Possibilities for the Retrieval of Aerosol Vertical Profiles from Space Using Hyper Spectral Radiance Measurements in the Oxygen Absorption Bands

摘要

Upcoming spaceborne instruments such as OCO2, FLORIS, and CarbonSat offer possibilities to retrieve the vertical aerosol extinction profile over land using their hyper spectral measurement capabilities in the oxygen absorption bands. The expected retrieval uncertainty for a FLORIS like instrument is discussed for varying aerosol optical thickness, single scattering albedo, and varying surface inhomogeneity. The spectral resolution of 0.3nm in the oxygen A and B bands and the SNR of > 500 allows a possible retrieval with an uncertainty of 30% for aerosol vertical structure. Using the two bands together includes a higher range of possible surface reflectances for each case, which can improve the retrieval.