The search result changed since you submitted your search request. Documents might be displayed in a different sort order.
  • search hit 57 of 721
Back to Result List

TerraSAR-X time series fill a gap in spaceborne snowmelt monitoring of small Arctic catchments

  • The timing of snowmelt is an important turning point in the seasonal cycle of small Arctic catchments. The TerraSAR-X (TSX) satellite mission is a synthetic aperture radar system (SAR) with high potential to measure the high spatiotemporal variability of snow cover extent (SCE) and fractional snow cover (FSC) on the small catchment scale. We investigate the performance of multi-polarized and multi-pass TSX X-Band SAR data in monitoring SCE and FSC in small Arctic tundra catchments of Qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island) off the Yukon Coast in the Western Canadian Arctic. We applied a threshold based segmentation on ratio images between TSX images with wet snow and a dry snow reference, and tested the performance of two different thresholds. We quantitatively compared TSX- and Landsat 8-derived SCE maps using confusion matrices and analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamics of snowmelt from 2015 to 2017 using TSX, Landsat 8 and in situ time lapse data. Our data showed that the quality of SCE maps from TSX X-Band data is strongly influenced byThe timing of snowmelt is an important turning point in the seasonal cycle of small Arctic catchments. The TerraSAR-X (TSX) satellite mission is a synthetic aperture radar system (SAR) with high potential to measure the high spatiotemporal variability of snow cover extent (SCE) and fractional snow cover (FSC) on the small catchment scale. We investigate the performance of multi-polarized and multi-pass TSX X-Band SAR data in monitoring SCE and FSC in small Arctic tundra catchments of Qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island) off the Yukon Coast in the Western Canadian Arctic. We applied a threshold based segmentation on ratio images between TSX images with wet snow and a dry snow reference, and tested the performance of two different thresholds. We quantitatively compared TSX- and Landsat 8-derived SCE maps using confusion matrices and analyzed the spatiotemporal dynamics of snowmelt from 2015 to 2017 using TSX, Landsat 8 and in situ time lapse data. Our data showed that the quality of SCE maps from TSX X-Band data is strongly influenced by polarization and to a lesser degree by incidence angle. VH polarized TSX data performed best in deriving SCE when compared to Landsat 8. TSX derived SCE maps from VH polarization detected late lying snow patches that were not detected by Landsat 8. Results of a local assessment of TSX FSC against the in situ data showed that TSX FSC accurately captured the temporal dynamics of different snow melt regimes that were related to topographic characteristics of the studied catchments. Both in situ and TSX FSC showed a longer snowmelt period in a catchment with higher contributions of steep valleys and a shorter snowmelt period in a catchment with higher contributions of upland terrain. Landsat 8 had fundamental data gaps during the snowmelt period in all 3 years due to cloud cover. The results also revealed that by choosing a positive threshold of 1 dB, detection of ice layers due to diurnal temperature variations resulted in a more accurate estimation of snow cover than a negative threshold that detects wet snow alone. We find that TSX X-Band data in VH polarization performs at a comparable quality to Landsat 8 in deriving SCE maps when a positive threshold is used. We conclude that TSX data polarization can be used to accurately monitor snowmelt events at high temporal and spatial resolution, overcoming limitations of Landsat 8, which due to cloud related data gaps generally only indicated the onset and end of snowmelt.show moreshow less

Download full text files

  • pmnr689.pdfeng
    (9020KB)

    SHA-1: 2edaeae2f110b54690f8a22fbbf68558414958a2

Export metadata

Additional Services

Search Google Scholar Statistics
Metadaten
Author details:Samuel StettnerORCiD, Hugues LantuitORCiDGND, Birgit HeimORCiD, Jayson Eppler, Achim Roth, Annett BartschORCiDGND, Bernhard Rabus
URN:urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-426810
DOI:https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-42681
ISSN:1866-8372
Title of parent work (English):Postprints der Universität Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe
Subtitle (English):a case study on Qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island), Canada
Publication series (Volume number):Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe (689)
Publication type:Postprint
Language:English
Date of first publication:2019/04/04
Publication year:2018
Publishing institution:Universität Potsdam
Release date:2019/04/04
Tag:Landsat; Snow Cover Extent (SCE); TerraSAR-X; satellite time series; small Arctic catchments; wet snow
Issue:689
Number of pages:26
Source:Remote Sensing 10 (2018) 7, Art. 1155 DOI: 10.3390/rs10071155
Organizational units:Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät
DDC classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 62 Ingenieurwissenschaften / 620 Ingenieurwissenschaften und zugeordnete Tätigkeiten
Peer review:Referiert
Publishing method:Open Access
Grantor:Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
License (German):License LogoCC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International
External remark:Bibliographieeintrag der Originalveröffentlichung/Quelle
Accept ✔
This website uses technically necessary session cookies. By continuing to use the website, you agree to this. You can find our privacy policy here.