AVHRR remote sensing of aerosol optical properties in the Persian Gulf region, summer 1991

Satellite remote sensing is studied in this paper for retrieving aerosol parameters, i.e., aerosol optical thickness at 0.5 μm τ0.5, size exponent p, and absorption index κ, from channel 1 and 2 radiances of the NOAA 11 advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) in the Persian Gulf region in the summer of 1991. Results of the remote sensing are compared with ground‐based values obtained from solar radiation measurements with a sunphotometer and a pyranometer in Bushehr, Iran. It is found that tuning the calibration coefficients of AVHRR and introduction of a suitable aerosol absorption are needed for a good agreement between satellite‐derived and ground‐based values of τ0.5. The aerosol absorption index is also retrieved with two methods, i.e., simultaneous analyses with ground‐based τ0.5 and p, and the Fraser‐Kaufman method. Retrieved values of the aerosol single‐scattering albedo are ω ≈ 0.75 and 0.70 from the two methods, respectively, for the Kuwait oil‐fire smoke layer. The single scattering albedo of another case, which is regarded as a sand‐dust layer, is estimated to be ω ≈ 0.76 with the Fraser‐Kaufman method