Mapping Snow Cover on Mount Ranier, WA: Synthetic Aperture Radar Compared to MODIS Visual Imagery

In order to constrain the effects of climate change in mountain watersheds, an understanding of the spatial extent and timing of snowmelt is necessary. However, lack of field records and difficultly modeling in remote and complex terrain, lead to uncertainty in precipitation and temperature measurements across many mountainous regions. In this study, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellite is used to map wet snow over Water Year 2016 on Mount Rainier, a stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of Western Washington. Then, SAR wet snow maps are compared to a MODIS-derived factional snow-covered area product called MODSCAG. Results match an expected seasonal pattern while demonstrating the potential of SAR to provide high temporal and spatial resolution information that is not currently captured in common snow-covered area products. In the future, SAR could be used to improve understanding of snowpack characteristics in the Western United States. (KEYWORDS: Synthetic Aperture Radar, MODIS, MODSCAG, remote sensing, snow covered area, wet snow)