Aerosol Optics

This new text offers experienced students a comprehensive review of available techniques for the remote sensing of aerosols. These small particles influence both atmospheric visibility and the thermodynamics of the atmosphere. They are also of great importance in any consideration of climate change problems. Aerosols may also be responsible for the loss of harvests, human health problems and ecological disasters. Thus, this detailed study of aerosol properties on a global scale could not be more timely.In Aerosol Optics, Alexander Kokhanovsky provides a comprehensive review of available techniques for the remote sensing of aerosols. Although mostly satellite remote sensing is considered, ground-based techniques are also discussed. The work is founded on the solid basis of radiative transfer theory, coupled with Maxwell theory for the calculation of the scattering properties of small particles. IN particular, the author describes techniques for the determination of the column concentration of aerosol particles and their optical sizing using spaceborne optical instrumentation. The majority of the techniques described in this book use a so-called "library method". This method relies upon the precalculated top-of-atmosphere reflectances (TOAR) for vaious atmospheric aerosol types. The comparison of measured and calculated TOARS allows one to characterize the optically-equivalent aerosol state.