Improved subpixel monitoring of seasonal snow cover: a case study in the Alps

Miguel Angel Veganzones (1, 2) , Mauro Dalla Mura (2) , Marie Dumont (3) , Isabella Zin (4) , Jocelyn Chanussot (5, 2)

1 GIPSA-CICS - GIPSA - Communication Information and Complex Systems
2 GIPSA-SIGMAPHY - GIPSA - Signal Images Physique
3 Météorologie de Montagne et Avalanches
4 LTHE - Laboratoire d'étude des transferts en hydrologie et environnement
5 University of Iceland [Reykjavik]

The snow coverage area (SCA) is one of the most important parameters for cryospheric studies. The use of remote sensing imagery can complement field measurements by providing means to derive SCA with a high temporal frequency and covering large areas. Images acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are perhaps the most widely used data to retrieve SCA maps. Some MODIS derived algorithms are available for subpixel SCA estimation, as MODSCAG and MODImLab. Both algorithms make use of spectral unmixing techniques using a fixed set of snow, rocks and other materials spectra (endmembers). We aim to improve the performance of a modified version of MODIm-Lab algorithm by exploring advanced spectral unmixing techniques. Furthermore, we make use of endmember induction algorithms to obtain the endmembers from the data itself instead of using a fixed spectral library. We validate the proposed approach on a case study in the mountainous region of the Alps.

Mots clés: spectral unmixing; MODIS; Alps; SCA; Snow coverage area

Domaines: Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]

Miguel Angel Veganzones, Mauro Dalla Mura, Marie Dumont, Isabella Zin, Jocelyn Chanussot. Improved subpixel monitoring of seasonal snow cover: a case study in the Alps. IGARSS 2014 - IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Jul 2014, Québec, Canada. pp.n/c, ⟨10.1109/IGARSS.2014.6947356⟩. ⟨hal-01010423⟩