Radiative transfer theory for active remote sensing of a layer of nonspherical particles

The radiative transfer theory is applied to calculate the scattering by a layer of randomly positioned and oriented nonspherical particles. The scattering amplitude functions of each individual particle are calculated with Waterman's T matrix method, which utilizes vector spherical wave functions for expansion of incident, scattered, and surface fields. The orientation of the particles is described by a probability density function of the Eulerian angles of rotation. A rotation matrix is used to relate the T matrix of the principal frame to that of the natural frame of the particle. The extinction matrix and phase matrix of the radiative transfer equations are expressed in terms of the T matrix elements. The extinction matrix for nonspherical particles is generally nondiagonal. There are only two attenuation rates in a specified direction of propagation. The radiative transfer equations are solved by an iterative method to first order in albedo. Numerical results are illustrated as functions of incidence angle and frequency with applications to active remote sensing.