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Science Rendezvous > Posters
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Characterizing Global Snow and Ice Cover with Nine Years of MODIS Data
S.J.S. Khalsa
Andy Barrett
CIRES/NSIDC
Since February 2000 data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra spacecraft has been used to produce global daily estimations of snow cover at 500m resolution. In this poster we report on an analysis of these data that is yielding new insights into the global hydrological cycle.
After compensating for missing data due to cloudiness and other conditions, we determine for selected major mountain ranges the timing and coverage by elevation of transient snow cover, as well as identifying areas that are permanent snow or ice. Variability of these statistics over the 8 seasons since the launch of MODIS is examined. Causes and impacts of the errors of omission and commission are studied and discussed.
These data are expected to lead to improvements in hydrological modeling for several different regions of the world and have the potential to improve numerical models of land surface processes and weather forecasting.
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