Assimilating spaceborne radar and ground-based weather station data for operational snow-covered area estimation

Author

Luojus, K. ; Pulliainen, J. ; Metsamaki, S. ; Anttila, S. ; Hallikainen, M.

Author_Institution

Helsinki Univ. of Technol., Helsinki

fYear

2007

fDate

23-28 July 2007

Firstpage

4202

Lastpage

4205

Abstract

An enhanced method for snow-covered area (SCA) estimation for boreal forest zone is presented. The method combines TKK developed spaceborne radar-based SCA estimation with ground-based weather station observations. The purpose is to improve the reliability of SCA estimates near and after the end of snow-melt season. The SCA estimates acquired with the enhanced method are compared with optical satellite data-based (MODIS) SCA data. Investigations were carried out for snow-melt seasons of 2004-2006. The results show a significant increase in accuracy when the enhanced SCA method is applied. Correlation between the radar-based and optical reference data increases from 0.919 to 0.937 and RMS-error improves from 0.151 to 0.140 when the new method is employed.

Keywords

data assimilation; forestry; hydrological techniques; remote sensing by radar; snow; spaceborne radar; AD 2004 to 2006; SCA estimate reliability; SCA estimation; boreal forest zone; data assimilation; ground based weather station data; operational snow covered area estimation; snow melt season; spaceborne radar data; Adaptive optics; Meteorology; Monitoring; Optical sensors; Satellites; Snow; Space technology; Spaceborne radar; Testing; Weather forecasting;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2007. IGARSS 2007. IEEE International

Conference_Location

Barcelona

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1211-2

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-1212-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2007.4423777

Filename

4423777