Reflection of light from particulate media with irregularly shaped particles

The paper is devoted to the derivation of a simple approximate equation for the reflection function of a semi-infinite nonabsorbing medium composed of irregularly shaped particles. It is assumed that particles in a scattering medium can be modelled as fractal objects (Koch fractals of the second generation). The refractive index of ice in visible was used for calculations. Therefore, results presented can be used to model light reflection from thick snow fields and crystalline clouds. The accuracy of the parameterization derived is studied using the numerical solution of the radiative transfer equation. It was found that the approximation can be used with the accuracy better than 3% for near nadir observation conditions. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.