An application of strong fluctuation theory on wet snow modeling

This study is concerned with the development of a model to describe microwave emission from wet snow. The model is based on the radiative transfer theory and the strong fluctuation theory. Wet snow is treated as a mixture of dry snow and water inclusions. The shape of the water inclusions is an important factor. The effective permittivity is calculated by using the two-phase strong fluctuation theory model with nonsymmetrical inclusions. The phase matrix and the extinction coefficient of wet snow for an anistropic correlation function with azimuth symmetric are used. The vector radiative transfer equation was solved by using Gaussian quadrature and eigen analysis. Comparisons with emissivity data at 11, 21 and 35 GHz are made. It is shown that the model fits the experimental data.