Multistatic imaging and optical modelling of nacreous clouds

The presence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) has important implications for stratospheric chemistry. Thus it is important to understand the develo pment of such clouds. In this report the feasibility of using multi-static imaging for studies of PSC physics is discussed. In particular, a method to solve for particle sizes using bistatic multi-wavelength observations is d escribed. It has not yet been possible to apply the proposed method to PSC images. However, a numerical simulation for the ideal case of single scatte ring by spherical particles works with reasonable accuracy, even when rando m noise is added. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.