Bounhir, A, Benkhaldoun, Z, Mougenot, B, Sarazin, M, Siher, E, Masmoudi, L (2008). Aerosol columnar characterization in Morocco: ELT prospect. NEW ASTRONOMY, 13(1), 41-52.

Abstract
The work presented in this paper focuses on site testing in terms of aerosol loadings where ground based measurements are essential. In our case they are materialized by the aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and are provided by the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) network from four stations, Dakhla and Marrakech in Morocco and Santa-Cruz and Izana in the Canary Islands. To fully scan all the area of the Moroccan territories, satellite measurements are certainly the most efficient way. We used the most popular and reliable products. Total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) aerosol index (AI) provided by both TOMS Earth Probe and TOMS ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) along with aerosol optical thicknesses provided by moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) and multiangle imaging spectroradiometer (MISR) instruments, onboard Terra platform. The idea is to compare sensing capabilities of each instrument in the region under study, in order to know which is suitable for a given place and when. For that purpose linear regression analysis were performed between satellite data and AERONET observations. Good correlations were observed with the Pearson correlation coefficient, R, varying from 0.68 to 0.92 for MODIS, MISR and TOMS OMI. However for TOMS EP the correlations are fairly poor (from 0.54 to 0.74). A ten years analysis of the TOMS EP index has been performed with a calibration of the aerosol index into TOMS retrieved aerosol optical thickness in the area of interest (Morocco and Canary Islands) and an inter-comparison with the other products was achieved. In the frame of the extremely large telescope (ELT) project prospect, once the appropriate satellite instrument have been chosen and the area scanned, the next step would be to scan aerosol loadings at higher altitude locations. Since vertical distribution of aerosol optical thickness and microphysical properties are not well understood and modelized, we used the relationships related to Izana (Izana's altitude is 2367 m), as a first attempt, to extrapolate the aerosol optical thickness at higher locations in the Moroccan mountains. Izana and Santa-Cruz very close to each other (30 km) are located in the same satellite pixel and then have the same satellite (AOT) or (AI) whereas AERONET gives very distinct aerosol optical depths. A good linear correlation (R = 0.92) has been observed between the AERONET aerosol optical depths at Izana and Santa-Cruz. The seasonal correlation coefficients are 0.85 for winter, 0.87 for spring, 0.91 for summer and 0.87 for autumn The ratio AOD(Santa-Cruz)/AOD(Izana) has a seasonal behavior, reaches the average of 4.5 in winter and 2 in summer time and the subtraction of the aerosol optical thicknesses has an average of 1.3. Finally we retrieved the aerosol optical thickness at Oukaimeden: a Moroccan observatory located at 2700 m above sea level, and about 70 km from Marrakech city. We then converted the aerosol optical depth into astronomical light extinction and compare with previous records measured at the observatory. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI:
10.1016/j.newast.2007.06.011

ISSN:
1384-1076