Articles | Volume 8, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4295-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4295-2015
Research article
 | 
14 Oct 2015
Research article |  | 14 Oct 2015

A new method of measuring aerosol optical properties from digital twilight photographs

M. Saito and H. Iwabuchi

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Cited articles

Adams, C. N., Plass, G. N., and Kattawar, G. W.: The influence of ozone and aerosols on the brightness and color of the twilight sky, J. Atmos. Sci., 31, 1662–1674, 1974.
Berkoff, T. A., Sorokin, M., Stone, T., Eck, T. F., Hoff, R., Welton, E., and Holben, B.: Nocturnal aerosol optical depth measurements with a small-aperture automated photometer using the moon as a light source, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 28, 1297–1306, 2011.
Bohren, C. F. and Huffman, D. R.: Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2008.
Bourassa, A. E., Degenstein, D. A., Gattinger, R. L., and Llewellyn, E. J.: Stratospheric aerosol retrieval with optical spectrograph and infrared imaging system limb scatter measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D10217, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD008079, 2007.
Dave, J. V. and Mateer, C. L.: The effect of stratospheric dust on the color of the twilight sky, J. Geophys. Res., 73, 6897–6913, 1968.
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Short summary
A new algorithm for aerosol retrievals from twilight photographs taken by a digital single reflex-lens camera is developed. A radiative transfer model taking spherical-shell atmosphere, multiple scattering and refraction into account is used as a forward model, and the optimal estimation is used as an inversion calculation to infer the aerosol optical and radiative properties. The AOTs are inferred with small uncertainties and agree very well with that from the skyradiometer.
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