Abstract
Cold regions affect global, regional and local climate; oftentimes they are relevant for water supply, host valuable ecosystems, and support human livelihood. They are thus eminently important for human society. In the context of ongoing climate change, monitoring and understanding cold region land surface dynamics is essential for environmental scientists, stakeholders and decision makers. However, the definition of cold regions remains inexplicit, and no up-to-date cold region maps or overarching spatial analyses exist. For example, Europe has densely populated cold regions, but hardly an article exists that provides a solid overview of Earth Observation (EO) based applications assessing cold region land surface dynamics in Europe. With this review article we aim at closing this gap by providing an overview of EO-based techniques for cold region observation in Europe, focusing on the dynamics of glaciers and snow. We present a novel spatial delineation of cold regions for Europe before analyzing the benefits and limitations of different EO sensor types and data processing methods for EO based cold region research. Furthermore, we identify research gaps and discuss challenges for future studies.
Highlights
Worldwide, cold regions are undergoing rapid change
For more snow product information and data access, we suggest that readers explore what is offered by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) [249]
We have provided an overview of Earth Observation (EO)-based studies on cold region land surface dynamics in Europe
Summary
Cold regions are undergoing rapid change. Amongst those changes, one of the most obvious is the near-global glacier retreat over the last century [1,2,3]. Many Earth Observation (EO) based research groups such as the Group on Earth Observations Cold Regions Initiative (GEOCRI) have been established. They have carried out projects around the globe and produced geospatial information products on subjects relevant for cold regions. They include the Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS) provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA/NESDIS) [4,5], the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow cover products (MOD10/MYD10) [6], the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLMS) project [7,8], the global inventory of glacier outlines from the Randolph Glacier
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