Long-term trends in aerosol properties derived from AERONET measurements

作者：Zhenyu Zhang, Jing Li, Huizheng Che, Yueming Dong, Оleg Dubovik, T. F. Eck, Pawan Gupta, B. N. Holben, Jhoon Kim, Elena Lind, T. Saud, Sachchidanand Tripathi, Tong Ying · 发表于：Atmospheric chemistry and physics · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.5194/acp-25-4617-2025 · 被引用次数：22 · 研究领域：Atmospheric aerosols and clouds、Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols、Atmospheric Ozone and Climate

Abstract. Over the past 2 decades, remarkable changes in aerosol concentrations and compositions have been observed worldwide, especially over developing countries, potentially resulting in considerable changes in aerosol properties. The Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) offers high-precision measurements of aerosol optical parameters over about 1700 stations globally, many of which have long-term measurements for 1 or more decades. Here we use AERONET Level 2.0 quality-assured measurements to investigate long-term aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent (AE) trends and quality-controlled Level 1.5 inversion products to analyse trends in absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD) and single scattering albedo (SSA) at stations with long-term records. We also classify the aerosol properties in these sites into six types and analyse the trends in each type. Results reveal decreases in AOD over the majority of the stations, except for northern India and the Arabian Peninsula, where AOD increased. AE (computed from the AOD within the range of 440–870 nm) decreased in Europe, eastern North America, and the Middle East but increased over South Asia and western North America. The decreased AE over Europe and eastern North America is likely due to decreased fine-mode anthropogenic aerosols, whereas that over the Arabian Peninsula is attributed to increased dust activity. Conversely, increased AE over northern India is probably attributed to increased anthropogenic emissions and...