This chapter reviews first the state of the art in deriving the single scattering properties of atmospheric hydrometeors, and then models are described for the computation of radiance distributions in cloudy atmospheres. The chapter finishes with the characterisation of the known signatures of clouds and precipitation in passive microwave observations.

Inspec keywords: microwave propagation; clouds; atmospheric precipitation; atmospheric optics; atmospheric techniques; atmospheric electromagnetic wave propagation

Other keywords: passive microwave observations; atmospheric hydrometeors; radiance distributions; precipitation; scattering properties; cloudy atmospheres

Subjects: Atmospheric optical scattering, polarization