An Atmosphere Optics Inverse Problem: Correction of the Horizontal Inhomogeneity Effect for the Measured Radiation Field

A. A. Ioltukhovski


Abstract: This paper shows that inhomogeneous clouds can be treated in the framework of homogeneous plane parallel clouds. The effective optical depth and the effective single scattering albedo are defined as the optical parameters of the equivalent homogeneous medium. The uniqueness of this pair was proved and the dependence of the effective parameters on mean optical parameters of the initial medium was numerically studied. New approach to solution of the inverse problem is based upon preliminary correction of the measured values. Simple one-parameter formulas were derived for correction of upward and downward radiation with a good accuracy.