Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/11681/35013| Title: | Improving snow estimates over the Red River basin during the spring using empirical relationships between satellite snow water equivalent and snow-covered area |
| Authors: | Letcher, Theodore W. Vuyovich, Carrie M. Jacobs, Jennifer M. |
| Keywords: | Hydrologic models Hydrology Melt Model MODIS Prediction Red River of the North Runoff Satellite Snow |
| Publisher: | Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (U.S.) Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.) |
| Series/Report no.: | Technical Report (Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)) ; no. ERDC/CRREL TR-19-25 |
| Abstract: | Assessing rapid changes in snow storage during spring is critical for predicting river flooding along the Red River in the north-central United States. While passive microwave retrievals of snow water equivalent (SWE) over the Red River water basin are generally accurate, they are less certain during the spring due to snowmelt events. These degrade the SWE retrieval algorithms by introducing liquid water into the snowpack. To increase confidence in daily SWE estimates over the Red River basin, we use the concept of a SWE depletion curve to relate basin mean SWE to snow-covered area (SCA) as determined by the MODIS cloud-gap-filled daily SCA product. We use this concept to derive an empirical relationship between SWE and SCA over the Red River basin from 11 years of satellite observations (2007–2018). This relationship relies on the climatologically accurate passive microwave SWE product to mitigate acute inaccuracies in daily SWE retrievals caused by data gaps and complicated snowpack properties. In a comparison of SWE derived from the empirical SCA relation-ship to SWE estimated from the Snow Data Assimilation product, we find substantial quantitative improvement over the passive microwave SWE product during the spring melt season. |
| Description: | Technical Report |
| Gov't Doc #: | ERDC/CRREL TR-19-25 |
| Rights: | Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited |
| URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/11681/35013 http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/35013 |
| Size: | 32 pages / 1.545 Mb |
| Types of Materials: | PDF/A |
| Appears in Collections: | Technical Report |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ERDC-CRREL TR-19-25.pdf | 1.58 MB | Adobe PDF |  View/Open |