Inverse Modeling of Aerosol Dynamics Using Adjoints: Theoretical and Numerical Considerations

In this paper we develop the algorithmic tools needed for inverse modeling of aerosol dynamics. Continuous and discrete adjoints of the aerosol dynamic equation are derived, as well as sensitivity coefficients with respect to the coagulation kernel, the growth rate, and the emission and deposition coefficients. Numerical tests performed in the twin experiment framework for a single component model problem show that the initial distributions and the dynamic parameters can be recovered from time series of observations of particle size distributions.