title: Parameterization of aerosol and cirrus cloud effects on reflected sunlight spectra measured from space: application of the equivalence theorem.
abstract: An original methodology to account for aerosol and cirrus cloud contributions to reflected sunlight is described. This method can be applied to the problem of retrieving greenhouse gases from satellite-observed data and is based on the equivalence theorem with further parameterization of the photon path-length probability density function (PPDF). Monte Carlo simulation was used to validate this parameterization for a vertically nonhomogeneous atmosphere including an aerosol layer and cirrus clouds. Initial approximation suggests that the PPDF depends on four parameters that can be interpreted as the effective cloud height, cloud relative reflectance, and two additional factors to account for photon path-length distribution under the cloud. We demonstrate that these parameters can be efficiently retrieved from the nadir radiance measured in the oxygen A-band and from the H(2)O-saturated area of the CO(2) 2.0 microm spectral band.
authors: National Institute for Enviornmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan. andrey.bril@nies.go.jp
authors: Andrey
authors: A
authors: Bril
authors: Sergey
authors: S
authors: Oshchepkov
authors: Tatsuya
authors: T
authors: Yokota
authors: Gen
authors: G
authors: Inoue
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D000465:Algorithms; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D017752:Greenhouse Effect; D010783:Photometry / Q000379:methods*; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D013472:Sunlight; D014887:Weather
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D002245:Carbon Dioxide