Optical characterization of tropospheric aerosols

Complex calculations of optical scattering using high-speed electronic computers have become so commonplace that the technology has evolved into several specialty fields, e.g., extinction spectroscopy, angular scattering measurements and nephelometry. As a consequence, the overall technology and our ability to remotely characterize or quantitatively analyze atmospheric aerosols might be further advanced than is realized by workers in the individual disciplines who do not have the time to keep up with advances in other disciplines. This paper examines techniques of transmission (extinction) and turbidity spectroscopy, polarization and angular scattering measurements and related developments and concludes that computer programs can be written to optimize desired parameters in interdisciplinary investigations.