Dart: Radiative Transfer modeling for simulating terrain, airborne and satellite spectroradiometer and LIDAR acquisitions and 3D radiative budget of natural and urban landscapes

The need of better accuracy for analyzing remote sensing (RS) data of complex Earth surfaces explains the increasing need of models that simulate RS data with physical approaches. Similarly, the study of Earth surfaces functioning requires physical models that simulate the 3D radiative budget (RB) of these surfaces. DART (Discrete Anisotropic Radiative Transfer is one of the most comprehensive physically based 3D models that model the Earth-atmosphere radiation interaction from visible to thermal infrared wavelengths. It simulates optical signals at the entrance of terrain / airborne / satellite imaging radiometers and laser scanners, as well as the 3D RB, of urban / natural landscapes for any experimental and instrumental configurations. Its licenses are free for research and teaching activities. Here, we present its major recent advances.