Drizzle attenuation model for visible and infrared wavelengths

Abstract

In an outdoor environment, the transmitted optical signal is affected by the atmospheric particles that may scatter or absorb light such as drizzle, rain, snow, fog, and aerosols. Various earlier studies have attempted to provide models that accurately describe the attenuation caused by the propagation of light waves through different atmospheric conditions. While the rain attenuation models have received significant research efforts, the modeling of drizzle attenuation was not yet fully studied. In this paper, we conduct extensive simulations in MODTRAN to model drizzle attenuation over the wavelength from 350 nm to 1550 nm. Based on data fitting to simulation results, we further propose a closed-form expression for the drizzle extinction coefficient.