NASA Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX 2002/03): Spaceborne Remote Sensing

Abstract This paper describes satellite data collected as part of the 2002/03 Cold Land Processes Experiment (CLPX). These data include multispectral and hyperspectral optical imaging, and passive and active microwave observations of the test areas. The CLPX multispectral optical data include the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), the Landsat Thematic Mapper/Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (TM/ETM+), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR). The spaceborne hyperspectral optical data consist of measurements acquired with the NASA Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) Hyperion imaging spectrometer. The passive microwave data include observations from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) for Earth Observing System (EOS; AMSR-E). Observations from the Radarsat synthetic aperture radar and the SeaWinds scatterometer flown on QuikSCAT make up the active microwave data.

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Assessment of the relative accuracy of hemispheric-scale snow-cover maps

Annals of Glaciology ◽

10.3189/172756402781817770 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 34 ◽

pp. 24-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Dorothy K. Hall ◽

Richard E. J. Kelly ◽

George A. Riggs ◽

Alfred T. C. Chang ◽

James L. Foster

Keyword(s):

Snow Cover ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Passive Microwave ◽

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program ◽

Moderate Resolution ◽

Resolution Imaging ◽

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer ◽

Microwave Imager ◽

Meteorological Satellite ◽

Microwave Data

AbstractThere are several hemispheric-scale satellite-derived snow-cover maps available, but none has been fully validated. For the period 23 October–25 December 2000, we compare snow maps of North America derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and operational snow maps from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC), both of which rely on satellite data from the visible and near-infrared parts of the spectrum; we also compare MODIS maps with Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) passive-microwave snow maps for the same period. The maps derived from visible and near-infrared data are more accurate for mapping snow cover than are the passive-microwave-derived maps, but discrepancies exist as to the location and extent of the snow cover even between operational snow maps. The MODIS snow-cover maps show more snow in each of the 8 day periods than do the NOHRSC maps, in part because MODIS maps the effects of fleeting snowstorms due to its frequent coverage. The large (~30 km) footprint of the SSM/I pixel, and the difficulty in distinguishing wet and shallow snow from wet or snow-free ground, reveal differences up to 5.33 x 106 km2 in the amount of snow mapped using MODIS vs SSM/I data. Algorithms that utilize both visible and passive-microwave data, which would take advantage of the all-weather mapping capability of the passive-microwave data, will be refined following the launch of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) in the fall of 2001.

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