Progress in the simulation of the optical properties of dust-like aerosol particles

One of the essential elements in performing accurate radiant energy balance calculations is the relative contribution of the atmospheric aerosols to the net radiative transfer. A major component of the atmospheric aerosols is airborne dust since it can have significant opacity in certain spectral bands and can thus have a significant impact on the total aerosol contribution. The morphologies of dust particles are complicated; however, a common shortcut to avoiding the challenges in simulating the single-scattering properties of dust-like aerosols is to regard them as spheres. This approximate method, however, leads to substantial errors in both radiative transfer calculations and remote sensing applications involving dust. In the past two decades, significant effort has been expended to improve the simulation of the optical properties of nonspherical dust particles. In this presentation, we will review the advances in simulating the optical properties of dust particles and relevant implications in radiative transfer modeling and remote sensing applications.