Snow covered area estimation using satellite radar wide swath images

Author

Luojus, K. ; Pulliainen, J. ; Metsämäki, S. ; Hallikainen, M.

Author_Institution

Lab. of Space Technol., Helsinki Univ. of Technol., Finland

Volume

1

fYear

2005

fDate

25-29 July 2005

Abstract

The feasibility of HUT snow covered area (SCA) method for operational snow melt monitoring, using large area satellite images has been determined. Previously the feasibility of the method has been proven for snow melt monitoring using spatially limited ERS-2 data. However, the spatial coverage of the data is an essential factor determining the operative usability of the method. Thus the adaptation of the method for Radarsat ScanSAR Wide (SCW) and Envisat ASAR wide swath medium resolution (WSM) data has been carried out, and the feasibility of the method using these data products has been studied. The analysis of the method was conducted by comparing the SCA estimates acquired from WSM and SCW data to reference data derived by optical remote sensing means. The analysis showed that the HUT SCA method is suitable for operational use with large area satellite radar images.

Keywords

hydrological techniques; radar imaging; remote sensing by radar; snow; spaceborne radar; synthetic aperture radar; terrain mapping; ERS-2 data; Envisat ASAR wide swath medium resolution data; HUT snow covered area; Radarsat ScanSAR Wide; satellite radar wide swath images; snow covered area estimation; snow melt monitoring; spatial coverage; Image analysis; Monitoring; Optical sensors; Radar imaging; Remote sensing; Satellites; Snow; Spaceborne radar; Spatial resolution; Usability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2005. IGARSS '05. Proceedings. 2005 IEEE International

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9050-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2005.1526172

Filename

1526172