Transferring the calibration of direct solar irradiance to diffuse-sky radiance measurements for CIMEL Sun-sky radiometers

Two types of sunphotometric measurement are considered in this study: direct-Sun irradiance and diffuse-sky radiance. Based on CIMEL CE318 Sun-sky radiometer characteristics, we introduce a gain-corrected solid angle that allows interconverting calibration coefficients of these two types of measurement, thus realizing a "vicarious" radiance calibration. The accuracy of the gain-corrected solid angle depends on the number of available historical calibration records. The method is easy to use, provided that at least one laboratory calibration has been made previously. Examples coming from three distinct CE318 versions belonging to the AERONET/PHOTONS network are presented to provide details on the vicarious calibration method and protocols. From the error propagation analysis and the comparison with laboratory results, the uncertainty of the vicarious radiance calibration is shown to be comparable with the laboratory one, e.g., 3%-5%.     

Analysis of the POLDER polarization measurements performed overcloud covers

The POLDER instrument is designed to provide wide field of view bidimensional images in polarized light. During campaigns of the airborne version of the instrument, images of homogeneous cloud fields were acquired in polarized bands centered at 450 and 850 nm. The polarization of these images is analyzed. The bidirectional polarization distribution function measured in the 850 nm band is shown to make evident the liquid phase of the cloud droplets, by the large characteristic polarization of the cloudbows detected in backward scattering directions. The sensitivity of this feature to cloud parameters is discussed. On the contrary, for observation directions at about 90°-100° from the Sun, the cloud polarization is negligible. In these directions, the polarized light observed in the 450 nm band is characteristic of the molecular scattering about the cloud, which allows the cloud top altitude to be derived. The feasibility of the method is analyzed and is tested on cloud pictures acquired at different altitudes above cloud fields     

Retrieval of aerosol optical and physical properties from ground-based spectral, multi-angular, and polarized sun-photometer measurements

An inversion algorithm to retrieve a complete set of aerosol optical and physical properties has been developed. The algorithm is based on sun-photometer measurements with emphasis on polarimetric observations. At present, these polarized sun-photometer observations are mainly provided by PHOTONS network included in AERONET worldwide network. With ground-based measurement of direct sun irradiance, as well as total and polarized sky radiance, most of key characteristics of atmospheric aerosols are retrieved, including spectral single-scattering albedo from UV to NIR wavelength, elements of scattering matrix F₁₁ and − F₁₂ (i.e. phase function and polarized phase function), complex refractive index, and size distribution. These parameters are fundamentally valuable in atmospheric physical and chemical studies. The theoretical accuracy is assessed based on three distinct bimodal log-normal aerosol models. The sensitivity studies to measurement uncertainties and to observing geometrical conditions are implemented to estimate the retrieval accuracy. Examples of typical retrievals when applying to real measurements are illustrated and compared with AERONET operational inversions. The particle shape-independent advantage of the retrieved single-scattering albedo, phase function, and polarized phase function is validated by considering a non-spherical aerosol model, which consisted of spheroid particles.     

Evaluation of PARASOL aerosol retrieval over North East Asia

The third POLDER (POLarization and Directionality of the Earth Reflectance) instrument, PARASOL (Polarization & Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations from a Lidar) was launched in December 2004 and started its operational life at the early beginning of March 2005. This study is devoted to the regional validation of PARASOL aerosol retrieval scheme over land surfaces against independent automatic sun-photometers located in the northeast part of China at the Beijing and Xianghe sites both included in AERONET (Aerosol Robotic Network). PARASOL Level 2 Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) is shown, thanks to the high quality sun-photometer dataset, to be quite consistent with the AERONET AOT of the fine fractional part of the size distribution (radius ≤ 0.3 μm). In other words, PARASOL retrieval over land is mainly sensitive to the anthropogenic aerosols which are known for influencing the climate, environment as well as human health. Moreover, analysis of polarization in the 490 nm band (Level 1 data) shows the possibility of dust type aerosol identification thus yielding to a potential algorithm improvement in the future.     

Cloud detection and derivation of cloud properties from POLDER

POLDER (POLarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances) is a new instrument devoted to the globalobservation of the polarization and directionality of solar radiation reflected by the Earth surface-atmosphere system. This radiometer has been on board the Japanese ADEOS platform since August 1996. This paper describes the main algorithms of the POLDER 'Earth radiation budget (ERB) & clouds' processing line used to derive products on a routine basis in the early phase of the mission. In addition to the bidirectional reflectance and polarization distribution functions, the main products will be the cloud optical thickness, pressure (from two different methods) and thermodynamic phase. Airborne POLDER observations support the present algorithms for the cloud detection and the derivation of cloud properties.     

Dust optical properties retrieved from ground-based polarimetric measurements

We have systematically processed one year of sunphotometer measurements (recorded at five AERONET/PHOTONS sites in Africa) in order to assess mineral dust optical properties with the use of a new polarimetry-based algorithm. We consider the Cimel CE318 polarized sunphotometer version to obtain single-scattering albedo, scattering phase matrix elements F(11) and F(12) for dust aerosols selected with Angstr?m exponents ranging from -0.05 to 0.25. Retrieved F(11) and F(12) differ significantly from those of spherical particles. The degree of linear polarization -F(12)/F(11) for single scattering of atmospheric total column dust aerosols in the case of unpolarized incident light is systematically retrieved for the first time to our knowledge from sunphotometer measurements and shows consistency with previous laboratory characterizations of nonspherical particles.     

Aerosol characteristics during the coolest June month over New Delhi,northern India

June 2008, which is also the transition month between two major seasons for Indo-Gangetic Basin (IGB), has been identified the coolest June over New Delhi during the past century, showing mean temperature of 31.6 ± 1.7°C, which was found to be ～2°C less than its climatological mean (33.9°C). Aerosol optical properties for this month and thus obtained physical parameters have been studied using data from the CIMEL sun/sky radiometer, installed in New Delhi under the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) programme. Results reveal bimodal aerosol volume size distribution. The monthly mean values for aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 500 nm (0.96 ± 0.31) and Ångström exponent at the wavelength pair of 440–870 nm (0.79 ± 0.42) show significant lower values whereas single scattering albedo at 675 nm shows a significantly larger value (0.94 ± 0.04) compared with previous measurements over the station. Results suggest dominance of scattering-type particles such as water-soluble aerosols from anthropogenic sources and dust aerosols from natural sources with higher relative humidity over the station. Radiative forcing caused due to the aerosols for the month of June 2008, which have been computed using the radiative-transfer model, informs low forcing at the top of atmosphere (TOA,?+14 W m^?2) as well as at surface (?33 W m^?2). The resultant atmospheric forcing (+47 W m^?2) indicates warming effect that caused heating of lower atmosphere at the rate of 0.89 K day^?1.