This study evaluates the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow cover product over the territory of Austria. The aims are (a) to analyse the spatial and temporal variability of the MODIS snow product classes, (b) to examine the accuracy of the MODIS snow product against in situ snow depth data, and (c) to identify the main factors that may influence the MODIS classification ...

Snow depth is a general input variable in many models of agriculture, hydrology, climate, and ecology. However, there are some uncertainties in the retrieval of snow depth by remote sensing. Errors occurred in snow depth evaluation under the D-InSAR methods will affect the accuracy of snow depth inversion to a certain extent. This study proposes a scheme to estimate spatial snow depth that comb...

[1] Runoff generation in Alpine regions is typically affected by snow processes. Snow accumulation, storage, redistribution, and ablation control the availability of water. In this study, several robust parameterizations describing snow processes in Alpine environments were implemented in a fully distributed, physically based hydrological model. Snow cover development is simulated using differe...

This report considers passive microwave radiometry and its application for satellite remote sensing of snow at a global scale. The microwaves observed from a dry snow pack are emitted from the ground beneath the snow. The bulk effect of the snow cover on the micro‐ waves is that the measured brightness temperature will decrease. This depends on the mass of the snow (snow water equivalent – SWE)...

The endangered snow leopard is a large felid that is distributed over 1.83 million km(2) globally. Throughout its range it relies on a limited number of prey species in some of the most inhospitable landscapes on the planet where high rates of human persecution exist for both predator and prey. We reviewed 14 published and 11 unpublished studies pertaining to snow leopard diet throughout its ra...

a r t i c l e i n f o A multitemporal method to map snow cover in mountainous terrain is proposed to guide Landsat climate data record (CDR) development. The Landsat image archive including MSS, TM, and ETM + imagery was used to construct a prototype Landsat snow cover CDR for the interior northwestern United States. Landsat snow cover CDRs are designed to capture snow-covered area (SCA) variab...

This study, which uses low-temperature scanning electron microscopy (LTSEM), systematically sampled and characterized snow crystals that were collected from three unique classes of snow cover: prairie, taiga, and alpine. These classes, which were defined in previous field studies, result from exposure to unique climatic variables relating to wind, precipitation, and air temperature. Snow sample...

A near-real time GMES-relevant monitoring system for semi-operational retrieval of snow covered area for hydrological and climatological applications has been developed in the Envisnow EC EESD FP 5 project. The system, using ENVISAT ASAR wide swath data from ESA AOE 785 and from the Kongsberg satellite station, geocodes and classifies Envisat ASAR data automatically, and produces SCA maps with ...

This study was part of the International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) and examined the effects of increased winter snow depth and decreased growing season length on the phenology of four arctic plant species (Betula nana, Salix pulchra, Eriophorum vaginatum, and Vaccinium vitis-idaea) and seasonal nitrogen availability in arctic snowbed communities. Increased snow depth had a large effect on the te...

[1] The nature of the snowpack has the potential to strongly influence the patterns of alpine plant productivity and composition by governing soil moisture levels, growing season duration and the thermal regime of alpine soils. This study evaluates these relationships by modeling the interrelationships of snow depth, snow water equivalent (SWE), snow disappearance rate, soil moisture, attribute...