The randomized minimization search technique (RMST) is a powerful tool for retrieving aerosol size distribution from a set of aerosol extinction measurements. This technique is now extended to retrieve aerosol optical properties from a known moment sequence. The new usage of the RMST is demonstrated by using particle size distributions obtained from fits to in situ measurements conducted in the troposphere and stratosphere. Good agreements (with differences less than 5%) between some aerosol optical properties calculated from the moments and those calculated directly from the particle size distributions are obtained. Our results illustrate that the RMST can be applied to parameterize particle optical properties from the lower-order moments of an aerosol size distribution.¿ 1997 American Geophysical Union