Fractional Snow Cover Mapping Research Articles

Characterization of NDSI Variation: Implications for Snow Cover Mapping

The normalized difference snow index (NDSI) plays an important role in mapping snow cover with spaceborne visible and shortwave-infrared imagery. The NDSI variation depends on illuminating-viewing geometry and snow physical properties, including equivalent grain size (EGS), snow depth (SD) and impurity concentration, as well as fractional snow cover (FSC) within a mixed pixel; however, it is still not fully understood. To quantifiably characterize the pattern of snow NDSI variation, we use a light scattering model of snow to calculate bidirectional reflectance and consequent NDSI values for a wide range of illuminating-viewing geometries, SD, and EGS values. In the model designated bicontinuous snow model using Geometric Optics theory and Radiative Transfer Equation (bicontinuous-GO/RTE), snowpack is represented by a bicontinuous microstructure, and bidirectional reflectance is simulated based on geometric optics and vector radiative transfer equation. The discrete ordinates radiative transfer (DISORT) algorithm is used to simulate the soot concentration effect on snow NDSI. A soil spectral reflectance model (SOILSPECT) is utilized with the assumption of the linear spectral mixture of snow and soil to quantify the effect of FSC on NDSI. As for discontinuous forests, an analytical hybrid geometric-optical and radiative transfer (GORT) model in conjunction with the bicontinuous-GO/RTE model and the PROpriétésSPECTrales (PROSPECT) model is used to examine the effect of canopy cover, which is related to the maximal FSC viewable to satellites. Modeling results indicate that: 1) snow NDSI is comparably low at off-nadir viewing angles, and this effect is exacerbated by the decline in solar elevation but limited by large EGS; 2) snow NDSI increases with EGS yet becomes saturated at EGS of 500 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ; 3) the effect of SD that is as low as 1 cm on NDSI is rarely noticeable; 4) the concentration of internally mixed soot up to 1 ppm has little reducing effect on snow NDSI (<0.05); 5) the angular effects on the NDSI thresholding method to identify binary snow cover for soil background are nonsignificantly pronounced in the cross plane (CP); 6) NDSI increases linearly with FSC for soil background at nadir as well as in the CP; 7) the SNOw-MAPping algorithm (SNOMAP) method could omit snow cover at large zenith angles for solar zenith angles <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$&gt; 20^{\circ }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in forests; and 8) forests complicate the nonlinear relationship between NDSI and canopy cover with fully snow-covered ground beneath canopies. These findings imply important uncertainty sources of binary and FSC mapping with NDSI.

The Spatial–Spectral–Environmental Extraction Endmember Algorithm and Application in the MODIS Fractional Snow Cover Retrieval

Endmember extraction is a primary and indispensable component of the spectral mixing analysis model applicated to quantitatively retrieve fractional snow cover (FSC) from satellite observation. In this study, a new endmember extraction algorithm, the spatial–spectral–environmental (SSE) endmember extraction algorithm, is developed, in which spatial, spectral and environmental information are integrated together to automatically extract different types of endmembers from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) images. Then, combining the linear spectral mixture analysis model (LSMA), the SSE endmember extraction algorithm is practically applied to retrieve FSC from standard MODIS surface reflectance products in China. The new algorithm of MODIS FSC retrieval is named as SSEmod. The accuracy of SSEmod is quantitatively validated with 16 higher spatial-resolution FSC maps derived from Landsat 8 binary snow cover maps. Averaged over all regions, the average root-mean-square-error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) are 0.136 and 0.092, respectively. Simultaneously, we also compared the SSEmod with MODImLAB, MODSCAG and MOD10A1. In all regions, the average RMSE of SSEmod is improved by 2.3%, 2.6% and 5.3% compared to MODImLAB for 0.157, MODSCAG for 0.157 and MOD10A1 for 0.189. Therefore, our SSE endmember extraction algorithm is reliable for the MODIS FSC retrieval and may be also promising to apply other similar satellites in view of its accuracy and efficiency.

On the Value of Available MODIS and Landsat8 OLI Image Pairs for MODIS Fractional Snow Cover Mapping Based on an Artificial Neural Network

This article investigates how to select the optimal Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Landsat 8 OLI image pairs for MODIS fractional snow cover (FSC) mapping using an artificial neural network (ANN). Four issues are discussed, including date selection, location selection, priority of date and location, and global and regional monitoring of MODIS FSC with ANNs. We propose using the histogram quadratic distance to define the similarity between the ANN training and the target test scene, which was used to quantify the representativeness of the training samples. We use the case study of MODIS FSC mapping of North Xinjiang, China, in the 2014–2015 snow season as an example. Thirty-eight experiments were designed. The experimental results demonstrate that the ANN-based FSC estimation accuracy outperformed the MODIS FSC product, with an average RMSE of 0.17, ${R}$ exceeds 0.8, and the total snow cover area was estimated more accurately in most cases. For a target test scene, we preliminarily inferred that the best method is to develop an ANN using image pairs of another location with the highest similarity in the same acquisition time, using historical image pairs of the target scene with the highest similarity is the second choice, and using historical image pairs from another location with a high similarity is the third choice. For global- and regional-scale MODIS FSC mapping with ANNs, we formulated the strategy of initially determining a reasonable location and subsequently selecting the acquisition date of the image pairs to guarantee that the training data set represents the entire study area well.

MODIS Fractional Snow Cover Mapping Using Machine Learning Technology in a Mountainous Area

To improve the poor accuracy of the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) daily fractional snow cover product over the complex terrain of the Tibetan Plateau (RMSE = 0.30), unmanned aerial vehicle and machine learning technologies are employed to map the fractional snow cover based on MODIS over this terrain. Three machine learning models, including random forest, support vector machine, and back-propagation artificial neural network models, are trained and compared in this study. The results indicate that compared with the MODIS daily fractional snow cover product, the introduction of a highly accurate snow map acquired by unmanned aerial vehicles as a reference into machine learning models can significantly improve the MODIS fractional snow cover mapping accuracy. The random forest model shows the best accuracy among the three machine learning models, with an RMSE (root-mean-square error) of 0.23, especially over forestland and shrubland, with RMSEs of 0.13 and 0.18, respectively. Although the accuracy of the support vector machine and back-propagation artificial neural network models are worse over forestland and shrubland, their average errors are still better than that of MOD10A1. Different fractional snow cover gradients also affect the accuracy of the machine learning algorithms. Nevertheless, the random forest model remains stable in different fractional snow cover gradients and is, therefore, the best machine learning algorithm for MODIS fractional snow cover mapping in Tibetan Plateau areas with complex terrain and severely fragmented snow cover.

Retrieval of fractional snow covered area from MODIS data by multivariate adaptive regression splines

In this paper, a novel approach to estimate fractional snow cover (FSC) from MODIS data in a complex and heterogeneous Alpine terrain is represented by using a state-of-the-art nonparametric spline regression method, namely, multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). For this purpose, twenty MODIS - Landsat 8 image pairs acquired between April 2013 and December 2016 over European Alps are used. Fifteen of the image pairs are employed during model training and five images are reserved as an independent test dataset. MARS models are trained by using MODIS top-of-atmosphere reflectance values of bands 1–7, normalized difference snow index, normalized difference vegetation index and land cover class as predictor variables. Reference FSC maps are generated from higher spatial resolution Landsat 8 binary snow cover maps. Multilayer feedforward artificial neural network (ANN) models are also trained by using the same input data. During the training and the testing, the effects of the training data size and the sampling type on the predictive performance of ANN and MARS models are investigated. An additional search is also conducted to reveal whether the choice of the transfer function used in the output layer of ANN has a significant contribution to the network's FSC mapping performance. The final ANN and MARS FSC products are at 500m spatial resolution. The results on the independent test scenes indicate that the developed ANN models with linear and hyperbolic tangent transfer functions in the output layer and the MARS models are in good agreement with reference FSC data with the same average values of R=0.93. In contrast, the standard MODIS snow fraction product, namely, MOD10 FSC, exhibits slightly poorer performance with average R=0.88. The proposed MARS approach is statistically proven to have the same performance with ANN, yet it is computationally more efficient in model building.

Fractional Snow Cover Mapping from FY-2 VISSR Imagery of China

Daily fractional snow cover (FSC) products derived from optical sensors onboard low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites are often discontinuous, primarily due to prevalent cloud cover. To map the daily cloud-reduced FSC over China, we utilized clear-sky multichannel observations from the first-generation Chinese geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites (namely, the FY-2 series) by taking advantage of their high temporal resolution. The method proposed in this study combines a newly developed binary snow cover detection algorithm designed for the Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer (VISSR) onboard FY-2F with a simple linear spectral mixture technique applied to the visible (VIS) band. This method relies upon full snow cover and snow-free end-members to estimate the daily FSC. The FY-2E/F VISSR FSC maps of China were compared with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) FSC data based on the multiple end-member spectral mixture analysis (MESMA), and with Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) FSC maps based on the SNOWMAP approach. The FY-2E/F VISSR FSC maps, which demonstrate a lower cloud coverage, exhibit the root mean squared errors (RMSEs) of 0.20/0.19 compared with the MODIS FSC data. When validated against the Landsat-8 OLI FSC data, the FY-2E/F VISSR FSC maps, which display overall accuracies that can reach 0.92, have an RMSE of 0.18~0.29 with R2 values ranging from 0.46 to 0.80.

Fractional Snow/Non-Snow Cover Mapping through Incorporation of Thermal Band in Snow Index Design

Substantial development has been achieved in snow cover delineations through binary mapping techniques. Continuous efforts for development and institution of methodologies in fractional snow cover mapping are steadily conducted by the research communities. In this work, the attempts are driven towards the attainment of the same. MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images are worked upon Landsat 8 images under multivariate polynomial regression schemes utilizing corresponding count of pixels in a test region of Himachal Pradesh. 11.00 μm centered waveband is employed to develop a scheme for snow mapping followed by a qualitative and quantitative comparison with NDSI and S3 snow index where the values of correlation coefficient between fractional snow cover and index values have been obtained as 77.04%, 78.82% and 85.15% for NDSI, S3 and our scheme respectively. Exponential empirical relationships have been tried to be employed to attain improvements in prediction of snow cover followed by a test of correlation between true and theoretical fractional snow cover values. An improvement in degree of correlation is obtained over the conventional methodologies which serves for the verification of scheme employed and empirical relationship defined, collectively. The results provide a scope for improvements and investigations in the subject of fractional snow cover mapping.

Toward Improved Daily Cloud-Free Fractional Snow Cover Mapping with Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data in China

With the high resolution of optical data and the lack of weather effects of passive microwave data, we developed an algorithm to map daily cloud-free fractional snow cover (FSC) based on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) standard daily FSC product, the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR2) snow water equivalent (SWE) product and digital elevation data. We then used the algorithm to produce a daily cloud-free FSC product with a resolution of 500 m for regions in China. In addition, we produced a high-resolution FSC map using a Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) image as a true value to test the accuracy of the cloud-free FSC product developed in this study. The analysis results show that the daily cloud-free FSC product developed in this study can completely remove clouds and effectively improve the accuracy of snow area monitoring. Compared to the true value, the mean absolute error of our product is 0.20, and its root mean square error is 0.29. Thus, the synthesized product in this study can improve the accuracy of snow area monitoring, and the obtained snow area data can be used as reliable input parameters for hydrological and climate models. The land cover type and terrain factors are the main factors that limit the accuracy of the daily cloud-free FSC product developed in this study. These limitations can be further improved by improving the accuracy of the MODIS standard snow product for complicated underlying surfaces.

Satellite perspectives on the spatial patterns of new snowfall in the Southern Appalachian Mountains

AbstractThe Southern Appalachian Mountains (SAM) are a heavily forested mid‐latitude mountain region that provide an ideal location for assessing the suitability of satellite‐derived snow maps and explicitly linking atmospheric circulation to the spatial patterns of new snowfall. Although a variety of synoptic‐scale circulation regimes contribute to mean annual snowfall, which ranges from roughly 25 cm in the lowest valleys to over 250 cm at the highest elevations, atmospheric circulation processes have largely been absent from efforts seeking to quantify the spatial patterns of new snowfall. In this paper, we examine the suitability of fractional snow cover (FSC) maps from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and determine the spatial extent of snowfall according to synoptic‐scale circulation. FSC maps are analysed after 122 snow events from 2006 to 2012 to provide a suitability analysis of MODIS products for use in the SAM. For each event, we calculate FSC distribution and total snow‐covered area and compare it with available in situ observations. Results indicate that the SAM presents unique meteorological, physical, and spectral characteristics that are ideal for evaluating the suitability of MODIS for measuring snow cover. Out of 122 observed snow events, 63 are considered suitable for analysis with the FSC maps. The highest FSC values are observed after Gulf/Atlantic lows and south‐eastward tracking clipper systems. We conclude that MODIS data can be successfully used to link broader atmospheric circulation processes of snowfall with the spatial patterns of snow cover. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Fractional snow cover mapping from MODIS data using wavelet-artificial intelligence hybrid models

Summary This study was carried out to evaluate the wavelet-artificial intelligence hybrid models to produce fractional snow cover maps. At first, cloud cover was removed from MODIS data and cloud free images were produced. SVM-based binary classified ETM+ imagery were then used as reference maps in order to obtain train and test data for sub-pixel classification models. ANN and ANFIS-based modeling were performed using raw data (without wavelet-based preprocessing). In the next step, several mother wavelets and levels were used in order to decompose the original data to obtain wavelet coefficients. Then, the decomposed data were used for further modeling processes. ANN, ANFIS, wavelet-ANN and wavelet-ANFIS models were compared to evaluate the effect of wavelet transformation on the ability of artificial intelligence models. It was demonstrated that wavelet transformation as a preprocessing approach can significantly enhance the performance of ANN and ANFIS models. This study indicated an overall accuracy of 92.45% for wavelet-ANFIS model, 86.13% for wavelet-ANN, 72.23% for ANFIS model and 66.78% for ANN model. In fact, hybrid wavelet-artificial intelligence models can extract the characteristics of the original signals (i.e. model inputs) accurately through decomposing the non-stationary and complex signals into several stationary and simpler signals. The positive effect of fuzzification as well as wavelet transformation in the wavelet-ANFIS model was also confirmed.

An optical reflectance model-based method for fractional snow cover mapping applicable to continental scale

An advanced approach for estimating the sub-pixel fraction of snow covered area for boreal forest and tundra belt from optical data is presented. The method named SCAmod by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) is based on a forward semi-empirical model where the at-satellite observed reflectance is expressed as a function of the fractional snow cover (FSC). The effective forest transmissivity determined for each target unit-area and the generally applicable reflectances of three major contributors (wet snow, forest canopy and snow-free ground) serve as model parameters. The forest transmissivity describes the visibility of the ground through the forest canopy from above, and can be determined from visible reflectance data acquired at full snow cover conditions. SCAmod can be applied to data from various sensors operating at optical and near-infrared region. We apply the method to Envisat/AATSR and Terra/MODIS data and validate the resulting FSC against ground truth data over Finland, with considerations of feasibility of these ground truth data in a scale of the MODIS/AATSR pixel. In comparison, also NASA MOD10_L2 fractional snow product is validated. The results indicate that SCAmod performs better than MOD10_L2 particularly in forested areas; an RMSE of 0.11 for the fraction of snow covered area (range is 0–1) is achieved. For large-scale snow mapping, using reflectance data for transmissivity determination would evidently be very time-consuming. Here we present also a new method for transmissivity generation using global land cover data and demonstrate its use for snow cover mapping in continental scale. The resulting FSC data are compared against FSC from high-resolution Landsat TM/ETM+ data for selected areas in Northern and Eastern Europe. The comparison indicates that SCAmod is feasible also in continental-scale snow mapping and is superior in identifying snow in dense forests.

Fractional snow cover mapping through artificial neural network analysis of MODIS surface reflectance

Accurate areal measurements of snow cover extent are important for hydrological and climate modeling. The traditional method of mapping snow cover is binary where a pixel is considered either snow-covered or snow-free. Fractional snow cover (FSC) mapping can achieve a more precise estimate of areal snow cover extent by estimating the fraction of a pixel that is snow-covered. The most common snow fraction methods applied to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images have been spectral unmixing and an empirical Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI). Machine learning is an alternative for estimating FSC as artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been successfully used for estimating the subpixel abundances of other surfaces. The advantages of ANNs are that they can easily incorporate auxiliary information such as land cover type and are capable of learning nonlinear relationships between surface reflectance and snow fraction. ANNs are especially applicable to mapping snow cover extent in forested areas where spatial mixing of surface components is nonlinear. This study developed a multilayer feed-forward ANN trained through backpropagation to estimate FSC using MODIS surface reflectance, NDSI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and land cover as inputs. The ANN was trained and validated with higher spatial-resolution FSC maps derived from Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) binary snow cover maps. Testing of the network was accomplished over training and independent test areas. The developed network performed adequately with RMSE of 12% over training areas and slightly less accurately over the independent test scenes with RMSE of 14%. The developed ANN also compared favorably to the standard MODIS FSC product. The study also presents a comprehensive validation of the standard MODIS snow fraction product whose performance was found to be similar to that of the ANN.

A feasible method for fractional snow cover mapping in boreal zone based on a reflectance model

A feasible method for mapping the fraction of Snow Covered Area (SCA) in the boreal zone is presented. The method ( SCAmod) is based on a semi-empirical model, where three reflectance contributors (wet snow, snow-free ground and forest canopy), interconnected by an effective canopy transmissivity and SCA, constitute the observed reflectance from the target area. Given the reflectance observation, SCA is solved from the model. The predetermined values for the reflectance contributors can be adjusted to an optional wavelength region, which makes SCAmod adaptable to various optical sensors. The effective forest canopy transmissivity specifies the effect of forests on the local reflectance observation; it is estimated using Earth observation data similar to that employed in the actual SCA estimation. This approach enables operational snow mapping for extensive areas, as auxiliary forest data are not needed. Our study area covers 404 000 km 2, comprising all drainage basins of Finland (with an average area of 60 km 2) and some transboundary drainage basins common with Russia, Norway and Sweden. Applying SCAmod to NOAA/AVHRR cloud-free data acquired during melting periods 2001–2003, we estimated the areal fraction of snow cover for all the 5845 basins. The validation against in situ SCA from the Finnish snow course network indicates that with SCAmod, 15% (absolute SCA-units) accuracy for SCA is gained. Good results were also obtained from the validation against snow cover information provided by the Finnish weather station network, for example, 94% of snow-free and fully snow-covered basins were recognized. A general formula for deriving the statistical accuracy of SCA estimates provided by SCAmod is presented, complemented by the results when the AVHRR data are employed. Snow melting in Finland has been operatively monitored with SCAmod in Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) since year 2001. The SCA estimates have been assimilated to the Finnish national hydrological modelling and forecasting system since 2003, showing a substantial improvement in forecasts.