Optical depth measurements and atmospheric correction of remotely sensed data for FIFE

Data derived from an airborne tracking-sun photometer are used to provide quantitative corrections for atmospheric effects in remotely sensed data. The atmospheric correction involves the validation of radiometric and atmospheric measurements and the application of single scattering approximation which permits the separation of Rayleigh scattering from aerosol scattering. Sun-photometer data are used to generate plots of spectral optical depths, aerosol size distributions, aerosol phase functions, and aerosol single-scattering albedos. The atmospheric correction model and the atmospheric optical properties are incorporated into a program which is applied to two flightlines of data. Atmospheric corrections tested on remotely sensed data permitted the removal of limb brightening, although the results require verification by means of ground measurements.