Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia
Snowmelt runoff serves both human needs and ecosystem services and is an important parameter in operational forecasting systems. Sentinel-1 synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) observations can estimate the timing of melt within a snowpack; however, these estimates have not been applied on large spatial s...
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Copernicus Publications
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ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00065798 2023-05-15T18:32:33+02:00 Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia Darychuk, Sara E. Shea, Joseph M. Menounos, Brian Chesnokova, Anna Jost, Georg Weber, Frank 2023-04 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00065798 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00064309/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/1457/2023/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00065798 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00064309/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/1457/2023/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2023 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023 2023-04-09T23:16:54Z Snowmelt runoff serves both human needs and ecosystem services and is an important parameter in operational forecasting systems. Sentinel-1 synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) observations can estimate the timing of melt within a snowpack; however, these estimates have not been applied on large spatial scales. Here we present a workflow to combine Sentinel-1 SAR and optical data from Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 to estimate the onset and duration of snowmelt in the La Joie Basin, a 985 km2 watershed in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. A backscatter threshold is used to infer the point at which snowpack saturation occurs and the snowpack begins to produce runoff. Multispectral imagery is used to estimate snow-free dates across the basin to define the end of the snowmelt period. SAR estimates of snowmelt onset form consistent trends in terms of elevation and aspect on the watershed scale and reflect snowmelt records from continuous snow water equivalence observations. SAR estimates of snowpack saturation are most effective on moderate to low slopes (< 30∘) in open areas. The accuracy of snowmelt duration is reduced due to persistent cloud cover in optical imagery. Despite these challenges, snowmelt duration agrees with trends in snow depths observed in the La Joie Basin. This approach has high potential for adaptability to other alpine regions and can provide estimates of snowmelt timing in ungauged basins. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA The Cryosphere 17 4 1457 1473 |
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article Verlagsveröffentlichung Darychuk, Sara E. Shea, Joseph M. Menounos, Brian Chesnokova, Anna Jost, Georg Weber, Frank Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Snowmelt runoff serves both human needs and ecosystem services and is an important parameter in operational forecasting systems. Sentinel-1 synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) observations can estimate the timing of melt within a snowpack; however, these estimates have not been applied on large spatial scales. Here we present a workflow to combine Sentinel-1 SAR and optical data from Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 to estimate the onset and duration of snowmelt in the La Joie Basin, a 985 km2 watershed in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. A backscatter threshold is used to infer the point at which snowpack saturation occurs and the snowpack begins to produce runoff. Multispectral imagery is used to estimate snow-free dates across the basin to define the end of the snowmelt period. SAR estimates of snowmelt onset form consistent trends in terms of elevation and aspect on the watershed scale and reflect snowmelt records from continuous snow water equivalence observations. SAR estimates of snowpack saturation are most effective on moderate to low slopes (< 30∘) in open areas. The accuracy of snowmelt duration is reduced due to persistent cloud cover in optical imagery. Despite these challenges, snowmelt duration agrees with trends in snow depths observed in the La Joie Basin. This approach has high potential for adaptability to other alpine regions and can provide estimates of snowmelt timing in ungauged basins. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Darychuk, Sara E. Shea, Joseph M. Menounos, Brian Chesnokova, Anna Jost, Georg Weber, Frank |
author_facet |
Darychuk, Sara E. Shea, Joseph M. Menounos, Brian Chesnokova, Anna Jost, Georg Weber, Frank |
author_sort |
Darychuk, Sara E. |
title |
Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia |
title_short |
Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia |
title_full |
Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia |
title_fullStr |
Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the La Joie Basin, British Columbia |
title_sort |
snowmelt characterization from optical and synthetic-aperture radar observations in the la joie basin, british columbia |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00065798 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00064309/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/1457/2023/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
The Cryosphere -- ˜Theœ Cryosphere -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2393169 -- http://www.the-cryosphere.net/ -- 1994-0424 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00065798 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00064309/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/1457/2023/tc-17-1457-2023.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1457-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1457 |
op_container_end_page |
1473 |
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1766216759348559872 |