The book is aimed at the description of modern progress in radiative transfer and light scattering in turbid media in general and in snow layers in particular. The optical model for the total reflection microscopy is presented. The primary audience for this book is the postgraduate students and also scientists actively involved in the respective areas of research.

Alexander A. Kokhanovsky graduated from the Physical Department of the Belarussian State University, Minsk, Belarus, in 1983. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in optical sciences from the Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus, in 1991. His Ph.D. work was devoted to the development of analytical approximations for the radiative transfer characteristics of atmospheric aerosols and whitecaps. His habilitation work (Main Geophysical Observatory, St. Petersburg, Russia, 2011) was aimed at cloud and snow remote sensing from space. He has worked at several scientific research centers, such as the Institute of Physics (Minsk, Belarus, 1983–2004), Japanese Space Exploration Agency (Tokyo, Japan, 1996–1997), Clausthal Technical University (Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany, 1997–1998), Imperial College (London, UK, 1999–2000), University of Bremen (Bremen, Germany, 2001–2013), VITROCISET/TELESPAZIO Belgium  (Darmstadt, Germany, 2013–2022), and German Research Centre for Geosciences (Potsdam, Germany, 2022-2025).  He is employed by the University of Marburg at present. His research is directed to snow and glacier ice remote sensing from space.