Radiance from an ice contaminated surface

The formation of water ice on key thermal and optical surfaces is a factor in the design of the James Webb Space Telescope. Many of these concerns are related to the mid-infrared stray light performance of the system. In this paper, an expression for the radiance of a contaminated surface is formulated, including directional, film thickness and cooling effects. The resulting formula is then evaluated to show how radiance emanating from the surface changes for various thicknesses of the ice layer as a function wavelength and the local thermal environment. This paper concludes with an analysis and discussion of this complex behavior.