Resolving uncertainties in snow microstructure representation: The two-point correlation function for sticky hard spheres and tomography-based estimation of stickiness
Abstract
The necessity of a grain size scaling factor and the interpretation of the stickiness parameter in dense media radiative transfer (DMRT) simulations has led to some controversy in microwave emission modeling of snow. Ambiguities originate from the representation of snow microstructure within DMRT as a discrete sphere assembly, e.g. sticky hard spheres (SHS), which is difficult to identify with the random, bicontinuous structure of real snow. This uncertainty in structural representation also hinders a compelling comparison of DMRT with other models, such as the microwave emission model of layered snowpacks (MEMLS) which is based on the two-point correlation function for continuous microstructures. As a remedy, we have derived an exact expression for the two-point correlation function for monodisperse SHS in the Percus-Yevick approximation as required to evaluate the scattering coefficient in the improved Born approximation in MEMLS. The SHS parameters, namely sphere diameter and stickiness, are objectively estimated for various snow samples by fitting the analytical expression to experimental data from micro-computed tomography.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.C41C0656L
- Keywords:
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- 0736 CRYOSPHERE Snow;
- 0758 CRYOSPHERE Remote sensing;
- 0659 ELECTROMAGNETICS Random media and rough surfaces