A tutorial review is provided of forward and inverse radiative transfer in coupled atmosphere-snow/ice-water systems. The coupled system is assumed to consist of two adjacent horizontal slabs separated by an interface across which the refractive index changes abruptly from its value in air to that in ice/water. A comprehensive review is provided of the inherent optical properties of air and water (including snow and ice). The radiative transfer equation for unpolarized as well as polarized radiation is described and solutions are outlined. Several examples of how to formulate and solve inverse problems encountered in environmental optics involving coupled atmosphere-water systems are discussed in some detail to illustrate how the solutions to the radiative transfer equation can be used as a forward model to solve practical inverse problems.
The treatment of strongly anisotropic scattering phase functions is still a challenge for accurate radiance computations. The new delta- M+ method resolves this problem by introducing a reliable, fast, accurate, and easy-to-use Legendre expansion of the scattering phase function with modified moments. Delta- M+ is an upgrade of the widely used delta- M method that truncates the forward scattering peak with a Dirac delta function, where the “+” symbol indicates that it essentially matches moments beyond the first M terms. Compared with the original delta- M method, delta- M+ has the same computational efficiency, but for radiance computations, the accuracy and stability have been increased dramatically.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.