Modeling the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of water based on Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of water is one of the most important factors to describe the optical characteristics of ocean using Lidar. It also plays important roles in the research on remote sensing modelling and inversion. This research was based on certain assumptions, by using Monte Carlo method to track a large number of photon collisions in the water, and study on the influence of the laser beam incident zenith angle and Inherent Optical Properties of water (i.e. scattering phase function, single scattering albedo) on the water BRDF. The simulation result showed that both incident zenith angle of laser beam and IOP of water have an impact on shape and quantity of BRDF.