A size/shape distribution of spheroids was chosen to approximate a group of micrometer sized soil particles whose angular light scattering patterns had been measured previously. The scattering properties of the randomly oriented spheroids were calculated using the T-matrix method. The largest soil particles, those accounting for ~30% of the total scattering, were not included in the spheroid distribution because of computer limitations. These calculations were made to (1) investigate how well the measured scattering by soil particles is approximated by a similar distribution of spheroids and (2) use the data for spheroids to estimate some scattering properties that were too difficult to measure when the soil particles were studied previously. The shapes of the measured angular scattering patterns are better approximated by the distribution of spheroids than by a distribution of spheres of equal surface area or of equal volume.

© 1984 Optical Society of America

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