Microwave permittivity of dry snow

The relative dielectric constant, or relative permittivity, ε of dry snow, is independent of frequency from about 1 MHz up to the microwave range of at least 10 GHz. New measurements of with improved accuracy were made with a specially designed resonator operating near 1 GHz. The coaxial sensor accurately defines the sample volume whose actual mass can be determined to give the density of the snow sample. A special electronic instrument, called a resometer, enabled accurate and rapid measurements under field conditions. Some 90 measurements of different kinds of dry snow (fresh, old, wind-pressed snow, depth hear, and refrozen crusts) were made at test sites in the Swiss and Austrian Alps. The data indicate that ε is a function of snow density only, given that the standard deviation of 0.006 from the fitted curve is just due to the expected measurement errors. The interpretation of these data in terms of physical mixing theory favors the effective medium formula of Polder and van Santen (1946). The data allow to relate the average axial ratio X as a function of ice volume fraction. Both prolate and oblate spheroids can explain the data. Independent reasoning gives preference to oblate particles. In both cases, the axial ratio increases with increasing fraction up to a critical value of 0.33, followed by a decrease at still higher fractions. The destructive metamorphism of slowly compacting snow explains the increase of X, while the following decrease might be due to sintering. So far, no effect on ε by a liquid-like surface layer on the ice grains at temperatures between -10°C and 0°C has been observed