Derivation and evaluation of a new extinction coefficient for use with the n-HUT snow emission model

Maslanka, W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1777-733X, Sandells, M., Gurney, R., Lemmetyinen, J., Leppanen, L., Kontu, A., Matzl, M., Rutter, N., Watts, T. and Kelly, R. (2019) Derivation and evaluation of a new extinction coefficient for use with the n-HUT snow emission model. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 57 (10). pp. 7406-7417. ISSN 0196-2892 doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2019.2913208

Abstract/Summary

In this study, snow slab data collected from the Arctic Snow Microstructure Experiment were used in conjunction with a six-directional flux coefficient model to calculate individual slab absorption and scattering coefficients. These coefficients formed the basis for a new semiempirical extinction coefficient model, using both frequency and optical diameter as input parameters, along with the complex dielectric constant of snow. Radiometric observations, at 18.7, 21.0, and 36.5 GHz at both horizontal polarization (H-Pol) and vertical polarization (V-Pol), and snowpit data collected as part of the Sodankylä Radiometer Experiment were used to compare and contrast the simulated brightness temperatures produced by the multi-layer Helsinki University of Technology snow emission model, utilizing both the original empirical model and the new semiempirical extinction coefficient model described here. The results show that the V-Pol RMSE and bias values decreased when using the semiempirical extinction coefficient; however, the H-Pol RMSE and bias values increased on two of the lower microwave bands tested. The unbiased RMSE was shown to decrease across all frequencies and polarizations when using the semiempirical extinction coefficient.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/88639
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	IEEE Xplore
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item