Other Names

ω , ω_o

Definition

It is a measure of the effectiveness of scattering relative to extinction for the light encountering the atmospheric aerosol particles.
In radiative transfer studies, single scattering albedo is the ratio of scattering optical depth to the total optical depth (scattering + extinction) of the atmosphere. It is a dimensionless quantity and ranges from 0 to 1.

Applications

(1) Computation of Scattering Phase function	(3) Radiative Transfer Model
(2) Characterization of Aerosol Particles	(4) Earth Radiation Budget Study

GES DISC Datasets

Quick Search for 'Aerosol Single Scattering Albedo' with Mirador
Click on the corresponding 'WHOM access' links in the table below to access products containing specific parameter.

Parameter	Units	Platform /Instrument	Data
			Begin Date	End Date	WHOM Access	Doc
Aerosol Single Scattering Albedo over land and ocean at ground pixel resolution	None	Aura/OMI	2004-08-15	Current	OMAERUV.003	Y
Aerosol Single Scattering Albedo over land and ocean at ground pixel resolution globally gridded (0.25 deg lat/lon grids)	None	Aura/OMI	2004-08-15	Current	OMAERUVG.003	Y

Other sources for data

1. AERONET (Ground-based Aerosol Robotic Network)