Evaluation of retrieval algorithms for atmospheric aerosols with multi-directional observations by ADEOS/POLDER Original Research Article

The first space-based polarization measurements were undertaken by ADEOS/POLDER. The POLDER has supplied the observed data not only in the multi-wavelength bands but also at the multi-viewing angles. These directional measurements include significant information of atmospheric aerosols. This work is a feasibility study of multi-directional data for the retrieval of aerosols characteristics. The basic algorithms for aerosol retrieval is based on light scattering simulations of polarization field, where the heterogeneous aerosol model according to Maxwell-Garnett mixing rule is considered. It is shown that polarization data observed at multi-angles is a powerful tool to retrieve aerosol characteristics, and that the obtained aerosol distribution indicates the regional trend of atmospheric condition over the North Pacific Ocean near Japan.