Nonlinear Inversion of Microwave Scattering Data for Snow-Covered Sea-Ice Dielectric Profile Reconstruction

A nonlinear electromagnetic inverse scattering algorithm is presented to reconstruct snow-covered sea-ice dielectric profiles using multiple-frequency multipolarimetric normalized radar cross-sectional data. This inversion algorithm utilizes a global optimization technique in conjunction with the boundary-perturbation-theory electromagnetic forward solver to retrieve the complex permittivities, thickness values, and roughness parameters of the snow-covered sea-ice profiles of interest. The proposed algorithm is then tested against synthetically collected data in both bistatic and monostatic configurations. The achievable quantitative accuracy of the inversion results is reasonable as long as sufficient scattering data are given to the inversion algorithm.