Validation, analysis, and comparison of MISR V23 aerosol optical depth products with MODIS and AERONET observations

The latest Multi-angle Imaging Spectro Radiometer (MISR) Version (V) 23 aerosol optical depth (AOD) products were released, with an improved spatial resolution of 4.4 km, providing an unprecedented opportunity for the refined regional application. To ensure the reliability of their applications and build a scientific reference for the further optimization, it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive evaluation, especially for the unique size-resolved AOD products: small-size AOD (AOD_S, representing the contribution of fine-mode aerosols), medium-size AOD (AOD_M), and large-size AOD (AOD_L), and AOD_M+L represents the AOD part of coarse-mode aerosols. AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) and MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Collection (C) 6.1 aerosol products from 2001 to 2020 are utilized for the validation, analysis, and inter-comparison, considering three spatial scales and four key factors. In general, MISR V23 aerosol products show a good accuracy compared with AERONET. The best performance for all AOD products appears in forest units (the highest R ~ 0.93, data percentage within Expected Error bounds, %EE > 93), related to the inactive human activity and dark underlying surface. Dependences of retrieval deviations illustrate that the performance of MISR AOD deteriorates as aerosol loading increases. Namely, with the increase of aerosols, total AOD (AOD_T) and AOD_S show increasing negative deviations, while increasing positive deviations are observed for AOD_M+L. This suggests that the Empirical Orthogonal Functions do not perform well in this situation, since numerous aerosol particles can obstruct the underlying reflection and reduce the surface spectral contrast. In addition, AOD_T and AOD_S often exhibit anomalous positive deviations in areas with low vegetation cover, such as deserts, revealing that MISR will overestimate aerosol content over bright surfaces and in environments dominated by coarse-mode particles. The above findings not only deepen the understanding of MISR aerosols products from multiple perspectives, but also provide useful information for the product improvement.