Analysis of the aerosol Optical Characteristics in Urban Ecosystems-Review

Abstract

Understanding the trend and magnitude of aerosol-climate interaction has been identified as a source of uncertainty globally. The study reviewed the scientific approaches for the precise quantification of direct, indirect and semi-direct impacts of aerosol on climate. This includes the evolutionary development of aerosol optical properties observation, methods of calibration of sun photometers, mechanism of aerosol-radiation interaction, distribution of aerosol particles and component retrieval methods, aerosol properties, modelling and reanalysis, and aerosol radiative effects. The study identified the limited spatial extent of the ground-based measurement approach and the scarcity of remote sensing data in many climate hotspots of Africa. The study acknowledges the opportunities for the reduction of uncertainties due to calibration errors and unstable weather conditions when using the ground-based approach; however, complementing the ground-based approach with remote sensing techniques produces more reliable results, as remote sensing provides a long-term, consistent observation of aerosol optical properties. The study, however, asserts that remote sensing infrastructures for aerosol optical properties in the West Africa sub-region are not adequate to address the uncertainties in the aerosol-climate interactions.