The understanding of Earth’s climate depends to a large extent on our knowledge of radiative transfer processes in the atmosphere. Short wavelength radiation in the visible range from the sun enters the atmosphere and finds its way to the surface to warm it. Long wavelength radiation in the infrared range is emitted from the surface to find its way to the universe and cools the planet. The energy balance between these two streams of radiation has a profound influence on the temperature and the conditions to sustain life as we know it on our planet. Atmospheric physics is essential in understanding the relevant processes.

In their new paper, Van Wijngaarden and Happer direct their attention to radiation transfer in the atmosphere, but with clouds to scatter incoming and outgoing radiation. In this context, the role of greenhouse gases is only secondary. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a flexible mathematical-physical framework to deal with all kinds of different scattering processes.

Download the pdf here: 2n-Stream Radiative Transfer