Three Dimensional Computer Simulations of Maxwell Equations and Snow Microstructures for Active and Passive Microwave Observations of Snow on Sea Ice in a Changing Climate

积雪在北极海冰过程中起着关键作用，近几十年来积雪显著变薄。在冬季，它将海冰与冷空气温度隔离开来，减缓海冰的生长。在春季和夏季，积雪对海冰和底层海洋吸收的太阳能热量施加控制，影响冰的融化过程。因此，雪的厚度、分布和密度可以减缓海冰的恢复或加剧其损失。航空和卫星遥感用于监测海冰上的积雪深度。遥感微波信号的解释需要微波如何与雪相互作用的精确模型。该项目将开发电磁模型，将微波特征与雪的物理参数定量联系起来。它将通过为研究生培训提供支持，为STEM劳动力发展做出贡献。该模型的计算机代码将公开提供，并为北极科学界提供一个资源，拟议的项目将通过对雪粒子与微波区电磁波之间的相互作用进行建模，改进从空中和空间观测中提取雪参数的工作。特别是，该项目将产生三维模拟的解决方案，麦克斯韦方程组的三维雪微观结构的存在。研究结果将应用于海冰上积雪的主动和被动微波遥感数据分析。将在高性能计算（HPC）系统上对类似于真实的雪的雪的微观结构进行三维计算机模拟，以计算覆盖海冰的雪的散射和发射。大规模高性能计算的使用将允许模拟在相对大的空间域上运行。

Snow cover plays a key role in Arctic sea ice processes, and it has thinned significantly in recent decades. In winter, it insulates sea ice from cold air temperatures, slowing sea ice growth. In spring-summer, snow albedo exerts a control on solar heat absorbed by the sea ice and underlying ocean, impacting ice melt processes. Thus, snow thickness, distribution, and density, can moderate the recovery of the sea ice pack or exacerbate its loss. Airborne and satellite remote sensing are used to monitor snow depth over sea ice. Interpretation of the remotely sensed microwave signals requires accurate models of how the microwaves interact with the snow. This project will develop electromagnetic models that relate the microwave signatures quantitatively to physical parameters of snow. It will contribute to STEM workforce development by providing support for the training of a graduate student. The computer code for the model will be made publicly available and provide a resource for the Arctic science community.The proposed project will improve the extraction of snow parameters from airborne and spaceborne observations through the modeling of the interaction between snow particles and electromagnetic waves in the microwave region. In particular, the project will generate 3D simulations of the solution to Maxwell's equations in the presence of 3D snow microstructure. Results will be applied to the analysis of active and passive microwave remote sensing data of snow over sea ice. Three-dimensional computer simulations of microstructures of snow that resemble that of real snow will be performed on High Performance Computing (HPC) systems to compute scattering and emission of snow covering sea-ice. The use of large scale high performance computations will permit the simulations to be run over relatively large spatial domains.