Mapping of Wet and Dry Snow for Himalayan Glaciers Using Band Ratioing and Thresholding Techniques

Abstract

Literature reports that there is a large dependence of domestic and commercial activities on snow and glaciers due to the growing demand for freshwater for agriculture and industrial developments at higher latitudes of Indian Himalayan region. Therefore, precise mapping of snow cover is essential for planning and water resource management which includes water runoff, reservoir, flood forecasting, environmental surveillance, etc. Higher melt rates compared to winter accumulation are an impact of changes in precipitation and temperature. Present study focuses on utilization of remote sensing data to map dry/wet snow for five benchmark glaciers in Chandra basin, Western Himalayas. Landsat 7/8 optical satellite data is used to map and compute the dry/wet snow areas using NDSI and NIR thresholding algorithm for one hydrological year 2016–2017 (October 2016–September 2017).