Modelling the hypsometric seasonal snow cover using meteorological parameters

Abstract

This study established a decadal correlation between meteorological observations (temperature and snowfall) and satellite-derived seasonal snow cover for a glacier catchment. The study area was classified into 10 elevation zones. The time period for considering climatic variables was from the start of the significant fresh snowfall of the new season to the date of satellite image acquisition. The snowfall inputs from the five meteorological stations at different altitudes were interpolated for the entire catchment using a discretised thin-plate spline technique. A local temperature lapse rate for this specific time period was calculated. It was applied throughout the catchment for interpolating the temperature, which was further used to refine the interpolated snowfall. Such a hypsometric approach along with third-order polynomial curve fitting (R2=0.998) finally gave an equation for estimating percent snow-covered area for different elevation zones with a good accuracy and very low average RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) of 3.16 percent.