Satellite-based snowfall detection and estimation: challenges and future perspectives within H SAF
Giulia Panegrossi presents the challenges and recent advancements in satellite-based snowfall quantification and global monitoring.
Length: 37 minutes
Snow plays an important role in the Earth energy exchange processes, and is a fundamental element of the water cycle. The use of satellites for snowfall monitoring and quantification and for retrieving snow cover properties and variability is necessary to globally quantify water resources. Satellite-based snowfall detection and surface snowfall rate estimation are becoming an increasingly popular topic within both the hydrological scientific community and operational services. Recent studies have evidenced how space borne multi-channel microwave (MW) radiometer measurements respond to both snowfall and snow cover properties. In this presentation the challenges and recent advancements in satellite-based snowfall quantification and global monitoring will be discussed, and the retrieval strategies that are being adopted within the EUMETSAT H SAF to improve detection and quantification of snowfall, with particular focus on higher latitudes, will be presented.