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Observation of Optical and Radiative Properties of Atmospheric Aerosols by Ground-Based Remote Sensing Measurements

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Atmospheric Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 2590

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Disong Fu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Extreme Meteorology, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Interests: aerosol optical properties retrieval; surface irradiance estimation; satellite and ground remote sensing; machine learning applications
Dr. Kai Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Extreme Meteorology, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Interests: satellite remote sensing; urban carbon emission assessment; greenhouse gas detection
Dr. Hongrong Shi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Extreme Meteorology, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Interests: satellite remote sensing; urban carbon emission assessment; greenhouse gas detection; aerosol–cloud interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yu Zheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Institute of Atmospheric Composition and Environmental Meteorology, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: CARSNET; atmospheric aerosols; remote sensing; atmospheric pollution; sunphotometer; aerosol optical properties

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Atmospheric aerosols are critical components of the Earth’s climate system, significantly influencing radiative transfer processes and cloud microphysics. By scattering and absorbing solar and terrestrial radiation, aerosols affect the Earth’s radiative balance and contribute to phenomena such as direct and indirect radiative forcing. Additionally, aerosols serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN), playing a key role in cloud formation, lifetime, and precipitation processes.

Ground-based remote sensing techniques offer high temporal resolutions and reliable measurements, making them indispensable for studying aerosols. Instruments such as sun photometers, lidars, and Thermo Scientific TEOM analyzers have extensively been used to retrieve key aerosol parameters, including aerosol optical depth (AOD), single scattering albedo (SSA), Ångström exponents, vertical profiles of aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients, and particle matter concentrations. These observations provide crucial insights into aerosol size distribution, chemical composition, and radiative effects.

This issue seeks to consolidate innovative research on the observation of aerosol optical and radiative properties through ground-based remote sensing techniques. Topics of interest include advancements in retrieval algorithms, radiative transfer modeling, and their applications in climate and environmental studies, air quality monitoring, and extreme aerosol events such as dust storms and biomass burning. We also encourage contributions focusing on the integration of ground-based and satellite observations to enhance aerosol characterization across diverse geographical regions.

Dr. Disong Fu
Dr. Kai Wu
Dr. Hongrong Shi
Dr. Yu Zheng
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • atmospheric aerosols
  • ground-based remote sensing
  • aerosol optical properties
  • radiative transfer modeling
  • lidar measurements
  • radiative forcing
  • sun photometry
  • long-term monitoring
  • data validation

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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19 pages, 28579 KB  
Article
Fusion of Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 Images for Producing Daily Maps of Advected Aerosols at Urban Scale
by Luciano Alparone, Massimo Bianchini, Andrea Garzelli and Simone Lolli
Remote Sens. 2026, 18(1), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18010116 - 29 Dec 2025
Viewed by 723
Abstract
In this study, the authors wish to introduce an unsupervised procedure designed for real-time generation of maps depicting advected aerosols, specifically focusing on desert dust and smoke originating from biomass combustion. This innovative approach leverages the high-resolution capabilities provided by Sentinel-2 imagery, operating [...] Read more.
In this study, the authors wish to introduce an unsupervised procedure designed for real-time generation of maps depicting advected aerosols, specifically focusing on desert dust and smoke originating from biomass combustion. This innovative approach leverages the high-resolution capabilities provided by Sentinel-2 imagery, operating at a 10 m scale, which is particularly advantageous for urban settings. Concurrently, it takes advantage of the near-daily revisit frequency afforded by Sentinel-3. The methodology involves generating aerosol maps at a 10 m resolution using bands 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Sentinel-2, available in L1C and L2A formats, conducted every five days, contingent upon the absence of cloud cover. Subsequently, this map is enhanced every two days through spatial modulation, utilizing a similar map derived from the visible and near-infrared observations (VNIR) captured by the OLCI instrument aboard Sentinel-3, which is accessible at a 300 m scale. Data from the two satellites undergo independent processing, with integration at the feature level. This process combines Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-2 maps to update aerosol concentrations in each 300 m × 300 m grid every two days or more frequently. For the dates when Sentinel-2 data is unavailable, the spatial texture or the aerosol distribution within these grid cells is extrapolated. This spatial index represents an advancement over prior studies that focused on differentiating between dust and smoke based on their scattering and absorption characteristics. The entire process is rigorously validated by comparing it with point measurements of fine- and coarse-mode Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) obtained from AERONET stations situated at the test sites, ensuring the reliability and accuracy of the generated maps. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Observation of Optical and Radiative Properties of Atmospheric Aerosols by Ground-Based Remote Sensing Measurements)
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21 pages, 3844 KB  
Article
Impacts of Aerosol Optical Depth on Different Types of Cloud Macrophysical and Microphysical Properties over East Asia
by Xinlei Han, Qixiang Chen, Zijue Song, Disong Fu and Hongrong Shi
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(21), 3535; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17213535 - 25 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1091
Abstract
Aerosol–cloud interaction remains one of the largest sources of uncertainty in weather and climate modeling. This study investigates the impacts of aerosols on the macro- and microphysical properties of different cloud types over East Asia, based on nine years of joint satellite observations [...] Read more.
Aerosol–cloud interaction remains one of the largest sources of uncertainty in weather and climate modeling. This study investigates the impacts of aerosols on the macro- and microphysical properties of different cloud types over East Asia, based on nine years of joint satellite observations from CloudSat, CALIPSO, and MODIS, combined with ERA5 reanalysis data. Results reveal pronounced cloud-type dependence in aerosol effects on cloud fraction, cloud top height, and cloud thickness. Aerosols enhance the development of convective clouds while suppressing the vertical extent of stable stratiform clouds. For ice-phase structures, ice cloud fraction and ice water path significantly increase with aerosol optical depth (AOD) in deep convective and high-level clouds, whereas mid- to low-level clouds exhibit reduced ice crystal effective radius and ice water content, indicating an “ice crystal suppression effect.” Even after controlling for 14 meteorological variables, partial correlations between AOD and cloud properties remain significant, suggesting a degree of aerosol influence independent of meteorological conditions. Humidity and wind speed at different altitudes are identified as key modulating factors. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for cloud-type differences, moisture conditions, and dynamic processes when assessing aerosol–cloud–climate interactions and provide observational insights to improve the parameterization of aerosol indirect effects in climate models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Observation of Optical and Radiative Properties of Atmospheric Aerosols by Ground-Based Remote Sensing Measurements)
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15 pages, 3558 KB  
Technical Note
Meteorological Factors Attribution Analysis of Aerosol Layer Structure Changes in Mie-Scattering Profiles Measured by Lidar
by Siqi Yu, Wanyi Xie, Dong Liu, Peng Li and Tengxiao Guo
Remote Sens. 2026, 18(7), 967; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18070967 - 24 Mar 2026
Viewed by 292
Abstract
The vertical distribution of atmospheric aerosol layers plays a fundamental role in understanding their climatic and environmental effects. Using one year of lidar observations in Jinhua, together with ground-based meteorological measurements and ERA5 reanalysis data, this study develops an integrated analytical framework to [...] Read more.
The vertical distribution of atmospheric aerosol layers plays a fundamental role in understanding their climatic and environmental effects. Using one year of lidar observations in Jinhua, together with ground-based meteorological measurements and ERA5 reanalysis data, this study develops an integrated analytical framework to investigate the structural characteristics of aerosol layers in Mie-scattering profiles and their meteorological driving factors. K-means clustering identifies three representative aerosol layer structure types: single-layer concave, single-layer convex, and multi-layer profiles. By combining the Boruta algorithm with a random forest model, the dominant meteorological factors associated with each structure type are quantified across four boundary-layer stages (00–06, 06–12, 12–18, 18–24 LT). Temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, divergence, and vertical velocity exhibit distinct influences across different boundary-layer conditions, revealing differentiated regulatory mechanisms governing aerosol layer structure change. The proposed framework establishes a coupled perspective between atmospheric dynamic/thermodynamic processes and aerosol layer structure formation, providing a basis for refined modeling of aerosol evolution and improved understanding of aerosol–meteorology interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Observation of Optical and Radiative Properties of Atmospheric Aerosols by Ground-Based Remote Sensing Measurements)
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