Abstract
The single scattering properties of hydrosols play an important role in the study of ocean optics, ocean color remote sensing, and ocean biogeochemistry research. Measurements show that hydrosols can be of various sizes and shapes, suggesting general non-spherical models should be considered for the study of single scattering properties of hydrosols. In this work, light scattering by non-spherical hydrosols are modeled by randomly oriented spheroids with the Amsterdam discrete dipole approximation (ADDA) code. We have defined two new parameters to quantify the degree of optical non-sphericity (DONS) and investigated the dependence of DONS on refractive index, size, and aspect ratio. For particles with non-unitary aspect ratios, the magnitude of DONS increases as the refractive index and particle size increase. The dependence of the backscattering fraction on the non-sphericity, size, and refractive index of hydrosols is also studied. It is found that the backscattering fraction is larger for smaller particles as well as for particles with higher refractive indices. Absorptive hydrosols generally have a lower backscattering fraction than non-absorptive hydrosols. This study of light scattering by non-spherical hydrosols would lead to better radiative transfer models in ocean waters and new remote sensing techniques of hydrosol compositions.
Highlights
Ocean optics quantitatively studies single or multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves in ocean waters, which is essential for understanding many important processes, such as, underwater navigation, ocean primary production through photosynthesis, and environmental remote sensing [1]
We introduce two parameters to formally define the degree of optical non-sphericity (DONS), which can be used to quantify the magnitude of non-sphericity in terms of scattering properties
It has been found from measurements that hydrosols present in both open ocean and coastal areas are generally non-spherical in shape
Summary
Ocean optics quantitatively studies single or multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves in ocean waters, which is essential for understanding many important processes, such as, underwater navigation, ocean primary production through photosynthesis, and environmental remote sensing [1]. Particles responsible for scattering and absorption of light in ocean include phytoplankton, non-algal particles of both organic and inorganic origin, and many other particle types [1] These particles have different IOPs due to different microphysical properties such as particle size distribution, shape, and dielectric properties. The results show substantial variation of DONS for hydrosols with different characteristics and composition which is important for future studies of hydrosols Such information about DONS and depolarization by the scatterers will lead to better identification of particles based on their scattering properties. This paper is organized as follows: Sec. 2 describes the definitions used in this work; Sec. 3 shows the result of this study; Sec. 4 summarizes the conclusion reached in this study
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