Performance of MODIS C6.1 Dark Target and Deep Blue aerosol products in Delhi National Capital Region, India: Application for aerosol studies

Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) of India is one the most polluted regions in world, yet only two ground-based monitoring sites under AEROsol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) measuring Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) are operational this region. Here, we assessed performance Terra and Aqua MODIS collection 6.1 AOD product to understand their applicability for studying seasonal spatial variations over Delhi-NCR. We compared Deep Blue at 550 nm retrieved 10 km resolution (DB10K), Dark Target 3 (DT3K) (DT10K) resolutions against from these AERONET (Gual Pahari Amity University) during 2010–2019 keeping mind uncertainty range represented as expected error (EE) envelope [EE = ± (0.03 + 20% AODAERONET) DB10K, EE (0.05 15% DT3K DT10K respectively]. Our evaluation reveals following statistics: correlation coefficients (R) 0.44, 0.74, 0.77 DT3K, AODs TERRA 0.7, 0.79, 0.72 AQUA, respectively root mean square errors 0.26, 0.01, 0.17 0.24, 0.20, 0.24 respectively. results demonstrate better reliability DT products relative DB urbanized areas North India. Emission industries, power plants, brick kilns, enhances aerosol loading after a light precipitation event.