Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks

A thermal microwave emission model of layered snowpacks (MEMLS) was developed for the frequency range 5–100 GHz. It is based on radiative transfer, using six-flux theory to describe multiple volume scattering and absorption, including radiation trapping due to total reflection and a combination of coherent and incoherent superpositions of reflections between layer interfaces. The scattering coefficient is determined empirically from measured snow samples, whereas the absorption coefficient, the effective permittivity, refraction, and reflection at layer interfaces are based on physical models and on measured ice dielectric properties. The number of layers is only limited by computer time and memory. A limitation of the empirical fits and thus of MEMLS is in the range of observed frequencies and correlation lengths (a measure of grain size). First model validation for dry winter snow was successful. An extension to larger grains is given in a companion article (Mätzler and Wiesmann, 1999). The objective of the present article is to describe and illustrate the model and to pave the way for further improvements. MEMLS has been coded in MATLAB. It forms part of a combined land-surface-atmosphere microwave emission model for radiometry from satellites (Pulliainen et al., 1998).