Influences of forest on MODIS snow cover mapping and snow variations in the Amur River basin in Northeast Asia during 2000–2014 |
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| Authors: | Xianwei Wang Yuan Zhu Yaning Chen Hailing Zheng Henan Liu Huabing Huang Kai Liu Lin Liu |
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| Institution: | 1. Center of Integrated Geographic Information Analysis, and Guangdong Key Laboratory for Urbanization and Geo‐simulation, School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat‐sen University, Guangzhou, China;2. State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China;3. Heilongjiang Climate Data Center, Harbin, China;4. Department of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA |
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| Abstract: | The study applies the improved cloud‐free moderate resolution imaging spectral radiometer daily snow cover product (MODMYD_MC) to investigate the snow cover variations from snow hydrologic year (HY) HY2000 to HY2013 in the Amur River basin (ARB), Northeast Asia. The fractions of forest cover were 38%, 63%, and 47% in 2009 in China (the southern ARB), Russia (the northern ARB), and ARB, respectively. Validation results show that MODMYD_MC has a snow agreement of 88% against in situ snow depth (SD) observations (SD ≥ 4 cm). The agreement is about 10% lower at the forested stations than at the nonforested stations. Snow cover durations (SCDs) from MODMYD_MC are 20 days shorter than ground observations (SD ≥ 1 cm) at the forested stations, whereas they are just 8 days shorter than ground observations (SD ≥ 1 cm) at the nonforested stations. Annual mean SCDs from MODMYD_MC in the forested areas are 21 days shorter than those in the nearby farmland in the Sanjiang Plain. This indicates forest has a complex influence on the snow accumulation and melting processes and even on optical satellite snow cover mapping. Meanwhile, SCD and mean snow cover are negatively correlated with air temperature in ARB, especially in the snow melting season, when mean air temperature in March and April can explain 86% and 74% of the mean snow cover variations in China ARB and Russia ARB, respectively. From 1961 to 2015, the annual mean air temperature presented an increased trend by 0.33 °C/decade in both China ARB and Russia ARB, whereas it had a decrease trend from HY2000 to HY2013. The decrease of air temperature led to an increase of snow cover, which is different from the global decrease trend of snow cover variations. SCD and snow cover had larger increase rates in China ARB than in Russia ARB, and they were larger in the forested areas than in the nearby farmland in the Sanjiang Plain. |
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| Keywords: | Amur River basin forest MODIS snow cover |
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