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Updated: Jan 20, 2026

Investigating the Relationship between Sea Surface Chlorophyll and Major Features of the South China Sea with Satellite Information
Published on: June 13, 2020
Spatial and temporal distribution of the cloud optical depth over China based on MODIS satellite data during
Xiaopan Li1, Huizheng Che2, Hong Wang2
1Plateau Atmospheric and Environment Laboratory of Sichuan Province, College of Atmospheric Science, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu 610225, China; State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather (LASW) and Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, CMA, Beijing 100081, China.
Abstract:
The cloud optical depth (COD) is one of the important parameters used to characterize atmospheric clouds. We analyzed the seasonal variations in the COD over East Asia in 2011 using cloud mode data from the AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network) ground-based observational network. The applicability of the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) COD product was verified and compared with the AERONET cloud mode dataset. There was a good correlation between the AERONET and the MODIS. The spatial and temporal distribution and trends in the COD over China were then analyzed using MODIS satellite data from 2003 to 2016. The seasonal changes in the AERONET data and the time sequence variation of the satellite data suggest that the seasonal variations in the COD are significant. The result shows that the COD first decreases and then increases with the season in northern China, and reaches the maximum in summer and minimum in winter. However, the spatial distribution change is just the opposite in southern China. The spatial variation trend shows the COD in China decreases first with time and gradually increases after 2014. And the trend of COD in the western and central China is consistent with that in China. While the trend of COD shows a continuously increasing over time in northeast China and the Pearl River Delta.
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