Semi-empirical BRDF and BPDF models applied to the problem of aerosol retrievals over land: testing on airborne data and implications for modeling of top-of-atmosphere measurements

Abstract

For the retrieval of atmospheric aerosol properties from satellite measurements, the atmospheric signal should be correctly separated from the surface signal. This represents one of the most important challenges in the development of algorithms for the retrieval of aerosol properties over land surfaces. Intrinsic reflectance properties of surfaces can be described by the Bidirectional Reflectance and Polarization Distribution Functions (BRDF and BPDF). In this chapter, we investigate the performance of different semi-empirical BRDF and BPDF models as they relate to the requirements for aerosol retrievals over land. First, we test BRDF and BPDF for bare soil and vegetation surfaces using multi-angle, multispectral photopolarimetric airborne measurements of the Research Scanning Polarimeter. Then, we investigate the capability of the different models to represent top-of-atmosphere measurements.