Aerosol climatology over South Africa based on 10 years of multiangle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) data

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dc.contributor.author Tesfaye, M.
dc.contributor.author Sivakumar, Venkataraman
dc.contributor.author Botai, Joel Ongego
dc.contributor.author Tsidu, G. Mengistu
dc.date.accessioned 2017-09-28T10:20:36Z
dc.date.available 2017-09-28T10:20:36Z
dc.date.issued 2011
dc.description.abstract In this paper, we present a detailed study of the spatial and seasonal aerosol climatology over South Africa (SA), based on Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) data. We have used 10 years (2000–2009) of MISR monthly mean aerosol extinction (text), absorption (ta) optical depths at 558 nm, Angstrom exponents in visible (VIS; 446–672 nm) and near‐infrared (NIR; 672–866 nm) spectral bands, and the extracted spectral curvature. The study has shown that, in terms of aerosol load level spatial variation, SA can be classified into three parts: the upper, central, and lower, which illustrate high, medium, and low aerosol loadings, respectively. The results for the three parts of SA are presented in detail. The prevailing sources of aerosols are different in each part of SA. The lower part is dominated by the air mass transport from the surrounding marine environment and other SA or neighboring regions, while the central and upper parts are loaded through windablated mineral dust and local anthropogenic activities. During the biomass burning seasons (July–September), the central part of SA is more affected than the rest of SA by the biomassburning aerosols (based on ta, ∼20% higher than the rest of SA). In alignment with the observed higher values of text, aerosol size distributions were found to be highly variable in the upper part of SA, which is due to the high population and the industrial/mining/ agricultural activities in this area. en_ZA
dc.description.department Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology en_ZA
dc.description.librarian am2017 en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorship The author M. Tesfaye is financially supported by the African Laser Centre, South Africa. en_ZA
dc.description.uri http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/jgr/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2156-2202/ en_ZA
dc.identifier.citation Tesfaye, M., V. Sivakumar, J. Botai, and G. Mengistu Tsidu (2011), Aerosol climatology over South Africa based on 10 years of Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) data, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D20216, DOI: 10.1029/2011JD016023. en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn 0148-0227 (print)
dc.identifier.issn 2156-2202 (online)
dc.identifier.other 10.1029/2011JD016023
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/2263/62529
dc.language.iso en en_ZA
dc.publisher American Geophysical Union en_ZA
dc.rights © 2011 American Geophysical Union en_ZA
dc.subject Natural sources en_ZA
dc.subject South Africa (SA) en_ZA
dc.subject Multiangle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) en_ZA
dc.subject Aerosol climatology en_ZA
dc.subject Aerosols en_ZA
dc.title Aerosol climatology over South Africa based on 10 years of multiangle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) data en_ZA
dc.type Article en_ZA


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