Study on global atmospheric aerosol type identification from combined satellite and ground observations

Accurate identification of aerosol types is essential for understanding the radiative properties of aerosols and further studying aerosol regional and global climate effects. However, aerosol type identification studies combining satellite and ground observations are rare. In this paper, an aerosol type identification model based on aerosol relative optical depth (AROD) and volume depolarization ratio (VDR) is developed by effectively matching satellite and ground observation data. The accuracy and applicability of the new model are verified by typical AERONET sites with dominant aerosols, and the spatial distribution characteristics of aerosol types in global continents are also studied and analyzed with joint observation data from 2018 to 2023 globally. The results show that the East Asian continent, North America, and Europe are the main source regions for continental aerosol emissions. Among the continents, densely populated East/Southeast Asia is more heavily polluted by anthropogenic aerosols than other continents, while North America and Europe are relatively less polluted. The Indo-China Peninsula, central and southern Africa, central South America, and central and northern North America are the main source emission regions of global biomass burning aerosol, while northern Africa, West Asia, and Central Asia emit most of the global dust and polluted dust aerosols. Additionally, marine aerosols are more frequent along the east coast of North America, the west coast of Africa, the Malay Archipelago, and some island sites. The present study provides a basis for aerosol type identification using joint observation data and effectively promotes research in related fields.