• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.77-89
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• 2004

The spatial and temporal variations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) over Northeast Asia regions have special importance in the aerosol research for estimation of aerosol radiative forcing parameters and climate change. Aerosol optical and physical properties (AOD and ${\AA}$ngstrom parameter) have been investigated by using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Aerosol Index (AI) to estimate aerosol characteristics over the study region during 2001. Additionally, aerosol characteristics over the Korean peninsular during Aerosol Characteristic Experiment in Asia (ACE-Asia) Intensive Observation Period (IOP) have been investigated by using satellite observations. The results showed that the daily-observed aerosol data indicate seasonal variations with relatively higher aerosol loading in the spring and very low during the winter. The typical Asian dust case showed higher AOD (>0.7) with lower Angstrom exponent (<0.5) and higher AI (>0.5) that is mainly due to the composition of coarse particles in the springtime. Mean AOD for 2001 at 4 different places showed 0.65$\pm$0.37 at Beijing, 0.31$\pm$0.19 at Gosan, 0.54$\pm$0.26 at Seoul, and 0.38$\pm$0.19 at Kwangju, respectively. An interesting result was found in the present study that polluted aerosol events with small size dominated-aerosol loading around the Korean peninsular are sometimes observed. The origin of these polluted aerosols was thought to East China. Aerosol distribution from satellite images and trajectory results shows the proof of aerosol transport. Therefore, aerosol monitoring using satellite data is very useful.