Current progress in development of full 3D earth model for integrated ray tracing simulation of planetary disk averaged spectra

Detection of spectral bio-signatures from extra terrestrial planets has received an increasing attention from the astronomy and space science communities in recent years. In an attempt to better-understand disk averaged spectra of the only know terrestrial planet i.e. Earth, we are constructing a scale-able 3D earth model with surface reflectance and scattering properties. The USGS coastal line data were used to form coastal line segments and they were then stitched to generate continuous coastal lines to represent major continents and large islands. As the first stage of model verification, wavelength dependent ocean and land reflectance data and scattering characteristics were defined over the land and sea surfaces respectively. We then performed ray tracing based imaging and radiometric transfer simulations using a hypothetical optical payload receiving the reflected and scattered sun lights from the earth. The model concept, computational details, the simulation results are discussed as well as the future development plan.