Albedo of soot‐contaminated snow

We present a new model of snow containing impurities (graphitic carbon). Submicron‐sized soot particles are supposed to be distributed randomly throughout the volume. Using the mixing rule for a dielectric constant of a composite medium, we calculate the refractive index of a snow‐soot mixture. Then we obtain the single scattering albedo and the asymmetry factor. Using the delta‐Eddington approximation, we determine the reflectivity (albedo) of a snow layer in the wavelength range 0.3 μm≤λ ≤2.5 μm. The calculated spectral albedos and the deduced amounts of graphitic carbon agree well with field measurements.