Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements
The precipitation over the Arctic region is a difficult quantity to determine with high accuracy, as the in situ observation network is sparse, and current climate models, atmospheric reanalyses, and direct satellite-based precipitation observations suffer from diverse difficulties that hinder the c...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3855-2024 https://doaj.org/article/06abc4a07aba4c07b6303752af2785dd |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:06abc4a07aba4c07b6303752af2785dd 2024-09-09T19:21:24+00:00 Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements E. Jääskeläinen K. Kouki A. Riihelä 2024-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3855-2024 https://doaj.org/article/06abc4a07aba4c07b6303752af2785dd EN eng Copernicus Publications https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/28/3855/2024/hess-28-3855-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1027-5606 https://doaj.org/toc/1607-7938 doi:10.5194/hess-28-3855-2024 1027-5606 1607-7938 https://doaj.org/article/06abc4a07aba4c07b6303752af2785dd Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol 28, Pp 3855-3870 (2024) Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 article 2024 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3855-2024 2024-08-26T15:21:16Z The precipitation over the Arctic region is a difficult quantity to determine with high accuracy, as the in situ observation network is sparse, and current climate models, atmospheric reanalyses, and direct satellite-based precipitation observations suffer from diverse difficulties that hinder the correct assessment of precipitation. We undertake a proof-of-concept investigation into how accurately optical satellite observations, namely Sentinel-2 surface-reflectance-based grain-size-connected specific surface area of snow (SSA), and microwave-based snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates can detect snowfall over the Arctic. In addition to the satellite data, we also include ERA5-Land SWE data to support the analysis. Here, we chose a limited area (a circle of 100 km radius around Luosto radar located in Northern Finland) and a short time period (covering March 2018) to test these data sources and their usability in this precipitation assessment problem. We classified differences between observations independently for SSA and SWE and compared the results to the radar-based snowfall information. These initial results are promising. Situations with snowfall are classified with high recalls, 64 % for the satellite-based SWE, 77 % for ERA5-Land-based SWE, and around 90 % for SSA compared to radar-based data. Cases without snowfall are more difficult to classify correctly using satellite-based data. The recall values are 34 % for satellite-based SWE and vary from almost 60 % to over 70 % for SSA. SWE from ERA5-Land has the highest recall value for cases without snowfall, 80 %. These results indicate that optical and microwave-based satellite observations can be used to detect snowfall events over the Arctic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Northern Finland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Luosto ENVELOPE(26.900,26.900,67.133,67.133) Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 28 16 3855 3870 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
spellingShingle |
Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 E. Jääskeläinen K. Kouki A. Riihelä Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements |
topic_facet |
Technology T Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering TD1-1066 Geography. Anthropology. Recreation G Environmental sciences GE1-350 |
description |
The precipitation over the Arctic region is a difficult quantity to determine with high accuracy, as the in situ observation network is sparse, and current climate models, atmospheric reanalyses, and direct satellite-based precipitation observations suffer from diverse difficulties that hinder the correct assessment of precipitation. We undertake a proof-of-concept investigation into how accurately optical satellite observations, namely Sentinel-2 surface-reflectance-based grain-size-connected specific surface area of snow (SSA), and microwave-based snow water equivalent (SWE) estimates can detect snowfall over the Arctic. In addition to the satellite data, we also include ERA5-Land SWE data to support the analysis. Here, we chose a limited area (a circle of 100 km radius around Luosto radar located in Northern Finland) and a short time period (covering March 2018) to test these data sources and their usability in this precipitation assessment problem. We classified differences between observations independently for SSA and SWE and compared the results to the radar-based snowfall information. These initial results are promising. Situations with snowfall are classified with high recalls, 64 % for the satellite-based SWE, 77 % for ERA5-Land-based SWE, and around 90 % for SSA compared to radar-based data. Cases without snowfall are more difficult to classify correctly using satellite-based data. The recall values are 34 % for satellite-based SWE and vary from almost 60 % to over 70 % for SSA. SWE from ERA5-Land has the highest recall value for cases without snowfall, 80 %. These results indicate that optical and microwave-based satellite observations can be used to detect snowfall events over the Arctic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
E. Jääskeläinen K. Kouki A. Riihelä |
author_facet |
E. Jääskeläinen K. Kouki A. Riihelä |
author_sort |
E. Jääskeläinen |
title |
Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements |
title_short |
Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements |
title_full |
Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements |
title_fullStr |
Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements |
title_full_unstemmed |
Detecting snowfall events over the Arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements |
title_sort |
detecting snowfall events over the arctic using optical and microwave satellite measurements |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3855-2024 https://doaj.org/article/06abc4a07aba4c07b6303752af2785dd |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(26.900,26.900,67.133,67.133) |
geographic |
Arctic Luosto |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Luosto |
genre |
Arctic Northern Finland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Northern Finland |
op_source |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol 28, Pp 3855-3870 (2024) |
op_relation |
https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/28/3855/2024/hess-28-3855-2024.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1027-5606 https://doaj.org/toc/1607-7938 doi:10.5194/hess-28-3855-2024 1027-5606 1607-7938 https://doaj.org/article/06abc4a07aba4c07b6303752af2785dd |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3855-2024 |
container_title |
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences |
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28 |
container_issue |
16 |
container_start_page |
3855 |
op_container_end_page |
3870 |
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1809761597620486144 |