Estimation of snow pack characteristics and snow covered area in boreal forests from ERS-2 SAR and Envisat ASAR data

Estimation of snow moisture (total liquid water content) and the fraction of snow covered area (SCA) are investigated by applying multi-year ERS-2 SAR and Envisat ASAR data sets. An inversion approach for the moisture retrieval is introduced. The results suggest that C-band radar is operationally feasible for both applications.