Validation of modis atmospheric aerosol retrievals using aeronet data at regional scale in West Africa

This study is based on the validation of MODIS (MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) products of atmospheric aerosols in West Africa using data from the global network AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) of six photometric stations in West Africa. It aims to characterise atmospheric aerosols at the regional or sub-regional scale of West Africa. The optical thickness and the Angstrom coefficient or size coefficient of atmospheric aerosols are validated at six photometric stations in West Africa, which are the stations of: Banizoumbou, Cape Verde, Dakar, IER Cinzana, Ilorin and Zinder. The results obtained show a correlation coefficient of 0.90 (Zinder station) to 0.94 (Banizoumbou station) for the optical thickness, of 0.90 (Ilorin station) to 0.93 (Dakar station) for the particle size coefficient. This indicates a good correlation between the measurements reported by MODIS and the AERONET network at the locations considered. These results indicate a good correlation between MODIS recoveries of optical thickness and size coefficient with local AERONET data for all six stations considered during the period 2010 - 2019.