Monitoring snow cover over China with FY-2E VISSR and FY-3B MWRI

Snow cover is an important variable for global climate change research and hydrological application. Recent years, the snowfall events in southern China indicate the limitation of using optical or passive microwave remote sensing respectively. In this paper, China´s first generation of geostationary meteorological satellite Fengyun-2E and the second generation of polar-orbit meteorological satellite Fengyun-3B are used to monitor snow cover in China from Jan 1 to 31, 2011. In order to monitor snow cover in real time and make use of China´s meteorological satellites, FY-2E VISSR and FY-3B MWRI are mainly used. AMSR-E is also used, since MWRI can´t completely cover China daily. The main purpose of this study is to propose an effective method of monitoring snow cover daily mainly using China´s meteorological satellites.