Satellite retrieval of aerosol absorption over the oceans using sunglint

[1] Aerosol absorption of sunlight, in particular by black carbon soot and dark organic material produced from incomplete combustion of fossil fuel and from vegetation fires, is emerging as a key component of climate forcing. However, global characterization of black carbon emissions, distribution and absorption of sunlight cannot be determined within a factor of 5. Here we propose that the oceanic sunglint can be used as a bright background against which aerosol absorption can be measured from space. The method can map global ocean glint every 4–10 days and determine the distribution of aerosol absorption optical thickness with an error of ±25% for aerosol optical thickness of 0.2 to 0.4. 18 % of the ocean observations are for this range of optical thicknesses. The monthly average aerosol absorption is estimated to have an error of ±12% and uncertainty in the single scattering albedo of ±0.02. We outline a satellite design to perform the measurements. INDEXTERMS: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801); 0345 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution—urban and regional (0305). Citation: Kaufman, Y. J., J. V. Martins, L. A. Remer, M. R. Schoeberl, and M. A. Yamasoe, Satellite retrieval of aerosol absorption over the oceans using sunglint, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(19), 1928, doi:10.1029/ 2002GL015403, 2002.