Atmospheric correction of passive microwave brightness temperature on the estimation of snow depth

We discussed atmospheric correction of passive microwave over China in the snow covered area. SSM/I brightness temperature, radiosonde observation database and MODIS water vapor product (MOD05) were used to estimate the atmospheric influence. The traditional gradient SWE algorithm before and after the atmospheric correction was compared, and results showed atmospheric influence was bigger over snow cover area. It is about 4-5K over the whole China. In the QTP (Qinghai-Tibet Plateau) area, the atmospheric influence was less than other areas in China; also QTP always had thin snow, so the traditional gradient SWE algorithm could not perform well. The gradient algorithm at high frequency was tested, and the results showed even under the original brightness temperature difference at 19 GHz and 85.5 GHz, the gradient (19 GHz-85.5 GHz) performed good consistency with IMS products.