Contribution of IASI to the observation of the dust aerosol diurnal cycle over Sahara

The Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) is well suited for monitoring of dust aerosols because of its capability to determine both AOD and altitude of the dust layer, and because of the good match between the IASI times of observation (9.30 am and pm, local time) and the time of occurrence of the main Saharan dust uplift mechanisms. Here, starting from IASI-derived dust characteristics for an 11-year period, we assess the capability of IASI to bring realistic information on the dust diurnal cycle. We first show the morning and nighttime climatology of IASI-derived dust AOD for two major dust source regions of the Sahara: The Bodele Depression and the Adrar region. Compared with simulations from a high resolution model, permitting deep convection to be explicitly resolved, IASI performs well. In a second step, a Dust Emission Index specific to IASI is constructed, combining simultaneous information on dust AOD and mean altitude, with the aim of observing the main dust emission areas, daytime and nighttime. Comparisons are then made with other equivalent existing results derived from ground based or other satellite observations. Results demonstrate the capability of IASI to improve the documentation of dust distribution over Sahara over a long period of time. Associating observations of dust aerosols in the visible, on which a majority of aerosol studies are so far based, and in the infrared thus appears as a way to complement the results from other satellite instruments in view of improving our knowledge of their impact on climate.