LARISSA (Lidar Aerosol Retrieval based on Information from Surface Signal of Aeolus) was introduced to complement the existing set of operational Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) retrievals. LARISSA relies on the combination of lidar surface returns and modeled winds from Aeolus observations.
LARISSA is a unique demonstrated retrieval, providing the only existing AOD estimates retrieved the from the Aeolus (incidence angle = 37.5o, ultraviolet wavelength) lidar surface returns from water surfaces. For this unique setup the latest theoretical formalism of sea surface reflectance is being used.
LARISSA resultant datasets contain the resultant AOD estimates from LARISSA and the parameters required to recalculate AOD at the given setup for the user’s convenience.
LARISSA datasets can be accessed from the KDP:
Project Goals
The LARISSA products are developed at the Royal Institute of Meteorological Sciences (KNMI) in the SWAILS (NSO) and SWAILS+ (ESA) projects.
The resulting aerosol products from LARISSA are beneficial because it provided
- Deeper understanding of the wind speed dependence in off-nadir ocean surface scattering in the ultraviolet.
- Better understanding of sea surface reflectance at ultraviolet wavelength and highly non-nadir incidence of Aeolus
- Collocated AOD estimates, independent from any assumption on lidar ratio, i.e. aerosol type, which is normally required to enable the retrieval of AOD values from lidar backscatter profiles
- Support of future lidar missions with nadir and non-nadir viewing angles in the UV, i.e., the EarthCARE mission lidar ATLID and the Aeolus 2 mission.
The questions about LARISSA can be sent to lev.labzovskii@knmi.nl or gerd-jan.van.zadelhoff@knmi.nl