Estimation of snow water equivelant using a parameterized snow model

Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) is a crucial parameter in the studies of hydrology and climatology. Estimating SWE by using high-resolution radar systems, especially those capable of providing high-frequency observations, is an important task in the microwave studies. In this paper, a parameterized snow scattering model was first developed to provide the model basis for the snow inversion problems. A scheme based on the parameterized model, analysis on the depolarization factor as well as the scattering and extinction relationships between X and Ku-band snow backscattering signals was then developed for SWE inversion. Initial evaluation on the technique was made through theoretically simulated database. The estimated SWE is found to be well correlated with simulated SWE with an acceptable accuracy.