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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

This research studies the characteristics of snow-covered area (SCA) from two vastly different sensors: optical (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, equipped on board the Terra satellite) and radar (Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) on-board Sentinel-1 satellites). The focus are the five mountain ranges of the Iberian Peninsula (Cantabrian System, Central System, Iberian Range, Pyrenees, and Sierra Nevada). The MODIS product was selected to identify SCA dynamics in these ranges using the Probability of Snow Cover Presence Index (PSCPI). In addition, we evaluate the potential advantage of the use of SAR remote sensing to complete optical SCA under cloudy conditions. For this purpose, we utilize the Copernicus High-Resolution Snow and Ice SAR Wet Snow (HRS&I SWS) product. The Pyrenees and the Sierra Nevada showed longer-lasting SCA duration and a higher PSCPI throughout the average year. Moreover, we demonstrate that the latitude gradient has a significant influence on the snowline elevation in the Iberian mountains (R2 ≥ 0.84). In the Iberian mountains, a general negative SCA trend is observed due to the recent climate change impacts, with a particularly pronounced decline in the winter months (December and January). Finally, in the Pyrenees, we found that wet snow detection has high potential for the spatial gap-filling of MODIS SCA in spring, contributing above 27% to the total SCA. Notably, the additional SCA provided in winter is also significant. Based on the results obtained in the Pyrenees, we can conclude that implementing techniques that combine SAR and optical satellite sensors for SCA detection may provide valuable additional SCA data for the other Iberian mountains, in which the radar product is not available.

Details

Title
Synergistic Potential of Optical and Radar Remote Sensing for Snow Cover Monitoring
Author
Jose-David Hidalgo-Hidalgo 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Antonio-Juan Collados-Lara 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Pulido-Velazquez, David 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Fassnacht, Steven R 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Husillos, C 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Spanish Geological Survey, Water and Global Change Research, 18006 Granada, Spain; [email protected] (J.-D.H.-H.); [email protected] (D.P.-V.) 
 Department of Civil Engineering, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain; [email protected]; Department of Geology, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain 
 Spanish Geological Survey, Water and Global Change Research, 18006 Granada, Spain; [email protected] (J.-D.H.-H.); [email protected] (D.P.-V.); ESS-Watershed Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1476, USA; Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1375, USA 
 Spanish Geological Survey, Unit of Development and Dissemination of Information Systems, 18006 Granada, Spain; [email protected] 
First page
3705
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20724292
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3116659125
Copyright
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.