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Weekday AOD smaller than weekend AOD in eastern China on the basis of the MODIS AOD product

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Abstract

A weekly cycle of surface particulate matter (PM) characterized by smaller values during weekends and larger values during weekdays was reported in eastern China. Whether column-integrated aerosol optical depth (AOD) showed similar weekly cycling as that of PM was debated. The weekly variation of AOD in eastern China was further studied by using the latest MODIS aerosol product (collection 6) with a fine spatial resolution (0.1°) from 2002 to 2015. We used three statistical methods to determine whether the weekly cycle of AOD was significant. AOD during weekdays (Wednesday to Friday) was lower than that during weekends. The maximum and minimum AOD was generally observed on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. This weekly pattern of AOD was in good agreement with previous results based on satellite aerosol products with a coarse spatial resolution, but it was in contrast to that of PM. Further analysis of the AOD weekly variability in 19 provincial cities suggested that AOD during weekdays was smaller than that during weekends in urban regions. Potential causes for the different weekly cycle of PM and AOD in eastern China were discussed.

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Acknowledgements

The research is supported by the National Basis Research Program of China (2013CB955801), the National Science and Technology Major Project (2016YFC0200403), and the National Science Foundation of China (41475138, 41675033). The Aqua/MODIS aerosol level 2 products were available from the Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) (https://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LAGEO, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jingjing Song & Xiangao Xia

  2. College of Earth Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Jingjing Song & Xiangao Xia

  3. School of Atmospheric Sciences, Chengdu University of Information technology, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoling Zhang

  4. Beijing Meteorological Bureau, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoling Zhang

  5. Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Huizheng Che

  6. National Satellite Meteorological Center, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaojing Li

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  1. Jingjing Song
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  2. Xiangao Xia
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  3. Xiaoling Zhang
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  4. Huizheng Che
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Correspondence to Xiangao Xia.

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Song, J., Xia, X., Zhang, X. et al. Weekday AOD smaller than weekend AOD in eastern China on the basis of the MODIS AOD product. Theor Appl Climatol 132, 1019–1027 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-017-2142-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-017-2142-5

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