Method for estimation of refractive index and size distribution of aerosol using direct and diffuse solar irradiance and aureole by means of simulated annealing Original Research Article

An estimation method for refractive index and size distribution of aerosols using measurements of direct and diffuse solar irradiance as well as the solar aureole by means of a modified simulated annealing is proposed. The proposed method is based on simulated annealing modified to acceralate a learning process by using a gradually decreasing oscillation function of temperature of annealing. By a using Gauss Seidel based atmospheric code, simulation data of direct and diffuse solar irradiance are generated together with estimated aureole measurements by means of an empirical method derived from experimental data. A comparison between the existing method proposed by P Romanov et.al. based on a linear inversion method and the proposed method is made. The results show double improvement of the estimation accuracy for both the aerosol size distribution and refractive index.