LITE Tropospheric Aerosol Measurements
The impact of tropospheric aerosols on the global radiative budget is not well understood due
to our lack of knowledge on the global distribution and characteristics of natural and
anthropogenic aerosols. Anthropogenic sulfate aerosols may in fact be mitigating the
predicted greenhouse warming. The sources and sinks of tropospheric aerosols and the
long-range transport of aerosols in the free troposphere are also poorly understood. Existing
satellite instruments have limited sensitivity to aerosols, particularly over land where the major
sources lie, and do not provide information on the vertical distribution.
Phenomena of particular interest observed during the LITE mission are the transport of desert
dust from the Sahara and the generation and transport of aerosols of anthropogenic origin,
such as from biomass burning in the tropics and urban pollution from the industrialized
regions of the Northern Hemisphere.