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<strong>an</strong>d validated regionally so <strong>the</strong>y c<strong>an</strong> not be used for o<strong>the</strong>r study are<strong>as</strong>. In addition, <strong>the</strong>se<br />
algorithms use a multi-regression approach to account for <strong>the</strong> l<strong>an</strong>d cover type variation. Then,<br />
development of <strong>an</strong> algorithm which considers variation of l<strong>an</strong>d cover qu<strong>an</strong>titatively <strong>an</strong>d c<strong>an</strong> be<br />
used <strong>an</strong>d validated for different are<strong>as</strong> is necessitated. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index<br />
(NDVI) h<strong>as</strong> been widely used to represent <strong>the</strong> health <strong>an</strong>d greenness of <strong>the</strong> vegetation. In this study<br />
a non-linear algorithm is proposed, which estimates SWE using spectral difference between SSM/I<br />
ch<strong>an</strong>nels along with NDVI data.<br />
DATA USED<br />
SSM/I Data<br />
SSM/I p<strong>as</strong>sive microwave radiometer with seven ch<strong>an</strong>nels is operating at five frequencies (19,<br />
35, 22, 37.0, <strong>an</strong>d 85.5 GHz) <strong>an</strong>d dual-polarization (except at 22GHz which is V-polarization only).<br />
The sensor spatial resolution varies for different ch<strong>an</strong>nels frequencies. In this study Scalable Equal<br />
Area Earth Grid EASE-Grid SSM/I products distributed by National <strong>Snow</strong> <strong>an</strong>d Ice Data Center<br />
(NSIDC) were used. EASE-Grid spatial resolution is slightly more th<strong>an</strong> 25km (25.06km) for all<br />
<strong>the</strong> ch<strong>an</strong>nels (NSIDC) although <strong>the</strong> recorded resolution of <strong>the</strong> microwave spectrum with longer<br />
wavelengths is more th<strong>an</strong> 50km. The three EASE-Grid projections comprise two azimuthal equalarea<br />
projections for <strong>the</strong> Nor<strong>the</strong>rn or Sou<strong>the</strong>rn hemisphere, respectively <strong>an</strong>d a global cylindrical<br />
equal area projection. In this we study have used a Nor<strong>the</strong>rn hemisphere azimuthal equal-area.<br />
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)<br />
NDVI is typically used to represent <strong>the</strong> vegetation cover properties <strong>an</strong>d it defines <strong>as</strong> a difference<br />
between reflect<strong>an</strong>ce in visible <strong>an</strong>d near infrared spectral b<strong>an</strong>ds divided by <strong>the</strong>ir sum (NDVI =<br />
(NIR – VIS)/(NIR + VIS)). The NDVI data for this study were obtained from <strong>the</strong> NOAA/NASA<br />
Pathfinder Adv<strong>an</strong>ced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) which is distributed at<br />
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The spatial resolution is 8km * 8km obtained within a 10<br />
day period that h<strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> fewest cloud. To facilitate <strong>the</strong> comparison <strong>an</strong>d matching of <strong>the</strong> two dat<strong>as</strong>ets<br />
(NDVI <strong>an</strong>d SSM/I) NDVI data resampled <strong>an</strong>d were brought to <strong>the</strong> same EASE-Grid projection at<br />
25km spatial resolution.<br />
Ground Truth <strong>Snow</strong> Data<br />
Point Gauge Me<strong>as</strong>urements<br />
Surface observations of snow depth data for <strong>the</strong> study were obtained from point <strong>the</strong> National<br />
Climate Data Center (NCDC). The point me<strong>as</strong>urements were averaged <strong>an</strong>d gridded to 25km<br />
spatial resolution to match EASE-Grid SSM/I spatial resolution. To incre<strong>as</strong>e <strong>the</strong> reliability <strong>an</strong>d<br />
avoid errors due to interpolation, we have used only those pixels where station data were<br />
available. If more th<strong>an</strong> one station data were available in a given SSM/I pixel, <strong>the</strong> station data<br />
were averaged.<br />
SNODAS SWE<br />
<strong>Snow</strong> products generated by <strong>the</strong> <strong>Snow</strong> Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) of NOAA<br />
National Wea<strong>the</strong>r Service's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC)<br />
are available since October 2003. SNODAS includes a procedure to <strong>as</strong>similate airborne gamma<br />
radiation <strong>an</strong>d ground-b<strong>as</strong>ed observations of snow covered area <strong>an</strong>d snow water equivalent,<br />
downscaled output from Numerical Wea<strong>the</strong>r Prediction (NWP) models combined in a physically<br />
b<strong>as</strong>ed, spatially distributed energy <strong>an</strong>d m<strong>as</strong>s bal<strong>an</strong>ce model. The output products have 1km spatial<br />
<strong>an</strong>d hourly temporal resolution. In order to match <strong>the</strong> EASE-Grid pixels <strong>the</strong> SNODAS SWE data<br />
were averaged to 25km.<br />
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