Provides a foundation of the theoretical and practical aspects of radiative transfer, for the atmospheric, oceanic and environmental sciences.

An integrated model of target vehicle signatures must include a description of the effect of transmission of electromagnetic radiation through the atmosphere between the target and the threat sensor devices. A number of models published by various investigators are in use to describe this transmission phenomenon. These models predict fairly accurately the attenuation of light as it propagates through clear air, indicating that they account for the molecular absorption reasonably well. They are not as accurate when the atmosphere contains small particles such as those in rain, fog, snow, etc. In adverse atmospheric conditions, the scattering process becomes comparatively more important and must also be considered. In this report, a detailed investigation is presented for the scattering of infrared radiation by atmospheric aerosols. The theoretical analysis is compared to the measured data obtained at the Keweenaw Research Center (KRC). The analysis and the results are compared to the prediction of other available models. In addition, the implication of the present work on the ongoing TACOM/KRC modeling effort of target signature is discussed.