Aerosol Optical Thickness determination by exploiting the synergy of TERRA and AQUA MODIS (SYNTAM)

Aerosol retrieval over land remains a difficult task because the solar light reflected by the Earth-Atmospheric system mainly comes from the ground surface. Dark Dense Vegetation (DDV) for MODIS data has showed excellent competence at the aerosol distribution and properties retrieval, which is, however, restrictedly used for lower reflectance ground surface such as water body and dense vegetation. We attempt to derive Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) by exploiting the synergy of TERRA and AQUA MODIS data (SYNTAM), which can be used for various ground surfaces, including high reflective surface. Preliminary validation result compared with AERONET data shows good accuracy and a promising potential.