Abstract
Seasonal snow cover is a vital natural resource in the Himalaya. Monitoring of the areal extent of seasonal snow cover is important for both climatological studies as well as hydrological applications. In the present paper, snow cover monitoring was carried out to evaluate the region-wise accumulation and ablation pattern of snow cover in Pir Panjal and Shamshawari ranges of Kashmir valley. The study was carried out for the winter period between November and April of 2004–05, 2005–06 and 2006–07, using multi-temporal WiFS sensor data of IRS-1C/1D satellites. The study shows reduction in the areal extent of seasonal snow cover and rising trend of maximum temperature in three winters for the entire Kashmir valley. This has been validated with 20 years (1988–89 to 2007–08) climatic conditions prevailed in both ranges of Kashmir valley. Region-wise study shows the spatial and temporal variability in seasonal snow cover within Kashmir valley. Advance melting was observed in Banihal and Naugam/Tangdhar regions than Gurez and Machhal regions. Different geographical parameters of these regions were studied to evaluate the influence on snow cover and it was observed that altitude and position of region with respect to mountain range are the deciding factors for retaining the seasonal snow cover for longer duration. Such region-wise study of snow cover monitoring, can provide vital inputs for planning the hydropower projects, development in habitat areas, recreational and strategic planning in the region.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bahadur J 1993 Precipitation Characteristics over High Himalayas; Proc. of National Symposium on Meteorology and National Development, Mausam Bhawan, New Delhi, India, March 17–19.
Dozier J, Schneider S R and McGinnis Jr D F 1981 Effect of grain size and snow pack water equivalence on visible and near-infrared satellite observations of snow; Water Resour. Res. 17 1213–1221.
Dozier J 1984 Snow reflectance from Landsat-4 thematic mapper; IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 22 323–328.
Dozier J 1985 Spectral signatures of snow in visible and near-IR wavelengths; Proceedings of the 3rd International Colloquium on Spectral Signatures of Objects in Remote Sensing, Les Arcs, France, 16–20 December, ESA-SP-247.
Dozier J 1989 Spectral signature of alpine snow cover from the Landsat Thematic Mapper; Remote Sens. Environ. 28 9–22.
Leica Geosystems 2006 ERDAS Imagine Tour Guides; Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging, LLC USA 305–310.
Gupta R P, Haritashya U K and Singh P 2005 Mapping dry/wet snow cover in the Indian Himalayas using IRS multispectral imagery; Remote Sens. Environ. 97 458–469.
Hall D K, Riggs G A and Salomonson V V 1995 Development of methods for mapping global snow cover using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer data; Remote Sens. Environ. 54 127–140.
Hall D K, Foster J L, Verbyla D L, Klein A G and Benson C S 1998 Assessment of snow-cover mapping accuracy in a variety of vegetation-cover densities in central Alaska; Remote Sens. Environ. 66 129–137.
Hall D K, Foster J L, Salomonson V V, Klein A G and Chein J Y L 2001 Development of a technique to assess snow-cover mapping errors from space; IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 39(2) 432–438.
Hall D K, Riggs G A, Salomonson V V, DiGirolamo N and Bayr K J 2002 MODIS snow cover products; Remote Sens. Environ. 83 181–194.
Konig M, Winther J G and Isaksson E 2001 Measuring snow and glacier properties from satellite; Rev. Geophys. 39 1–27.
Kulkarni A V, Randhawa S S, Rathore B P, Bahuguna I M and Sood R K 2002a Snow and Glacier Melt Runoff Model to Estimate Hydropower Potential; J. Indian Soc. Remote Sensing 30(4) 221–228.
Kulkarni A V, Mathur P, Rathore B P, Suja Alex, Thakur N and Manoj 2002b Effect of global warming on snow ablation pattern in the Himalaya; Curr. Sci. 83 120–123.
Kulkarni A V and Rathore B P 2003 Snow cover monitoring in Baspa basin using IRS WiFS data; Mausam 54 335–340.
Kulkarni AV, Singh S K, Mathur P and Mishra V D 2006 Algorithm to monitor snow cover using AWiFS data of RESOURCESAT-1 for the Himalayan region; Int. J. Remote Sensing 27(12) 2449–2457.
McClung D and Schaerer P 2006 The avalanche handbook; Publ. The Mountaineers Book 3 111–115.
Negi H S, Mishra V D and Mathur P 2005a Change Detection Study for Snow Cover Mountains using Remote Sensing and Ground Based Measurements; J. Indian Soc. Remote Sensing 33(2) 245–251.
Negi H S, Thakur N K and Sharma J K 2005b Snowcover Monitoring using Remote Sensing in NWHimalaya; Workshop on Integrated Management of Natural Resources in Mountains, Pantnagar, India, November 28–December 02.
Negi H S, Snehmani and Thakur N K 2008 Operational Snow Cover Monitoring in NW-Himalaya using Terra and Aqua MODIS Imageries; Proc. of International Workshop on Snow, Ice, Glacier and Avalanches, IIT Bombay, India, January 7–9.
Negi H S, Kulkarni A V and Semwal B S 2009 Estimation of Snowcover Distribution in Beas basin, Indian Himalaya using Satellite Data and Ground Measurements; J. Earth Syst. Sci. 118(5) 525–538.
O’brian H W and Munis H 1975 Red and Near-Infrared spectral reflectance of snow; U.S.A. CRREL Research Report 332 18p.
Rango A and Martinec J 1995 Revisiting the degree day method for snowmelt computation; Water Res. Bull. 31(4) 657–669.
Rango A 1996 Space borne remote sensing for snow hydrology applications; Hydrol. Sci. 41 477–497.
Racoviteanu A E, Williams M W and Barry R G 2008 Optical Remote Sensing of Glacier Characteristics: A Review with Focus on the Himalaya; Sensors 8 3355–3383.
Singh P and Kumar N 1997 Effect of orography on precipitation in western Himalayan region; J. Hydrol. 199 183–206.
Singh P, Kumar N and Arora M 2000 Degree day factors for snow and ice for Dokriani Glacier Garhwal Himalayas; J. Hydrol. 235(1–2) 1–11.
Sharma S S and Ganju A 2000 Complexities of avalanche forecasting in Western Himalaya — An overview; Cold Regions Science and Technology 31 95–102.
Shekhar M S, Chand H, Kumar S, Srinivasan K and Ganju A 2009 Climate change studies over Western Himalaya; International Symposium on Snow and Avalanches, Manali, India, April 6–10; Annals of Glaciology (in press).
Wiscombe W J and Warren S G 1980 A model for the spectral Albedo of snow-I: Pure snow; J. Atmos. Sci. 37 2712–2733.
Warren S G 1982 Optical Properties of Snow; Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics 20(1) 67–89.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Negi, H.S., Thakur, N.K., Kumar, R. et al. Monitoring and evaluation of seasonal snow cover in Kashmir valley using remote sensing, GIS and ancillary data. J Earth Syst Sci 118, 711–720 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-009-0057-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-009-0057-y