Scripps Institution of Oceanography

SIO Reference 59-53. We shall be concerned here with a study of radiative transfer processes on discrete rather than continuous optical media. That is, we shall explore the consequences of replacing the usual geometric setting for radiative transfer processes — namely some continuum of points in three dimensional euclidean space £ — by a spatially bounded set of points, finite in number, each of which is located in E3 in accordance with some explicit rule of selection. Each point of the set is then assigned certain scattering and absorbing properties with respect to impinging radiant energy, and each is generally allowed to interact radiometrically in a specified way with a certain preselected subset of the given collection. The main object of the present study is to formulate and solve, within this context ;ind on a phenomenological level, the problem of the steady state radiance distribution at each point of the set, under prescribed boundary conditions.