Layer-edge conditions for multislab atmospheric radiative transfer problems

We derive nonstandard layer-edge conditions for efficient solution of multislab atmospheric radiative transfer problems. We begin by defining a local radiative transfer problem on the lowermost layer of a multislab model atmosphere and we consider a standard discrete ordinates version of this local problem. We then make use of a recently developed computational method in order to derive layer-edge conditions involving incident, reflected and transmitted radiation. These layer-edge conditions for the lowermost layer are given in terms of inherent optical properties of the layer, the solar zenith angle and the quadrature set used in the discrete ordinates approach. They can be used to increase the efficiency of our computational method in solving practical problems in atmospheric radiative transfer. Moreover, they are amenable to incorporation into other discrete ordinates methods. To illustrate, we report numerical results for two atmospheric model problems.