Northern and Southern Alpine Regions Snow Extent Extraction: Long Term Analysis 1985 - 2007

摘要

In Alpine regions, snow is a predominant environmental factor. High accurate snow monitoring in the Alpine Region is of great importance as temporal and spatial variations in snow coverage. It is required for various purposes such as meteorological modelling, climate studies, snow mapping estimation of stored water equivalent or snowmelt runoff prediction. In contrast to conventional in situ snow observations, remote sensing data regularly provide spatial snow cover information which can be used for climate induced studies on snow cover variability. The main objectives of this study are to assess the accuracy of chronological sequences derived from fractional snow cover maps as well as to detect and analyze temporal and spatial variability patterns within the Alpine Region based on different statistical applications. Time series of more than 20 years (1985 - 2007) are used to derive spatial and temporal snow cover dynamics.