Radiative transfer in inhomogeneous stratified scattering media with use of the auxiliary function method

The auxiliary function method consists of taking full advantage of the expansion of the phase function on spherical harmonics in order to deduce an integral equation from the radiative transfer equation. In contrast to the discrete-ordinate method, it is free of the channel concept, the unknowns being a function only of the optical depth. After presenting the method, we show that it is very accurate and particularly well fitted when the scattering medium is continuously inhomogeneous in albedo and phase function and also for sublayers with different refractive index. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.