This study retrieves and evaluates aerosol layer height (ALH) during spring dust storm events observed over the Taklimakan and Gobi Desert. A novel strategy is proposed to identify single- or multi-layered aerosol scenarios in wide-swath passive sensor images from Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), aided by profiles of Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP), and use different sets of look-up tables (LUTs) to retrieve ALH accordingly. The strategy combines the advantage of two independent methods–the ability to expand three-dimensional atmospheric structure using the spectral radiance matching (SRM) method, and the ability to estimate ALH over a long distance using the aerosol single-scattering albedo and height estimation (ASHE) method. From 2012 to 2016, ALH during 4 severe dust storms is retrieved over the Taklimakan and Gobi Desert. Analysis shows that the average height and occurrence frequency retrieved fall in the same range with results from previous studies. Comparisons with ALH inferred from CALIOP profiles indicate that the combined ASHE-SRM method has improved the overall performance. The estimated ALH correlates well (R = 0.68) with those measured by CALIOP, except for areas with potential cloud contamination, but slightly overestimated over the multi-layered area; the mean absolute difference (MAD) is 1.34±1.02 km. The reason of general overestimation is exanimated with a case study of dust storm occurred on April 23, 2012. With additional ALH information retrieved over broad area, the ASHE-SRM method has great potential to improving our understanding of aerosols and related impacts.

这项研究检索并评估了在塔克拉玛干和戈壁沙漠上观测到的春季沙尘暴事件期间的气溶胶层高度（ALH）。提出了一种新的策略，可通过臭氧映射和探查器套件（OMPS）和中分辨率成像光谱仪（MODIS）在大范围被动传感器图像中识别单层或多层气溶胶场景，并借助带有正交的Cloud-Aerosol激光雷达的轮廓极化（CALIOP），并使用不同的查找表（LUT）集来相应地检索ALH。该策略结合了两种独立方法的优势-使用光谱辐射匹配（SRM）方法扩展三维大气结构的能力，以及使用气溶胶单散射反照率和高度估算来长距离估算ALH的能力（ ASHE）方法。从2012年到2016年，在塔克拉玛干和戈壁沙漠上空发现了4次严重沙尘暴中的ALH。分析表明，检索到的平均高度和发生频率与先前研究的结果在同一范围内。从CALIOP配置文件推断出的ALH的比较表明，组合的ASHE-SRM方法提高了整体性能。估计的ALH相关性很好（R  = 0.68），用CALIOP测得的值除外，除了可能被云层污染的区域外，但在多层区域上略有高估；平均绝对差（MAD）为1.34±1.02 km。2012年4月23日发生的沙尘暴案例研究证明了普遍高估的原因。随着在广泛区域中检索到更多的ALH信息，ASHE-SRM方法在增进我们对气溶胶及其相关影响的理解方面具有巨大潜力。