Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Aerosol Properties
Summary
Remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols has evolved into a cornerstone of climate and air-quality research, enabling continuous, global observations of particulate matter suspended in the atmosphere. By exploiting the interaction of sunlight with aerosol particles, instruments aboard satellites, aircraft and ground-based platforms retrieve key properties such as aerosol optical depth, particle size distribution and composition. These observations underpin numerical models of radiative forcing, inform public health assessments and guide emission-control policies. Advances in spectral resolution, multi-angle viewing and polarimetric measurement have markedly improved the accuracy of aerosol retrievals over both land and ocean. Synergistic approaches—combining lidar profiling, sun-photometry and imaging spectrometry—now deliver three-dimensional characterisations of aerosol layers, capturing their vertical distribution and transport pathways. This integrated framework supports real-time monitoring of volcanic plumes, dust storms and biomass burning, while long-term data records furnish crucial evidence for trends in anthropogenic and natural aerosol sources.
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Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Aerosol Properties publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol properties across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD): A dimensionless measure of the extinction of solar radiation by aerosol particles in a vertical column of atmosphere.
Single-Scattering Albedo (SSA): The fraction of incident light scattered (rather than absorbed) by particles, indicative of aerosol absorptivity.
Angström Exponent: A spectral parameter describing the wavelength dependence of aerosol optical depth, used to infer particle size.
Polarimetry: Measurement of the polarization state of scattered light, exploited to derive aerosol composition and microphysical properties.
Lidar Profiling: Active remote-sensing technique using laser pulses to resolve the vertical distribution of aerosols and clouds.
References
- The EnMAP imaging spectroscopy mission towards operations. Remote Sensing of Environment (2023).
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