Global distribution of aerosol optical depth in 2015 using CALIPSO level 3 data

We used Level 3 CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) averaged monthly data to (1) study the climatology of mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) from 2010 to 2015, (2) to compare the mean AOD for different satellites for the period of 2015 and (3) to study the monthly and seasonal variations of mean AOD and extinction coefficient for the period of 2015. The climatology of mean AOD from 2010 to 2015 showed similar patterns of global mean AOD distribution but showed variation in magnitude. The dominance of mean AOD was observed in the latitudes of 0oN to 40oN. Monthly global mean AOD source regions showed dominance in West Africa, India and East Asia. The highest mean AOD (dust + smoke) for these regions was observed in April while the lowest AOD (dust + smoke) was observed in November. The highest extinction coefficients were observed in the MAM season at latitudes of 50oN and 58oS at altitudes of 0.16 and 0.22 km respectively. The highest aerosols in altitude (6 km) were observed during this season.