The remote sensing of radiative forcing by light-absorbing particles (LAPs) in seasonal snow over northeastern China

In this study, we use MODIS observations combined with a snow-albedo model (SNICAR – Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiative) and a radiative transfer model (SBDART – Santa Barbara DISORT Atmospheric Radiative Transfer) to retrieve the instantaneous spectrally integrated radiative forcing at the surface by LAPs in snow (RFLAPsMODIS) under clear-sky conditions at the time of MODIS Aqua overpass across northeastern China (NEC) in January–February from 2003 to 2017.

RFLAPsMODIS presents distinct spatial variability, with the minimum (22.3 W m−2) in western NEC and the maximum (64.6 W m−2) near industrial areas in central NEC. The regional mean RFLAPsMODIS is ∼45.1±6.8 W m−2 in NEC. The positive (negative) uncertainties of retrieved RFLAPsMODIS due to atmospheric correction range from 14 % to 57 % (−14 % to −47 %), and the uncertainty value basically decreases with the increased RFLAPsMODIS.