Aerosol analysis with the Coastal Zone Color Scanner: a simple method for including multiple scattering effects

Area of Science:

• Atmospheric science
• Oceanography
• Remote sensing

Background:

• Accurate measurement of aerosols over oceans is crucial for understanding atmospheric processes.
• Existing methods for aerosol analysis using satellite data can be computationally intensive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simplified method for retrieving aerosol radiance from satellite measurements.
• To reduce the computational burden of applying aerosol models in satellite data analysis.

Main Methods:

• Computed total backscattered radiance L(t) from a stratified atmosphere with aerosols.
• Computed Rayleigh scattered radiance L(r) for an aerosol-free atmosphere.
• Established a linear relationship between L(t) - L(r) and single-scattering aerosol radiance L(as).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a linear relationship between the difference in radiance (L(t) - L(r)) and single-scattering aerosol radiance (L(as)).
• Showed that this simplification eliminates the need for repeated multiple scattering computations when modifying aerosol models.
• Applied the method to the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) Band 4, achieving retrieval errors of 5-7%.

Conclusions:

• The developed method significantly simplifies satellite-based aerosol analysis over oceans.
• The approach reduces computational requirements, making aerosol model application more efficient.
• The findings are particularly relevant for instruments like CZCS, enabling more effective aerosol studies.