A Multi-Wavelength Deep Neural Network Framework for Synergistic Retrieval of AOD, FMF, and AAOD from TROPOMI

Aerosol optical depth (AOD), fine-mode fraction (FMF), and absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD) are essential for quantifying aerosol extinction and related climate and air-quality effects. Yet, most satellite retrievals target a single wavelength or parameter. In this study, a deep neural network (DNN) framework was developed to synergistically retrieve AOD, FMF, and AAOD from Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI at seven wavelengths across 380–772 nm. Parameter-specific feature engineering was designed by incorporating physical linkages among aerosol optical properties. Bayesian optimization was employed to tune hyperparameters, and SHAP (Shapley additive explanations) was used to interpret feature contributions. The proposed model demonstrated high accuracy and robustness on an independent test set. The retrieved AOD showed excellent agreement with AERONET (R = 0.960, MAE = 0.034, RMSE = 0.070), and similarly strong performance was achieved for FMF (R = 0.955, MAE = 0.027, RMSE = 0.039). For AAOD, an overall correlation of 0.86 was obtained (MAE = 0.005, RMSE = 0.008). Comparisons with existing satellite products indicated globally consistent spatial patterns and improved spatial continuity under high aerosol loading. Overall, the proposed data-driven approach enhances the efficiency and coverage of multi-parameter aerosol retrieval while maintaining high accuracy, supporting absorbing aerosol monitoring, aerosol-type discrimination, and climate-effect assessment.

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Publication Details

Journal
Remote Sensing
Published
2026-04-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs18081139
Primary Topic
Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

A Multi-Wavelength Deep Neural Network Framework for Synergistic Retrieval of AOD, FMF, and AAOD from TROPOMI

Yichen Li, Huaxuan Wang, Lei Chen, Meng Fan et al.
Remote Sensing
Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
article

A Multi-Wavelength Deep Neural Network Framework for Synergistic Retrieval of AOD, FMF, and AAOD from TROPOMI

Yichen Li, Huaxuan Wang, Lei Chen, Meng Fan, Heng Jia, Benben Xu, Jinhua Tao, Yangyu Fan
article en

Abstract

Aerosol optical depth (AOD), fine-mode fraction (FMF), and absorption aerosol optical depth (AAOD) are essential for quantifying aerosol extinction and related climate and air-quality effects. Yet, most satellite retrievals target a single wavelength or parameter. In this study, a deep neural network (DNN) framework was developed to synergistically retrieve AOD, FMF, and AAOD from Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI at seven wavelengths across 380–772 nm. Parameter-specific feature engineering was designed by incorporating physical linkages among aerosol optical properties. Bayesian optimization was employed to tune hyperparameters, and SHAP (Shapley additive explanations) was used to interpret feature contributions. The proposed model demonstrated high accuracy and robustness on an independent test set. The retrieved AOD showed excellent agreement with AERONET (R = 0.960, MAE = 0.034, RMSE = 0.070), and similarly strong performance was achieved for FMF (R = 0.955, MAE = 0.027, RMSE = 0.039). For AAOD, an overall correlation of 0.86 was obtained (MAE = 0.005, RMSE = 0.008). Comparisons with existing satellite products indicated globally consistent spatial patterns and improved spatial continuity under high aerosol loading. Overall, the proposed data-driven approach enhances the efficiency and coverage of multi-parameter aerosol retrieval while maintaining high accuracy, supporting absorbing aerosol monitoring, aerosol-type discrimination, and climate-effect assessment.

Remote SensingVol. 18(8)
Fujian Normal University (CN), Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Aerospace Information Research Institute (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 19%
Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
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