Correlation between TOMS aerosol index and astronomical extinction

El Arbi Siher; Sergio Ortolani; Marc S. Sarazin; Zouhair Benkhaldoun

doi:10.1117/12.549804

28 September 2004 Correlation between TOMS aerosol index and astronomical extinction

El Arbi Siher, Sergio Ortolani, Marc S. Sarazin, Zouhair Benkhaldoun

Proceedings Volume 5489, Ground-based Telescopes; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.549804
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Abstract

We combined aerosol index measurements of TOMS/Nimbus-7 and Earth Probe observations with CAMC visual extinction over La Palma from 1984 to 1997, to investigate the possibility to calibrate TOMS data in terms of astronomical extinction. The results show that the correlation of the two sets of data is quite good for extinction values greater than about Av = 0.2 mag./airmass. A detailed analysis reveals that the satellite aerosol index is indeed sensitive to the desert dust, but does not show evidence of the extinction contribution of the volcanic smoke due to the Mt. Pinatubo eruption which affected astronomical observations in 1992-1993. This calibrated aerosol index is then used to investigate the number and distribution of dusty events over the astronomical site of Oukaimeden, Morocco. We find a remarkable correlation of the extinction over the two sites. Finally we study the long term variability of the extinction over the region including Oukaimeden and La Palma, and we conclude that there is some correlation with the Northern Atlantic Oscillation.

Citation Download Citation

El Arbi Siher, Sergio Ortolani, Marc S. Sarazin, and Zouhair Benkhaldoun "Correlation between TOMS aerosol index and astronomical extinction", Proc. SPIE 5489, Ground-based Telescopes, (28 September 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.549804

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