EFFECTS OF FOREST ON THE SNOW PARAMETERS DERIVED FROM MICROWAVE MEASUREMENTS DURING THE BOREAS WINTER FIELD CAMPAIGN

Passive microwave data have been used to infer the areal snow water eq uivalent (SWE) with some success. However, the accuracy of these retri eved SWE values have not been well determined for heterogeneous vegeta ted regions. The Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) Winter Fie ld Campaign (WFC), which took place in February 1994, provided the opp ortunity to study in detail the effects of boreal forests on snow para meter retrievals. Preliminary results reconfirmed the relationship bet ween microwave brightness temperature and snow water equivalent. The p ronounced effect of forest cover on SWE retrieval was studied. A modif ied vegetation mixing algorithm is proposed to account for the forest cover. The relationship between the microwave signature and observed s nowpack parameters matches results from this model.