) algorithm over China, especially over eastern and southern China, while DB provides more coverage especially over bright surface such as northwest China. This long-term historic AOD data set can be used together with other AOD data sets to study the climate and environmental changes, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]