Analytical Methods in Atmospheric Radiative Transfer

Alexander Kokhanovsky is Leader of the Cloud Remote Sensing Group at the Institute of Environmental Physics and Remote Sensing of the University of Bremen. He has authored over 150 scientific publications and is the author or editor of four books. Vijay Natraj, PhD, is a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (JPL). His research focuses on polarization, aerosol and cloud modeling, fast radiative transfer computations, and information theoretical analysis. Dmitry Efremenko, PhD, is scientist at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). His research is focused on remote sensing of atmospheric processes.

Table of contents
1.Introduction
1.1 Main definitions
1.2 Scalar radiative transfer equation
1.3 Vector radiative transfer equation
1.4 Tensor radiative transfer equation
1.5 3-D radiative transfer equation
1.6 Radiative transfer and narrow light beams
1.7 Time-dependent radiative transfer equation
1.8 Heritage and history of earlier work

2. Exact solutions of radiative transfer equation
2.1 No scattering
2.2 Isotropic scattering
2.3 Rayleigh scattering
2.4 Henyey-Greenstein phase function

3. Approximate solutions for scalar radiative transfer
3.1 Single and multiple scattering separation
3.2 Double and higher orders of scattering
3.3 Semi-infinite media
3.4 Asymptotic radiative transfer
3.4.1 Rayleigh scattering
3.4.2 Clouds
3.5 Method of discrete ordinates and low stream interpolation
3.5.1 Two-stream approximation
3.5.2 Four-stream approximation
3.6 Small-angle approximation
3.7 Quasi-single scattering approximation
3.8 Method of spherical harmonics
3.9 Diffusion approximation
3.10 Radiative transfer in gaseous absorption bands
3.10.1 k-distribution and correlated-k methods
3.10.2 ESFT method
3.10.3 Spectral mapping
3.10.4 Optimal spectral sampling
3.10.5 Principal component analysis
3.11 Neural networks
3.12 3-D radiative transfer
3.13 Narrow beams
3.14 Time-dependent problems
3.15 Radiative transfer with account for effects of fluorescence
3.16 Raman scattering and filling in molecular absorption bands

4. Approximate solutions for polarized radiative transfer
4.1 Single and double scattering
4.2 Semi-infinite media
4.3 Optically thick media
4.4 Method of discrete ordinates
4.4.1 Four-stream approximation
4.5 Small-angle approximation
4.6 Tensor radiative transfer

5. Applications
5.1 Aerosol remote sensing
5.2 Cloud remote sensing
5.3 Remote sensing of trace gases
5.4 Surface remote sensing
5.4.1 Ocean
5.4.2 Land
5.5 Lidar remote sensing