Combining DDV and SYNTAM Methods to Retrieval Aerosol Optical Thickness from MODIS for Land Region in China

Aerosol particles, water vapor and clouds are the three important factors that affect the signals received by sensors. To remove the aerosol effect, some methods have been developed. MODIS aerosol products provided by NASA are based on the Dark Dense Vegetation (DDV) algorithm. The Synergy of Terra and Aqua MODIS (SYNTAM) method is developed recently that can be used to retrieval aerosol optical thickness over land from MODIS data, no matter whether the land is dark or bright. The experiments prove that the DDV method is better for dark targets and the SYNTAM method is better for bright surfaces. By combining the DDV method and SYNTAM method, it will provide more details about the aerosols over land by mutually compensating for each other.