A Study of the Microwave Brightness Temperature of Snow from the Point of View of Strong Fluctuation Theory

An application of strong fluctuation theory to the computation of the brightness temperature of dry and wet isothermal snowpacks is made. The numerical problems associated with computations are analyzed for the case of plane boundaries but arbitrary structure in the vertical direction. Comparisons of computed effective dielectric constants as well as brightness temperatures with experimental observations are made. The generally good agreement that is achieved does not depend on the arbitrary introduction of correction factors as is necessary when using radiative transfer theory.