Retrieval of aerosol properties from zenith sky radiance measurements

• Published in: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
• Main Authors: Herrero-Anta, Sara, Román, Roberto, Mateos, David, González, Ramiro, Antuña-Sánchez, Juan Carlos, Herreras Giralda, Marcos, Almansa Rodríguez, Antonio Fernando, González-Fernández, Daniel, Herrero del Barrio, Celia, Toledano, Carlos, Cachorro, Victoria E., Frutos Baraja, Ángel Máximo de
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: European Geosciences Union 2023
• Subjects: Aerosol properties; GRASP algorithm; Zenith sky radiance; Atmospheric aerosols; Aerosol Robotic Network
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11765/15305

This study explores the potential to retrieve aerosol properties with the GRASP algorithm (Generalized Retrieval of Atmosphere and Surface Properties) using as input measurements of zenith sky radiance (ZSR), which are sky radiance values measured in the zenith direction, recorded at four wavelengths by a ZEN-R52 radiometer. To this end, the ZSR measured at 440, 500, 675 and 870 nm by a ZEN-R52 (ZSRZEN), installed in Valladolid (Spain), is employed. This instrument is calibrated by intercomparing the signal of each channel with coincident ZSR values simulated (ZSRSIM) at the same wavelengths with a radiative transfer model (RTM). These simulations are carried out using the GRASP forward module as RTM and the aerosol information from a co-located CE318 photometer belonging to AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) as input. The dark signal and the signal dependence on temperature are characterized and included in the calibration process. This research has been supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant no. PID2021-127588OBI00) and the Junta de Castilla y León (grant no. VA227P20).