Hyperspectral Estimation of Aerosol Parameters and Water-Leaving-Radiance in Dusty Atmospheres

The scientific aims that motivate our work on this project are: (1) to understand quantitatively the multiple-scattering physics underlying spaceborne hyperspectral and lidar observations of atmospheric aerosols and surface reflectivity; (2) to develop rigorous, stable (i.e., genuinely useful) inverse methods to interpret such observations in terms of geophysical quantities, based on the mathematics of inverse radiative transfer; and (3) to apply such methods to gain otherwise unavailable insight into geophysical interactions of the ocean, the atmosphere, and land surfaces.