Assessment of wet snow dynamics on the territory of Urupema, Brazil based on SAR and optical satellite data

Abstract

Climate components are closely related to one of the most dynamic elements of the Earth's surface, such as wet snow. It is an element which influences most of the flood-related models. The subject of the research is a specific event registered on 10/07/2018 in Urupema, the wet snow, which remained for only a few days. Urupema is a Brazilian city with an average annual temperature of 13C, located in the southern part of Santa Catarina and heavy winters regularly bring frost, snow and frozen water in the area.The aim of the study is to demonstrate different approaches for short-lived snow coverage monitoring based on SAR and optical satellite data. The subject of the study is to demonstrate the dynamics for a short period of time. The results obtained are data in the form of thematic maps showing the spatial reflectance of wet snow and its dynamics over time. A methodology based on SAR and optical satellite data for wet snow exploration has been developed. The methodology was applied to the city of Urupema. Brazil includes a wide range of meteorological conditions on a large area and diversified relief, which is why there is no optical data with good quality. This requires the use of SAR data that has the advantage over the visible and NIR ranges. Various spectral indices and indicators, calculated on a Sentinel database in Copernicus have been used. Results have been obtained for the dynamics of the particular region over a given time period.