Tropospheric Aerosols by Passive Radiometry

Abstract

Problems and solutions in the retrieval of tropospheric aerosol properties from satellite passive radiometry are described in this chapter. Because of the complexity in giving the full description of tropospheric aerosols (in terms of composition, size distribution, particle shape and vertical distribution) a preliminary section is dedicated to the definitions of aerosol components and models that are commonly used for remote sensing purposes. A relatively important issue in the satellite remote sensing of the aerosols is to separate the contribution to the measured signal due to the interaction of the electromagnetic radiation with the aerosol from the other contributions (e.g. clouds and surface). Reviewing some of the current techniques, a classification is proposed which is based on the radiation-aerosols interactions generating the observed signal. The reader should be aware that aerosol remote sensing from satellite is a field that is currently knowing an expansion, both in terms of development and availability of new sensors as well as for the development of remote sensing techniques. As a consequence, by the time this contribution will be available to the readers part of the content may need to be updated with current literature from journals.