Research of snow detection in Northeast China based on MODIS and AMSR-E data

Both MODIS data and AMSR-E data can be used to determine snow region. For MODIS data, the snow spectrum characteristics observed in spectral data are usually utilized to detect snow region. For AMSR-E data, the scattering signals observed in multifrequency passive microwave data are often used to determine snow region. Generally, the snow detection result based on MODIS data has better image quality because the spatial resolution of MODIS is higher than that of AMSR-E data. However, the snow detection results using MODIS data are different from the practical results of snow coverage because MODIS data are sensitive to clouds interferences. Compared with MODIS data, AMSR-E data can realize snow detection in most weather conditions for its high penetration capability. As a result, the snow detection results of AMSR-E data are more accurate than that of MODIS data. However, the main drawback of AMSR-E data is the low spatial resolution. Through researching the snow detection methods, the spatial position matching method is proposed to realize the position matching between AMSR-E data and MODIS data. Furthermore, the snow detection results using the two data are combined together to determine snow distribution in Northeast China. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method by combination of AMSR-E and MODIS data can get better snow detection results.