Satellite-monitored snow cover in the climate system

Abstract

Snow cover plays an important role at climate system. Before the era of satellite meteorology, traditional sources of snow observations were usually obtained from ground-based meteorological networks, in which only the presence or absence of snow along with snow depth is measured on a daily basis. Given the scarcity of ground-based, in situ stations, it is difficult to adequately capture the spatial variability of snow cover, particularly in remote, and difficult to access regions such as polar region and Tibetan Plateau. The remote sensing from the satellite provides an excellent method to monitor and observed global snow-cover distribution and evolution. In this chapter, we reviewed the role of snow in climate system, satellite snow observation and monitoring, snow-climate interaction, and snow-atmosphere coupling strength.