Extraction of optical properties of yellow sand dust from satellite-level data over east Asia

The yellow sand dust transported (called “Kosa” in Japan) from the deserts in the northern part of China is considered as the main source of atmospheric aerosols for east Asia in spring. In this study “Kosa clouds” are extracted from ADEOS/POLDER data by using the polarization data acquired by the POLDER sensor and the long range transport simulation of yellow sand particles. As a result, it is shown that at wavelengths 443, 670 and 865 nm, the degree of polarization decreases in regions that are regarded as “Kosa clouds” in POLDER data. It is suggested from the results of the long range transport simulation that the hazy Kosa layer is at a relatively high altitude, rather than near the surface