Effects of atmospheric scattering on thermal infrared remote sensing of the earth

The effects of scattering caused by atmospheric aerosol are become more and more important. So the effects are studied by using radiation transfer equation in detail. The influences on radiant flux transfer, especially the energy balance and total signal-to-noise ratio of remote sensor induced by atmospheric aerosol, which are ignored in the past studies, are rigorously analyzed. The simulation results for parameters of altitude of remote sensor and visibility show that the scattering of the thermal infrared radiation by atmospheric aerosol differ in 1-2 magnitude order of that with aerosol ignored. This is due to the fact that the scattering is not only component of the infrared radiation extinction, but also an important factor determining the emergence of new types radiant fluxes in the thermal infrared remote sensing of the earth.