Publication Date:
2009-02-11
Description:
Snow cover information is of central importance for the estimation of water storage in cold mountainous regions. It is difficult to assess distributed snow cover information in a catchment in order to estimate possible water resources. It is especially a challenge to obtain snow cover information for high mountainous areas. Usually, snow depth is measured at meteorological stations, and it is relatively difficult to extrapolate this spatially or temporally since it highly depends on available energy and topography. The snow coverage of a catchment gives detailed information about the catchment's potential source for water. Many regions lack meteorological stations that measure snow, and usually no stations are available at high elevations. Satellite information is a very valuable source for obtaining several environmental parameters. One of the advantages is that the data is mostly provided in a spatially distributed format. This study uses satellite data to estimate snow coverage on high mountainous areas. Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow cover data is used in the Kokcha Catchment located in the north-eastern part of Afghanistan. The main disadvantage of MODIS data that restricts its direct use in environmental applications is cloud coverage. This is why this study is focused on eliminating cloud covered cells and estimating cell information under cloud covered cells using six logical, spatial and temporal approaches. The results give total cloud removal and mapping of snow cover for the study areas.
Print ISSN:
1812-2108
Electronic ISSN:
1812-2116
Topics:
Geography
,
Geosciences
