LABORATORY STUDIES OF ANGLE-DEPENDENT AND POLARIZATION-DEPENDENT LIGHT-SCATTERING IN SEA-ICE

The, angle- and polarization-dependent light scattering were measured for oriented first-year and multiyear sea ice taken from the Chukchi S ea near Pt. Barrow, Alaska. The entire Mueller matrix for these sample s was determined at 532 nm. Mueller matrices were also determined for artificially grown saline ice samples and melted samples of the respec tive ice types. Phase functions for thin-slab samples are qualitativel y consistent with calculations for scattering from brine inclusions in a solid ice medium and depend strongly on the shape of the scattering sample. Small orientation-dependent effects are observed for scatteri ng from oriented sea ice. A simple model is used to describe qualitati vely some features of the measured sea ice Mueller matrices. This mode l combines the effects of scattering for spherical inhomogeneities and the intrinsic birefringence of pure water ice. A set of Mueller matri x inequalities is presented and used to obtain physical insight into t he measurement results. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.