VRT models for SSM/I channels and new algorithms for data calibration/validation

Identification of atmospheric precipitation and different Earth surfaces and algorithms of the parameter retrieval have been extensively studied during the course of SSM/I calibration/validation effort. However, we have found that some conventional algorithms are are not valid in many applications due to their empirical restriction. We have developed the vector radiative transfer modeling for SSM/I channels for Earth surfaces such as snow/vegetation, rough sea surface, scattering media of sea ice, etc., and derived several new algorithms from theoretical simulations to invert some parameters from SSM/I data. Our retrieval results and analysis compare well with the ground truth data measurements.