Estimating total snow volume in a small alpine watershed using remotely sensed data and ground-based surveys

TitleEstimating total snow volume in a small alpine watershed using remotely sensed data and ground-based surveys
Publication TypeConference Proceedings
Year of Conference1993
AuthorsDavis, R. E., Elder K., Rosenthal W., Melack J., and Sickman J.
Conference Name61st Annual Western Snow Conference
Series TitleProceedings of the 61st Annual Western Snow Conference
Date PublishedJune 1993
PublisherWestern Snow Conference
Conference LocationQuebec City, Quebec
KeywordsRemote sensing, Snow cover
Abstract

Ground surveys of snow water equivalence and snow cover maps derived from Landsat TM imagery provided the basis for investigating different methods to estimate total snow volume in a small watershed of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California. Snow density profiles and Federal Snow Sampler observations along ground transects made up the measurements used to estimate the snow water equivalence at several points. The area of snow cover was estimated with two techniques, a supervised classification and a method based on spectral mixture modeling. Total snow volume was obtained by distributing snow water equivalence over the snow-covered area with the help of a digital elevation model. Snow volume estimates, in terms of their water equivalence, were compared with the estimated total snowmelt runoff. Total snowmelt runoff was estimated by subtracting baseflow determined with a graphical technique. The comparisons were evaluated in the context of potentially combining remote sensing data with traditional snow course measurements to determine total snow cover volume.

URLsites/westernsnowconference.org/PDFs/1993Davis.pdf