{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,8]],"date-time":"2026-02-08T01:23:47Z","timestamp":1770513827279,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":41,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,2]],"date-time":"2017-05-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1493683200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The first Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) was launched on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) satellite in late 2011. Similar to the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), VIIRS observes top-of-atmosphere spectral reflectance and is potentially suitable for retrieval of the aerosol optical depth (AOD). The VIIRS Environmental Data Record data (VIIRS_EDR) is produced operationally by NOAA, and is based on the MODIS atmospheric correction algorithm. The \u201cMODIS-like\u201d VIIRS data (VIIRS_ML) are being produced experimentally at NASA, from a version of the \u201cdark-target\u201d algorithm that is applied to MODIS. In this study, the AOD and aerosol model types from these two VIIRS retrieval algorithms over the North China Plain (NCP) are evaluated using the ground-based CE318 Sunphotometer (CE318) measurements during 2 May 2012\u201331 March 2014 at three sites. These sites represent three different surface types: urban (Beijing), suburban (XiangHe) and rural (Xinglong). Firstly, we evaluate the retrieved spectral AOD. For the three sites, VIIRS_EDR AOD at 550 nm shows a positive mean bias (MB) of 0.04\u20130.06 and the correlation of 0.83\u20130.86, with the largest MB (0.10\u20130.15) observed in Beijing. In contrast, VIIRS_ML AOD at 550 nm has overall higher positive MB of 0.13\u20130.14 and a higher correlation (0.93\u20130.94) with CE318 AOD. Secondly, we evaluate the aerosol model types assumed by each algorithm, as well as the aerosol optical properties used in the AOD retrievals. The aerosol model used in VIIRS_EDR algorithm shows that dust and clean urban models were the dominant model types during the evaluation period. The overall accuracy rate of the aerosol model used in VIIRS_ML over NCP three sites (0.48) is higher than that of VIIRS_EDR (0.27). The differences in Single Scattering Albedo (SSA) at 670 nm between VIIRS_ML and CE318 are mostly less than 0.015, but high seasonal differences are found especially over the Xinglong site. The values of SSA from VIIRS_EDR are higher than that observed by CE318 over all sites and all assumed aerosol modes, with a positive bias of 0.02\u20130.04 for fine mode, 0.06\u20130.12 for coarse mode and 0.03\u20130.05 for bi-mode at 440 nm. The overestimation of SSA but positive AOD MB of VIIRS_EDR indicate that other factors (e.g., surface reflectance characterization or cloud contamination) are important sources of error in the VIIRS_EDR algorithm, and their effects on aerosol retrievals may override the effects from non-ideality in these aerosol models.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs9050432","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,2]],"date-time":"2017-05-02T11:37:20Z","timestamp":1493725040000},"page":"432","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":27,"title":["Evaluation of Aerosol Optical Depth and Aerosol Models from VIIRS Retrieval Algorithms over North China Plain"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2335-9692","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jun","family":"Zhu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"LAGEO, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China"},{"name":"Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science &amp; Technology, Nanjing 210044, China"},{"name":"College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4187-6311","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiangao","family":"Xia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAGEO, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science &amp; Technology, Nanjing 210044, China"},{"name":"College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7334-0490","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jun","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA"},{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Center for Global and Regional Environmental Studies, and Informatics Initiative, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52241, USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9458-3387","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Huizheng","family":"Che","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather (LASW) and Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CAMS), CMA, Beijing 100081, China"}]},{"given":"Hongbin","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAGEO, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China"},{"name":"College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"given":"Jinqiang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAGEO, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science &amp; Technology, Nanjing 210044, China"},{"name":"College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9583-980X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiaoguang","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA"},{"name":"Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Center for Global and Regional Environmental Studies, and Informatics Initiative, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52241, USA"}]},{"given":"Robert","family":"Levy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Climate and Radiation Laboratory, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA"}]},{"given":"Min","family":"Oo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5443-4953","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robert","family":"Holz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA"}]},{"given":"Mohammed","family":"Ayoub","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Qatar Environment &amp; Energy Research Institute, Qatar Foundation, Ar-Rayyan, Qatar"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"423","DOI":"10.1126\/science.255.5043.423","article-title":"Climate Forcing by Anthropogenic Aerosols","volume":"255","author":"Charlson","year":"1992","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1038\/nature01091","article-title":"A Satellite View of Aerosols in the Climate System","volume":"419","author":"Kaufman","year":"2002","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1132","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.287.9.1132","article-title":"Lung Cancer, Cardiopulmonary Mortality, and Long-Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution","volume":"287","author":"Pope","year":"2002","journal-title":"JAMA J. Am. Med. Assoc."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1491","DOI":"10.1175\/BAMS-85-10-1491","article-title":"Paragon: An Integrated Approach for Characterizing Aerosol Climate Impacts and Environmental Interactions","volume":"85","author":"Diner","year":"2004","journal-title":"Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cao, C.Y., Xiong, J., Blonski, S., Liu, Q.H., Uprety, S., Shao, X., Bai, Y., and Weng, F.Z. (2013). Suomi Npp Viirs Sensor Data Record Verification, Validation, and Long-Term Performance Monitoring. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118.","DOI":"10.1002\/2013JD020418"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12673","DOI":"10.1002\/2013JD020449","article-title":"Suomi-Npp Viirs Aerosol Algorithms and Data Products","volume":"118","author":"Jackson","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6023","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2014.939784","article-title":"Spatial and Temporal Variation of Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (Viirs)-Derived Aerosol Optical Thickness over Shandong, China","volume":"35","author":"Meng","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4083","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-8-4083-2015","article-title":"Towards a Long-Term Global Aerosol Optical Depth Record: Applying a Consistent Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm to Modis and Viirs-Observed Reflectance","volume":"8","author":"Levy","year":"2015","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3942","DOI":"10.1002\/2013JD020360","article-title":"Preliminary Evaluation of S-Npp Viirs Aerosol Optical Thickness","volume":"119","author":"Liu","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Hsu, C., Levy, R., Sayer, A., Lee, J., Laszlo, I., Bettenhausen, C., Gautam, R., Mattoo, S., Munchak, L., and Liu, H. (2013). Suomi NPP VIIRS Aerosol Data Product Assessment Report."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"83","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2014.01.058","article-title":"Characteristics of Heavy Aerosol Pollution During the 2012\u20132013 Winter in Beijing, China","volume":"88","author":"Quan","year":"2014","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jqsrt.2013.06.024","article-title":"Climatological Aspects of Aerosol Optical Properties in North China Plain Based on Ground and Satellite Remote-Sensing Data","volume":"127","author":"Xia","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14501","DOI":"10.1029\/2001JD900030","article-title":"Characteristics of the Spatial Distribution and Yearly Variation of Aerosol Optical Depth over China in Last 30 Years","volume":"106","author":"Luo","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1029\/2006JD007382","article-title":"Aerosol Optical Properties and Their Radiative Effects in Northern China","volume":"112","author":"Li","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tao, M., Chen, L., Su, L., and Tao, J. (2012). Satellite Observation of Regional Haze Pollution over the North China Plain. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 117.","DOI":"10.1029\/2012JD017915"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2125","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-14-2125-2014","article-title":"Column Aerosol Optical Properties and Aerosol Radiative Forcing During a Serious Haze-Fog Month over North China Plain in 2013 Based on Ground-Based Sunphotometer Measurements","volume":"14","author":"Che","year":"2014","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, Y., Che, H.Z., Ma, J.Z., Wang, Q., Shi, G.Y., Chen, H.B., Goloub, P., and Hao, X.J. (2009). Aerosol Radiative Forcing under Clear, Hazy, Foggy, and Dusty Weather Conditions over Beijing, China. Geophys. Res. Lett., 36.","DOI":"10.1029\/2009GL037181"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5959","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-11-5959-2011","article-title":"Aerosol Optical Properties in the North China Plain During Hachi Campaign: An In-Situ Optical Closure Study","volume":"11","author":"Ma","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1142","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2013.2247768","article-title":"Early on-Orbit Performance of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite Onboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-Npp) Satellite","volume":"52","author":"Cao","year":"2014","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17131","DOI":"10.1029\/97JD00201","article-title":"Atmospheric Correction of Visible to Middle-Infrared Eos-Modis Data over Land Surfaces: Background, Operational Algorithm and Validation","volume":"102","author":"Vermote","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vermote, E.F., and Kotchenova, S. (2008). Atmospheric Correction for the Monitoring of Land Surfaces. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 113.","DOI":"10.1029\/2007JD009662"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2989","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-6-2989-2013","article-title":"The Collection 6 Modis Aerosol Products over Land and Ocean","volume":"6","author":"Levy","year":"2013","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Levy, R.C., Remer, L.A., and Dubovik, O. (2007). Global Aerosol Optical Properties and Application to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Aerosol Retrieval over Land. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 112.","DOI":"10.1029\/2006JD007815"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(98)00031-5","article-title":"Aeronete a Federated Instrument Network and Data Archive for Aerosol Characterization","volume":"66","author":"Holben","year":"1998","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31333","DOI":"10.1029\/1999JD900923","article-title":"Wavelength Dependence of the Optical Depth of Biomass Burning, Urban, and Desert Dust Aerosols","volume":"104","author":"Eck","year":"1999","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9791","DOI":"10.1029\/2000JD900040","article-title":"Accuracy Assessments of Aerosol Optical Properties Retrieved from Aerosol Robotic Network (Aeronet) Sun and Sky Radiance Measurements","volume":"105","author":"Dubovik","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"590","DOI":"10.1175\/1520-0469(2002)059<0590:VOAAOP>2.0.CO;2","article-title":"Variability of Absorption and Optical Properties of Key Aerosol Types Observed in Worldwide Locations","volume":"59","author":"Dubovik","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sci."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2013.11.019","article-title":"Column-Integrated Aerosol Optical and Physical Properties at a Regional Background Atmosphere in North China Plain","volume":"84","author":"Zhu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106510","DOI":"10.1029\/2008JD011030","article-title":"Instrument Calibration and Aerosol Optical Depth Validation of the China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network","volume":"114","author":"Che","year":"2009","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.1016\/j.partic.2013.04.009","article-title":"Development of an Integrating Sphere Calibration Method for Cimel Sunphotometers in China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network","volume":"13","author":"Tao","year":"2014","journal-title":"Particuology"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5970","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2011.08.002","article-title":"Validation of Modis Aerosol Optical Depth Product over China Using Carsnet Measurements","volume":"45","author":"Xie","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"913","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-5-913-2012","article-title":"Multi-Sensor Aerosol Products Sampling System (MAPSS)","volume":"5","author":"Petrenko","year":"2012","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_33","first-page":"156","article-title":"On the Atmospheric Transmission of Sun Radiation and on Dust in the Air","volume":"11","year":"1929","journal-title":"Geogr. Ann."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"947","DOI":"10.1175\/JAS3385.1","article-title":"The Modis Aerosol Algorithm, Products, and Validation","volume":"62","author":"Remer","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Atmos. Sci."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"127","DOI":"10.1029\/2012JD018127","article-title":"An Analysis of Aeronet Aerosol Absorption Properties and Classifications Representative of Aerosol Source Regions","volume":"117","author":"Giles","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"510","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jqsrt.2014.03.020","article-title":"A Numerical Testbed for Remote Sensing of Aerosols, and Its Demonstration for Evaluating Retrieval Synergy from a Geostationary Satellite Constellation of Geo-Cape and Goes-R","volume":"146","author":"Wang","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"983","DOI":"10.1109\/TGRS.2009.2028333","article-title":"Improved Modis Aerosol Retrieval Using Modified Vis\/Swir Surface Albedo Ratio over Urban Scenes","volume":"48","author":"Oo","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3110","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2010.05.035","article-title":"Characteristics of Aerosol Types from Aeronet Sunphotometer Measurements","volume":"44","author":"Lee","year":"2010","journal-title":"Atmos. Environ."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"216","DOI":"10.1080\/16742834.2013.11447083","article-title":"Identification of Aerosol Types and Their Optical Properties in the North China Plain Based on Long-Term Aeronet Data","volume":"6","author":"Sun","year":"2013","journal-title":"Atmos. Ocean. Sci. Lett."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3263","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-11-3263-2011","article-title":"Saharan and Asian Dust: Similarities and Differences Determined by Calipso, Aeronet, and a Coupled Climate-Aerosol Microphysical Model","volume":"11","author":"Su","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8231","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-11-8231-2011","article-title":"Recent Progress in Understanding Physical and Chemical Properties of African and Asian Mineral Dust","volume":"11","author":"Formenti","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/9\/5\/432\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:34:26Z","timestamp":1760207666000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/9\/5\/432"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,2]]},"references-count":41,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,5]]}},"alternative-id":["rs9050432"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs9050432","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,5,2]]}}}