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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 10, 1398, doi:10.1029/2002GL014947, 2002

Importance of shapes and compositions of wind-blown dust particles for remote sensing at solar wavelengths

Olga V. Kalashnikova

Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA


Irina N. Sokolik

Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA


Abstract

The quality of satellite aerosol retrievals depends critically upon the modeling accuracy of the aerosol optical properties. The optical properties of mineral aerosols depend on particle morphology, mineralogy, and state of mixing. Here we investigate how the realistic morphology and composition of dust particles affect the optical properties of dust mixtures by utilizing microscopy data that recently become available of dust samples collected in the atmosphere. The data were used to reconstruct the representative composition-shape-size (CSS) distributions and then the discrete dipole approximation technique was applied to calculate the optical properties. We demonstrate that the presence of sharp-edge, angular-type particles results in various differences in the scattering phase function, asymmetry parameter, optical depth and single scattering albedo compared to those of the volume-equivalent spheres or ellipses. These differences are sufficiently large as to affect the retrievals of aerosol optical properties from satellite and ground-based remote sensing observations at the solar wavelengths.

Published 23 May 2002.

Index Terms: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801); 0360 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Transmission and scattering of radiation; 6969 Radio Science: Remote sensing.

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Citation: Kalashnikova, O. V., and I. N. Sokolik (2002), Importance of shapes and compositions of wind-blown dust particles for remote sensing at solar wavelengths, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(10), 1398, doi:10.1029/2002GL014947.