snow cover monitoring using modis data in liaoning province, northeastern china积雪监测辽宁省利用modis数据,中国东北.pdfVIP

Remote Sens. 2010, 2, 777-793; doi:10.3390/rs2030777 OPEN ACCESS Remote Sensing ISSN 2072-4292 /journal/remotesensing Article Snow Cover Monitoring Using MODIS Data in Liaoning Province, Northeastern China Yuanzhi Zhang *, Su Yan and Yu Lu Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, Yuen Yuen Research Centre for Satellite Remote Sensing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China; E-Mails: suyan@.hk (S.Y.); sherrydeer@ (Y.L.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: yuanzhizhang@.hk; Tel.: +852 Fax: +852 Received: 25 January 2010; in revised form: 2 March 2010 / Accepted: 2 March 2010 / Published: 17 March 2010 Abstract: This paper presents the results of snow cover monitoring studies in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, using MODIS data. Snow cover plays an important role in both the regional water balance and soil moisture properties during the early spring in northeastern China. In addition, heavy snowfalls commonly trigger hazards such as flooding, caused by rapid snow melt, or crop failure, resulting from fluctuations in soil temperature associated with changes in the snow cover. The latter is a function of both regional, or global, climatic changes, as well as fluctuations in the albedo resulting from variations in the Snow Covered Area (SCA). These impacts are crucial to human activities, especially to those living in middle-latitude areas such as Liaoning Province. Thus, SC