HR: 1340h
AN: C23A-0931    [Abstracts]
TI: Examination of Snow Mapping Methods Over the Weber River Basin, Utah Using MODIS Observations
AU: * Han, J
EM: joo-yup.han@geog.utah.edu
AF: University of Utah, Department of Geography University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States
AU: Salomonson, V V
EM: Vincent.V.Salomonson@nasa.gov
AF: University of Utah, Department of Geography University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States
AB: The MODIS instruments on the Terra and Aqua spacecraft provide snow cover observations on a daily basis when cloud cover permits over the globe as well as regional and local areas. This study reports some ongoing work using Terra MODIS snow cover observations centered on the Weber River Basin. The basin covers 2500 square miles/6400 square kilometers within the Great Salt Lake Basin in Utah. This report is focused on comparing various snow mapping methods in observing snow cover in this basin during the first six months (January to June) of 2001. The methods compared are the standard 8-day SNOWMAP results provided operationally by MODIS (designated MOD10A2 on lists of MODIS products), the fractional snow cover product (MOD10L2) for specific days, and the spectral end-member approach using three end-members:snow, soil and rock, and vegetation. The results show the expected variation of snow cover with time over the Weber Basin, but with distinct differences in the extent of the snow cover ranging from the SNOWMAP typically showing the largest snow cover due to the 8-day product giving maximum snow cover and the spectral end-member approach showing the least. Comparisons with more detailed imagery tends to indicate that, as expected, the spectral end-member approach appears to be the most accurate. In non-snow covered regions of the Weber River Basin there are anomalies (e.g. snow appearing where there is obviously no snow) and these anomalies are under investigation.
DE: 0736 Snow (1827, 1863)
DE: 0758 Remote sensing
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting