Synthesis of passive microwave and radar altimeter data for estimating accumulation rates of polar snow

Dry-snow extinction coefficients derived from radar altimeter data are compared with brightness temperature data from passive microwave measurements over a portion of the East Antarctic plateau. The comparison between the extinction coefficients and the brightness temperatures shows a strong negative correlation, where the correlation coefficients ranged from -0.87 to -0.95. The extinction coefficient of the dry polar snow decreases with increasing surface elevation, while the average brightness temperature increases with surface elevation. The author´s analysis shows that the observed trends are related to geographic variations in scattering coefficient of snow, which in turn are controlled by variations in surface temperature and snow accumulation rate. By combining information present in the extinction coefficient and brightness temperature datasets, the author develop´s a model that can be used to obtain quantitative estimates of the accumulation rate of dry polar snow