434 IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-17, NO.

3, MARCH 1981

TheMonte Carlo MethodsinAtmospheric Optics-Guri I. presentvolume is a directtranslationand has not been up-
Marchuk, Gennadi A. Mikhailov, Magamedshafi A. Nazaraliev, dated, since no references later than 1974 are included. Qver-
Radzmik A. Darbinjan, Boris A. Kargin, and Boris S. Elepov. all, I would say-that the book can be recommended to those
(Heidelberg, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1980,209 pp.$20.80). interested inreviewing what has been done in theSoviet Union
Reviewed by Frederick G. Gebhardt. up to 1974 in the application of Monte Carlo techniques to
atmospheric radiative transferproblems.Thereisalmostno
mention in the book of the extensive literature published in
Monte Carlo methods are used in many areas of physics. Ba- the U.S. on this topic. Also, as has been already noted, the
sically, they amount to performing a numerical simulation of fact that most of the references are in Russian, is likely to
processes which can be regarded as consistingof a Markov chain cause difficulties in using the book for many. The contentsof
of events. Thus, the processes of absorption and scattering of each of the chapters in the book arebriefly summarized in the
radiation in the atmospherecan be viewed as a chain of photon following paragraphs.
collisions with the molecules and aerosol particles in the atmo- In Chapter 1, the relationship between atmospheric optics
sphere. Monte Carlo methods are used extensively jn problems problems and the MonteCarlo method isintroduced and abrief
involving optical propagation and radiative transport in the at- description given of the Monte Carlo technique as it applies to
mosphere, since theinhomogeneity of theatmosphereand light propagation in a turbid medium such as the atmosphere
multiple scattering and polarization effects combine to make or ocean. The basic equation describing radiative transfer for
the problem extremely difficult for analytical treatment. theatmosphere, which bothscattersand absorbs light, is
This book, as indicated by the title, deals with various tech- introduced.
niques and applications of the Monte Carlo method t o atmo- The elements of radiative transfer theory to be used in the
spheric radiative transfer problems. Ithasbeenwrittenfor Monte Carlo methods described in later chapters are considered
specialists in applied mathematics and physics and also those in Chapter 2. These include suchthings as: the collision density
wishing to study MonteCarlo methods, according to thepreface. and photon flux functions; a general outline of the MonteCarlo
The book containssix chapters, 44 figures, alist of 5 1 references simulation of the transfer process and its use in numerically
(40 of which are in Russian), and a subject index. The first estimating certain integral characteristicsof the transferprocess;
three chapters, comprising about one-quarter of the book, are the maximal cross section method in free-path length simula-
devoted to the theoriesand algorithms of simulation fora series tion; the exponential transformation useful foranoptically
of specialized Monte Carlo techniques for solving atmospheric thick medium; the integral equation for the photon collision
optics problems and include only a minimum amount of intro- density; a rederivation of the integral transfer equation based
ductory and background material. The last three chapters con- on the Boltzmann equation; and, finally, the adjoint transfer
cern specific applications of the MonteCarlo techniques andalso equation and the theorem of optical mutuality aredeveloped.
include numerical results for three special classes, or types, of In Chapter 3, further questions of a general nature about the
atmospheric optics problems. These are: in Chapter 4, the so- use of the MonteCarlo techniques derived in Chapter2 are con-
lution of direct and inverse problems for radiative transfer in a sidered. Included are a number of modifications andvariations
spherical shell atmosphere; in Chapter 5 , the pulsed laser (e.g., of the basic method of Monte Carlo simulation. Some of the
lidar) sounding of the atmosphere or ocean with a narrow beam; topics considered are: sufficient conditions for finite estimates;
and, in Chapter 6, Monte Carlo algorithms for estimating the basic integral transfer equation estimates; estimates with zero
correlation function of strong light fluctuations resulting from variance; importance sampling; asymptoticsolutions of the
propagation in a turbulent medium. The problem of radiative Milne problem; local estimates; universal modificationswith
transfer ina sphericalatmosphere (Chapter41, which has impor- logarithmically diverging variance; other universal modificatio>s;
tant applications in connection with the interpretation of op- dependent sampling; derivativecalculation of linear functionals;
tical observation (e.&., as made with aircraft and satellite remotethe expected values method; the splitting technique; and the
sensing instruments), is treated most extensively and comprises statistics of unbiased estimates. The presentationhere is strictly
about one-half of the entire book. theoretical withvery brief and concise mathematical definitions
The authors are with the Computing Center,Siberian Branch and development of the various methods and modifications.
of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk. Marchuk, No particular logic or motivation is apparent to this reviewer
the first author, has been involved in the applicationof Monte for most of the topics considered, or their sequence, in this
Carlo methods since at least the early 1960s, first on nuclear chapter. They evidently should be regarded as contributing to
shielding problems and later, with Mikhailov in the mid-I960s, the bag of tricks which have application in solving various
on atmospheric optics problems. For example, Marchuk and atmospheric optics problems with MonteCarlo techniques.
Mikhailov (Bull. Acad. Sci. USSR, Atm. Oceanic Phys. Ser. 3, Chapters 4-6 get down to the business of specific Monte Carlo
no. 2 , 1967) have beencreditedby Collins, Blattner, Wells, methods being applied to specific physical problems. Chapter
and Horak ( A p p l . O p t . , vol. 11, pp. 2684-2696, 1972) for one 4 focuses on the solution of both direct and inverse problems
of the earliest reported applications of the MonteCarlo method involving radiative transfer in a spherical atmosphere. Estima-
to problems involving scattering in a spherical shell nonhomog- tion of the solar scattering in the atmosphereis an example of
eneousatmosphere. Clearly, theauthorsareexpertsinthis the direct problem, while determination of the altitude depen-
field and in the course of their workhave made significant dence of the aerosol scattering coefficient based on a scattering
contributions to the development and application of Monte measurement is typical of the inverse problemsconsidered.
Carlo techniques to atmospheric optics problems. Specific numerical results for the effect of solar scattering on
The book was originally published in Russia in 1974 under infraredsensor observationsarepresented.These examples
thetitle Metod Monte-Karlo v Atmosfevnoy Optikeby give one a feeling for the typeof results and the computational
Izdatelstvo
Nauka,Novosibirsk. Itwouldappearthatthe requirements associated withthe use of theMonte Carlo
method. Comparison of the results obtained using both the
Monte Carlo and characteristic methods is made with results
The reviewer is with Science Applications,Inc., Bedford, MA 01730. tabulated by Coulson et al. [K. E. Coulson, I. V. Dave, and Z.
IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-17, NO. 3, MARCH 1981 435

Sekera, Tables Related t o Radiation Emerging from a Planetary tuationsresultingfrompropagation in a turbulent medium.
Atmosphere with Rayleigh Scattering. Los Angeles, CA: Univ. Here, results are obtained by the Monte Carlo method for the
California Press, 1960J . Both are in good agreement, but the variance of the irradiance fluctuations. Theseagree qualitatively
Monte Carlo method has a large advantage over the character- with the experimentallyobserved saturation behavior.
istic method in terms of computer time (e.g., 1-3 h versus 50- In summary, the book clearly is not intended or recommended
100 h). for beginners or those simply wanting to learn how to d o it.
Chapter 5 is concerned with solving the problem of narrow Rather, only those already somewhat experienced in the theory
beam propagation in turbidmedialiketheatmosphereand and use of Monte Carlo techniques who are wishing to extend
ocean. In addition to development of the theory and methods their capabilities to the atmospheric optics area, or to new prob-
are for certain practical lems for atmospheric optics, likely
of solution, some numerical results given are to benefit from this book
pulsed laser reflection problems giving the time histories of the without a lot of additional supplementary reading and consul-
back scattered radiation. Comparison of these results with ex- tation of the reference material, about 80 percent of which, as
perimental data indicates good agreement and verification of noted earlier, is in Russian. Generally, the quality of the print-
the Monte Carlo techniques used. ing, figures, tables, etc., is good and although a few typograph-
In Chapter 6, the Monte Carlo method is applied to the prob- ical errors were found, they do not present any particular prob-
lem of estimating the correlation function for strong light fluc- lem for the reader.