Aureole radiance field about a source in a scattering-absorbing medium

Area of Science:

• Atmospheric optics
• Radiative transfer theory
• Computational physics

Background:

• Understanding light propagation in Earth's atmosphere is crucial for remote sensing and optical detection.
• Existing models often simplify atmospheric scattering, limiting accuracy for complex scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a novel technique for computing the aureole radiance field around a point source.
• To apply this method to model light scattering in a sea-level atmosphere for UV and visible wavelengths.

Main Methods:

• A double-integral transform technique is employed, evaluated recursively for successive scattering orders.
• The method handles arbitrary phase functions for absorption and scattering.
• Applied to an isotropic source in a homogeneous medium, analogous to the Neumann solution.

Main Results:

• Calculated normalized total radiance field distribution.
• Quantified the variation of flux with field of view and range.
• Results provided for three UV and one visible wavelength using a composite Rayleigh and Henyey-Greenstein phase function.

Conclusions:

• The developed technique accurately computes aureole radiance fields in a scattering and absorbing medium.
• The findings are applicable to detecting uncollimated UV and visible sources in the lower atmosphere at short ranges.