This is the 4th volume of this series devoted to current knowledge of light scattering problems and both experimental and theoretical research techniques related to their solution. This volume focuses on single light scattering and radiative transfer.

This fourth volume of Light Scattering Reviews is composed of three parts. The ?rstpartisconcernedwiththeoreticalandexperimentalstudiesofsinglelightsc- tering by small nonspherical particles. Light scattering by small particles such as, for instance, droplets in the terrestrial clouds is a well understood area of physical optics. On the other hand, exact theoretical calculations of light scattering p- terns for most of nonspherical and irregularly shaped particles can be performed only for the restricted values of the size parameter, which is proportional to the ratio of the characteristic size of the particle to the wavelength?. For the large nonspherical particles, approximations are used (e. g. , ray optics). The exact th- retical techniques such as the T-matrix method cannot be used for extremely large particles, such as those in ice clouds, because then the size parameter in the v- iblex=2?a/???,wherea is the characteristic size (radius for spheres), and the associated numerical codes become unstable and produce wrong answers. Yet another problem is due to the fact that particles in many turbid media (e. g. , dust clouds) cannot be characterized by a single shape. Often, refractive indices also vary. Because of problems with theoretical calculations, experimental (i. e. , la- ratory) investigations are important for the characterization and understanding of the optical properties of such types of particles. The ?rst paper in this volume, written by B. Gustafson, is aimed at the descr- tionofscaledanalogueexperimentsinelectromagneticscattering.

Summarizes recent developments in the field of light scattering media optics and radiative transfer Both theoretical and experimental results are considered

Autorentext

I graduated from the Physical Department of the Belarusian State University in Minsk, Belarus (1983). Since then I have worked for the last 22 years in the Laboratory of light scattering media optics at the Institute of Physics (Minsk, Belarus). At the moment I am working with the SCIAMACHY algorithm development team at the Institute of Environmental Physics in Bremen (Germany). The main task is the development of new cloud retrieval algorithms for water and ice clouds as seen by the spectrometer SCIAMACHY (in space from 2002). Main results are obtained in the field of geometrical optics, asymptotic radiative transfer theory and trace gases/aerosol/cloud properties retrievals using passive remote sensing techniques.

I have written three books: Light Scattering Media Optics (1999, 2001, 2004), Polarization Optics of Random Media (2003), and

Klappentext

This is the fourth volume in the series Light Scattering Reviews, devoted to current knowledge of light scattering problems and both experimental and theoretical research techniques related to their solution. This volume covers experimental studies in the optics of light scattering media, focusing on single light scattering and radiative transfer.

Light Scattering Reviews 4

• summarizes recent developments in the fields of light scattering media optics and radiative transfer;
• provides an up-to-date review of modern single and multiple light-scattering theory;
• focuses on radiative transfer and optics of highly reflective objects, such as snow and ice;
• uniquely covers numerical techniques in single and multiple light scattering;
• considers both theoretical and experimental results;
• presents the physical grounds of the opposition effects.

Inhalt
Single Light Scattering.- Scaled analogue experiments in electromagnetic scattering.- Laboratory measurements of the light scattered by clouds of solid particles by imaging technique.- Jones and Mueller matrices: structure, symmetry relations and information content.- Green functions for plane wave scattering on single nonspherical particles.- Radiative Transfer.- Space-time Green functions for diffusive radiation transport, in application to active and passive cloud probing.- Radiative transfer of luminescence light in biological tissue.- The characteristic equation of radiative transfer theory.- Dynamic and Static Light Scattering: Selected Applications.- Advances in dynamic light scattering techniques.- Static and dynamic light scattering by aerosols in a controlled environment.