Atmospheric aerosol has important influences on the global climate either directly by scattering and absorption of the solar radiation or indirectly by affecting cloud droplet concentration or cloud radiative properties[1-2]. A high proportion of aerosol in the Earth's atmosphere consists of non-spherical mineral dust particles[3]. Light scattering by non-spherical particle such as mineral dust is commonly known as a major difficulty in aerosol characterization[1,4]. Compared with the total radiance, polarization is more sensitive to aerosol particle shape. It has a distinct advantage in study non-spherical aerosol particles. In the sky under some atmospheric conditions (e.g., clear sky, cloudy sky, hazy sky), it usually exists a characteristic polarization pattern, which is related to the position of the sun, the distribution of various atmospheric constituents, and the properties of the underlying surface [5]. The polarization pattern can be applied not only in navigation, but also in studying of atmospheric aerosol properties.
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