ECV Products and Requirements for Aerosols
These products and requirements reflect the Implementation Plan 2016 (GCOS-200). GCOS is reviewing and will update the requirements as part of their contribution to the UNFCCC Global Stocktake and the current state of the discussion is reflected on the web page "2022 requirement update".
| Product | Definition | Frequency | Resolution | Required Measurement Uncertainty | Stability | Standards/ References |
| Aerosol optical depth | The AOD is the spectral dependant aerosol e extinction coefficient integrated over the geometrical path length (dimensionless) | 4hr | 5-10km/ NA/ | Max(0.03;10%) | 0.02/ decade | ESA CCI CMUG tables (http://www.esa-cmug-cci.org/) |
| Aerosol-layer height | Height of vertically localized aerosol layer in the free troposphere above sea level (km) | 4hr | 5-10km/ NA/ | 0.03 | 0.01 | |
| Single-scattering albedo | The spectrally dependent ratio of the aerosol scattering to the aerosol extinction (dimensionless) | 4hr | 5-10km/ NA/ | 1km | 0.5km | |
| Aerosol-extinction coeff. profile | Spectrally dependent scattering and absorption by a population of aerosol particles per unit of geometrical path length (1/m) | weekly | 200-500 km/ 1km | 10% | 20% |
