Radiative transfer in spherical shell atmospheres. 2: Asymmetric phase functions

Abstract

The effects are investigated of sphericity on the radiation reflected from a planet with a homogeneous, conservative scattering atmosphere of optical thicknesses of 0.25 and 1.0. A Henyey-Greenstein phase function with asymmetry factors of 0.5 and 0.7 is considered. Significant differences were found when these results were compared with the plane-parallel calculations. Also large violations of the reciprocity theorem, which is only true for plane-parallel calculations, were noted. Results are presented for the radiance versus height distributions as a function of planetary phase angle.