Relationship between SSM/I measurements and snow conditions

Author

Grody, Norman ; Rosenfeld, Simon ; Basist, Alan

Author_Institution

NESDIS, NOAA, Camp Springs, MD, USA

Volume

3

fYear

1998

fDate

6-10 Jul 1998

Firstpage

1261

Abstract

The Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) has been flown on DMSP satellites since 1987. Over land the SSM/I measurements at 19, 37 and 85 GHz are used to routinely identify precipitation, snow cover and the surface wetness resulting from rainfall and snow melt. In the case of snow, the measurements vary as function of snow water equivalent, grain size and snow density. Ice crusts at the surface and within the snow can also affect the measurements. As such, the SSM/I measurements depend on the internal properties of snow as well as the snow extent. Studies based on radiative transfer simulations are used to examine the effects of the various snow parameters on the microwave measurements. Temporal variations of the SSM/I measurements are compared with snow data over the former Soviet Union. It is evident that both temporal and spectral information is needed to identify changes in the physical characteristics of snow

Keywords

hydrological techniques; remote sensing; snow; 19 GHz; 37 GHz; 85 GHz; SSM/I measurements; Soviet Union; Special Sensor Microwave Imager data; grain size; ice crusts; internal properties; microwave measurements; radiative transfer simulations; snow conditions; snow density; snow water equivalent; spectral information; temporal information; temporal variations; Density measurement; Grain size; Ice surface; Image sensors; Land surface; Microwave measurements; Microwave sensors; Satellites; Size measurement; Snow;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings, 1998. IGARSS '98. 1998 IEEE International

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4403-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.1998.691370

Filename

691370