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SCATTERING, ABSORPTION, AND EMISSION OF LIGHT BY SMALL PARTICLES
Michael I. Mishchenko, Larry D. Travis, and Andrew A. Lacis, 2002, 445 pp., $90.00, hardbound, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-78252-X
Electromagnetic wave scattering by small particles is an interdisciplinary area of research with applications to fields ranging from biomedicine to climate research and remote sensing. The particles encountered in nature often deviate from the spherical and homogeneous model of the well-known Lorenz-Mie scattering theory. Recent technological advancements in observing systems, measuring techniques, and computers have enhanced our ability to observe and simulate physical systems. Along with the new applications, the need for accurate calculations of scattering, absorption, and emission properties of a wide range of irregular shapes and heterogeneous composition particles is prominent.
Mishchenko's book fills the need for an up-to-date and comprehensive description of theory, numerical methods, and practical applications on light scattering absorption and emission by small particles. The author does an excellent job of combining all the material into a coherent story. The book has the potential to serve as a reference book for researchers in a wide range of fields. The material is better organized than in previous works (e.g., Mishchenko et al. 2000), and provides an effective explanation of how the scattering and absorption properties behave in a much more general context than that provided by the Rayleigh theory (traditionally the realm of radar meteorologists). It puts universally accepted truths such as, "an oriented oblate spheroid produces positive ZDR because the horizontal axis is greater than the...