Model investigations of backscatter for snow profiles related to avalanche risk

Author

Brogioni, M. ; Cagnati, A. ; Crepaz, A. ; Paloscia, S. ; Pampaloni, P. ; Pettinato, S. ; Santi, E. ; Xiong, C. ; Shi, J.C.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Appl. Phys., Florence, Italy

fYear

2014

fDate

13-18 July 2014

Firstpage

2415

Lastpage

2418

Abstract

In this paper, the effects of multilayer structure of snowpack and its temporal evolution on backscattering are investigated by model simulations. The study is focused on layering structures of dry snow that may represent a risk of avalanches in Alpine regions. The implemented model has been validated using X-band Cosmo SkyMed (CSK ®) acquisitions collected in the winters between 2009 and 2013 on a test area located in the Eastern part of the Italian Alps, and corresponding direct measurements of the main snow parameters. After the validation, the models are applied to simulate the backscattering from snow profiles typical of snow covers characterized by a high risk of avalanches.

Keywords

backscatter; snow; AD 2009 to 2013; Alpine regions; X-band Cosmo SkyMed acquisitions; avalanches risk; backscattering; dry snow layering structures; eastern Italian Alps; multilayer snowpack structure; snow covers; snow parameters; snow profiles; temporal evolution; Backscatter; Computational modeling; Mathematical model; Scattering; Size measurement; Snow; Temperature measurement; Cosmo SkyMed; DMRT model; Snow layering; avalanches; bi-continuous model X-band backscattering;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), 2014 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Quebec City, QC

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2014.6946959

Filename

6946959