THE UV TO IR TRANSMITTANCE OF ANTARCTIC SNOW

We report the transmittance of Antarctic snow as a function of the thi ckness of snow layers, in the range between 350 and 900 nm. Samples we re studied near Scott Base, Ross Island, and data are presented for me asurements made in early December 1996. The transmittance followed the two flux theoretical expressions well, and scattering and absorption parameters were obtained by curve fitting. Scattering dominated the tr ansmittance at shorter wavelengths. The absorption at shorter waveleng ths varied from one site to another, being lowest for snow samples mea sured furthest away from Ross Island, suggesting the effects of blown volcanic dust. The snow albedo derived from the transmittance paramete rs is compared with those of other workers.