Information content of aerosol retrievals in the sunglint region

Abstract

AbstractWe exploit quantitative metrics to investigate the information content in retrievals of atmospheric aerosol parameters (with a focus on single‐scattering albedo), contained in multi‐angle and multi‐spectral measurements with sufficient dynamical range in the sunglint region. The simulations are performed for two classes of maritime aerosols with optical and microphysical properties compiled from measurements of the Aerosol Robotic Network. The information content is assessed using the inverse formalism and is compared to that deriving from observations not affected by sunglint. We find that there indeed is additional information in measurements containing sunglint, not just for single‐scattering albedo, but also for aerosol optical thickness and the complex refractive index of the fine aerosol size mode, although the amount of additional information varies with aerosol type.