Comparing the Retrieval of Aerosol Properties From Several Solar Occultation Measurements

The retrieval of aerosol properties including surface area density, volume density, and effective radius from several solar occultation measurements under different conditions is studied. The satellite experiments under consideration are SAGE II, SAGE III, HALOE, and POAM III. The influence of aerosol composition, size parameters, and measurement uncertainty on the retrieval accuracy is discussed. It is found that not all wavelength-dependent aerosol extinctions measured by these experiments are required to retrieve aerosol properties. The advantages of using only part of the measurement data is discussed. It is also found that an uncertainty in aerosol compositions has only produced a few percent error in the retrieved aerosol property. The strategy of validating aerosol properties measured or retrieved by different experiments is discussed and some examples of data intercomparison are presented.