Results from the Fourth WMO Filter Radiometer Comparison for aerosol optical depth measurements

Abstract. This study presents the results of the Fourth Filter Radiometer Comparison that was held in Davos, Switzerland, between 28 September and 16 October 2015. Thirty filter radiometers and spectroradiometers from 12 countries participated including reference instruments from global aerosol networks. The absolute differences of all instruments compared to the reference have been based on the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) criterion defined as follows: 95% of the measured data has to be within 0.005 ± 0.001∕m (where m is the air mass). At least 24 out of 29 instruments achieved this goal at both 500 and 865 nm, while 12 out of 17 and 13 out of 21 achieved this at 368 and 412 nm,…