Application of the Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE) to Scattering by a Dust Aerosol Layer

Abstract

Incident radiation in its journey through the atmosphere before reaching the earth surface encounters particles of different sizes and composition such as dust aerosols resulting in interactions that lead to absorption and scattering. The Radiative Transfer Equation (RTE) is one of the methods of analysis of how these interactions occur in the atmosphere. This paper explores the Radiative Transfer Equation and shows how it is used to describe the scattered radiative field at points in the atmosphere. A RTE model has been adapted for a dust aerosol layer and results of computations of dust aerosol reflectivity of downwelling radiation in a plane-parallel atmosphere for various incident angles using: Chandrashekhar Isotropic Scattering (CIS) model is presented.

Keywords: Dust Aerosol, Radiative Transfer, Plane-parallel Atmosphere