Modelling variation in snow distribution and validating change in the regions of Western and Estern Himalaya using MODIS snow products
Student name: Ms Aditi Gupta
Guide: Dr P K Joshi
Year of completion: 2011
Host Organisation: IGCMC (WWF, India)
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Dr G. Areendran
Abstract: The Himalayan region is covered by seasonal, permanent and temporary snow cover and
glaciers. The dynamics of these have profound effect on the hydrology of rivers
originating from Himalaya. Remote sensing products were employed to identify spatiotemporal
trend in snow cover in the western and eastern parts of Himalaya including
states of Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh and of Sikkim respectively for the months of
October to December for years 2000 and 2006. Pixel-based snow cover detection was
carried out. Snow cover maps were prepared using snow cover product suite with 500 m
resolution, 2330-km swath which was gridded to an integrized Sinusoidal grid to produce
8-day composite tile products. Statistics were generated on the extent and persistence of
Snow cover at pixel level for each 8-day product for assessment of long term climate
scenario. The snow covered area derived from statistics generated on weekly maps
prepared for the persistence of snow cover in each pixel. This was followed by validating
change between years 2000 and 2006 using supervised classification of Landsat ETM+
scene for Sikkim region of eastern Himalaya. SRTM data was used to identify the altitude
above which permanent snow cover can be found for the Himalayan region in
Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim for the periods where maximum snow
cover existed. However, for effectively concluding climate change effects, the
investigation is required for longer periods. Large variation in snow cover between years
with an increasing trend was observed from West to East as well as between years 2000
and 2006 alongwith a negative winter snow cover trend.
Keywords: Snow cover Products, Snow cover Area (SCA), SRTM DEM, Global
dimming, and Aerosols.
