Influence of Horizontal Inhomogeneity on Albedo and Absorptivity of Snow Cover

T. B. Zhuravleva and A. A. Kokhanovskii

The variations of albedo and absorptivity of the snow cover are considered caused by the presence of the snow roughness in the form of sastrugi. The numerical modeling is carried out within the framework of statistical approach based on the analytic averaging of the radiative transfer equation and statistically homogeneous model on the basis of Poisson flows of points at the straight lines. The estimates of the influence of 3D-effects of the rough surface are represented depending on optical and geometrical characteristics of sastrugi and on the illumination conditions. It is demonstrated that if the absorption by the snow particles is weak (the single scattering albedo w = 0.9999) the reflection of radiation by snow decreases by ~ 2–3% when the sastrugi appear. This effect is more significant in near infrared spectral region where w is below 0.99.