Polarization, Scattering, and Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves

Polarization is an inherent property of electromagnetic wave (EM) that can be used to extract information about the physical properties of the medium through which the wave propagates and the scatterers that scatter electromagnetic wave in different directions. These physical properties include size, concentration, shape, orientation, and phase composition of atmospheric particles with which the wave interacts. Basic definitions of the EM attributes and different types of polarizations (linear, circular, elliptical) are presented. The scattering matrix of an individual scatterer is introduced and its elements are explicitly specified as functions of the orientation angles and scattering coefficients along the principle axes of a spheroidal scatterer. The propagation effects through the atmosphere filled with anisotropic hydrometeors are quantified via attenuation factors at orthogonal polarizations, differential attenuation, and differential phase.