Aerosol properties from spectral extinction and backscatter estimated by an inverse Monte Carlo method

The feasibility of using a generalized stochastic inversion methodology to estimate aerosol size distributions accurately by use of spectral extinctio n, backscatter data, or both is examined. The stochastic method used, inver se Monte Carlo (IMC), is verified with both simulated and experimental data from aerosols composed of spherical dielectrics with a known refractive in dex. Various levels of noise are superimposed on the data such that the eff ect of noise on the stability and results of inversion can be determined. C omputational results show that the application of the IMC technique to inve rsion of spectral extinction or backscatter data or both can produce good e stimates of aerosol size distributions. Specifically, for inversions for wh ich both spectral extinction and backscatter data are used, the IMC techniq ue was extremely accurate in determining particle size distributions well o utside the wavelength range. Also, the IMC inversion results proved to be s table and accurate even when the data had significant noise, with a signal- to-noise ratio of 3. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 290.02 90, 010.0010, 290.3200, 280.1100.