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This paper presents the results of an investigation into the effects of aerosol on the ATSR top of the atmosphere infrared brightness measurement. This work involved computed BTs (Brightness Temperatures) from the RAL (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) radiative transfer model. The objective was to quantify the aerosol signal by comparing the model generated BTs with the ATSR BT data This enabled the development of an empirical technique to infer the optical thickness of an aerosol layer. In this work the technique was applied to volcanic aerosol and desert dust. The results are consistent with observations of such aerosols.