Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments
The hydrological cycle is strongly influenced by the accumulation and melting of seasonal snow. For this reason, mountains are often claimed to be the “water towers” of the world. In this context, a key variable is the snow water equivalent (SWE). However, the complex processes of snow accumulation,...
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Copernicus Publications
2023
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cb54a010555f4b4fa03386779c2491ff 2023-07-16T04:01:07+02:00 Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments V. Premier C. Marin G. Bertoldi R. Barella C. Notarnicola L. Bruzzone 2023-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2387-2023 https://doaj.org/article/cb54a010555f4b4fa03386779c2491ff EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2387/2023/tc-17-2387-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-2387-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/cb54a010555f4b4fa03386779c2491ff The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 2387-2407 (2023) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2387-2023 2023-06-25T00:35:32Z The hydrological cycle is strongly influenced by the accumulation and melting of seasonal snow. For this reason, mountains are often claimed to be the “water towers” of the world. In this context, a key variable is the snow water equivalent (SWE). However, the complex processes of snow accumulation, redistribution, and ablation make its quantification and prediction very challenging. In this work, we explore the use of multi-source data to reconstruct SWE at a high spatial resolution (HR) of 25 m. To this purpose, we propose a novel approach based on (i) in situ snow depth or SWE observations, temperature data and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images to determine the pixel state, i.e., whether it is undergoing an SWE increase (accumulation) or decrease (ablation), (ii) a daily HR time series of snow cover area (SCA) maps derived by high- and low-resolution multispectral optical satellite images to define the days of snow presence, and (iii) a degree-day model driven by in situ temperature to determine the potential melting. Given the typical high spatial heterogeneity of snow in mountainous areas, the use of HR images represents an important novelty that allows us to sample its distribution more adequately, thus resulting in highly detailed spatialized information. The proposed SWE reconstruction approach also foresees a novel SCA time series regularization technique that models impossible transitions based on the pixel state, i.e., the erroneous change in the pixel class from snow to snow-free when it is expected to be in accumulation or equilibrium and, vice versa, from snow-free to snow when it is expected to be in ablation or equilibrium. Furthermore, it reconstructs the SWE for the entire hydrological season, including late snowfall. The approach does not require spatialized precipitation information as input, which is usually affected by uncertainty. The method provided good results in two different test catchments: the South Fork of the San Joaquin River, California, and the Schnals catchment, Italy. It ... Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles South Fork ENVELOPE(161.250,161.250,-77.567,-77.567) The Cryosphere 17 6 2387 2407 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 V. Premier C. Marin G. Bertoldi R. Barella C. Notarnicola L. Bruzzone Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The hydrological cycle is strongly influenced by the accumulation and melting of seasonal snow. For this reason, mountains are often claimed to be the “water towers” of the world. In this context, a key variable is the snow water equivalent (SWE). However, the complex processes of snow accumulation, redistribution, and ablation make its quantification and prediction very challenging. In this work, we explore the use of multi-source data to reconstruct SWE at a high spatial resolution (HR) of 25 m. To this purpose, we propose a novel approach based on (i) in situ snow depth or SWE observations, temperature data and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images to determine the pixel state, i.e., whether it is undergoing an SWE increase (accumulation) or decrease (ablation), (ii) a daily HR time series of snow cover area (SCA) maps derived by high- and low-resolution multispectral optical satellite images to define the days of snow presence, and (iii) a degree-day model driven by in situ temperature to determine the potential melting. Given the typical high spatial heterogeneity of snow in mountainous areas, the use of HR images represents an important novelty that allows us to sample its distribution more adequately, thus resulting in highly detailed spatialized information. The proposed SWE reconstruction approach also foresees a novel SCA time series regularization technique that models impossible transitions based on the pixel state, i.e., the erroneous change in the pixel class from snow to snow-free when it is expected to be in accumulation or equilibrium and, vice versa, from snow-free to snow when it is expected to be in ablation or equilibrium. Furthermore, it reconstructs the SWE for the entire hydrological season, including late snowfall. The approach does not require spatialized precipitation information as input, which is usually affected by uncertainty. The method provided good results in two different test catchments: the South Fork of the San Joaquin River, California, and the Schnals catchment, Italy. It ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
V. Premier C. Marin G. Bertoldi R. Barella C. Notarnicola L. Bruzzone |
author_facet |
V. Premier C. Marin G. Bertoldi R. Barella C. Notarnicola L. Bruzzone |
author_sort |
V. Premier |
title |
Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments |
title_short |
Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments |
title_full |
Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments |
title_fullStr |
Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments |
title_sort |
exploring the use of multi-source high-resolution satellite data for snow water equivalent reconstruction over mountainous catchments |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2387-2023 https://doaj.org/article/cb54a010555f4b4fa03386779c2491ff |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.250,161.250,-77.567,-77.567) |
geographic |
South Fork |
geographic_facet |
South Fork |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 2387-2407 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/2387/2023/tc-17-2387-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-2387-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/cb54a010555f4b4fa03386779c2491ff |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2387-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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17 |
container_issue |
6 |
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2387 |
op_container_end_page |
2407 |
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1771550629275107328 |