Polarized Aerosol retrieval algorithm over urban surfaces

Atmospheric aerosols play an important role in both climate forces and air quality, and different algorithms have been developed using satellite images to describe their spatial dispersal and evolution over time. In this study, a high resolution, multispectral, polarized aerosol retrieval algorithm (PARA) was developed and used to estimate surface reflectance of Landsat 4–7 Land Surface Reflectance products. The aerosols’ microphysical data from the Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds database were used to retrieve the aerosols’ optical properties over two locations within the Arabian plate. The Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) ground-based sun photometer measurements were used to validate the PARA. Validation showed that PARA retrievals are well correlated with AERONET measurements (R2 = 0.965 and 0.967), with a mean absolute error of 0.04 and 0.07, and a root mean square error of 0.085 and 0.080. The PARA can describe aerosol components over different locations and provides detailed spatial distributions of aerosol optical properties.