Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment, Chandigarh-160 036.
The study of snow characteristics using conventional techniques for vast, rugged and remote snow covered areas of Himalayas is very difficult. In the present study, the satellite data of SSM/I sensor has been used. Changes in snow accumulation result in related variations in passive microwave brightness temperature. This study attempts to develop new algorithms using brightness temperature for snow water equivalent (SWE) and snow depth that will suit the Indian Himalayan conditions. The snow and meteorological data recorded in the field is used to determine the empirical coefficients, which have been further used in the algorithm development. The parameters evaluated can be used as the input for the avalanche risk analysis, as one can estimate average snow depth and SWE of the area which are main input for avalanche forecasting. Algorithms are further used for the prediction of snow depth and SWE for subsequent winters using the brightness temperature. A good correlation was found between the predicted and the observed values from the ground observatory data.
A1 to A14
Geographical constants
SSM/ISpecial sensor microwave/imager
TBBrightness temperature
HHorizontal polarisation
NWNorthwest
VVertical polarisation
T0273.16°K
TB(H)Brightness temperature at horizontal polarisation
TB(V)Brightness temperature at vertical polarisation
tAtmospheric transmittance
SSM/I, snow water equivalent, snow depth, brightness temperature, avalanche risk analysis, avalanche forecasting, algorithm, avalanche monitoring, remote sensing, sensors, special sensor microwave/imager
