SSA

Single scattering albedo

Attributes

float | continuous | dynamic | unit-less | advanced

Description

The variable SSA (Single Scattering Albedo) is a dimension-less variable that defines the spectrally-independent ratio between an aerosol scattering and extinction coefficients, thus controling the fraction of aerosol absorption and scattering. Its values range from 0 to 1, with typical aerosol values between 0.85 and 1 (Holben et al., 1998, Hess et al., 1998, Dubovik et al., 2002).

If SSA=-1 (default value), libRadtran will internally use the predefined spectral dependency of the SSA from the aerosol model selected in IHAZE.

Defining a spectrally-constant value of SSA is useful only for monochromatic calculations or in wavelength regions where the optical properties of aerosols can be considered constant, e.g. the ultraviolet range.

References