Modeling of anisotropic electromagnetic reflection from sea ice

The contribution of brine layers to observed reflective anisotropy of sea ice at 100 MHz is quantitatively assessed, and a theoretical explanation for observed reflective anisotropy is proposed in terms of anisotropic electric flux penetration into the brine layers. The sea ice is assumed to be a stratified dielectric consisting of pure ice containing ellipsoidal conducting inclusions (brine layers) uniformly aligned with their long axes perpendicular to the preferred crystallographic c axis direction. The asymmetrical geometry of the brine layers is shown to produce an anisotropy in the complex dielectric constant of sea ice.