Electromagnetic scattering from a multi-layered surface with lossy inhomogeneous dielectric profiles for remote sensing of snow

Abstract

A multilayered backscattering model for a lossy medium has been presented in this paper. This multilayered model has been used to calculate the total surface reflection coefficients of a snow pack for both horizontal and vertical co-polarizations. The total surface reflection coefficients include contributions from both surface and volumetric backscattering. The backscattering coefficients calculated by this model were compared with in situ measurements on dry and wet snow. Results show that good agreements are obtained between the model and measurements for the co-polarization modes, especially for the snow with less liquid water content.