Effective permittivity of wet snow using Strong Fluctuation Theory

Abstract

The strong fluctuation theory is applied to calculate the effective permittivity of wet snow by a two-phase model with non-symmetrical inclusions. In the two-phase model, wet snow is assumed to consist of dry snow (host) and liquid water (inclusions). Numerical results for the effective permittivity of wet snow are illustrated for random media with isotropic and anisotropic correlation functions. A three-phase strong fluctuation theory model with symmetrical inclusions is also presented for theoretical comparison. In the three-phase model, wet snow is assumed to consist of air (host), ice (inclusions) and water (inclusions) and the shape of the inclusions is spherical. The results are compared with the Debye-like semi-empirical model and a comparison with experimental data at 6, 18 and 37 GHz is also presented. The results indicate that (a) the shape and the size of inclusions are important, and (b) the two-phase model with non-symmetrical inclusions provides the good results to the effective permittivity of wet snow.