Development of Techniques to Retrieve Snow Covered Area (SCA) in Boreal Forests from Space-borne Microwave Observations

The feasibility of SAR data for the operational mapping of the fraction of Snow Covered Area (SCA) is investigated by applying Radarsat observations together with the modeling of error propagation. Additionally, the performance of SAR retrievals is compared with optical satellite data-based (MODIS) SCA estimates. The results indicate performance characteristics comparable with those of optical data retrievals even when wide swath Radarsat ScanSAR Wide A data are applied. The developed Radarsat data processing system is also implemented for the operative use to aid hydrological forecasting at the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE).