EOS Validation Program

Institution: Department of Meteorology
                    University of Maryland
                    College Park, Maryland 20742
Phone: (301) 405-5380
FAX: (301) 314-9482
E-mail: pinker@atmos.umd.edu

T. O. Aro, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
F. Miskolczi, University of Maryland

June 1999
September 2001

It is planned to expand the observing capabilities at an existing site in sub-Sahel Africa. Measurement of aerosol optical depth at this site started in 1987; observations of the key components of the surface radiation budget started in September of 1992 and were upgraded in May of 1995. Data received till now have been archived at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland. Under this proposal, the station will be upgraded to meet the requirements of the WCRP Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). Specifically, observed will be those geophysical parameters that are required for monitoring climate change and in support of current and future satellite observations, such as will become available under CERES and MODIS. The site is located on the campus of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, in the transition zone between the Sahara desert and the savanna zone of upper Nigeria. This is a climatically important region due to its location in a desert transition zone and due to the influence of the dusty Harmattan wind which is persistent for prolonged periods of time, and characterized by steady dusty conditions with high aerosol loading. The supervision of the daily operation will be done by personnel of the University of Ilorin, while instrument calibration, supervision, local personnel training, data quality check and data transfer to designated centers, will be done by personnel of the University of Maryland, in coordination with Dr. E. Dutton, Director of BSRN. The emphasis of the ground observations will be on broadband radiative fluxes. We plan to use the new data in support of our ongoing activities related to the development and validation of retrieval methods of surface radiative fluxes from different satellite platforms, with a focus on issues related to aerosol and biomass burning effects.