Assessment of the Aerosol Products From the SeaWiFS and MODIS Ocean-Color Missions

The aerosol products derived from the ocean-color missions Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) and Moderate-Resolution Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Aqua and Terra are compared with field measurements from globally distributed Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sites. Validation statistics are found consistent for the three missions. The median absolute relative difference between SeaWiFS and AERONET aerosol optical thickness τa is approximately 20% at all bands while it is slightly higher for both MODIS products (between 20% and 28%). This is associated with a larger relative bias (median of relative differences between satellite and AERONET τa) on the order of +15% for these missions. With respect to previous processing versions, a noticeable improvement is seen in the representation of the spectral dependence of τa. The bias found for the Ångström exponent varies from -0.08 to +0.13 for the three missions.