Multiple Scattering Phenomena in Aerosol and Cloud Dynamics
Summary
Multiple scattering occurs when photons interact successively with atmospheric particles, leading to complex redistribution of radiative energy within aerosol layers and cloud fields. In aerosol systems, multiple scattering alters the angular distribution and intensity of backscattered light, thereby influencing remote‐sensing retrievals of particle concentration and size. Within clouds, repeated scattering events give rise to enhanced depolarisation and extended photon path lengths, with consequences for optical depth estimations and radiative forcing calculations. The interplay between microphysical properties—such as droplet size distribution, liquid water content and aerosol chemical composition—and radiative transfer governs the overall impact on climate, weather forecasting and air‐quality assessment. Advances in computational radiative‐transfer methods, particularly Monte Carlo approaches, have enabled more realistic representations of these processes in both ground-based and satellite instruments. Accurate characterisation of multiple scattering is critical for improving the fidelity of aerosol-cloud interaction models, refining cloud microphysics retrievals and reducing uncertainties in estimates of the Earth’s energy budget.
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Multiple Scattering Phenomena in Aerosol and Cloud Dynamics publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in multiple scattering phenomena in aerosol and cloud dynamics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Multiple scattering: Successive interactions of photons with particles, leading to complex redistribution of light intensity and direction.
Single scattering: A simplifying assumption in which photons interact only once before detection, neglecting further scattering events.
Extinction coefficient: A measure of the attenuation of light per unit distance due to absorption and scattering by particles.
Depolarisation ratio: The ratio of cross-polarised to co-polarised backscattered light, indicative of particle shape and multiple scattering effects.
Lidar ratio: The ratio of particle extinction to backscatter coefficients, used to characterise scattering efficiency in remote sensing.
Field of view (FOV): The angular aperture of a receiver, which influences the fraction of multiply scattered photons collected by a lidar system.
References
- Empirical model of multiple-scattering effect on single-wavelength lidar data of aerosols and clouds. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (2022).
- Modeling analysis and experiments of dual-FOV multiple scattering Raman lidar for detecting water cloud microphysical properties. Optics Express (2024).
- Multiple scattering by aerosols as seen from CALIPSO - a Monte-Carlo modelling study.. Optics Express (2019).
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