Monitoring of snow and ice focuses on glaciers and their retreat due to climate change (extent, mass balance), the seasonal snow cover (its extent, depth, temperature and snow water equivalent), and the ice on rivers and lakes (inland ice, thickness, freezing period, melting period, ice extent). Glacial monitoring in the mountainous regions around the globe, and of the Greenland and Antarctic ice shields uses optical EO data of high and very high resolution and SAR data. Satellite based daily snow covered area products can reliably be provided down to a spatial resolution of 500 meters. Global products are possible with weekly updates. Applications include, among others, climate change impact monitoring, relevant for modelling runoff patterns in catchments for etimating hydroelectric power generation potential.
Compare glacier extents using EO data
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