INVESTIGATION OF ATMOSPHERIC AEROSOLS BASED ON POLARIZATION MEASUREMENTS AND SCATTERING SIMULATIONS

For an ongoing project involving ocean color and temperature scanner a nd polarization and directionary of the earth's reflectance onboard th e advanced earth observing satellite, the radiance and degree of polar ization of atmospheric aerosols were measured with a portable photopol arimeter (FPR2000) at wavelengths of 0.559, 0.760 and 0.811 mu m. The observations were undertaken over the ocean around Shikoku Island of J apan on clear days with few clouds in July, 1995. The measurements wer e compared with simulations of polarization fields. This work also des cribes retrieval algorithms for aerosols. It is shown that: (I) the ra diance decreases with wavelength, (2) oceanic type aerosols are availa ble to evaluate the degree of polarization over the Pacific Ocean, and (3) polarization data in the Seto Inland Sea are explained by a water -soluble aerosol model.