Daily, global snow extent based on AVHRR GAC data

Umbrella Project  |  ESA CCI+ Snow
Project run time  |  Sept 2018 - August 2021

Project funding  |  European Space Agency (ESA)
Collaborators at the University of Bern  |  Dr K. Naegeli, Prof Dr S. Wunderle, Ch. Neuhaus

Project webpage  |   http://cci.esa.int/ or http://snow-cci.enveo.at/

Summary

Seasonal snow cover is the largest single component of the cryopshere, covering 50% of the northern hemisphere’s land surface during mid winter, and is an important component of the climate system.

Seasonal snow cover is a crucial and challenging research issue in climate analysis and modelling. It influences energy, moisture and gas fluxes between the land surface and atmosphere; its high reflectivity, or albedo, provides a significant feedback effect in a warming climate; and its sensitivity to precipitation and temperature regimes makes it widely recognised as a fundamental indicator of climate variability and change. Snow is also a major, if not dominant, freshwater source in many alpine, high- and mid-latitude regions an important contribution to the global water cycle.

The Snow_cci project aims to contribute to the understanding of Snow  in the climate system by generating consistent, high quality long-term data sets that meet the requirements of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS).

Publications

Weber, H., Naegeli, K. and Wunderle, S. (2021): Impact of forest canopy parameterization on space-borne snow on ground detection. IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium | IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS47720.2021.955

Wu, X., Naegeli, K., Premier, V., Marin, C., Ma, D., Wang, J. and Wunderle, S. (2021). Evaluation of snow extent time series derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer global area coverage data (1982–2018) in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. The Cryosphere, 15(9), pp. 4261-4279. Copernicus Publications 10.5194/tc-15-4261-2021

Lalande, M., Ménégoz, M., Krinner, G., Naegeli, K. and Wunderle, S. (2021). Climate change in the High Mountain Asia in CMIP6. Earth system dynamics, 12(4), pp. 1061-1098. Copernicus Publications 10.5194/esd-12-1061-2021

Wu, X., Naegeli, K. and Wunderle, S. (2020): Geometric accuracy assessment of coarse-resolution satellite datasets: a study based on AVHRR GAC data at the sub-pixel level . Earth System Science Data, 12, 539–553, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-539-2020 

 

Conference participation

Naegeli, K., Marin, C., Premier, V., Schwaizer, G., Stengel, M., Wu, X. and Wunderle, S., Revealing snow cover dynamics in the Hindu Kush Himalaya over the past decades, EGU2020-11363, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-11363, EGU General Assembly 2020. (online presentation)

Schwaizer, G., Keuris, L., Nagler, T., Derksen, C., Luojus, K., Marin, C., Metsämäki, S., Mudryk, L., Naegeli, K., Notarnicola, C., Salberg, A.-B., Solberg, R., Wiesmann, A., Wunderle, S., Essery, R., Gustafsson, D., Krinner, G. and Trofaier, A.M., Towards a long term global snow climate data record from satellite data generated within the Snow Climate Change Initiative, EGU2020-19228, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19228, EGU General Assembly 2020. (online presentation)

Marin, C., Notarnicola, C., Metsämäki, S., Premier, V., Naegeli, K., Salberg, A.-B., Schwaizer, G., Solberg, R., Wiesmann, A., Wunderle, S., and Nagler, T., Validation of ESA CCI+ Snow Products, 9th EARSeL workshop on Land Ice and Snow, Bern, Switzerland. (Talk)

Nagler, T., Derksen, C., Luojus, K., Marin, M., Metsämäki, S., Mudryk, L., Naegeli, K., Notarnicola, C., Salberg, A.-B., Wiesmann, A. and Wunderle, S., The Snow Climate Change Initiative: Generation of a Long Term Global Snow Climate Data Record from Multi-Sensor Satellite Data, 9th EARSeL workshop on Land Ice and Snow, Bern, Switzerland. (Talk)

Naegeli, K., Wiesmann, A., Wu, X., Neuhaus, C., Hollmann, R., Stengel, M. and Wunderle S., Towards a Global Time Series (1982 -2018) of Snow Cover Extent Based on AVHRR GAC Data, 9th EARSeL workshop on Land Ice and Snow, Bern, Switzerland. (Talk)

Schwaizer, G., Marin, C., Metsämäki, S., Naegeli, K., Nagler, T., Notarnicola, C., Salberg, A.-B., Solberg, R., Wiesmann, A., Wunderle, S. and Trofaier, A.M., Development Of A Homogeneous Global Climate Data Record Of Snow Cover Fraction In The Frame Of ESA CCI+ Snow, 9th EARSeL workshop on Land Ice and Snow, Bern, Switzerland. (Talk)