Impact of Polarizing Non-Lambertain Surface and Volume Scattering

Stevens Institute of Technology Grant #: FA9453-15-1-0076 'Impact of Polarizing Non-Lambertain Surface and Volume Scattering' Abstract A modernized and upgraded version of the polarized (vector) radiative transfer algorithm VDISORT-MOD5 will be used to study the interaction of polarized light with realistic (rough) surfaces. The end goal is to analyze the impact of rough surfaces on polarized light at arbi- trary polar angles, and to carry out a sensitivity analysis of the in uence of rough surfaces on polarized light in the two thermal infrared windows at 3{5 m and 8{14 m. Although thermal radiation is initially unpolarized when emitted in the atmosphere, it be- comes polarized by scattering processes with aerosols and clouds and through interactions with polarizing surfaces. For example, lunar radiance is weakly linearly polarized through surface scattering. The version of VDISORT that will be used in this study (VDISORT-MOD5) has (i) a rough surface lower boundary, and (ii) the capability to yield results at arbitrary polar angles. The proposed work will take advantage of items (i) and (ii) above with the following objectives: a) analyze the impact of rough surface and volume scattering on polarized light at arbitrary polar angles, and b) perform a sensitivity analysis of the in uence of rough surface and volume scattering on polarized light. Utilization of the polarized bi-directional re ectioncapabilities in VDISORT-MOD5 will en- hance our understanding of the interaction of polarized light with realistic surfaces and is of utmost importance in remote sensing analysis for correct characterization of rough surfaces with respect to fundamental spectral signature development, surface modeling, experimental validation, synthetic image generation, and improvement of both quantitative remote sensing algorithm performance and accuracy assessment of image analysis. Since VDISORT-MOD5 enables increased accuracy in atmospheric radiative transfer modeling of environmental e ects including polarizing surfaces, it will improve the detection, identi ca- tion, tracking, and interpretation of polarimetric signatures from targets of interest. 1