Fast Breaking Comment by Oleg Dubovik

Oleg Dubovik, Ph.D. answers a few questions about this month's fast breaking paper in field of Geosciences.

From •>>February 2002

Field: Geosciences
Article Title: "Accuracy assessments of aerosol optical properties retrieved from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Sun and sky radiance measurements."
Authors: Dubovik, O;Smirnov, A;Holben, BN;King, MD;Kaufman, YJ;Eck, TF;Slutsker, I
Journal: J GEOPHYS RES-ATMOS
Volume: 105
Page: 9791-9806
Year: APR 27 2000
* NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Terr Phys Lab, Code 923, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
* NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Terr Phys Lab, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
* Sci Syst & Applicat Inc, Lanham, MD USA.
* NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Earth Sci Directorate, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
* NASA, Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Lab Atmospheres, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
* Raytheon Co, ITSS, Lanham, MD USA.

Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

I see several aspects contributing to its high citation:

The Aerosol Robotic Network or AERONET-the project that I am involved in-is well recognized in the scientific community and all new developments-new products or new information on old products—are rather widely exposed. In this regard, our paper "Accuracy assessments of aerosol optical properties retrieved from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) Sun and sky radiance measurements," was the first published study describing our new AERONET products: aerosol single scattering albedo, complex refractive index, etc.

Also, I believe that the methodology used in our studies as described in our paper and the style in which the paper was written was appealing to others. This is probably because in this single study we have addressed many issues, particularly of the accuracy of the AERONET; which people had already been considering. Our results probably look convincing.

Does it describe a new discovery or new methodology that's useful to
others?

It does not describe any new discovery. The paper outlines some new aspects of aerosol retrieval and perhaps gives a "fresh" look at the methodology of the retrieval error analysis.

Is it a condensation of previous literature on the subject?

No, I would not say that the main strength of the paper is in a condensation of previous literature. I would rather say that the paper represents a rather comprehensive piece of studies on the subject of aerosol retrieval from the ground.

Could you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

The paper describes rather comprehensive sensitivity studies conducted regarding retrieval of aerosol optical properties from measurements of atmospheric radiation by ground based radiometers of the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET). These studies are focused on testing a new inversion concept for simultaneously retrieving a complete set of aerosol parameters-both the particle sizes and their composition. The perturbations of the retrievals resulting from random errors, instrumental offsets, and known uncertainties in the atmospheric radiation model were analyzed. The effects of these errors on the characterization of three typical and optically distinct aerosols (weakly absorbing water-soluble aerosol, absorbing biomass burning aerosol, and desert dust) are considered. The analysis shows the observation conditions when the successful retrieval of all aerosol characteristics can be achieved, as well as the situations when the high retrieval errors are likely to occur.

Oleg Dubovik
Ph.D., Associate Research Scientist
Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

ESI Special Topics, February 2002
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/fbp/comments/february02-OlegDubovik.html