A Computer Modeling of Mie-Scattering by Spherical Droplets Within the Atmosphere

Authors

1 Department of Physics, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, P.O. Box 45195313, Iran

2 Faculty of Basic Sciences, Shahid Sattari Aeronautical University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 13846-63113, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The Earth’s atmosphere is an environment replete with particles of differ-ent sizes with various refractive indices which affect the light radiation traveling through it. The Mie scattering theory is one of the well-known light scattering techniques ap-plicable to modeling of electromagnetic scattering from tiny atmospheric particles or aerosols floating in the air or within the clouds. In this study, the scattering charac-teristics of atmospheric particles are investigated for a wide range of particle types and particle sizes within the framework of Mie’s theory. The scattering and back-scattering coefficients are calculated and it is observed that the maximum scattering occurs for particle sizes comparable to the radiation wavelength while the spherical particles with diameters much greater than the wavelength scatter the least. The calculations were
carried out in the MATLAB environment and the results demonstrate that the scat-tering anisotropy has a direct relation with diameter of the particles.

Keywords