Investigation of atmospheric aerosols based on polarization measurements and scattering simulations

Abstract

For an ongoing project involving ocean color and temperature scanner and polarization and directionary of the earth’s reflectance onboard the advanced earth observing satellite, the radiance and degree of polarization of atmospheric aerosols were measured with a portable photopolarimeter (FPR2000) at wavelengths of 0.559, 0.760 and 0.811 μm. The observations were undertaken over the ocean around Shikoku Island of Japan on clear days with few clouds in July, 1995. The measurements were compared with simulations of polarization fields. This work also describes retrieval algorithms for aerosols. It is shown that: (1) the radiance decreases with wavelength, (2) oceanic type aerosols are available to evaluate the degree of polarization over the Pacific Ocean, and (3) polarization data in the Seto Inland Sea are explained by a water-soluble aerosol model.