Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, Volume. 60, Issue 21, 2101001(2023)
Scattering Polarization Characteristics of Aerosols in Actual Weather Conditions
In this study, the polarization properties of light scattered by aerosols are investigated in actual atmospheric conditions at different visibilities considering the multiple scattering effects and the Earth's surface reflection. The vector radiation transfer equation is solved using the successive order scattering method. First, the visibilities of all the days in 2019 are evaluated. Representative high- and low-visibility atmospheres are then used as the transmission media. The macroscopic information and the microphysical properties of the aerosols provided by AERONET are used in the numerical simulations of the polarization properties of the scattered light. The coupled-surface reflection model is subsequently used to determine the properties of light scattered by the Earth's surface. The Stokes vectors are obtained as the simulation results, and the polarization degrees of the scattered light are derived. Our simulation results show that the aerosol scattering properties tend to be different in high-visibility weather conditions compared to low-visibility ones. As the solar zenith angle increases in low-visibility weather, the I, Q, and U elements of the first-order downward scattered light vary irregularly. However, these elements increase at all the orders of upward scattered light and at the high-order downward scattered light. Conversely, for high-visibility weather, the values of the I, Q, and U elements of all the scattered light orders that possess similar variation characteristics, increase with the solar zenith angle. The corresponding polarization degrees exhibit similar trends. The results of our study can be useful for the remote sensing of the polarization properties of aerosol scattered light and for determining the microphysical properties of aerosols.
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Yuzhao Ma, Chen Gao, Jun Zhu. Scattering Polarization Characteristics of Aerosols in Actual Weather Conditions[J]. Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, 2023, 60(21): 2101001
Category: Atmospheric Optics and Oceanic Optics
Received: Aug. 31, 2022
Accepted: Nov. 4, 2022
Published Online: Nov. 3, 2023
The Author Email: Ma Yuzhao (yzma@cauc.edu.cn)