Mixing Formulae and Experimental Results for the Dielectric Constant of Snow

Abstract This paper discusses dielectric properties of snow according to various dielectric models and compares them with experimental results. The complex permittivity of wet snow is assumed to consist of two parts, being the sum of the permittivity of dry snow (a mixture of ice and air) and the ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: Sihvola, Ari, Nyfors, Ebbe, Tiuri, Martti
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1985
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006419
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000006419
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Summary:Abstract This paper discusses dielectric properties of snow according to various dielectric models and compares them with experimental results. The complex permittivity of wet snow is assumed to consist of two parts, being the sum of the permittivity of dry snow (a mixture of ice and air) and the excess permittivity due to liquid water (resulting from the dielectric mixture of water and air). In particular the effect of liquid water is considered. Exponential models and structure-dependent models based on mixture theories by Taylor and Tinga and others are applied. It is shown that the assumption that water inclusions have the form of either randomly oriented discs or needles, or of spheres do, not get empirical confirmation but the inclusions are preferably prolate ellipsoids (ellipticity 0.16) or oblate ellipsoids (ellipticity 0.12), dry snow being a dielectric mixture of randomly oriented disc-shaped ice particles and air.