From Bright Windows to Dark Spots: Snow Cover Controls Melt Pond Optical Properties During Refreezing

A regional snow-line method for estimating snow cover from MODIS during cloud cover

The objective of this study is to propose and evaluate a method for snow cover mapping during clouds using the daily MODIS/Terra snow cover product. The proposed SNOWL approach is based on reclassifying pixels assigned as clouds to snow or land according to their relative position to the regional snow-line elevation. The accuracy of the SNOWL approach is evaluated over Austria, using daily snow...

A review of optical snow cover algorithms

The purpose of this report is to provide a review of optical snow cover algorithms to assist algorithm selection in the CryoRisk project. The first part of the report provides a brief review of the state of the art for snow cover retrieval algorithms developed internationally. The review covers classification algorithms (snow/non-snow algorithms), fractional snow cover algorithms (snow fraction...

Bright Light from Dark Matter

Snow Cover

Snow cover is a layer of snow on the earth’s surface, which is mainly results from snowfalls. The snow cover can be temporary, when a snow melts during several hours or days after its formation, and it can be stable, when it remains for the whole winter or with short interruptions. The snow cover formation on the globe is determined (conditioned) by the geographical zonality, surface relief, an...

Incorporation of a physically based melt pond scheme into the sea ice component of a climate model

[1] The extent and thickness of the Arctic sea ice cover has decreased dramatically in the past few decades with minima in sea ice extent in September 2005 and 2007. These minima have not been predicted in the IPCC AR4 report, suggesting that the sea ice component of climate models should more realistically represent the processes controlling the sea ice mass balance. One of the processes poorl...