Physical explanation of the weakened brightness temperature difference signal over the yellow sea during a dust event: Case study for March 15–16, 2009

This paper attempts to explain the cause of weakening or disappearing brightness temperature difference (BTD) signatures, in particular, over the Yellow Sea during the March 15–16, 2009 dust event. Using a simple correction approach that removes the effects of emissivity difference and water vapor effect difference, we confirmed that the weakening or disappearing BTD signatures noted over the Yellow Sea are largely due to the spectral emissivity contrast between land and ocean. The weakening or disappearing dust is hypothesized to be pronounced when the dust loading is weak because of the surface contribution to the top of atmosphere radiance, and that it is mainly due to the difference in spectral emissivity over the window band between land and ocean. It is further suggested that water vapor may be considered as a correction factor in spite of its smaller contribution.