Sensitivity metric approach for retrieval of aerosol properties from multiangular and multispectral polarized radiances.

Linearly polarized radiation is sensitive to the microphysical properties of aerosols, namely, to the particle-size distribution and refractive index. The discriminating power of polarized radiation increases strongly with the increasing range of scattering angles and the addition of multiple wavelengths. The polarization and directionality of the Earth's reflectances (POLDER) missions demonstrate that some aerosol properties can be successfully derived from spaceborne polarimetric, multiangular measurements at two visible wavelengths.