Light scattering characteristics of small ice circular cylinders in visible, 1.38-μm, and some infrared wavelengths

The light scattering characteristics of small ice particles modeled by polydisperse, randomly oriented, finite circular cylinders with different size distributions and different ratios of the length to diameter (L/D) at the visible (0.55 mum), near-infrared (1.38 mum), and some important infrared (IR) wavelengths up to 30 mum are investigated systematically using the exact T matrix approach. The effects caused by changes in effective variance of size distributions are addressed. The results show that scattering properties of small ice cylinders depend strongly on wavelengths, particle size distributions with different x (or r(e)) and v(e) and L/D. Some important facts are obtained that are significant in optical modeling and applications in remote sensing of cirrus clouds, and a new far-IR channel at the wavelength of 25 mum is proposed. (C) 2002 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.