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Abstract

Atmospheric aerosol absorption depends on the interaction of complex chemical, physical and radiative processes during airmass transport and transformation. Some of these processes are beyond the complexity captured in current models and some of them are equally difficult to constrain with observations. Hence, multi-instrument observations to accurately measure aerosol absorption and various atmospheric conditions at various stages of this processing seem a sensible approach to the refinement and validation of atmospheric models, and to the combined use of models and observations for studying the resulting aerosol impacts on climate. This talk will present observations of atmospheric aerosols from a selection of field deployments and satellite retrievals over the past 25 years, emphasizing the evolution of measurement capabilities. Based on the need to develop new observational constrains for aerosol absorption, we will showcase how newly collected remote sensing data sets are used to develop novel aerosol retrieval algorithms, using polarimeter and lidar measurements as retrieval inputs. We will describe the significance of aerosol absorption for the scientific objectives of the NASA AOS (Atmosphere Observing System) project, recommended by the 2017 Decadal Survey and recently promoted to phase-A status. We will discuss new joint lidar-polarimeter retrieval simulations that have been produced to help assess potential satellite architectures and instrument combinations for the AOS mission. Based on the intercomparisons between models and observations, we will conclude with an assessment of which complexities pertaining to aerosol absorption are likely to be constrained by future measurement concepts.