Path-radiance correction by polarization observation of Sun glint glitter for remote measurements of tropospheric greenhouse gases

High-accuracy remote measurement of greenhouse gases is hampered by contamination of the field of view by the path radiance of solar radiation scattered from clouds and aerosols. A method is proposed for eliminating the effect of path radiance by differentiating two components of polarized light. The polarization of path radiance is measured directly at the wave-number region of strong water-vapor absorption. Using this measurement, we eliminate the components of path radiance involved in other bands, which are used for greenhouse gas measurements, by differentiating two components of the polarized light. It is shown that the effect of path radiance on retrieving the column amount of gases potentially can be reduced to below 0.1%. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.