  The relationship between sea ice thickness and microwave brightness
temperature is explored. Parameterized ice profiles are fed to a
radiative-transfer-based sea ice emissivity model (Microwave Emmission of
Layered Snowpack, MEMLS). Complex permittivities, required as input for the
simulation, are determined using a semi-empirical mixture model. Since the
thickness-radiance relation is not fixed but can vary significantly depending
upon past and current weather conditions, we determine a range of brightness
temperature values for each thickness. This is done using a bootstrap model in
which the salinities are varied based on variances supplied with the
thickness-salinity curve and the complex permittivities are varied based on
variance supplied by the mixture model. The results suggest that scattering is
one of the most important parameters determining sea ice brightness
temperature, especially for new and forming ice. Further work must be done to
accurately model both scattering and complex permittivities in sea ice.
