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Edited by
Michael I. Mishchenko
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York
Joop W. Hovenier
Free University and University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Larry D. Travis
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York
Academic Press, San Diego, 2000
Case Bound, xxxv + 690 pp.
137 Figures and 9 Color Plates
ISBN 0-12-498660-9
A great variety of science and engineering disciplines have significant interest in scattering of light and other electromagnetic radiation by small particles. For example, this subject is important to climatology because the earth radiation budget is strongly affected by scattering of solar radiation by cloud and aerosol particles. Another example is remote sensing of the earth and planetary atmospheres, which relies largely on analyzing the parameters of radiation scattered by aerosols, clouds, and precipitation. The scattering of light by homogeneous and layered spherical particles composed of isotropic materials can be computed readily using the conventional Lorenz-Mie theory or its modifications. However, many natural and artificial small particles have nonspherical overall shapes or lack a spherically symmetric internal structure. Examples of such nonspherical particles are mineral and soot aerosols, cirrus cloud and contrail particles, liquid cloud particles with asymmetrically located inclusions, hydrometeors, snow and frost crystals, particles composed of anisotropic materials, ocean hydrosols, interplanetary and cometary dust grains, planetary ring particles, particles forming planetary and asteroid surfaces, and biological microorganisms. It is now well recognized that scattering properties of nonspherical particles can differ dramatically from those of "equivalent" Mie spheres. Therefore, the ability to accurately compute or measure light scattering by nonspherical particles in order to clearly understand the effects of particle nonsphericity on scattering patterns is very important.
Electromagnetic scattering by nonspherical particles was considered in some detail in the classical monographs by van de Hulst (1957), Kerker (1969), and Bohren and Huffman (1983), as well as in a collection of papers edited by Schuerman (1980). However, the rapid advancement in computers and experimental techniques as well as the development of improved analytical and numerical methods over the last two decades have resulted in a much better understanding and knowledge of scattering by nonspherical particles that has not been systematically summarized. Furthermore, papers on different aspects of this subject are scattered over dozens of various scientific and engineering journals, which often leads to an inefficient use of the accumulated knowledge and unnecessary redundancy in research activities. Therefore, the primary aim of this collective treatise written by leading experts in respective areas is to provide the first systematic and unified summary of the state-of-the-art of the field, including analytical and numerical methods for computing electromagnetic scattering by nonspherical particles, measurement approaches, knowledge of typical features in scattering patterns, retrieval and remote sensing techniques, nonspherical particle characterization, and practical applications. Considering the widespread need of this information in optics, geophysics, remote sensing, astrophysics, engineering, medicine, and biology, we hope that the book will be useful to many graduate students, scientists, and engineers working on various aspects of electromagnetic scattering and its applications. Although the book is the product of a number of authors, a concerted effort was made to present the material with a unified notation and consistent terminology in order to create a coherent volume.
For more information, contact:
Michael Mishchenko
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
2880 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
Phone: (212) 678-5590
Fax: (212) 678-5552
E-mail:
crmim@giss.nasa.gov
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