Monitoring snow cover area using different algorithms on Indian remote sensing data

Abstract

In the present study, Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) of Indian remote sensing satellite data is used to monitor seasonal snow cover measurement in Bhaga basin of Western Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh, India. The AWiFS images are being corrected topographically using ASTER Digital Elevation model. An attempt has been made towards estimation of snow cover using algorithms based on Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI), Normalized Difference of Cloud Index (NDCI) and Snow Under Vegetation (S3). Algorithm S3 is used for estimation of snow pixels in vegetation area without reference data. Algorithms NDSI and NDCI are involving NIR band of reflectance for snow pixel area. Comparison of the estimated snow cover using all the three algorithms is carried out which represent that the results estimated using S3 algorithm are more accurate than NDSI and NDCI algorithms.