Abstract
In the present paper, a methodology has been developed for the mapping of snow cover in Beas basin, Indian Himalaya using AWiFS (IRS-P6) satellite data. The complexities in the mapping of snow cover in the study area are snow under vegetation, contaminated snow and patchy snow. To overcome these problems, field measurements using spectroradiometer were carried out and reflectance/snow indices trend were studied. By evaluation and validation of different topographic correction models, it was observed that, the normalized difference snow index (NDSI) values remain constant with the variations in slope and aspect and thus NDSI can take care of topography effects. Different snow cover mapping methods using snow indices are compared to find the suitable mapping technique. The proposed methodology for snow cover mapping uses the NDSI (estimated using planetary reflectance), NIR band reflectance and forest/vegetation cover information. The satellite estimated snow or non-snow pixel information using proposed methodology was validated with the snow cover information collected at three observatory locations and it was found that the algorithm classify all the sample points correctly, once that pixel is cloud free. The snow cover distribution was estimated using one year (2004–05) cloud free satellite data and good correlation was observed between increase/decrease areal extent of seasonal snow cover and ground observed fresh snowfall and standing snow data.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Analytical Spectral Devices 1999 Fieldspec TM, Technical Guide, 3rd edn. (Boulder, Co) USA.
Chavez P S Jr 1988 An improved dark-object subtraction technique for atmospheric scattering correction of multispectral data; Remote Sensing of Environment 24 459–479.
Chavez P S Jr 1989 Radiometric calibration of Landsat Thematic Mapper multispectral images; Photogrammetric Engineering of Remote Sensing 55 1285–1294.
Dozier J F 1984 Snow reflectance from Landsat-4 Thematic mapper. IEEE Transactions on geosciences and remote sensing 22(3) 323–328.
Dozier J 1989 Spectral signature of alpine snow cover from the Landsat Thematic Mapper; Remote Sens. Environ. 28 9–22.
Dozier J, Schneider S R and Mcginnis Jr D F 1981 Effect of grain size and snow pack water equivalent on visible and near infrared satellite observations of snow; Water Resour. Res. 17(4) 1213–1221.
Ekstrand S 1996 Landsat TM-Based Forest Damage Assessment: Correction for Topographic Effects; PE&RS 62(2) 151–161.
Gupta R P, Haritashya U K and Singh P 2005 Mapping dry/wet snow cover in the Indian Himalayas using IRS multispectral imagery; Remote Sens. Environ. 97 458–469.
Hall D K, Riggs G A and Salomonson V V 1995 Development of methods for mapping global snow cover using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer data; Remote Sens. Environ. 54 127–140.
Hall D K, Foster J L, Verbyla D L, Klein A G and Benson C S 1998 Assessment of snow-cover mapping accuracy in a variety of vegetation-cover densities in central Alaska; Remote Sens. Environ. 66 129–137.
Hall D K, Riggs G A, Salomonson V V, DiGirolamo N and Bayr K J 2002 MODIS snow cover products; Remote Sens. Environ. 83 181–194.
Kasten F 1962 Table of solar altitudes for geographical latitudes ±77°10′; CRREL Special Report 57 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Klein A G, Hall D K and Riggs G A 1998 Improving snow cover mapping in forests through the use of a canopy reflectance model; Hydrol. Proc. 12 1723–1744.
Konig M, Winther J G and Isaksson E 2001 Measuring snow and glacier properties from satellite; Rev. Geophys. 39 1–27.
Kulkarni A V, Mathur P, Rathore B P, Suja Alex, Thakur N and Manoj 2002a Effect of global warming on snow ablation pattern in the Himalaya; Curr. Sci. 83 120–123.
Kulkarni A V, Srinivasulu J, Manjul S S and Mathur P 2002b Field based spectral reflectance to develop NDSI method for the snow cover; J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. 30(1&2) 73–80.
Kulkarni A V and Rathore B P 2003 Snow cover monitoring in baspa basin using IRS WiFS data; Mausam 54 335–340.
Kulkarni A V, Singh S K, Mathur P and Mishra V D 2006 Algorithm to monitor snow cover using AWiFS data of RESOURCESAT-1 for the Himalayan region; Int. J. Remote Sens. 27(12) 2449–2457.
Markham B L and Barker J L 1986 Landsat MSS and TM post-calibration Dynamic ranges, exoatmospheric reflectances and at-satellite temperature; EOSAT Technical Notes 1 3–8.
Meyer P, Itten K I, Kellenberger J, Sandmeier S and Sammeier R 1993 Radiometric correction of topographically induced effects on Landsat TM data in an alpine environment; ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 48 17–28.
Minnaert M 1941 The reciprocity principle in lunar photometry; Astrophys. J. 93 403–410.
Moran M S, Jackson R D, Slater P N and Teillet P M 1992 Evaluation of simplified procedures for retrieval of land surface reflectance factors from satellite sensor output; Remote Sens. Environ. 41 169–184.
Negi H S, Snehmani and Thakur N K 2008 Operational Snow Cover Monitoring in NW-Himalaya using Terra and Aqua MODIS Imageries; Proceedings International Workshop on Snow, Ice, Glacier and Avalanches, IIT Mumbai, India, 7–9 January, 11–25.
Negi H S, Kulkarni A V and Semwal B S 2009a Study of Contaminated and Mixed Objects Snow Reflectance in Indian Himalaya using Spectroradiometer; Int. J. Remote Sens. 30(2) 315–325.
Negi H S, Singh S K, Kulkarni A V and Semwal B S 2009b Field Based Spectral Reflectance Measurements of Seasonal Snow Cover in Indian Himalaya; Int. J. Remote Sens., in press.
Rango A and Martinec J 1982 Snow accumulation derived from modified depletion curves of snow coverage; Symposium on Hydrological Aspects of Alpine and High Mountain Areas, IAHS Publication No. 138 83–90.
Robinson D A and Kukla G 1985 Maximum surface albedo of seasonally snow covered lands in the northern Hemisphere; J. Climate and Applied Meteorology 24 402–411.
Saito A and Yamazaki T 1999 Characteristics of spectral reflectance for vegetation ground surfaces will snow-cover: Vegetation indices and snow indices; J. Japan Soc. Hydrol. Water Res. 12 28–38.
Sharma S S and Ganju A 2000 Complexities of avalanche forecasting in Western Himalaya — An overview; Cold Regions Science and Technology 31 95–102.
Shimamura Y, Izumi T and Matsuyama H 2006 Evaluation of a useful method to identify snow-covered areas under vegetation — comparisons among a newly proposed snow index, normalized difference snow index, and visible reflectance; Int. J. Remote Sens. 27(21–22) 4867–4884.
Singh D and Ganju A 2006 Improvement in nearest neighbour weather forecast model performance while considering the previous day’s forecast for drawing forecast for the following day; Curr. Sci. 91(12) 1686–1691.
Slater P N 1980 Remote sensing optics and optical systems, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc. Massachusetts, USA.
Smith J A, Tzeu L L and Ranson K J 1980 The lambertian assumption and Landsat data; PE&RS 46(9) 1183–1189.
Song C, Woodcock C E, Seto K C, Lenney M P and Macomber A S 2001 Classification and change detection using Landsat TM data: When and how to correct atmospheric effects; Remote Sens. Environ. 75 230–244.
Teillet P M, Guindon B and Goodenough D G 1982 On the slope aspect correction of multispectral scanner data; Canadian J. Remote Sens. 8(2) 84–106.
Townshend J R G and Tucker C J 1984 Objective assessment of advanced very high resolution radiometer data for land cover mapping; Int. J. Remote Sens. 5 497–504.
Tucker C J 1979 Red and photographic infrared linear combinations for monitoring vegetation; Remote Sens. Environ. 8 127–150.
Tucker C J 1986 Maximum normalized difference vegetation index images for sub-Saharan Africa for 1983–1985; Int. J. Remote Sens. 7 1383–1384.
Xiao X, Shen Z and Qin X 2001 Assessing the potential of VEGETATION sensor data for mapping snow and ice cover: A normalized difference snow and ice index; Int. J. Remote Sens. 22 2479–2487.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Negi, H.S., Kulkarni, A.V. & Semwal, B.S. Estimation of snow cover distribution in Beas basin, Indian Himalaya using satellite data and ground measurements. J Earth Syst Sci 118, 525–538 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-009-0039-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-009-0039-0