Scattering (Mueller) matrices for ice crystal particles of cirrus clouds

摘要

Scattering (Mueller) matrices are calculated for typical convex ice crystal shapes : hexagonal prism, tapered hexagonal prism, bullet, and pyramid, the particles being randomly oriented in space, A pure geometric optics approach is used for the calculations. Besides, a physical optics approach to the problem is considered. Possible physical optics corrections to the geometric optics Mueller matrix are discussed.