Order-of-scattering of partially polarized radiation in inhomogeneous,anisotropically scattering atmospheres

A complete set of transfer equations required for the order-of-scattering analysis of partially polarized radiation in inhomogeneous, anisotropically scattering atmospheres is provided. The equations have been derived for both a local study using the radiative transfer equation and its associated auxiliary equation for the source-matrix, and a global study in terms of the scattering and transmission matrices; they account for the polarity of the scattering medium. Their derivations for the finite order scattering and the finitely cumulative scattering, in particular, have yielded important new equations expressing the invariance principles and the integro-differential recurrences for the scattering and transmission matrices. These novel expressions contain as a special case Bellmanet al's (1972) equations for the simpler case of isotropic scattering of unpolarized light in homogeneous atmospheres.