The relationship between marine aerosol particles and satellite‐detected radiance

Abstract

An experiment is described which investigated the relationship between marine aerosol particles and satellite‐detected radiance. The experiment resulted in a near‐simultaneous set of visible and near‐infrared satellite images and aircraft aerosol particle and state variable measurements. These data demonstrated that satellite‐detected radiance at red‐visible and near‐infrared wavelengths is positively correlated with aerosol optical depth. Further, the data show that relative humidity changes account for variations in aerosol particle size which in turn lead to variations in satellite‐detected upwelling radiance. Therefore it appears possible to use satellite imagery to investigate variations of marine boundary layer aerosol particles and relative humidity.