Recent trends in aerosol optical properties derived from AERONET measurements

摘要

Abstract. The Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) has been providing high-quality retrievals of aerosol optical properties from the surface at worldwide locations for more than a decade. Many sites have continuous and consistent records for more than 10 years, which enables the investigation of long-term trends of aerosol properties at these locations. In this study, we present trend analysis of AERONET data at 63 selected locations. In addition to commonly studied parameters such as Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and Ångström Exponent (AE), we also focus on Absorption Aerosol Optical Depth (ABS), Scattering Optical Depth (SCT), Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) and the Absorption Ångström Exponent (AAE). Two statistical methods are used to detect and estimate the trend: Mann–Kendall test associated with Sen's slope and linear least square fitting. Their results agree well in terms of the significance of the trend for the majority of the cases. The results indicate that Europe and North America experienced a uniform decrease in AOD and SCT, while significant (> 90%) increases of these two parameters are found for Kanpur, India. Most of European and North American sites also show negative trends for ABS, as well as three East Asian stations. The reduction in ABS results in positive SSA trends for these locations. The increase of SCT also leads to a positive SSA trend for Kanpur. Negative SSA trends are mostly found over South America, Australia and a few West European stations, which are mainly attributed to the increase of absorption. Fewer stations are found with significant trends for AE and AAE. In general, the trends do not exhibit obvious seasonality for the majority of the parameters and stations.