Aerosol characterization in Bay of Bengal using IRS-P4 OCM data

The main objective of this paper is to monitor oceanic constituents (Chlorophyll, Suspended sediment, Yellow substance etc.) from the solar radiation reflected by the sea water in the wavelengths 400 - 700 nm. However, the radiation reflected by sea water is contaminated by solar backscatter produced by atmospheric air molecules and aerosols. For this ocean color satellite IRS-P4 OCM are equipped with atmospheric correction channels which measure radiances in wavelengths greater than 700 nm in which the ocean surface is dark because of high infrared absorption by water. In these wavelengths, all the detected radiances are only due to scattering in the atmosphere. From the longer wavelength radiances the atmospheric contribution is determined and removed from the detected radiances using an atmospheric correction algorithm and the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), which is a measure of aerosols, can be calculated from different wavelengths