Monitoring and Analysis of Changes in the Depth and Surface Area Snow of the Mountains in Iran Using Remote Sensing Data

Abstract

Considering the critical role of snowfall in water resources supply and its impacts on the environment, studying and measuring snow levels changes as one of the most important sources of water supply is very important. The purpose of this study is to monitor and analyse changes in surface area and depth of snow and changes in groundwater aquifers in Iran. For this purpose, TERRA-MODIS satellite image data for Iran were used. The timeframe of the selected images is between 2000 and 2019. Tips for selecting images are taken into account, with an average image of 3 months (January, February and March of winter) in each year. According to the results, the decreasing trend of groundwater aquifers is highly correlated with the amount of snow fall decrease in the study area at the level of 0.92%, and this decrease has been highly correlated since 2008. Average quarterly snow depth variations (January, February and March) in the study area fluctuated between 2000 and 2019, the most severe between 2007 and 2010 (with the 2009 snowfall of 41 cm). In general, a comparison of the changes in snow cover levels in the study area shows that 2005 has the highest rate (236,065/649 km2) while in 2007 and 2008 which has more snow cover than other years.