Microwave emission from snowpacks: modeling the effects of volume scattering, surface scattering and layering

Abstract

We used the dense media radiative transfer (DMRT) theory and the 3D numerical solutions of Maxwell equations to study the volume scattering in snow. We used the full wave solutions of Maxwell equations to study the scattering and emission from rough surface over layered media. . We compared quasicrystalline approximation-DMRT (QCA/DMRT) and numerical solutions of Maxwell equations-DMRT (NMM3D/DMRT) in simulating the scattering by densely packed particles and snow brightness temperature (TB). . For the problem of multilayer media with azimuthal asymmetric rough surface, we consider the four Stokes parameters The numerical results show that the presence of the layered media below the rough surface reduce the vertical and horizontal brightness temperatures. The interaction between the rough surface and the layered media also enhance the third and fourth Stokes parameters. In particular, the fourth Stokes parameter can be large for such geometrical configurations.