In this paper we present runoff simulations for snow and icemelt for the basins of Rhine-Felsberg, RhôneSion and Ticino-Bellinzona. We use high resolution multispectral remote sensing data to map snow and ice cover of selected years. Further, we use GIS based extrapolation techniques to evaluate cloud and forest covered areas with respect to snow cover. We use the deterministic hydrologic model...

This data article contains data related to the research article entitled "Global land cover classification based on microwave polarization and gradient ratio (MPGR)" [1] and "Microwave polarization and gradient ratio (MPGR) for global land surface phenology" [2]. This data article presents land surface characteristics and snow cover variation information from sensors like EOS Advanced Microwave...

The study presents investigations of the runoff from snow and ice, carried out in the high alpine basin of the Rhône river at Sion (3371 km2, 491 -4634 m a.s.l.). Using satellite remote sensing data, features like the snow coverage in the whole basin, the gradually decreasing snow coverage on glaciers and the area of exposed ice have been mapped. The periodical monitoring of the basin is based ...

In seasonally snow-covered environments, many organisms endure winter by using the subnivium, a below-snow thermally stable seasonal refugium. Because the insulation of snow is dependent on snow depth and density, the stability of temperatures within the subnivium varies across land cover types. Additionally, across much of the Northern Hemisphere snow extent, depth and duration are generally d...

The ENVISAT mission with a suite of high performance sensors offers some opportunities for mapping snow cover at regional and catchment scale. The geometric resolution of MERIS data and the spectral resolution of AATSR data are suitable for these purposes. A new approach, developed in the framework of the GLASNOWMAP project (ESA-DUP2) for monitoring snow cover in Alpine regions, based on the co...

Composite analyses, based on weekly snow-cover charts, temperature, sea level pressure, cyclone tracks and a rotated PCA of daily filtered 700 hPa geopotential height are used to examine relationships between the dominant modes of low-frequency atmospheric variability and mid-winter snow extent over the Eurasian continent. Two of the circulation modes examined have been identified previously an...

We appreciate the comments on our recent study (1) from Wang et al. (2). Our study showed that the start of the growing season (SOS), derived from analysis of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), continued to advance in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) from 1982 to 2011. Wang et al. (2) agreed with this conclusion but stated that the SOS advancement rate could be overestimated after compariso...

[1] The design of sensor networks for measuring the mean and spatial distribution of snow depth at the scale of 1–16 km was evaluated by deploying an embedded‐sensor network consisting of ultrasonic snow depth sensors to capture the variable physiographic features around an operational snow course in Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada of California. Manual snow surveys were also carrie...

The snow-masking effect of vegetation exerts strong control on albedo in northern high latitude ecosystems. Large-scale changes in the distribution and stature of vegetation in this region will thus have important feedbacks to climate. The snow-albedo feedback is controlled largely by the contrast between snow-covered and snow-free albedo (Δα), which influences predictions of future warming in ...

[1] This paper analyzes the main spatial patterns in the dates of snow cover disappearance variability over northern latitudes between 1988 and 2003. The dates of snow cover disappearance were calculated using satellite passive microwave data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager. Spatial and temporal patterns were obtained using principal components analysis in the S mode. We identified eig...