Scattering database in the millimeter and submillimeter wave range of 100 - 1000 GHz for nonspherical ice crystals

The inference of ice cloud properties from spaceborne sensors is sensitive to the retrieval algorithms and satellite sensors used. To approach a better understanding of ice cloud properties, it is necessary to combine satellite measurements from multiple platforms and sensors operating in visible, infrared, and millimeter and submillimeter-wave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The single-scattering properties of ice particles with consistent ice particle models are the basis for estimating the optical and microphysical properties of ice clouds from multiple satellite sensors. In this study, the single-scattering properties (extinction efficiency, absorption efficiency, single-scattering albedo, asymmetry factor, and scattering phase matrix) of nonspherical ice particles, assumed to be hexagonal solid and hollow columns, hexagonal plates, 3D bullet rosettes, aggregates, and droxtals, are computed from the discrete dipole approximation method for 21 millimeter and submillimeter-wave frequencies ranging from 100 to 1000 GHz. A database of the single-scattering properties of nonspherical ice particles are developed for 38 particle sizes ranging from 2 to 2000 μm in terms of particle maximum dimension. The bulk scattering properties of ice clouds consisting of various ice particles, which are the fundamental to the radiative transfer in ice clouds, are developed on the basis of a set of 1119 particle size distributions obtained from various field campaigns.