Aerosol optical depth determination from along track scanning radiometer (ATSR) data

The remote sensing of aerosol over land remains a difficult task. The physical interpretation of simultaneous multiangle observations represents a relatively new approach to remote sensing of terrestrial geophysical and biophysical parameters. In the present paper we attempt a solution to the problem of retrieval of aerosol optical depth and surface reflectance from satellite radiance measurements based on a solution of the radiative transfer equation. We have developed an operational method which relies on multiple view angle observations or multiple solar zenith angle observations of the surface to accomplish part of this task in a routine manner. This approach can be used for ERS-2 ATSR/AATSR visible bands because there will be two view angle observations for the same area at the same time. This approach requires that the visibility of the area should be more than 5 km for multiple solar zenith angle observations applications.