Computer simulation of coronas, glories and fogbows in atmospheric clouds and fogs

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with the development of software that allows one to compute the scattering phase functions of the optical radiation in polydisperse media consisting of spherical particles, based on the Mie scattering theory. The software also enables computer visualization of such optical phenomena as rainbows, glories and coronas. A special technique is used to significantly accelerate the integration over the radius of scattering particles and to increase the calculation rate of the scattering phase functions. Using the software developed, we have performed a detailed analysis of the scattering phase functions for a large number of well-known cloud and fog models, and have created computer images of optical phenomena (rainbows, glories, and coronas) that are inherent to the considered models.