How good is a single-scattering model of visible-NIR atmospheric skylight polarization?

摘要

Measurements of visible-NIR skylight polarization are compared with radiative transfer calculations from a model that employs polarized single scattering. The measurements are from a full-sky imaging polarimeter under conditions ranging from very low aerosol content to thick forest fire smoke. Generally, the lack of multiple scattering in the model leads to overestimated degree of polarization in all but very clear conditions at the longest wavelengths (> 600 nm).