Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1782465 | Planetary and Space Science | 2008 | 39 Pages |
Abstract
For purely fractal particles in the lowest few km, the intensity looking upward opposite to the azimuth of the sun decreases with increasing zenith angle faster than the observations in red light if the single-scattering albedo is assumed constant with altitude at these low altitudes. This discrepancy can be decreased if the single-scattering albedo decreases with altitude in this region. A possible explanation is that the brightest aerosols near 30Â km altitude contain significant amounts of methane, and that the decreasing albedo at lower altitudes may reflect the evaporation of some of the methane as the aerosols fall into dryer layers of the atmosphere. An alternative explanation is that there may be spherical particles in the bottom few kilometers of the atmosphere.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Geophysics
Authors
M.G. Tomasko, L. Doose, S. Engel, L.E. Dafoe, R. West, M. Lemmon, E. Karkoschka, C. See,