Assessing the sensitivity of satellite polarimetric observations to the optical properties of phytoplankton in the ocean

The Spectro-Polarimeter for Exploration (SPEXone) and the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter #2 (HARP2), aboard NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite, provide multi-band, multi-angle polarimetric observations of aerosols, clouds, and ocean surfaces. To improve the characterization of phytoplankton optical properties, we developed the Oceanic Phytoplankton Single-Scattering Database (OPSD), which models the optical properties of phytoplankton as irregular core-shell hexahedra with variable refractive indices and thicknesses. We use the Texas A&M University Vector Radiative Transfer Model (TAMU-VRTM) to analyze the sensitivity of PACE polarimetric signals to the variations of phytoplankton optical properties provided by the OPSD. In this presentation, we will introduce the OPSD and present the corresponding radiative transfer simulations and comparisons between the theoretical results and PACE observations.