The use of environmental satellite data for mapping annual snow-extent decrease in the western United States : final report

Techniques to map areal snow extent from environmental satellite photography are tested in three regions of the western United States during the 1967 and 1969 snowmelt seasons. The three regions, each with characteristically different terrain, forest cover, and snowfall climatologies, are: (1) The Southern Sierra Nevada^in California, (2) the Upper Columbia Basin in Idaho and Montana, and (3) the Salt River Project,Area in Arizona. The principal data sample is AVCS photography from the ESSA satellites; in addition, IDCS photography and Daytime HRIR data from the Nimbus III satellite are also examined. Snow-extent measurements from aerial surveys are used as ground-truth data. Contract no. ; E-252-69(N)