Earth’s Stratospheric Aerosol Parameters Reconstruction from Polarimetric Measurements of the Sky

Abstract

Earth’s climate changes are the result of natural changes in the energy balance of Sun irradiation and influence of anthropogenic factors on the variations of ozone layer thickness and stratospheric aerosol abundance. It is developed a miniature polarimeter for satellite polarimetric experiments in the ultraviolet region of the sunlight spectrum. The main task of this device is to the obtain an information on the stratospheric aerosol physical properties. We tested this polarimeter on a bench specially designed and manufactured as well. It is possible to measure by it the phase dependences of the degree of linear polarization (DLP) of solar radiation scattered by the Earth’s atmosphere. A set of special computer programs was developed for comparing the spectral polarimetric measurements DLP data of cloudless sky with model calculations of DLP for the artificial gas-aerosol medium. Thus, the prototype of satellite polarimeter as well as special computer programs make it possible to study the Earth’s atmosphere aerosol physical characteristics.