Overview of RT Solutions Products

The main suite of products from RT SOLUTIONS comprises the LIDORT family of radiative transfer (RT) software codes. LIDORT stands for Linearized Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer. All LIDORT codes are scattering-kernel RT models based on the discrete ordinate method of radiative transfer solution. There are three models in the family: LIDORT for the scalar (intensity-only) radiation field, VLIDORT for the polarized field (Stokes 3- and 4-vectors) and LIDORT-RRS, a scalar model including first-order inelastic rotational Raman scattering (RRS).

The LIDORT models can deal with two sources of light, in a multi-layer, multiple-scattering atmospheric environment. The models treat the scattering and absorption of ultraviolet, visible and infrared solar radiation in the Earth's atmosphere and ocean, and the reflection of sunlight by land and water surfaces. LIDORT and VLIDORT also contain treatments of atmospheric and surface thermal emission. All three models are linearized - that is, they calculate not only the backscatter radiation field at any atmospheric depth and angular direction, but also groups of analytic Jacobians (weighting functions or radiation-field derivatives) with respect to any combination of atmospheric and/or surface parameters.

Additional RT Solutions' products include a fast 2-stream scalar code (2S) and a stand-alone single-scatter (FO, standing for first-order) code, both of which also have the full Jacobian capability. The FO code operates in scalar or vector mode. Also, there are two electromagnetic scattering packages: linearized poly-disperse Mie and T-matrix codes.

All software products from RT Solutions are freely available; they are written in Fortran 90. All products are accompanied by User Guides, and by GNU Version 3.0 General Public Licenses. For details on obtaining the codes, please refer to the Contacts page of this website.

Key words / phrases / symbols:

radiative transfer, RT, RT models, remote sensing, atmosphere, atmospheric gases, atmospheric aerosols, atmospheric scattering, atmospheric emission, climate, climate monitoring, climate change, volcano, volcano monitoring, volcanic eruptions, volcanic aerosol, volcanic gases, pollution, pollution monitoring, biomass burning, forest management, forest stewardship, planetary science, planetary atmospheres, exoplanets, exoplanet atmospheres, CO, CO2, CH4, NO2, N2O, O2, O3, SO2, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, nitrogen dioxide, oxygen, ozone, sulfur dioxide, surface, surface albedo, surface property, surface properties, surface scattering, surface emission, snow properties, ocean surface, ocean albedo, ocean color, ocean health, SIF, Chlorophyll-induced fluorescence, phytoplankton, GOME, GOME-2, MODIS, OMI, OMPS, PACE, CIAMACHY, TEMPO, TOMS, TROPOMI