A model for the bidirectional polarized reflectance of snow

A model for calculating snow bidirectional reflectance at any wavelength in the solar spectrum is presented. The method is based on the radiative transfer theory by using the adding/doubling method. The model includes polarization information which is quite new for snow and can help to interpret relevant remote-sensing data. The snow grain shape effects on the reflectance are studied and shown to be very important in the near and middle infrared. The snow grains are assumed to be either spherical or hexagonal ice particles; the single scattering properties are computed by the Mie and the ray-tracing theories, respectively. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.