Applications of snow cover mapping in high mountain regions
Abstract
Periodical and precise mapping of the snow cover is the essential basis for snow hydrological applications. Today, it is carried out operationally by means of optical satellite imagery. Snow cover information systems of different basins are set up with reference to elevation, slope, aspect, and biophysical parameters using GIS techniques. The newly developed management system, the SRMETH, combines remote sensing, runoff modelling, GIS, DEM, and computer graphics. It is being tested in three basins in the Swiss Alps, and is well suited to analyse snow hydrological processes, in particular runoff, to improve day-to-day water management practices, and to simulate future trends based on various climate scenarios. But all applications depend on a careful snow cover mapping.
- Publication:
-
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth
- Pub Date:
- 1997
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0079-1946(97)00143-2
- Bibcode:
- 1997PCE....22..275H