Simulation of the emission of frozen soil by using IEM

Seasonal freeze/thaw cycles of soils influence the ground thermal and hydrological characteristics, which have significant impact on the balance of heat and moisture at interface between soil and atmosphere. Microwave remote sensing of frozen soil is of primary importance. In this study, microwave emission of frozen soil was simulated for evaluating the surface and subsurface effect, including surface roughness and dielectric properties, on the brightness temperature at AMSR-E frequencies. First a dielectric constant model of frozen soil newly proposed was employed to obtain dielectric properties for frozen soil. We simulated the interface emission by using integral equation model (IEM) to reach the total emission. It is found that emission signatures of soil layer are quite different at frozen or thaw status at AMSR-E frequencies. The importance of each emission component was demonstrated at different frequencies and polarizations under different surface conditions.