Tracing March 2004 and December 2005 Heavy Snowfall of South Korea Using NOAA AVHRR Images

Abstract

This study is to grasp and analyse the temporal and spatial distribution of record-breaking heavy snowfall rarely occurred in the middle and southwest region of South Korea during March of 2004 and December of 2005 respectively. Snow cover area was extracted using the channels 1, 3 and 4 of NOAA AVHRR images and the snow depth distribution was spatially interpolated using snowfall data of meteorological stations. Using administration boundary and Digital Elevation Model from 1:5,000 NGIS digital map, the snowfall impact was assessed spatially and compared with the reports at that time. The damaged area by heavy snowfall over 15 cm snow depth could be identified successfully within the spatial extent of snowfall area extracted by NOAA AVHRR image.