J.C. Peláez¹, A. Leyva², I. Borrajero¹, O. Torres³ and B. Holben⁴

¹Centro de Física de la Atmósfera, Instituto de Meteorología de Cuba
²Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, México
³Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
⁴NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA

 

A comparison is made between the Aerosol Index generated by TOMS spectrophotometer on board NASA's Earth Probe satellite since 1996 and Aerosol Optical Thickness obtained from the Aeronet station at Mexico City in two wavelengths over the UV region of the spectrum. The analysis is made selecting measurements with a time difference of less than 30 minutes and choosing TOMS measurements within a radius of less than 20 Km. from the Aeronet station. (19°20' N, 99°11' W). The information used corresponds to Aeronet Level 2 data for 1999-2001 single measurements (http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov:8080/).

Unlike in previous reports, there is no significant correlation between the Aerosol Index from TOMS and the Optical Thickness from ground measurements at 340 and 380 nm wavelengths. Nevertheless, the joint use of both kinds of information can be applyed to the study of the aerosol's nature in the polluted atmosphere of Mexico City, as well as in the radiative transfer processes in the UV region.