Electromagnetic scattering models of layered random rough surfaces and their role in addressing some of the grand challenges of climate research

Several layered rough surface and random media scattering models recently developed are discussed, including analytical methods based on small perturbation method and the stabilized extended boundary condition method. It is also shown how some of these models are being used to retrieve subsurface properties from synthetic and experimental data. This is an overview paper on the above topics, with many of them described in more detail in other papers whose citations are provided here.