Atmospheric scattering

Fouquart, Y., W. M. Irvine, and J. Lenoble, 1980. Standard procedures to compute atmospheric radiative transfer in a scattering atmosphere, Vol. 2, Int. Assoc. Met. Atmos. Phys. (prepared for publication by S. Ruttenberg, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.). 

The contrast in these images can be compared to that produced by observing with the naked eye, in the direction of the incident beam, an object illuminated in a scattering atmosphere using a light source positioned on the detector (Fig. 7.3). 

Several analytic methods have been proposed to solve the equation of radiative transfer in an absorbing and scattering atmosphere, but they can only be applied for the most simple cases. To obtain quantitative solutions, numerical methods are generally used, such as the Monte-Carlo method, DART method, iterative Gauss, discrete ordinate method, etc. A complete summary of these techniques is provided by Lenoble (1977), and a detailed discussion of multiple scattering processes in plane parallel atmospheres is given in the book by Liou (2002). 

Toon, O.B., C.P. McKay, T.P. Ackerman, and K. Santhanam, Rapid calculation of radiative heating rates and photodissociation rates in inhomogeneous multiple scattering atmospheres. J Geophys Res 94, 16,287, 1989. 

FIGURE 9 Propagation of angular point object through turbulent and scattering atmosphere to image sensor, such as charge-coupled array (CCD). 

Up to this point, exact analytic expressions for thin layers have been developed, as well as numerical procedures for extending these solutions to thick layers. A straightforward procedure for solving the transfer equation for thick nonscattering atmospheres has been developed. It remains to find a satisfactory approximate solution for thick scattering atmospheres, since exact analytic solutions do not exist. 

Scattering atmospheres the two-stream approximation we establish the identity... 

After this digression we return to Eiq. (4.1.15). Four limiting cases are of particular interest for explaining the principles of line formation in scattering atmospheres the cases ri = 0 and ti = oo, and the cases mo = 0 and mo = 1. 

ROBERT SAMUELSON was a research scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center for 39 years and is presently a research associate with the Astronomy Department at the University of Maryland. His specialities include radiative transfer in scattering atmospheres and the interpretation of radiometric and spectroscopic data from ground-based and space-borne infrared instruments. He is a co-investigator for the Cassini Orbiter infrared spectrometer and the Huygens Probe aerosol collec-tor/pyrolizer experiment. 

J.W. Hovenier, C.V.M. van der Mee, Fundamental relationships relevant to the transfer of polarized light in a scattering atmosphere. Astron. Astrophys. 

---