Atmospheric data spatial averages

From these and other data it follows that accuracy in the estimate of radiation balance as a function of space coordinates depends on cloud distribution, their state, and atmospheric pollution, as well as on the chosen size of pixels for spatial averaging. In this connection, Henderson and Chylek (2005) used image data from the Multispectral Thermal Imager to evaluate the effect of spatial resolution on aerosol optical depth retrieval from satellite imagery. It was shown that aerosol optical depth (AOD) depends weakly on pixel size in the range 40 x 80 m2 to 2,040 x 4,080 m2 in the absence of clouds and changes monotonically with the growing size of pixels in clouds. 

Finally, a few words must be added about spatial averages. They are important in all global considerations of atmospheric trace constituents. A continuous three-dimensional representation of data is neither practical nor... 

The numerical models used in air pollution studies are normally based on a space- and time-averaged description of the atmosphere. For urban areas, these models have a typical spatial resolution of 1-5 km consequently, data entered into the model... 

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