Use of NOAA AVHRR and Landsat Thematic Mapper images in support of studies of atmospheric composition

Uncertainties in the values of cloud and ground albedo impose considerable errors in the estimation from measured radiances of the vertical profiles of photochemically sensitive chemical species in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, especially at lower altitudes and for high cloud coverage. To circumvent this problem, NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images are used to provide spatially and temporally updated information on cloud, land type and cover; information is integrated in an inversion algorithm with considerable success in terms of the reduction of errors in the calculations of the mixing ratios of photochemically active species.