RADIATIVE-TRANSFER OF SNOWPACK VEGETATION CANOPY AT THE SSM/I CHANNELS AND SATELLITE DATA-ANALYSIS/

Vector radiative transfer (VRT) nt tile DMSP SSM/I (Special Sensor Mic rowave Imager) channels (from 19 to 85 GHz) Sor multilayer of discrete scatterers as a model of snowpack/vegetation canopy is developed. Usi ng the physical optics approximation, the scattering, extinction coeff icients, and phase function of VRT equation for vegetation canopy are derived. The dense medium VRT is applied to the snow layer. Numerical results of two coupled VRT equations simulate scattering and emission signature from snowpack/vegetation canopy at SSM/I channels. Numerical results are applied to simulation and analysis of the SSM/I observati ons over China's northeast forest and Tibet Naqu pasture areas. (C) El sevier Science Inc., 1997.