Sun-Photometer Observations of Aerosol Optical Thickness over the North Atlantic from a Soviet Research Vessel for Validation of Satellite Measurements

• Published in: Journal of atmospheric and oceanic technology 1993-10, Vol.10 (5), p.725-735
• Main Authors: Korotaev, Gennady K., Sakerin, Sergey M., Ignatov, Aleksandr M., Stowe, Larry L., McClain, E. Paul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Marine
• ISSN: 0739-0572; 1520-0426
• DOI: 10.1175/1520-0426(1993)010<0725:SPOOAO>2.0.CO;2

This paper deals with the problem of aerosol optical thickness ( tau super(A)) retrieval using sun-photometer measurements. This results of the theoretical analysis and computer processing of the dataset collected during the 40th cruise of the R/V Akademik Vernadsky are presented. Accuracy of retrieved tau super(A) is investigated in detail. It is concluded that 1) the tau super(A) measurements from the three shortest wavelength channels are sufficiently accurate (0.02-0.03) for evaluation of the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer aerosol optical thickness operational product; 2) serious discrepancies exist between observation and theory for the two longest wavelength channels, which preclude their use in aerosol optical property studies. Further investigations are required, with emphasis on the computation of atmospheric gaseous absorption, before these channels can be used. Shipboard tau super(A) will be compared with satellite data from the NOAA/National Environment Satellite Data and Information Service in a subsequent paper.