The ScIce Database is a database for optical properties of realistic ice particles of cirrus clouds. Various ensembles of perfect and irregular ice particles, including their aggregates, are incorporated in this database. The organization of this database is described here. The database consists of the full Mueller matrix, calculated within the framework of the pure physical optics method for particle sizes ranging from 5 to 1000 μm. It is available from this website and can also be downloaded here or via the link: https://ftp.iao.ru/pub/GWDT/Physical_optics/Backscattering/Data_bank_2023_level_2.

The comprehensive version of the database of 2025, built with a new approach combining three fundamentally different methods – rigorous numerical methods, the physical optics method, and the geometric optics approximation – can be downloaded here. This version contains solutions for all typical ice crystal shapes of cirrus clouds, excluding particle aggregates. The particles are assumed to be randomly oriented. A unique feature of this database is that it provides solutions for the entire range of particle sizes from 0.1 to 10000 μm for all three most commonly used lidar wavelengths: 0.355, 0.532, and 1.064 μm. Such a database is useful for developing algorithms to interpret laser sounding data of cirrus clouds using both ground-based and space-borne lidars.

The database is created with support of V. E. Zuev Institute Of Atmospheric Optics SB RAS (Russia) and Hefei Institutes Of Physical Science (CASHIPS), CAS (China) under the China-Russia Research Center for Atmospheric Optics.