Earth and Climatic Studies

Snow Cover Fraction

Snow cover is dynamic in nature and melts based on local temperature variations in different time periods. Satellite sensors can provide synoptic coverage at frequent intervals which facilitates mapping, monitoring of dynamics of snow cover. Automated Snow Cover Extraction (ASCE) Algorithm developed is used for quick processing of satellite data and extraction of Snow Cover Area (SCA). Further Snow Cover Fraction (SCF) as fraction of snow cover area over 3'x3' grid area was estimated.

Fortnightly Snow cover fraction from 2014--2018 is hosted on Bhuvan-Snow Cover Fraction.

Snow Melt Freeze

A methodology to detect and monitor snow melt and freeze from microwave scatterometer data (OSCAT) onboard OCEANSAT2 and QuikSCAT data is developed. The backscatter response of dry and wet snow was observed to be high and low, respectively at Ku band. This observation enabled to employ a threshold based approach to identify melt/freeze status.

Temporal analysis of data for different observations in Indian Himalaya shows that a single, fixed threshold satisfies determination of dry snow from wet snow. Accordingly, a constant threshold (For each scatterometer) is used for entire area. HH polarization from QuikSCAT (January 2000 – November 2009) and OSCAT (November 2009- December 2013) is used to derive melt/freeze status.

Fortnightly Snow cover fraction from 2003--2013 is hosted on Bhuvan-Snow Melt Freeze.

Select NICES Project – Cryospheric products –Snow cover fraction, List and view the data of the selected time period. Technical Document(hyper link :Snow Melt Freeze)

Snow Melt in Antarctica

Spatio-temporal dynamics of surface melting over Antarctica is of importance in understanding the response of ice shelves to climate change. Normalised radar backscatter is sensitive to the water content of snow. With the increase in the liquid water content in the snow, there is a sudden decrease in the backscatter from radar. This is the basis of melt detection.

Spatiotemporal dynamics of snow melt in Antarctica from 2001 to 2014 using microwave scatterometer data from OSCAT and QuikSCAT is generated at 2.25 km resolution at daily interval. Daily Information on Snow Melt in Antarctic from 2001--2017 is hosted on Bhuvan-Snow Melt Antarctica.

List and view the data of the selected time period. Technical Document(hyper link :Snow Melt Antarctica)