Lecture 2.

The Beer-Bouguer-Lambert law.

Concepts of extinction (scattering plus absorption) and emission.
Schwarzschilds equation.
Objectives:
1. The Beer-Bouguer-Lambert law. Concepts of extinction (scattering + absorption) and
emission. Optical depth.
2. A differential form of the radiative transfer equation (Schwarzschilds radiative
transfer equation).
Required reading:
L02: 1.1, 1.4

1. The Beer-Bouguer-Lambert law. Concepts of extinction (scattering + absorption)

and emission.

Extinction and emission are two main types of the interaction between an
electromagnetic radiation field and a medium (e.g., the atmosphere).

General definition:
Extinction is a process that decreases the radiant intensity, while emission increases it.
NOTE: same name: extinction = attenuation

Radiation is emitted by all bodies that have a temperature above absolute zero (O K)
(called thermal emission).

Extinction is due to absorption and scattering.

Absorption is a process that removes the radiant energy from an electromagnetic field
and transfers it to other forms of energy.
Scattering is a process that does not remove energy from the radiation field, but may
redirect it.
NOTE: Scattering can be thought of as absorption of radiant energy followed by reemission back to the electromagnetic field with negligible conversion of energy. Thus,

scattering can remove radiant energy of a light beam traveling in one direction, but can be
a source of radiant energy for the light beams traveling in other directions.

The fundamental law of extinction is the Beer-Bouguer-Lambert (Extinction) law,

which states that the extinction process is linear in the intensity of radiation and amount
of radiatively active matter, provided that the physical state (i.e., T, P, composition) is
held constant.

NOTE: Some non-linear processes do occur as will be discussed later in the course.
Consider a small volume V of infinitesimal length ds and area A containing
radiatively active matter. The change of intensity along the path ds is proportional to
the amount of matter in the path.
s
s
I + dI

I
ds

For extinction:

dI = e, I ds

[2.1]

For emission:

dI = e, J ds

[2.2]

where e, is the volume extinction coefficient (LENGTH-1) and J is the source

function.

The source function J has emission and scattering contributions or only

scattering.

Generally, the volume extinction coefficient is a function of position s.

NOTE: Volume extinction coefficient is often referred to as the extinction coefficient.

Extinction coefficient = absorption coefficient + scattering coefficient

e, = a, + s,

[2.3]

NOTE: Extinction coefficient (as well as absorption and scattering coefficients) can be
expressed in different forms according to the definition of the amount of matter (e.g.,
number concentrations, mass concentration, etc.) of matter in the path.

Volume and mass extinction coefficients are most often used.

Mass extinction coefficient = volume extinction coefficient/density

UNITS: the mass coefficient is in unit area per unit mass (LENGTH2 MASS-1). For
instance: (cm2 g-1), (m2 kg-1), etc.
If is the density (mass concentration) of a given type of particles (or molecules), then

e, = k e,
s , = k s ,

[2.4]

a , = k a ,
where the ke, ; ks,, and ka, are the mass extinction, scattering, and absorption
coefficients, respectively.
NOTE: L02 uses k for both mass extinction and mass absorption coefficients!

Using the mass extinction coefficient, the Beer-Bouguer-Lambert (extinction) law

(Eqs.[2.1]-2.2]) is

dI = ke, I ds

[2.5]

dI = ke, J ds

[2.6]

The extinction cross section of a given particle (or molecule) is a parameter that
measures the attenuation of electromagnetic radiation by this particle (or molecule).
In the same fashion, scattering and absorption cross sections can be defined.
UNITS: the cross section is in unit area (LENGTH2)

If N is the particle (or molecule) number concentration of a given type of particles (or
molecules) of the same size, then

e , = e , N

s , = s , N

[2.7]

a , = a , N
where e,, s, , and a, are the extinction, scattering, and absorbing cross sections,
respectively.
UNITS: Particle (molecule) number concentration, N, is in the number of particles
(molecules) per unit volume (LENGTH-3).

Optical depth of a medium between points s1 and s2 is defined as

s2

( s2 ; s1 ) = e, ( s )ds

S2
S1

s1

UNITS: optical depth is unitless.

NOTE: same name: optical depth = optical thickness = optical path

If e, (s) does not depend on position (called a homogeneous optical path), thus

e, (s) = e, and ( s 2 ; s1 ) = e , ( s 2 s1 ) = e , s

In this case by integrating Eq.[2.1], the Extinction law can be expressed as

I = I0 exp( ) = I0 exp(e, s)

[2.8]

Optical depth can be expressed in several ways:

s2

s2

s2

s1

s1

s1

( s1 ; s 2 ) = e , ds = k e , ds = N e , ds

[2.9]

If in a given volume there are several types of optically active particles each with

ie, , etc., then the optical depth can be expressed as:

=
i

s2

i
e ,

ds =
i

s1

s2

k
i

i
e ,

ds =
i

s1

s2

N
i

i
e ,

ds

[2.10]

s1

where i and Ni is the mass concentrations (densities) and particles concentrations of the
i-th species.

2. A differential form of the radiative transfer equation

Consider a small volume V of infinitesimal length ds and area A containing radiatively
active matter. Using the Extinction law, the change (loss plus gain due to both the
thermal emission and scattering) of intensity along the path ds is

dI = e, I ds + e, J ds
Dividing by e, ds, we find

dI
= I + J
e, ds

[2.11]

Eq. [2.11] is the differential equation of radiative transfer (called Schwarzchilds

equation).
NOTE: Both I and J are generally functions of both position and direction.

The optical depth is

( s1 ; s ) =

s1

e ,

( s ) ds

Thus

d = e , ( s ) ds

s'
s

(s1;s)
(s1;s)

s1

Using the above expression for d, we can re-write Eq. [2.11] as

dI
= I + J
d
or as

[2.12]

dI
= I J
d
These are other forms of the differential equation of radiative transfer.
Lets re-arrange terms in the above equation and multiply both sides by exp(-). We
have

exp( ) dI
+ exp( ) I = exp( ) J
d

and (using that d[I(x)exp(-x)]=exp(-x)dI(x)-exp(-x)I(x)dx) we find

d [I exp( ) ] = exp( ) J d
Then integrating over the path from 0 to s1 , we have
s1

s1

d [I ( s ) exp( ( s1 ; s ))] = exp( (s1 ; s)) J d

and
s1

[I ( s1 ) I ( 0 ) exp( ( s1 ;0 )) ] = exp( ( s1 ; s )) J d
0

Thus
s1

I ( s1 ) = I ( 0 ) exp( ( s1 ;0 )) exp( ( s1 ; s )) J d
0

and, using d = e , ( s ) ds , we have a solution of the equation of radiative

transfer (often referred to as the integral form of the radiative transfer equation):

s1

I ( s1 ) = I ( 0 ) exp( ( s1 ;0 )) + exp( ( s1 ; s )) J e , ds
0

[2.13]

NOTE:
i) The above equation gives monochromatic intensity at a given point propagating in a
given direction (often called an elementary solution). A completely general distribution
of intensity in angle and wavelengths (or frequencies) can be obtained by repeating the
elementary solution for all incident beams and for all wavelengths (or frequencies).
ii) Knowledge of the source function J is required to solve the above equation. In the
general case, the source function consists of thermal emission and scattering (or from
scattering), depends on the position and direction, and is very complex. One may say that
the radiative transfer equation is all about the source function.

Plane-parallel atmosphere.
9 For many applications, the atmosphere can be approximated by a plane-parallel
model to handle the vertical stratification of the atmosphere.
The plane-parallel atmosphere consists of a certain number of atmospheric layers each
characterized by homogeneous properties (e.g., T, P, optical properties of a given species,
etc.) and bordered by the bottom and top infinite plates (called boundaries).

Traditionally, the vertical coordinate z is used to measure linear distances in the

G
z

plane-parallel atmosphere:

z = s cos( )

G
x

G
s

G
y

where denotes the angle between the upward normal and the direction of propagation of
a light beam (or zenith angle) and is the azimuthal angle.
Using ds = dz/cos(), the radiative transfer equation can be written as

cos( )

dI ( z; ; )
= I ( z; ; ) + J ( z; ; )
e, dz

Introducing the optical depth measured from the outer boundary downward as
z1

( z1 ; z ) =

e ,

( z ) dz

and using d = e , ( z ) dz and = cos(), we have

dI ( ; ;)
= I ( ; ;) J ( ; ;)
d

[2.13]

Eq.[2.13] may be solved to give the upward (or upwelling) and downward (or
downwelling) intensities for a finite atmosphere which is bounded on two sites.

Upward intensity

is for 1 0 (or 0 / 2 );

Downward intensity I is for 1 0 (or / 2 )

(using that cos(0)=1; cos(/2)=0 and cos() =-1)

I (0; ; )
z = ztop

Top

=0

I ( ; ; )

I (0; ; )

I ( * ; ; )

I ( ; ; )

z =0

Bottom

I ( * ; ; )
Figure 2.1 Schematic representation of the plane-parallel atmosphere.
NOTE: For downward intensity, is replaced by .

The radiative transfer equation [2.13] can be written for upward and downward
intensities:

dI ( ; ; )

= I ( ; ; ) J ( ; ; )
d

[2.14a]

dI ( ;; )
= I ( ;; ) J ( ;; )
d

[2.14b]

A solution of Eq.[2.14a] gives a upward intensity in the plane-parallel atmosphere:

I ( ; ; ) = I ( * ; ; ) exp(

*
)

exp(
) J ( ; ; ) d

[2.15a]

and a solution of Eq.[2.14b] gives a downward intensity in the plane-parallel

atmosphere:

I ( ; ; ) = I ( 0 ; ; ) exp(

exp(
) J ( ; ; ) d
+

[2.15b]