Retrieving Aerosol Size Distributions and Integral Properties From Simulated Satellite Extinction Measurements

A new method to retrieve aerosol size distribution and integral properties from the Polar Ozone and Aerosol Measurement (POAM) II and III is proposed. This method assumes that the aerosol number density in each size bin, the surface area and volume densities can be expressed as a linear combination of the measured extinctions. The coefficients in the expressions are obtained by minimizing the retrieval errors averaged over a set of testing size distributions. It is found that not all six aerosol extinctinos measured by POAM are required to retrieve aerosol properties. The derived expressions for retrieving aerosol properties are presented. The retrieval uncertainties for different aerosol properties and different satellite systems including SAGE II and III are compared and discussed. It is found that in general, the aerosol properties can be retrieved with reasonable accuracy from satellite measurements of aerosol extinctions. However, the retrieval of POAM II and III is not as accurate as SAGE II and III.