Theoretical study of solar light reflectance from vertical snow surfaces

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: O. V. Nikolaeva, A. A. Kokhanovsky
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2013
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-657-2013; https://doaj.org/article/3d3039969ad247968208972fe07d8436

The influence of horizontal and vertical inhomogeneity of snow surfaces on solar light reflectance is studied using the radiative transfer theory (RTT). We compared 1-D RTT and 2-D RTT and found that large errors are produced if the 1-D RTT is used for the calculation of the snow reflection function (and, therefore, also in the retrievals of the snow grain radii) in 2-D measurement geometries. Such 2-D geometries are common in the procedures for the determination of the effective snow grain radii using near-infrared photography and spectroscopy of vertical snow walls. In particular, we have considered three cases for the numerical calculations: (1) the case with no black film; (2) the case with a black film at the pit's bottom; (3) the case with a black film at the pit's bottom and also at one of the vertical snow walls.