Dense medium radiative transfer theory: comparison with experiment and application to microwave remote sensing and polarimetry

The dense medium radiative transfer theory is used to study the multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves in a slab containing densely distributed spherical particles overlying a homogeneous half-space. This theory is used to explain phenomena observed in a controlled laboratory experiment. The experimental data indicate that, in a dense medium with small particles, both the coherent attenuation rate and bistatic intensities first increase with the volume fraction of the particles until a maximum is reached, and then decrease when the volume fraction further increases. Thus, attenuation rates and bistatic scattering exhibit a peak as a function of the concentration of particles. The magnitudes of both are also less than those predicted by the independent scattering assumption and the conventional radiative transfer theory. These phenomena cannot be explained by the conventional radiative transfer theory. It is shown that the dense medium radiative transfer theory is in agreement with these experimental features. >

[1]  I. Besieris,et al.  Two‐frequency radiative transfer equation for scalar waves in a random distribution of discrete scatterers with pair correlations , 1985 .

[2]  Paul Soven,et al.  Coherent-Potential Model of Substitutional Disordered Alloys , 1967 .

[3]  D. Evans,et al.  Radar polarimetry: analysis tools and applications , 1988 .

[4]  Leung Tsang,et al.  Multiple scattering of acoustic waves by random distribution of discrete spherical scatterers with the quasicrystalline and Percus–Yevick approximation , 1982 .

[5]  Akira Ishimaru,et al.  Radiative Wave Equations for Vector Electromagnetic Propagation in Dense Nontenuous Media , 1987 .

[6]  L. Tsang,et al.  Scattering of electromagnetic waves from a half space of densely distributed dielectric scatterers , 1983 .

[7]  Roger H. Lang,et al.  Electromagnetic Backscattering from a Layer of Vegetation: A Discrete Approach , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[8]  A. Sihvola,et al.  The complex dielectric constant of snow at microwave frequencies , 1984 .

[9]  Fawwaz T. Ulaby,et al.  The active and passive microwave response to snow parameters: 1. Wetness , 1980 .

[10]  Alex Stogryn,et al.  A Study of the Microwave Brightness Temperature of Snow from the Point of View of Strong Fluctuation Theory , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[11]  Ronald L. Fante,et al.  Relationship between radiative-transport theory and Maxwell’s equations in dielectric media , 1981 .

[12]  H. Zebker,et al.  Imaging radar polarimetry from wave synthesis , 1986 .

[13]  A. Ishimaru,et al.  Retroreflectance from a dense distribution of spherical particles , 1984 .

[14]  Jerome K. Percus,et al.  Analysis of Classical Statistical Mechanics by Means of Collective Coordinates , 1958 .

[15]  Yasuo Kuga,et al.  Attenuation constant of a coherent field in a dense distribution of particles , 1982 .

[16]  Leung Tsang,et al.  Passive Remote Sensing of Dense Nontenuous Media , 1987 .

[17]  A. K. Fung,et al.  Effective propagation constants in dense random media under effective medium approximation , 1987 .

[18]  R. L. Mills,et al.  Coherent-Potential Approximation for Random Systems with Short-Range Correlations , 1972 .

[19]  Leung Tsang,et al.  Multiple scattering of electromagnetic waves by random distributions of discrete scatterers with coherent potential and quantum mechanical formalism , 1980 .

[20]  B. L. Gyorffy.  Electronic States in Liquid Metals: A Generalization of the Coherent-Potential Approximation for a System with Short-Range Order , 1970 .

[21]  H. Zebker,et al.  Imaging radar polarization signatures: Theory and observation , 1987 .

[22]  R. T. Shin,et al.  Radiative transfer theory for active remote sensing of a homogenous layer containing spherical scatterers , 1981 .

[23]  E. Schanda.  Microwave Modelling of Snow and Soil , 1987 .