Latitudinal variation of aerosol optical depths from northern Arabian Sea to Antarctica

Vinoj, V and Anjan, Anjit and Sudhakar, M and Satheesh, SK and Srinivasan, J and Moorthy, Krishna K (2007) Latitudinal variation of aerosol optical depths from northern Arabian Sea to Antarctica. In: Geographical research letters, 34 (L10807). pp. 1-5.

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Abstract

Measurements of the spectral aerosol optical depths (AODs) were made over the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean, and Antarctica during a trans-continental cruise experiment conducted during January to April 2006. Our investigations show that AODs (at 500 nm) remain low (≤0.1) and steady in the Southern Indian Ocean (20°S to 40°S). In contrast, large latitudinal gradients exist north of 20°S. The AODs increase nearly exponentially from ∼0.1 near Antarctica to reach a value as high as 0.7 in the northern Arabian Sea (∼15°N). The latitudinal gradients were larger in summer than in winter. The comparison of measured daily optical depths with those retrieved from MODIS satellite sensor showed good agreement (within ∼0.02) for regions north of 40°S. The AODs were higher over remote oceans between 40°S to 60°S (MODIS observations) latitudes as a result of enhanced sea-salt production due to high winds associated with the ‘Roaring Forties.’

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Geographical research letters
Publisher:	American Geophysical Union
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Geophysical Union.
Keywords:	Aerosols;Optical depths;Southern Ocean
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
Date Deposited:	16 Jul 2007
Last Modified:	30 Jan 2012 06:06
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/11579

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