A new approach to satellite-based estimation of precipitation over snow cover |
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| Authors: | Yudong Tian Yuqiong Liu Kristi R Arsenault Ali Behrangi |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA;2. Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USAYudong.Tian@nasa.gov;4. Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA;5. Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA;6. Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, MD, USA;7. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Current satellite-based remote-sensing approaches are largely incapable of estimating precipitation over snow cover. This note reports a proof-of-concept study of a new satellite-based approach to the estimation of precipitation over snow-covered surfaces. The method is based on the principle that precipitation can be inferred from the changes in the snow water equivalent of the snowpack. Using satellite-based snow water equivalent measurements, we derived daily precipitation amounts for the northern hemisphere for three snow-accumulation seasons, and evaluated these against independent reference datasets. The new precipitation estimates captured realistic-looking storm events over largely un-instrumented regions. However, the data are noisy and, on a seasonal scale, the amount of precipitation is believed to be underestimated. Nevertheless, current uncertainty in snow measurements, albeit large (50–100%), is still lower than direct precipitation measurements over snow (100–140%) and therefore this approach is still useful. The method will become more feasible as the quality of remotely sensed snow measurements improves. |
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