Snow accumulation is critical for water availability in the northern hemisphere 1,2, raising concern that global warming could have important impacts on natural and human systems in snow-dependent regions 1,3. Although regional hydrologic changes have been observed (e.g., 1,3-5), the time of emergence of extreme changes in snow accumulation and melt remains a key unknown for assessing climate c...

The performance of a new algorithm for binary snow cover monitoring based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images at 250 m resolution is validated using snow cover maps (SCA) based on Landsat 7 ETM+ images and in situ snow depth measurements from ground stations in selected test sites in Central Europe. The advantages of the proposed algorithm are the improved ...

The L-band radiometry data and in-situ ground and snow measurements performed during the 2016/2017 winter campaign at the Davos-Laret remote sensing field laboratory are presented and discussed. An improved version of the procedure for the computation of L-band brightness temperatures from ELBARA radiometer raw data is introduced. This procedure includes a thorough explanation of the calibratio...

The chapter contains the general information on snow properties and main processes which occur in snow pack during cold period and during snowmelt. The models of hydrothermal processes and heat and moisture transfer in the dry and melting snow pack are described. The methods of calculation of snowmelt rate based on the energy budget of snow pack have been reviewed. To interpolate the spatial di...

Snow water equivalent (SWE) measurements are necessary for the management of water supply and flood control systems in seasonal snow-covered regions. SWE measurements quantify the amount of water stored in snowpack; it can be estimated by the product of snow depth and density. In this paper, snow depth and density are estimated by a nonlinear least squares fitting algorithm. The inputs to this ...

A watershed simulation and forecasting system is widely used in Finland for simulation of hydrological cycle and for making real-time forecasts. The system is based on a watershed model. This was based originally on the HBV-model and simulates the hydrological cycle using standard meteorological data. The model simulates the whole land area of Finland, including cross-border watersheds. This is...

We present a fast technique for the simulation of accumulated snow. Our technique is based on two phenomena; local occlusion of small holes and ditches, and the global influence of a skylight. We use ambient occlusion to predict the shape and location of snow accumulation and direct illumination from the skylight to simulate the melting and sublimation of snow as dissipation. The snow is simula...

For the hydro power companies it is of major importance to know the magnitude of the spring flood. Hence, the amount of snow is crucial for forecast modelling. In mountainous areas with plenty of snow, the meteorological network is often sparse, and they lack direct observations of the snow pack. Therefore, if it is possible to combine satellite snow cover area information with a hydrologic mod...