Retrieval of aerosol optical depth in vicinity of broken clouds from reflectance ratios: a novel approach

Evgueni Kassianov; Mikhail Ovtchinnikov; Larry Berg; Sally McFarlane; Connor Flynn

doi:10.1117/12.801288

13 October 2008 Retrieval of aerosol optical depth in vicinity of broken clouds from reflectance ratios: a novel approach

Evgueni Kassianov, Mikhail Ovtchinnikov, Larry Berg, Sally McFarlane, Connor Flynn

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7107, Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XIII; 71070V (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.801288
Event: SPIE Remote Sensing, 2008, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

Abstract

A novel method for the retrieval of aerosol optical depth (AOD) under partly cloudy conditions has been suggested. The method exploits reflectance ratios, which are not sensitive to the three-dimensional (3D) effects of clouds. As a result, the new method provides an effective way to avoid the 3D cloud effects, which otherwise would have a large (up to 140%) contaminating impact on the aerosol retrievals. The 1D version of the radiative transfer model has been used to develop look-up tables (LUTs) of reflectance ratios as functions of two parameters describing the spectral dependence of AOD (a power law). The new method implements an innovative 2D inversion for simultaneous retrieval of these two parameters and, thus, the spectral behavior of AOD. The performance of the new method has been illustrated with a model-output inverse problem. We demonstrated that the new retrieval has the potential for (i) detection of clear pixels outside of cloud shadows, (ii) increased "harvest" of such pixels, and (iii) accurate (~15%) estimation of AOD for the majority of them.

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Evgueni Kassianov, Mikhail Ovtchinnikov, Larry Berg, Sally McFarlane, and Connor Flynn "Retrieval of aerosol optical depth in vicinity of broken clouds from reflectance ratios: a novel approach", Proc. SPIE 7107, Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XIII, 71070V (13 October 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.801288

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