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Updated: May 8, 2026

Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths
Published on: July 1, 2019
Light scattering by the Martian dust analog, palagonite, modeled with ellipsoids
S Merikallio1, T Nousiainen, M Kahnert
1Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, 00101 Finland. Sini.Merikallio@fmi.fi
Abstract:
We have investigated the suitability of the ellipsoidal model particles to mimic scattering by Martian dust particles by comparing simulations against laboratory data for palagonite, a Mars analog sample. By optimizing the shape distribution of ellipsoids, a very good match with a laboratory-measured scattering matrix was obtained. Even an equiprobable distribution of ellipsoids performed well. The asymmetry parameter and single-scattering albedo were found to depend on the assumed shape distribution as much as on the typical uncertainties associated with refractive indices and size, suggesting that shape is an important parameter that potentially influences remote retrievals of dust particle properties.
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